all federal Indian law is on the table
September 20, 2021 3:21 AM Subscribe
Award-winning Cherokee writer, activist and journalist Rebecca Nagle [ᎪᎯᏂ ᏓᏆᏙᎠ. ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎨᎳ.] has focused the second season of her This Land podcast (previously, previouslier) on a Texas foster care case that is turning out to be something much more ominous: a far right federal trojan horse using Native children, and aiming for the wholesale dismantling of American Indian rights in the U.S.
Episodes, so far:
1. Solomon's Sword
2. Behind The Curtain
3. Grandma Versus The Foster Parents
4. Supply And Demand
5. Pro Bono
6. Trojan Horse
Interviews with Nagle at NativeNewsOnline and (audio) WBUR On Point.
Also: This Land's Resources for Survivors page.
Episodes, so far:
1. Solomon's Sword
2. Behind The Curtain
3. Grandma Versus The Foster Parents
4. Supply And Demand
5. Pro Bono
6. Trojan Horse
Interviews with Nagle at NativeNewsOnline and (audio) WBUR On Point.
Also: This Land's Resources for Survivors page.
See also the Indian Termination Policy, where the US government from 1940-1970 had an official policy to abrogate treaties, dissolve recognition of tribes, move Natives to urban areas, and sell their land from under them. Also see the 19 Hopi men imprisoned on Alcatraz for failing to turn over their children to boarding schools back in 1896.
posted by blob at 5:53 AM on September 20, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by blob at 5:53 AM on September 20, 2021 [9 favorites]
Previously on Mefi.
Completely missed that thread, thanks, praemunire. (Good to see that some comments there already had a pretty clear idea of what was/is at play here...)
posted by progosk at 7:57 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Completely missed that thread, thanks, praemunire. (Good to see that some comments there already had a pretty clear idea of what was/is at play here...)
posted by progosk at 7:57 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
There are good transcripts for all the shows at the links.
What I take away in particular:
1. The way family/community/emotional stuff is the visible part of the iceberg - it isn't just Christian-ideological or generic-white-cultural-racism, it's a whole campaign to use the destruction of families and communities to take material resources.
2. There's no "misunderstandings". A lot of times in the media white families get treated as if they are just bumbling along loving these kids and isn't it a conflict with two sides and isn't it sad. But here, it's clear that from the very beginning the adoptive parents knew that they'd be fighting ICWA and it's clear that the state and Chevron's attorneys were looking for a proxy case behind the scenes. It isn't just a question of individuals and families in individual circumstances, even bad and racist individuals and families.
3. Once again the far right is rich, organized and emotionally invested in their cause.
4. Gibson Dunn is the law firm for Chevron and they're the ones who are responsible for, essentially, the political detention of Steven Donziger, who won a court case against Chevron in Equador.
5. Which ties it all together - these are all cases about imperialist destruction of anything that stands in the way of looting the earth, whether that's families or laws. This kind of adoption narrative is a way of mobilizing white people into the white supremacist project, either directly because they want to steal children of color or indirectly because they naively fall for the rhetoric of family that is used to excuse the theft.
Very organized and wealthy people among the far right have this evil vision of a looted and subjugated earth, totally integrated into capitalism, totally hierarchical, where they hold the yes and the no over human life. They want to stamp out everything before or outside that vision, particularly Native communities. Like, this isn't a series of coincidental bad things or a random assortment of white people socialized into racism, it is a specific vision of how to dominate the whole planet that is promulgated by an identifiable network of particular people who understand what they are doing.
posted by Frowner at 8:04 AM on September 20, 2021 [48 favorites]
What I take away in particular:
1. The way family/community/emotional stuff is the visible part of the iceberg - it isn't just Christian-ideological or generic-white-cultural-racism, it's a whole campaign to use the destruction of families and communities to take material resources.
2. There's no "misunderstandings". A lot of times in the media white families get treated as if they are just bumbling along loving these kids and isn't it a conflict with two sides and isn't it sad. But here, it's clear that from the very beginning the adoptive parents knew that they'd be fighting ICWA and it's clear that the state and Chevron's attorneys were looking for a proxy case behind the scenes. It isn't just a question of individuals and families in individual circumstances, even bad and racist individuals and families.
3. Once again the far right is rich, organized and emotionally invested in their cause.
4. Gibson Dunn is the law firm for Chevron and they're the ones who are responsible for, essentially, the political detention of Steven Donziger, who won a court case against Chevron in Equador.
5. Which ties it all together - these are all cases about imperialist destruction of anything that stands in the way of looting the earth, whether that's families or laws. This kind of adoption narrative is a way of mobilizing white people into the white supremacist project, either directly because they want to steal children of color or indirectly because they naively fall for the rhetoric of family that is used to excuse the theft.
Very organized and wealthy people among the far right have this evil vision of a looted and subjugated earth, totally integrated into capitalism, totally hierarchical, where they hold the yes and the no over human life. They want to stamp out everything before or outside that vision, particularly Native communities. Like, this isn't a series of coincidental bad things or a random assortment of white people socialized into racism, it is a specific vision of how to dominate the whole planet that is promulgated by an identifiable network of particular people who understand what they are doing.
posted by Frowner at 8:04 AM on September 20, 2021 [48 favorites]
What a bunch of sick, twisted fucks. The cruelty is the point, indeed.
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:37 AM on September 20, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:37 AM on September 20, 2021 [10 favorites]
promulgated by an identifiable network of particular people who understand what they are doing
Please elucidate who and what this network is. I’m serious. I can’t respond to a vague reference to a hidden cabal. Name names, please.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:41 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Please elucidate who and what this network is. I’m serious. I can’t respond to a vague reference to a hidden cabal. Name names, please.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:41 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Please elucidate who and what this network is. I’m serious. I can’t respond to a vague reference to a hidden cabal. Name names, please.
If you read the transcripts, you'll find that Rebecca Nagle has a lot of court records, etc, connecting Chevron, Gibson Dunn, the Texas AG, Texas judges etc. If you read about Steven Donziger's case, you'll find a series of names of lawyers, judges and Chevron executives involved in Chevron's actions in Ecuador.
There is no "mysterious cabal"; there are nameable wealthy lawyers, politicians, think tanks and corporate executives who work on this stuff. I'm not sure why it's so baffling that very rich people who know each other and share interests would work together to, eg, create template legislation, pressure governments in the global south, look for cases they can fund and fight that will give them the precedents they want, etc. Similarly, you can look at anti-abortion legislation, white supremacists organizing, anti-trans organizing, etc, and find a bunch of specific think tanks, foundations, law firms and individual donors who know each other and work on this stuff.
"Lizard people bribed George Bush to do 911" and "Chevron has identifiable interests which it pursues consistently over decades with its allies in courts and government" are not the same kind of statement.
posted by Frowner at 9:01 AM on September 20, 2021 [50 favorites]
If you read the transcripts, you'll find that Rebecca Nagle has a lot of court records, etc, connecting Chevron, Gibson Dunn, the Texas AG, Texas judges etc. If you read about Steven Donziger's case, you'll find a series of names of lawyers, judges and Chevron executives involved in Chevron's actions in Ecuador.
There is no "mysterious cabal"; there are nameable wealthy lawyers, politicians, think tanks and corporate executives who work on this stuff. I'm not sure why it's so baffling that very rich people who know each other and share interests would work together to, eg, create template legislation, pressure governments in the global south, look for cases they can fund and fight that will give them the precedents they want, etc. Similarly, you can look at anti-abortion legislation, white supremacists organizing, anti-trans organizing, etc, and find a bunch of specific think tanks, foundations, law firms and individual donors who know each other and work on this stuff.
"Lizard people bribed George Bush to do 911" and "Chevron has identifiable interests which it pursues consistently over decades with its allies in courts and government" are not the same kind of statement.
posted by Frowner at 9:01 AM on September 20, 2021 [50 favorites]
It’s not baffling, but in this era of the right wing appropriating but misusing terminology and rhetoric from the left, it is good to be in the habit of being specific. Eg. the difference between an actual conspiracy and a conspiracy theory, like the difference between science and religion/magic, is that there is actual evidence for actual conspiracies (not just assumptions, questionably logical deduction from even more questionable and often unstated axioms, “it stands to reason”s, innuendo, etc.). That appropriation of at least the liberal/neoliberal version of progressive language and ideas is quite evident in the arguments made in this court case, for example.
Ideally we should be able to rely on judges who are theoretically highly trained in making such distinctions to see through such misuses, but, well, many judges agree with the larger conservative aims and support the misdirection, as Frowner notes. And many others are really not all that well educated on structural power dynamics, coming as most do from upper middle class, white backgrounds. (And then there’s just the dumb or lazy ones, like the small claims court adjudicator I dealt with a number of years ago who didn’t see a difference between a process that required landlords to make an application to keep a tenant’s security deposit, with landlords paying the application fee and a hearing being automatically triggered prior to award of the security deposit, versus a process that let landlords just file a form about why they were keeping a security deposit, that had no review by anyone unless the tenant filed an application to get their security deposit back. Basically, most teenagers have no trouble understanding the distinction between asking permission and asking forgiveness (let alone requiring the harmed party to have to ask someone to ask them for forgiveness), yet that concept eluded this adjudicator.)
posted by eviemath at 10:51 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Ideally we should be able to rely on judges who are theoretically highly trained in making such distinctions to see through such misuses, but, well, many judges agree with the larger conservative aims and support the misdirection, as Frowner notes. And many others are really not all that well educated on structural power dynamics, coming as most do from upper middle class, white backgrounds. (And then there’s just the dumb or lazy ones, like the small claims court adjudicator I dealt with a number of years ago who didn’t see a difference between a process that required landlords to make an application to keep a tenant’s security deposit, with landlords paying the application fee and a hearing being automatically triggered prior to award of the security deposit, versus a process that let landlords just file a form about why they were keeping a security deposit, that had no review by anyone unless the tenant filed an application to get their security deposit back. Basically, most teenagers have no trouble understanding the distinction between asking permission and asking forgiveness (let alone requiring the harmed party to have to ask someone to ask them for forgiveness), yet that concept eluded this adjudicator.)
posted by eviemath at 10:51 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
"Lizard people bribed George Bush to do 911" and "Chevron has identifiable interests which it pursues consistently over decades with its allies in courts and government" are not the same kind of statement.
and that's not what they were asking for
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:30 AM on September 20, 2021
and that's not what they were asking for
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:30 AM on September 20, 2021
The documentary Dawnland covers this topic through the lens of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission. The challenge to ICWA comes up but it's early in the case (2018).
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:31 AM on September 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:31 AM on September 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
Thanks for this, progosk. I finished Pro Bono last week and had been thinking of doing a FPP on this.
I mentioned the series to some white-centric climate activists, who weren't really paying attention until I said, "And Gibson Dunn, lawyers for Chevron, are working for the white would-be adoptive parents -- pro bono -- because if they're successful, they can undercut Indigenous land rights and then oil & gas can have a free for all in Indigenous land." Maybe this will be their gateway to prioritizing Climate Justice.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 12:59 PM on September 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
I mentioned the series to some white-centric climate activists, who weren't really paying attention until I said, "And Gibson Dunn, lawyers for Chevron, are working for the white would-be adoptive parents -- pro bono -- because if they're successful, they can undercut Indigenous land rights and then oil & gas can have a free for all in Indigenous land." Maybe this will be their gateway to prioritizing Climate Justice.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 12:59 PM on September 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
I think it's worth pointing out this issue as an event in a much-needed re-assessment of the "adoption is always a fairly tale ending" narrative we have in this country. Although it can be, and sometimes is, the truth is many adoptees may escape the neglect of the lower tiers of Maslow's hiearchy but end up missing out on the upper tiers.
I was adopted into a loving family that provided for me well materially (until financial issues stuck when I was in about fourth grade) but my parents, being wartime immigrants, had trauma that left them unequipped to attend to some of my emotional needs. My brother became a drug addict and that tore my family apart. And, even as a child, though I loved my parents knew they did care about me, the truth is I never truly "fit in" with them. Today, I barely speak to my mother and am not on speaking terms with anyone else in my family.
I'm not trying to say my story is indicative of every story, but the statement of financial ability to provide for these children really struck me for this reason. We need to change how we speak about adoption and its impacts on all involved in this country.
This story seems to be the worst iteration of the ways adoption can be harmful to all involved and how the fairy-tale narrative can seep into every day jurisprudence.
posted by CSE279 at 8:34 PM on September 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
I was adopted into a loving family that provided for me well materially (until financial issues stuck when I was in about fourth grade) but my parents, being wartime immigrants, had trauma that left them unequipped to attend to some of my emotional needs. My brother became a drug addict and that tore my family apart. And, even as a child, though I loved my parents knew they did care about me, the truth is I never truly "fit in" with them. Today, I barely speak to my mother and am not on speaking terms with anyone else in my family.
I'm not trying to say my story is indicative of every story, but the statement of financial ability to provide for these children really struck me for this reason. We need to change how we speak about adoption and its impacts on all involved in this country.
This story seems to be the worst iteration of the ways adoption can be harmful to all involved and how the fairy-tale narrative can seep into every day jurisprudence.
posted by CSE279 at 8:34 PM on September 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
It's worth noting that the fairy-tale narrative of adoption was very literally manufactured and spun in order to be able to sell stolen children from poor families to wealthy people who wanted a very specific sort of beautiful, perfect ready-made child without any history or name to exist and remind everyone that the child didn't start and end with them. Its roots are in the gratification and self-aggrandization of adoptive parents, grown in a soil of deep classism, racism, and thwarted ambition. We need to rip that fairy-tale narrative out of the way our culture thinks about, talks about, and justifies adoption at the roots.
That plant has now grown over the previous narrative of what should be done about indigenous children--but always, always in North America, ripping those children from the homes of their parents and wresting them from their families and cultures has been the governmental policy for inconvenient indigenous people for the past hundred and fifty years. Before Georgia Tann sold her fairy-tale narrative, those children were typically piped through institutionalized boarding schools where many of them died (previously); as that fairy-tale narrative has picked up, the dream of white evangelical Christian families that they can literally overwrite the culture and family ties of stolen children and inculcate them to be new soldiers for a very specific form of Jesus has now created an adoptive market for very large families of exactly these kinds of children.
This is an entirely predictable situation with deep historical and cultural roots, and it is not surprising to find very specific communities in the middle of it doing the things they often do. This particular case also tears at very deep, very old cultural wounds for North American Indigenous nations, especially given the revelation of the Kamloops mass graves just last June that ripped those old wounds open and tore at them.
This situation's context is written with the charred bones of dead children, rewriting and deepening two, three hundred years of injustice in the United States and Canada in a deeply familiar cycle. It cannot be allowed to succeed once more.
posted by sciatrix at 8:51 AM on September 21, 2021 [9 favorites]
That plant has now grown over the previous narrative of what should be done about indigenous children--but always, always in North America, ripping those children from the homes of their parents and wresting them from their families and cultures has been the governmental policy for inconvenient indigenous people for the past hundred and fifty years. Before Georgia Tann sold her fairy-tale narrative, those children were typically piped through institutionalized boarding schools where many of them died (previously); as that fairy-tale narrative has picked up, the dream of white evangelical Christian families that they can literally overwrite the culture and family ties of stolen children and inculcate them to be new soldiers for a very specific form of Jesus has now created an adoptive market for very large families of exactly these kinds of children.
This is an entirely predictable situation with deep historical and cultural roots, and it is not surprising to find very specific communities in the middle of it doing the things they often do. This particular case also tears at very deep, very old cultural wounds for North American Indigenous nations, especially given the revelation of the Kamloops mass graves just last June that ripped those old wounds open and tore at them.
This situation's context is written with the charred bones of dead children, rewriting and deepening two, three hundred years of injustice in the United States and Canada in a deeply familiar cycle. It cannot be allowed to succeed once more.
posted by sciatrix at 8:51 AM on September 21, 2021 [9 favorites]
Another background factor to consider here is that, particularly since the pandemic began, tribal governments have done a much better job at providing services for their constituents than the states they reside in.
posted by Cash4Lead at 9:37 AM on October 6, 2021
posted by Cash4Lead at 9:37 AM on October 6, 2021
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(a) F them and the horse they rode in on.
(b) Seems to me like that belief ought to be disqualifying for adoptive parents on its own. Shows a complete lack of understanding of the basics of child development and emotional care. The individual plaintiff families in this case also seem to be hostile to the basic cultural background of the kids they are wanting to adopt. Seems to me that wanting to adopt a kid as part of some white supremacist project rather than wanting the kid to have connection to any broader family or community that does welcome the child and wouldn’t be an explicitly harmful influence in the child’s life also ought to be disqualifying for adoptive parents. Of course, from what I can tell, a lot of adoption law is explicitly designed to be classist, racist, and colonialist, so the fact that neither of those are considerations, while enraging, is unsurprising.
posted by eviemath at 3:49 AM on September 20, 2021 [22 favorites]