I was born and grew up on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. My parents were born and raised in the Navajo Territory, now the States of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. My ancestors were born, lived and died in this land, going back thousands upon thousands of years. My parents were Dineb or "People" as they called themselves and they spoke only Navajo. They knew some white traders, but I did not know any white person. I did not understand or speak English until I was a teenager in an Indian boarding school.
As native students, we were transported hundreds of miles away from our parents for nine to ten months a year for 10 or more years. In school, I said the Pledge of Alliance to the Flag of the United States every school day. I was indoctrinated to believe in the Constitution of the United States, but I really had no concept of it's meaning. In fact, much of it seemed not to apply to me. Freedom of religion? I was required to choose a European religion, Protestant, Roman Catholic or Mormon. Native religion, eastern religion, Islam, or Judaism were not allowed. I selected Roman Catholic. At school, I was to learn about the claim of discovery of the new world in 1492 by Christopher Columbus and Spain, the first Europeans to colonize the Western Hemisphere, and they decided to call us, the original residents and owners, "Indians".
Then came other colonists, among them the French, and English. The English colonies existed in the United States more than two hundred years before the colonists revolted against King George and the British government. All the while, white colonists kidnapping, capturing, transporting, owning, working, trading, selling and breeding black slaves, and continued systematic killings and stealing from the "savage Indians".
A Black man said to me in 1997, "when is your Independence Day?" I like to think that he was not mocking me. Obviously the American Independence Day of July 4, 1776 has meant very little to Native Americans. Even the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution, ratified as late as 1865 and 1868, which freed the slaves and outlined how citizens - including black citizens - would have a voice by their vote and elected representatives, excluded Indians. They were not yet citizens, and were specifically excluded using the words "excluding Indians not taxed".
It took until June 2, 1924, for America to declare all Indians born in the United States "naturalized" citizens of the United States, and citizens of the states they live in, even though they may live on a reservation. Imagine, any child born by an immigrant to this country is a full, natural born citizen. Indians were only "naturalized" citizens. Still, at last, Indians could vote. And we weren't excluded from taxes, either. We pay most local, state and federal taxes, including sales taxes.
But even with citizenship, Indians were denied many of the Constitutional protections of other citizens until a Constitutional Rights subcommittee of the Senate passed the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, a document patterned after the original Bill of Rights. At last, we thought, we were full citizens with the full protection and the rights of the United States Constitution. But it still was not to be. There were still legal and constitutional problems because our tribal governments do not embody the "separation of powers" inherent in most state and local governments. Tribal leaders could be president, law enforcement, judge and jury all in one. Not to mention the ability to deny rights of speech, assembly and property.
The final blow came by way of a Supreme Court decision in 1978 (Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez) which, from my point of view, pretty much rendered the Indian Civil Rights Act worthless. Today, I am still a citizen without the rights and protections all other citizens of this country enjoy - especially the protections of a fair and just legal system.
That is why I believe the best - and maybe last - hope for conferring full, constitutional, and irrevocable citizenship rights for Indians is the Constitutional amendment proposed by CERA. It is long past time.
AMENDMENT XXVIII
Section 1.
All Natives, Indians or aboriginals of Western hemisphere, born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the states, Indian reservations, trust land and territories, where they reside. No state, tribal government or territorial government shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.