Black and Native solidarity will be so difficult and so complex because although both groups have committed harm against one another, Native tribes committed harms (like slavery, discrimination, and violence) as sovereign nations, whereas Black Americans committed harms without
political independence or sovereignty. The Buffalo Soldiers, for example, were soldiers associated with the US army. They were acting as agents of the US govt and not their own political wills. There’s a stark difference in what accountability should and could look like.
Native tribes are often infantilized across the board, and are treated as “sovereign” in name, while either federal and state governments ignore their treaties and rights or Native activists excuse their historical and present harms.
Native tribes must be held to the same standard as other sovereign nations, especially in regards to how the are treating the descendants of their slaves. Their policies would never be accepted by Americans if they were being committed against Black descendants of slaves in other
countries. We must hold Native nations to the same standards of other nations, particularly when they’ve perpetuated real and tangible harm.
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