American political officials have often utilized the stereotype of ‘Native people as children’ who need to be ‘looked after’ to justify the taking of Native land and resources. In fact, the federal government successfully elevated itself to the position of ‘guardian’ establishing a patriarchal governing structure with an inherent authority and necessary ‘obligation’ to look out for their ‘wards’. In a literal sense, Native people were legally defined and relegated to the status of ‘children’ under the tutelage of the US government as the parent. How did this ‘relationship’ impact the self-determination and sovereign rights of tribes and Native people to identify themselves? How did this further impact treaties and land, water and mineral rights for Native people?
American political officials used the stereotype of Native people as “children” to justify placing tribes under federal control, which severely limited Native self-determination and self-governance. By establishing a guardian–ward relationship, the U.S. government positioned itself as the decision-maker, while Native nations were treated as incapable of managing their own affairs. This structure undermined tribes’ sovereign rights to identify themselves as self-governing nations and instead framed their authority as dependent on federal approval (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). Because Native people were legally treated as wards, the government claimed it was acting in their “best interest” while breaking treaties and restricting tribal authority.I learned that land, water, and mineral rights are not just resources, but are deeply tied to survival, culture, and identity. When land is taken, tribes lose access to sacred sites, clean water, food sources, and economic stability. These losses affect future generations, not just the present. This is why tribes continue to fight to protect their lands and resources. Native nations are sovereign, domestic dependent nations with inherent rights to exist and govern, even though those rights have repeatedly been ignored by the federal government (Leal and Cheshire 4.5).
3.Explain how American Indian is not an Ethnic Group. Use specific examples to differentiate between cultural and political identities.
American Indian is not an ethnic group because it is a political identity rooted in having control over one’s own laws, land, and people without outside interference and nationhood. Native peoples have a unique legal and political status in the United States as citizens of sovereign tribal nations. Elizabeth Cook-Lynn explains that “the major reason for the development of Native American Studies as a discipline was to defend indigenous nationhood” (1997,p11). This shows that American Indian identity is based on political rights, not only shared culture. Cultural identity includes language, traditions, and lived experiences. Political identity includes sovereignty, treaties, and self-governance. Native sovereignty movements, such as the Red Power movement, focused on political rights and land, not ethnic recognition. These movements were also influenced by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, showing how political struggles can unite different groups. Vine Deloria Jr. argued that sovereignty can be “a critical framework for any group seeking liberation” (p.118). Ethnic groups do not hold sovereign power or form treaties. This is why American Indian identity is political rather than ethnic.
Racist Nativism is a concept rooted in white supremacy and the violent history of land takeover in the United States. It explains how white Americans came to see themselves as the “native” people of the nation after the genocide and forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples. Through this process, Native identity was taken away from Indigenous communities and claimed by white America. Perez Huber explains that Racist Nativism “creates the defense and protection of a nationalistic identity, where the foreigner becomes a perceived threat to the nationalistic identity” (Perez Huber, 2010, p. 80). This idea allows white Americans to label non-white people as outsiders while claiming ownership of the land. Racist Nativism is therefore used to connect whiteness, power, and belonging to U.S. soil and to decide who is considered “suitable” to be an American (Perez Huber et al.).I also learned that The U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that American Indian identity is political. In the 1974 case Morton v. Mancari, the Court ruled that laws that apply specifically to American Indians are political, not racial. The Court explained that these laws are based on the special political relationship between tribes and the federal government. This decision is very important. It confirms that American Indians are treated differently under the law because of their political status, not because of race or ethnicity.
This relationship also weakened treaty protections, because treaties were often treated as flexible or breakable even though they are described as the supreme law of the land, and tribes were forced to fight for enforcement through costly court battles (Leal and Cheshire 4.5).I learned from the chapter that land, water, and mineral rights were repeatedly threatened or taken, and tribes had to rely on legal strategies like “reserved rights” to defend resources they never agreed to give up (Leal and Cheshire 4.5).
Overall, the guardian model undermined Native people’s right to identify themselves as self-governing nations and made sovereignty conditional on federal approval instead of being recognized as inherent.
Prompt 1: “Guardian” relationship, sovereignty, and land/resource rights
The federal “guardian–ward” relationship harmed tribal self-determination because it framed Native nations as incapable of governing themselves and made the U.S. government the decision-maker over Native lives and lands. This patriarchal structure reduced sovereignty by putting tribes under federal control, even though Native nations are sovereign, domestic dependent nations with inherent rights to exist and govern (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). When Native people were legally treated like “children,” the government could justify breaking promises and limiting tribal authority, because it claimed it was acting for Native people’s “best interest.” This relationship also weakened treaty protections, because treaties were often treated as flexible or breakable even though they are described as the supreme law of the land, and tribes were forced to fight for enforcement through costly court battles (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). As a result, land, water, and mineral rights were repeatedly threatened or taken, and tribes had to rely on legal strategies like “reserved rights” to defend resources they never agreed to give up (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). Overall, the guardian model undermined Native people’s right to identify themselves as self-governing nations and made sovereignty conditional on federal approval instead of being recognized as inherent.
Prompt 3: Why “American Indian” is not an ethnic group
American Indian is not only an ethnic category because it is also a political identity tied to sovereignty and legal relationships with the U.S. government. The reading explains that tribes are sovereign nations and that federal responsibilities exist because of government-to-government relationships created through treaties, laws, and Supreme Court decisions (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). This political status is different from ethnicity, which usually describes shared culture, language, or ancestry without legal nationhood. For example, the Indian Health Service exists because of treaty and trust obligations, not because Native people are simply a cultural minority group (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). Also, land and resource rights are protected through treaties and “reserved rights,” which are political/legal tools that come from nation-to-nation agreements, not from ethnic identity (Leal and Cheshire 4.5). In this way, “American Indian” includes citizenship and belonging to a tribal nation, and it connects to collective rights like land, water, education, and governance that ethnic groups do not have in the same legal way.
Two-Sentence Comments to Classmates (post separately)
Comment for Classmate 1:
I like how you explained the “guardian” idea as a power strategy and not a neutral form of help. Your example showed clearly how that relationship limited tribal decision-making and harmed sovereignty over time (Leal and Cheshire 4.5).
Comment for Classmate 2:
Your point about political identity helped me understand why “American Indian” is more than culture or ancestry. I also liked how you connected it to treaty rights and federal obligations, because that shows the nation-to-nation relationship (Leal and Cheshire 4.5).
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