📜 Indigenous Citizenship Under Attack: Examining Trump's Order to Erase Native American Rights
Analyzing Trump's executive order and its implications for Native American identity and rights in the face of ongoing colonial struggles.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
In a recent turn of events, former President Trump 🏛️ signed an order questioning whether Native Americans born on tribal lands 🌄 are U.S. citizens, which is a big deal because it reminds us of when our ancestors fought for their rights ⚖️ a long time ago. Additionally, he wants to change the name of Denali 🏔️, a mountain that has been called that for centuries by Native people, back to a name from a president who never visited 🕰️. Even though a judge stopped his order ⏳ for now, Indigenous communities 🤝 are coming together to defend their rights ✊ and their connection to the land 🌍.
🗝️ Takeaways
🚨 Trump's executive order threatens the birthright citizenship of Native Americans.
📜 Historical legal precedents (like Elk v. Wilkins) are being resurrected to challenge Indigenous citizenship.
✍️ The renaming of Denali symbolizes a broader attempt to erase Indigenous identities from the landscape.
⏳ A temporary legal block provides a moment of reprieve, but the ongoing struggle for rights continues.
🤝 Tribal nations are mobilizing to defend their sovereignty and citizenship as both individuals and nations.
The Colonial Ghost: Trump's Latest Attack on Indigenous Citizenship Haunts Indian Country
Osiyo, relatives. This week's news hits different—a bone-deep ache that reminds us how the colonial machine never stops grinding.
Just days into his new term, Trump conjured the ghosts of manifest destiny in his inaugural address, praising the "conquest of the Wild West" before signing an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.
But beneath these headlines lies a darker shadow—one that threatens to resurrect the worst of 19th-century federal Indian law. Like the winter wind across the plains, his words carry echoes of generations of erasure. The Justice Department's legal defense of this order has reached into the grave of history, pulling out arguments that pre-date the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, raising questions about Native Americans born on sovereign tribal lands.
My phone hasn't stopped buzzing with texts from relatives across Indian Country.
"Did you see this?" they ask. "Are they really trying to question our citizenship?"
Yes, they are. And the way they're doing it makes my ancestors weep.
The Justice Department's filing cites the same poisoned words that haunted our great-grandparents—that clause in the 14th Amendment about being "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. They're wielding our sovereignty like a weapon against us, just as they did in the 1800s.
When Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson, president of the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, asked on Facebook "Where do we get deported to?", I felt the weight of generations in those words. Our people have already survived forced removal, already endured being told we don't belong on our own lands.
The audacity burns like sage in a windstorm.
As if questioning our citizenship weren't enough, Trump now wants to remove our names from the land. He's trying to rename Denali—The High One, as our Koyukon Athabaskan relatives have known it since time immemorial—back to McKinley, a president who never even set foot in Alaska.
Relatives, they're not just coming for our citizenship—they're trying to erase us from the very landscape.
When I think about Trump invoking "manifest destiny" while praising the "conquest of the Wild West," I hear our ancestors’ voices telling us about the names—the real names—of the mountains, rivers, and valleys around us.
Each Indigenous place name carries stories, history, and the memory of our ancestors' footsteps. When they try to rename Denali, they're not just changing a name on a map—they're attempting to sever our connection to the land itself.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump's order, giving us two weeks of breathing room. But make no mistake, relatives—this is just the latest chapter in a story as old as colonization itself.
The Ghost of Elk v. Wilkins
The year was 1884. Our great-great grandfather was living through the aftermath of forced removal, watching as the federal government allotted tribal lands. During this time of profound upheaval, John Elk, a Winnebago man, tried to vote in Omaha, Nebraska.
Elk had done everything the colonizer's system demanded.
He left his tribe, moved to the city, paid taxes, and claimed his right to citizenship under the 14th Amendment. However, when he tried to register to vote, the registrar, Charles Wilkins, denied him.
Why? Because Elk was born on tribal lands, and according to the government, that meant he wasn't "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States.
Let that sink in, relatives.
The same words the Trump administration is wielding today—"subject to the jurisdiction"—were used to deny our ancestors their basic rights nearly 140 years ago. The Supreme Court's ruling in Elk v. Wilkins said that Native people born in tribal nations couldn't claim citizenship under the 14th Amendment because we owed "immediate allegiance" to our tribes.
The bitter irony burns like sage.
Patterns of Colonial Power
Through allotment, through termination, through every era of federal Indian policy, we've seen this same pattern: the government uses our sovereignty against us when it serves their purposes, then tries to strip that sovereignty away when it doesn't.
Our grandmothers used to tell us stories about the day they first voted, after the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 finally recognized what should have been obvious—that we are both citizens of our tribal nations AND citizens of the United States. The pride in her voice when she described walking into that voting booth still echoes in my ears.
But here we are in 2025, and the Justice Department is citing Elk v. Wilkins as if the Indian Citizenship Act never happened. As if decades of federal Indian law never happened. As if our grandmothers never proudly cast that ballot.
The Fight Continues
The Trump administration's legal argument is like a poorly woven blanket—full of holes and lacking the intricate patterns that tell our true story. They conveniently forget that Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act precisely because cases like Elk v. Wilkins created an unjust barrier to Indigenous citizenship rights.
Today, as I watch tribal nations mount sophisticated legal challenges to this latest attack, I see the wisdom of those who came before us. They taught us that citizenship —both tribal and U.S.—isn't just about legal status. It's about belonging, about responsibility, about the sacred trust between nations.
Our ancestors survived removal, survived allotment, survived termination. They watched as the meaning of citizenship evolved from Elk v. Wilkins to the Indian Citizenship Act, from the Indian Civil Rights Act to the present day. They passed down stories of resistance, of persistence, of the complex dance between maintaining tribal sovereignty and claiming our rights as U.S. citizens.
The Pattern of Erasure
This latest attack follows a pattern as old as colonization itself.
From the doctrine of discovery to manifest destiny, from boarding schools to blood quantum, from the erasure of our names to the questioning of our citizenship —it's all part of the same colonial project.
They try to erase us from the land, from history, from the present, from the future.
But we are still here.
Our names for the land still echo in our languages. Denali still stands tall, regardless of what they try to call it. Our stories still flow like rivers through generations. When Trump speaks of "manifest destiny" and "conquering the Wild West," he reveals his ignorance of a simple truth:
You cannot conquer what was never wild, discover what was never lost, or erase what refuses to disappear.
Looking Forward
The federal judge's temporary block on Trump's executive order gives us breathing room, but make no mistake—this fight isn't over. Just as John Elk's case eventually led to the Indian Citizenship Act, our response to this latest challenge will shape the future of Indigenous rights for generations to come.
To my relatives reading this—remember that our story didn't start with Elk v. Wilkins, and it won't end with Trump's executive order. We carry the strength of countless generations in our DNA. We know who we are and where we belong.
The same courts that once denied John Elk his rights will hear our voices now. And this time, we speak not just as individuals, but as sovereign nations united in protecting both our tribal sovereignty and our rightful place as citizens of the United States.
Together we rise, together we resist, together we remember.
Share your stories in the comments, relatives. How are your tribal communities responding to this week's attack on our citizenship? What are your elders saying about this latest attempt to question our belonging on our own lands?
#IndigenousResistance #NativePolitics #DecolonizeAmerica #LandBack #TribalSovereignty #BirthrighCitizenship #SaveDenali #StopErasure #ManifestDestinyIsGenocide
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The evil of Trump grows exponentially. He believes that this is a nation for (almost exclusively) white people who think as he does. NO ONE ELSE HAS RIGHTS. He also believes this is a Christian nation, which can tolerate Jews only because of Israel (i.e., to prepare for the Second Coming). Minority rights will be severely challenged until the next president takes office. Meanwhile, Caligula will declare war on the environment.
The issue of Denali is obscene. The people of Alaska -- Democrats and ReThuglicans -- were willing to let go of "Mt. McKinley," while strong opposition came from the former president's home state (Ohio), most of whose citizens had never stepped foot in Alaska, let alone Denali.
I have "liked" your exposure of these issues. I certainly do not "like" the news itself, but I hope you will keep it coming our way!
Another Make America Great Again moments , let’s look a little deeper, BINGO! There it is, he wants to own their LAND!!! But wait for it he wants their casinos too! What’s next?