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Steven Schwartzberg's avatar

Thank you Will and Peter! This wonderful piece is, however, missing one potentially crucial dimension of a possible path forward: mobilizing opinion around the argument that Johnson v. McIntosh and Cherokee Nation v. Georgia are as repugnant to the Constitution as were Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Furgeson. This is a complex argument that I have made at length here:

https://ethicspress.com/products/arguments-over-genocide/?GENOCIDE

I am in the process of seeking to simply state the argument in an essay of my own that should be completed in a few months.

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Mankh's avatar

i agree that the potential for ally-ship is there and needed, yet wonder how that might play out when Natives are on 'their reservations' and Whites/non-Natives theirs; yet another factor is that ~70-80% of Native live in cities. As for the phrase "white man's reservation", kudos to Debra who did wonderful work. i got to see her speak once at a Left Forum event and her aura-energy filled the room, plus she had a good sense of humor. Also, there's Russel Means' line which was a wake-up call, but how many heard it, "Welcome to the reservation." And some years ago, one day driving into the suburban neighborhood where i live, it occurred to me that very phrase 'white man's reservation'... yet most people probably aren't aware of that b/c imho the big difference is that the Whites/Americans get more goodies, more comfy zones, which is part of the big deception that keeps them from realizing a deeper affinity with Natives and the reservation system. So that seems a key area to address so as to create stronger ally-ship. Thanks for the article for stirring that discussion.

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