[Yale-forests-reading-group] Week 8: Black Lives Matter and Intersectionality

[Reid L]

Black Lives Matter and Intersectionality


Introduction

This week marks the end of our summer learning series before we transition
into a new form for autumn, and we want to circle back to when this reading
group began: in the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd and the
upwelling of resistance that followed. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery -- among others -- galvanized the world, stoked
the flames of resistance, and prompted increased scrutiny of so many
systems of oppression, including racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia,
and settler colonialism. At the Yale Forests, we had started to examine
what a meaningful land acknowledgement would look like as students and
practitioners of stewardship in the Northeast, a process that led us to
form this reading group. Rather than simply acknowledge the Native peoples
whose land we work and study on at the Yale Forests, we wanted to turn that
reflective statement into acts of practice. Like so many around the world,
we were inspired to actualize the reading group portion of this work on the
heels of the Black Lives Matter movement's call to action. This reading
group is dedicated to recentering Native life and experience in the
Northeast and beyond, and cannot fully do so without also exploring the
intersections with Black lives and experiences, as well as acknowledging
the social context in which we began this work. This week, we will explore
the intertwining histories of Black and Native Americans, highlighting the
intersections of Black and Native resistance. We have had the privilege of
collaborating with and receiving guidance from Meghanlata Gupta on this
week's content. In the following paragraph, Meghan explains in her own
words the intersectionality of Native and Black lives:

In the United States, the early settler-colonial project operated
differently for Native Americans and Black Americans. In seeking the total
genocide of Indigenous peoples and cultures and full assimilation into
white society, the United States used structures of blood quantum, boarding
schools, urban relocation, and forced Christianization, among others. In
seeking to continue the oppressive practices of slavery and Black
disenfranchisement, and thus continue denying Black communities civil
rights and resources, the US enacted Jim Crow laws and promoted policing,
racial capitalism, and incarceration. In this way, we see the colonial
project working in different and somewhat opposite ways—so while Native and
Black peoples have shared lived experiences, it is necessary to note that
there are distinct ways in which anti-Blackness pervades ALL non-Black
spaces, especially as we discuss Native American involvement with African
enslavement. Additionally, it is equally important that we adopt a
transnational understanding of Indigeneity when we speak about Black and
Indigenous relationships in the United States. Many Black communities in
the United States are descended from displaced Indigenous peoples who were
taken from their own homes to further the trans-Atlantic slave trade and
slave-labor plantations. Today, Black tribal citizens have shared their
stories of what it means to be Black and Indigenous through a series
<https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/what-does-it-mean-to-be-black-and-native-in-2020-T8eoAtse606ZYCTODPX1og>
from Indian Country Today. It is absolutely essential that we both hold
ourselves accountable for the ways in which we have perpetuated
anti-Blackness, continue to educate ourselves, and work to center Black
voices and organizing efforts in all that we do.

Part 1: A complex history

Black and Native peoples have shared space on the continent for hundreds of
years, along with the white colonizers who forcibly brought them together.
The stories of these two communities and their interconnectedness are rich,
complex, and always in progress. This week, we'll touch on this history of
intersection and consider how stories of the past are part of an unbroken
line to the present moment's collective resistance to white supremacy.

To start, we're listening to a story told by Dr. Rae Gould, whom we
referenced last week. Dr. Gould is a member of the Nipmuc Nation of
Massachusetts and currently the Associate Director of Native American and
Indigenous Studies at Brown University. In 2012, she gave a talk with
Ramona Peters of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe at the Mashantucket Pequot
Museum and Research Center <http://www.pequotmuseum.org/default.aspx> in
Ledyard, Connecticut as part of a traveling exhibit put on by the
Smithsonian Institution. The exhibit was titled IndiVisible: African-Native
American Lives in the Americas.

Dr. Gould describes growing up in Northeast Connecticut, in a family that
was both Native and African American. It wasn't something that struck her
as unusual, until she decided to start her own family and an in-law asked,
"is your mother white?" As a scholar, Dr. Gould takes this experience and
looks backward through the lens of perceived authenticity. She asks, "Who
determines what a real Indian is? What they should look like? What they
should act like?"

John Milton Earle, Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, was tasked with answering these questions in the mid-1800s.
He was commissioned to produce a comprehensive report of all the Native
American tribes in the state. In his words, he was looking for members of
"a race, naturally inclined to a roving and unsettled life." Of those who
self-identified as Native, Earle described that "some of them still
possessed the lank, glossy black hair; the high cheekbones; the dark,
bright eye, and other features peculiar to the race." He also notes that
some Native Americans had intermarried with whites, "losing their distinct
identity as a distinct class." He laments, "this would have been a
fortunate thing for all the tribes if it would have been so with all of
them."

When Earle's report was published in 1861, the government was gearing up to
"enfranchise" Native Americans, a process epitomized by the Dawes Act that
we discussed last week. The government performed this census on regional
tribal groups in order to determine how to break up communally-held Native
land. As Dr. Gould describes, Earle's process was to catalog the Native
groups of Massachusetts in order to "make them go away as Indians." Far
from being lost in the annals of history, Earle's report is the document
that the Bureau of Indian Affairs refers back to to resolve questions of
federal recognition.

Dr. Gould cites the example of Mary Curliss Vickers, a Pegan Nipmuc whom
Earle categorized as "miscellaneous" Indian despite the fact that she could
document her entire family history going back generations. Earle
categorized Native people this way when he could not place them into a
particular tribe, either due to inadequate information or simply because
they did not fit the stereotypes he expected to see. This categorization
was used in the 2000s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to deny recognition
of Nipmuc membership to all of Mary Curliss Vickers' descendents -- nearly
half of the Tribe, including Dr. Rae Gould.

Vickers didn't dress in full Native regalia, and critically -- as Dr. Gould
points out -- was also African American. In other words, she didn't meet
Earle's standard of what he believed a Native American should look and act
like. By relying on Earle's report to decide tribal affiliation, the BIA
continues to racially stereotype. As Dr. Gould put it, "they're not saying
it's about skin color, but yet it's there, it's a constant subtext."
Another example is the Cisco family, who lived on the Hassanamisco Nipmuc
Reservation for generations. Earle categorized Samuel Cisco, a man with
both African American and Narragansett ancestry who married into a Nipmuc
family, as simply a "colored foreigner," despite the family's central role
in tribal life on the reservation. This categorization would affect his
descendents for generations.

You can listen to the full story recorded as a podcast, and we're resharing
a resource from last week, Dr. Rae Gould's dissertation, where much of the
story is recorded.

Images from "Contested places: The history and meaning of Hassanamisco" by
Dr. Rae Gould




Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond podcast: Episode 1,
2012: "African-Native American Lives in Massachusetts"

http://www.indigenouspolitics.com/2012-2/

Contested Places: The history and meaning of Hassanamisco - Dr. Rae Gould

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47869343_Contested_places_The_history_and_meaning_of_Hassanamisco#read

Dr. Gould's story is one among many considered in the Smithsonian exhibit.
The exhibit examines and grapples with these immensely complex
relationships: relationships between Native and Black Americans, and the
relationships between both groups and colonizers.

"Native peoples experienced slavery—and saw enslaved Africans—differently
at different times and places. Early in the colonial period, Native
Americans were sometimes enslaved alongside African Americans. They
intermarried and lived through common struggles. Some even coordinated
armed resistance to white encroachment.

Later, Native tribes sometimes took in and harbored runaway slaves,
accepting them into their communities and blending in their cultural
expressions. But members of some Native nations, particularly the
southeastern tribes that emulated white society, themselves kept African
American slaves."

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas

https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/indivisible/index.html

While there are many, many stories of collective Black and Indigenous
resistance throughout history, there has also been conflict. Even as
regiments of Buffalo Soldiers fought Native peoples on behalf of the U.S.
government, some Native American tribes held African slaves, often as a way
to fit into a mold forced on them by colonizers. Rather than shy away from
this complicated history, there are those, such as Rebecca Nagle of
the Cherokee
Nation, who confront it head on. Nagle describes how the Cherokee Nation
has a long history of intermarrying with both Blacks and whites. "By 1850"
she writes, "an estimated half of all Cherokee citizens were of mixed
race." In the aftermath of the Dawes Act, which we explored last week, "the
lines of citizenship hardened." This increasingly obsessive identity
accounting reached its maximum expression in the establishment of "blood
quantum" laws for Native Americans. This accounting system -- still used
today by both the federal government and some Native tribes -- assigns a
percentage of "Indian blood" based on ancestry recorded in rolls such as
John Milton Earle's 1861 report. Yet, as explored earlier, being assigned
full Native blood in those early registries was often based on seemingly
irrelevant factors such as skin color and style of dress. Elizabeth Rule --
a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a doctoral candidate at Brown
University who specializes in Native American studies -- explained the
racialized nature of using a "blood quantum" to NPR in 2019:

"[A] great example for how to understand this problem in real life is that
there is a history of freedmen who are black individuals who were living as
fully incorporated members of Indian tribes. And when these original roles
were taken, oftentimes these freedmen were not included, even though those
individuals may be of mixed heritage: black and Indian. Because of their
black appearance, they were listed on a separate roll. And today, the
ramification is that they do not have that original enrollee [in their
past]. They do not have enough blood quantum, and therefore oftentimes
cannot be extended tribal membership."

These histories show the ways in which the framework of race -- a white
construct
<https://timeline.com/europeans-invented-the-concept-of-race-as-we-know-it-58f896fae625>--
has been used at times to force Black and Native Americans into opposition
with one another rather than into allyship. Nagle highlights this when
acknowledging that many within the Cherokee Nation held people as slaves
themselves, and that, despite this fact and the extent of intermarrying and
relationships between Native and Black Americans, by 1983 the Cherokee
Nation was denying the right to vote to descendants of people whose names
were listed on freedmen registries. After a protracted court battle, in
2017 "the nation restored the inherent Cherokee citizenship rights of the
freedmen descendants."

So What Exactly Is 'Blood Quantum'?

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/02/09/583987261/so-what-exactly-is-blood-quantum

Cherokee Nation adopted racism from Europeans. It's time to reject it.

https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-race-and-racism-cherokee-nation-adopted-racism-from-europeans-its-time-to-reject-it

Katrina Phillips, a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe
and an assistant professor of history at Macalester College, looks at a
single physical place, called Bdote (Twin Cities, Minnesota) by the Dakota
people, to explore the complex, intertwined stories of Native and Black
Americans. This is a site where colonizers would build a military fort,
called Fort Snelling, and where the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis
would be incorporated. In a blog post for the National Museum of American
History, Phillips connects the pre-colonial history and colonial legacy of
this sacred place to the murder of George Floyd this past May.

In 1805, colonists "purchased" the land at Bdote from the Dakota for "$200
worth of presents," and began constructing Fort Snelling in 1820. While the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned slavery in the Northwest Territory, and
"the Missouri Compromise of 1820 also banned slavery in the Louisiana
Purchase north of the 36°30' parallel," a number of colonists living at the
fort -- including Josiah Snelling, the Fort's namesake -- owned enslaved
Africans. In fact, "Lawrence Taliaferro, who served as the Indian Agent at
the fort from 1820 to 1839, was the biggest local slaveholder in the
region," importing enslaved people  from Virginia and using the fort as a
staging area to buy and sell human beings. Phillips chronicles how a number
of these enslaved Africans held at Fort Snelling sued -- some successfully
-- for their freedom, including a slave named Dred Scott. Scott's case
would eventually go to the Supreme Court in 1857, and become the basis for
the infamous ruling that enslaved people were not included under the word
"citizens" in the constitution. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
"compared enslaved people to American Indians, arguing that the situation
of enslaved people was 'altogether unlike that of the Indian race.' Even
though Native nations 'were uncivilized, they were yet a free and
independent people…governed by their own laws.'"

Fort Snelling was an important site in the Dakota Wars, a conflict which
resulted in the death, imprisonment, and exile of thousands of Dakota. It
also served as the headquarters for regiments of all-Black military units,
who came to be known as "Buffalo Soldiers." A central task given to these
soldiers was to control American Indians on the Great Plains. Phillips
notes that the legacy of these soldiers is complicated, "particularly in
terms of reconciling pride in military service with the regiments' role in
the violence against and displacement of Native people."

Collective Black and Native activism has pushed the fort to embrace this
complex  history, rather than try to forget it. Phillips writes:

Fort Snelling was decommissioned in 1946. It was designated as a National
Historic Landmark in 1960, and it reopened as Historic Fort Snelling in
1970. Its initial interpretations centered on life at the fort in 1827, so
visitors never learned about enslaved people, the U.S.-Dakota War and its
aftermath, or buffalo soldiers. However, local Black and Native community
members, activists, and organizations have encouraged the Minnesota
Historical Society (MNHS) to offer more inclusive and comprehensive
interpretations and programming. In 2019, for instance, MNHS updated some
signage to read "Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote." Continued activism has
helped lead to a plan to revitalize the fort and increase the number of
stories that will be told, including perspectives from Native nations,
soldiers, enslaved and free African Americans, and Japanese Americans
during World War II."

"Where Two Waters Come Together": The Confluence of Black and Indigenous
History at Bdote

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/where-two-waters

The effects of colonization and national culture imbued with white
supremacy have left behind a complex legacy, which is reflected in the
identities of all whom they've touched. We recommend this short video by
the New York Times titled A Conversation With Native Americans on Race which
includes perspectives from those identifying as Black as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siMal6QVblE

Additional Resources

Albert B. Southwick's indignant column defending Earle:

https://www.telegram.com/article/20070218/COLUMN21/702180533

Analysis of "I-hya Talu-tsa (River Cane Basket)" by EC Mingo

https://ygsna.sites.yale.edu/news/students-offer-object-analyses-place-nations-generations-beings

"Beyond Blood Quantum" from the podcast All My Relations

https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/49fcb76f/ep-10-beyond-blood-quantum


Part 2: Connected in the Past, Present, & Future

Despite its complexities, the historical relationship between Black and
Native peoples  has been one of resistance. As noted in the online archive
of the IndiVisible exhibit:

"Throughout their shared history, African American and Native peoples have
risen up together to fight against oppression. At times, the two
communities came together in solidarity but kept themselves separate. At
other times, however, the people blended through these struggles, forming
irrevocable bonds of kinship.

Escaped African American slaves who were adopted into Native communities
defended tribal homelands against invasion as a way to preserve their own
freedom and that of their allies. When enslaved together, Native and
African American captives attempted to overthrow those who claimed to own
them. These compatriots were sometimes executed together in retaliation for
defying the racial order."

Arguably, Native and Black resistance have never been stronger than in the
last decade. Major protests such as Standing Rock and the Black Lives
Matter protests of 2013 through to the present have captivated public
attention, won legal victories, and shifted the national conversation on
race and justice. This has been accomplished, in part, through solidarity
between the movements. As  Leanne Betasamosake Simpson -- a Michi Saagiig
Nishnaabeg scholar, writer and artist -- wrote in 2014 (in the aftermath of
the jury decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for the
murder of Michael Brown):

"I was reminded over and over this week that black and indigenous
communities of struggle are deeply connected through our experiences with
colonialism, oppression, and white supremacy. Indigenous and black people
are disproportionately attacked and targeted by the state, and, in fact,
policing in Turtle Island was born of the need to suppress and oppress
black and indigenous resistance to colonialism and slavery.

Indigenous and black women are consistently decentered from our communities
and targeted by four centuries of gendered violence, while black queer and
indigenous Two-Spirit communities are targets of multiple sites of
oppression, violence, and erasure. Black and indigenous children have been
stolen from their families throughout colonial history through the
institutions of slavery, and in Canada the residential schools and the
child welfare system. We are interconnected through systems of oppression
that would prefer us not to exist unless it can exploit us as commodities
for labor."

An Indigenous View on #BlackLivesMatter

https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2014/12/06/indigenous-view-black-lives-matter-leanne-simpson/

This solidarity has been on display all around the country. Writing for
High Country News, Brian Bull -- a journalist and member of the Nez Perce
Tribe -- tells the story of joint activism efforts in the city of Eugene,
Oregon. As dubious statues and monuments are being taken down all around
the country, activists in Eugene focused in on The Pioneer. The statue was
erected in 1919 to white supremacist fanfare, with speeches made about the
greatness of the "white race." For years Black and Native activists have
worked together in Eugene, and a group pulled the statue down this summer,
dragging it to the steps of the administration building of the University
of Oregon. Bull points out that this is only the latest expression of joint
activism.

"Long before this summer of protest, Black and Native American activists
have supported each other's efforts to reexamine the white-centric,
widespread, and woefully inaccurate history of this country, while also
urging American society as a whole to recognize systemic racism and
inequality—and to do something about them. Toppling statues of Christopher
Columbus, Confederate soldiers, The Pioneer—they are all part of a legacy
of oppression, displacement and slavery."

Indigenous and Black Lives Matter activists join forces in Oregon

https://www.hcn.org/articles/race-and-racism-native-americans-and-black-lives-matter-activists-join-forces-in-oregon

This model of solidarity is inspiring; it's a powerful challenge to the
damage of the past and the oppression of the present. In his piece for the The
Nation, photographer Josué Rivas -- affiliated with the Mexica and Otomi
people -- describes the supportive role he took in recent BLM protests in
Portland, Oregon, and what it means to work as an ally. Rivas says:

"Ultimately, our sovereignty as Indigenous peoples is interwoven with Black
liberation. When their image is honored, we are all honored."

Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty Are Interconnected

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/black-liberation-indigenous-sovereignty/

Additional Resources

February 2020 Issue of Indigenizing the News: Happy Black History Month!

https://mailchi.mp/88f522fa8dee/february-2020-happy-black-history-month

June 2020 Issue of Indigenizing the News: #BLM for the Anniversary Issue

https://mailchi.mp/ae926f220faf/june-2020-blm-for-the-anniversary-issue

July 2020 Issue of Indigenizing the News: BLM, Prise, Mascots, McGirt, and
more.

https://mailchi.mp/3febf02864c1/july-2020-where-we-are-where-we-are-going


--


Thanks so much for following along this week. Have thoughts, comments, or
reflections you'd like to share? Are there resources you feel we should
have included? We hope you'll send an email our way:
yale-forests-reading-group at mailman.yale.edu or check us out on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/yaleschoolforests/. Let us know if you would like
us to consider sharing your comment with the whole group! If you would be
more comfortable sharing thoughts and feedback with us anonymously, please
do so here: https://forms.gle/4tPajvuuB6vpC9mGA.

Think a friend might enjoy subscribing? They can subscribe and learn more
at our info page:
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/yale-forests-reading-group. You
can find past posts in our archives:
https://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/yale-forests-reading-group/.


We who are learning from these resources are so immensely fortunate; we
strive to hold a similarly immense amount of gratitude. The resources we've
learned from throughout the summer have shown the inextricable connection
of past, present, and future; how innumerable lives have fought against the
horrors of oppression. To those past lives, if they will receive it, we
humbly express our utmost sincere gratitude. We would also like to express
tremendous thanks to those presently leading against oppression and erasure
of Black and Indigenous peoples: Black and Indigenous activists. Thank you
to the organizers, protesters, researchers, writers, and all those who have
brought us a worldview of justice.

Particularly, we would like to sincerely thank all those of the Black Lives
Matter movement for their resounding call to action that helped foster
tremendous momentum of social justice. We would also like to particularly
thank the researchers, authors, and activists whose work we have shared:
Dr. Rae Gould, Rebecca Nagle, Elizabeth Rule, Katrina Phillips, Leanne
Betasamosake Simpson, Brian Bull, and Josué Rivas. Thank you for your
incredible work and for sharing your knowledge. We would also like to
express our continued gratitude towards Meghanlata Gupta, founder and
editor-in-chief of Indigenizing the News, for her collaboration. You can
subscribe to Indigenizing the News here
<https://www.indigenizingthenews.com/>.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/yale-forests-reading-group/attachments/20200904/16e4a8ad/attachment-0001.html>