The World Motivation
The Cherokees tried to do everything within the law and wished only to live in peace on their own lands. Yet they were cheated out of their birthright and treated as if they were less than human.
“The Cherokees tried to do everything within the law and wished only to live in peace on their own lands. Yet they were cheated out of their birthright and treated as if they were less than human.”
The Cherokees tried to do everything within the law and wished only to live in peace on their own lands. Yet they were cheated out of their birthright and treated as if they were less than human.
Over the years, I found myself traveling parts of the Lewis and Clark Trail, putting my hands in the river where they set out from St. Louis, viewing the Great Falls of Montana, standing by the same Pacific Ocean they saw with such joy.
My family is Abenaki Indian on my mother's side. My father's side of the family is Slovak, and we also have some English ancestry.
One of the things I've been taught by Native American elders is the importance of patience, of waiting to do things when the time is right.
On the other hand, the vast majority of all westernized countries, including every single European country along with Israel and Japan, do not offer birthright citizenship.
Just as we send young American Jews to Israel through the Birthright program, we need to also consider a 'reverse Birthright' for Israeli kids to come see America.
It is my birthright, it is my political right, it is my democratic right, it is my constitutional right... that I must open my mouth... my voice... I can raise my voice.
Birthright citizenship in America is part of something larger: The American longing to sever from history, to be a place of new beginnings.
Every year, I travel extensively in the autumn and the spring. I set most of the winter and summer aside for my family and my own tribal relatives. But during that traveling time, I often find myself visiting other native communities around the continent - perhaps a dozen or more each year.
Safety should be a birthright.