People are very confused over this law. It has been called a "antiqued law" and it should be "abolished" some call it racist because it only covers American Indian children.
First, this law was enacted in 1978, hardly the "old law" that those who wish to abolish it want the public to believe.
Is the law racist? Well, this law is supposed to protect any parent who is enrolled in a Federally Recognized tribe, and the child must be enrolled or eligible for enrollment for this law to effect them. But deeper, the law will cover any parent or family when the child qualifies as a ICWA law. So if one parent is enrolled, and the other is not Indian at all, the non Indian has rights that are protected by ICWA. I hardly see this as being "racist".
Why was the law enacted? For many decades, Indian children were being removed from their parents, family, and tribe. It was believed to remove the "savage" from the "Indian" and make them a "human" because Indians were not viewed as being civilized. Some might not believe this, but I live in the central part of this country, and know kids who do not believe Indian people even exist! It is not just children, but there are adults who believe that Indians ride horses as transportation and they still live in tepees.
Recently on the Dr. Phil show, California attorney Johnston Moore was there with his two adopted sons, he shows his sons sitting there, holds up a photograph of a Indian boy dressed in a traditional outfit, and asked the audience "Do these boys look like this?" That alone was such a racist demonstration it made me want to dress those two boys in a traditional outfit and say "Why yes, they do look like that!" Mr. Moore went on to state he took those two boys to the reservation in Kansas where they come from, as he sat on the show, he asked the boys "Do you want to live like that?" The boys said "NO!" and what is sad about that, is he is insulting the very DNA that is inside those two boys. He put emphasis on how "bad" it is to be Indian. In viewing that, I felt for those two boys, I do not understand how this man, who claims to love those two boys, could do that to them.
If Mr. Moore's adopted sons had been back, would he have taken them to a former plantation, shown the photos of slaves, and slave cabins, asked them if they wanted to "live like that" ?
ICWA can be a complicated law, if we want it to be, but it is not as complicated as some want you to believe.
The ICWA law was enacted in 1978 when Congress recognized that American Indian children were being removed from their families and tribes at an alarming or an unusually high rate. Several reports have cited as many as 25-35 percent of all Indian children were adopted out of their families mainly to non-Indian people. Children who were removed got no relief in the courts, judges were quick to sever parents rights to their children for any reason they could find. The attitude was "Kill the Indian, save the child"
Today, I look around at people who want to be Indian, who want to be Indian so badly they pretend, they make up their own tribes, and they try to get recognition... why do they want to do that? Is it because we have our culture, our traditions?
Indian people believe that our elders and our children come first. These are not "our" children. They do not "belong" to us, WE "belong" to them. Everything we do, is for the future of our children. Our family relations are something most people cannot understand. Example, when my father was killed, my uncles stepped into his place, he became our father, my great uncle was our grandfather, we were never without a adult figure to help us from our youth, and currently into our adult years.
No one can understand our life unless they share it with us. Only then can they understand the ways of a Native person, and to that, I welcome anyone to learn, it really is not difficult at all, in fact, you might find a peace entering your soul that you never knew was there before.
Please do not buy into the bad medicine Dr. Phil, Mr. Moore and so many others want you to believe about the horrible "savages" who need our children "saved". Our children are our future, without them, there is no future, not for me, not for you, and certainly not our children.
I like so many others, will fight with all I am, and all I will be, to protect my children, my grandchildren, and future generations. That is what Indian people are about. It is not us, it is every generation to come.
Here is some fact checking to the Dr. Phil show.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI ran across this blog post and had to laugh. I am not an attorney. I did pay tens of thousands of dollars to adopt my sons because they wanted to remain with my wife and me, in spite of the tribe's wishes. Their biological mother, who was the "Indian" parent, also wanted them to remain with us. The younger son's biological father did as well.
I did not ask my sons if they wanted to live "like that". We took them to the reservation so that they could see where their native ancestors came from. They didn't care and I can't make them, nor will I try.
I did not ask the audience if my sons looked like the boy in the photograph. I pointed out that NICWA and other groups always try to pull at heartstrings by showing children like the one in the photograph, when in reality ICWA is being applied to kids who have little Indian blood and little to no connection to the culture to begin with.
I did not say it was bad to be Indian. I simply stated that my sons did not care about their native heritage because it was never part of their lives. I also stated that the tribe has completely ignored my sons since the adoption, so they apparently don't care if my sons have any connection either.
I have to ask...what show were you watching?
--Johnston Moore
Mr. Moore,
DeleteI am so happy that you found this blog!
To answer your question, your words and actions regarding the photograph of the boy dressed traditionally are forever imbedded into my brain... Ironically you ask which show I was watching, but yet you recall very clearly what I am speaking of and you comment about it.
Perhaps you did not intend to come off as racist on that national show, but I, along with thousands of others seen your actions as pure hate towards Indian people.
As I have stated, I am glad you were there for two boys who obviously needed you, but I am curious, are those two boys eligible for enrollment in the tribe you say "completely ignores" them? Because as you know, and I know, if those boys are not eligible to be enrolled with a federally recognized tribe, then ICWA does not apply to their case.
It is not the tribe who must reach out to your boys, it is you that needs to keep them connected to their heritage, of which you do not seem interested in that. You seem to be a very angry person towards Indian people as a whole, and you have taken this anger and turned it against our children. Why? Even though you say "it was not bad to be a Indian" your attitude, and demeanor states the totally opposite.
You claim that ICWA tries to pull at heart strings by using photos of our children in their traditional dress? Do you know how absurd that sounds? These are children dressed in their traditional clothing, would you say the same of a child dressed in traditional clothing if they are from Sweden? Africa? Spain? Or even Japan? When we dress in our traditional ways, to dance and celebrate life, family, and prayer, why do you view it as anyone wanting people to feel sorry for us? We don't want your pity, but we demand your respect.
To be totally honest with you, I have no problems with both a biological mother, and the biological father want to give their child up for adoption, I do have a problem with a forced adoption away from a fit and loving family, no mater the color of their skin.
I am going to ask you again, are your adopted sons eligible for enrollment in a federally recognized tribe? If you do not want to answer, that is fine, because that will give the answer I seek. And I plan to discuss it in a later blog,
Sam
PS, Mr. Moore, I am glad you are not a attorney. I have personal reasons for saying that ;)
DeleteYes, they are eligible for membership in the tribe and it is a federally recognized tribe. My point about asking you if you were watching the show is that you misquoted me several times. My point also is that NICWA almost always shows children in their native garb when trying to garner support for ICWA. But in reality, most of the children impacted by the law have nothing to do with that part of their culture to begin with. No, it isn't my job to keep them connected to the one part of their heritage that tried to remove them from our home.
ReplyDeleteThese kids in "garb" as you call it may not have firm connections to their people as you say. The reason for this is simple, and is the foundation of WHY we have laws like ICWA. The continued appropriation of indigenous children is nothing short of "kill the Indian, save the man" it is cultural genocide. You and people like you participate in this genocide. No amount of sideways talking can change this fact. You get defensive and angry when indigenous people stand up to you because inside you know that you participate in ethnic cleansing (people need not be killed to accomplish this, just changed) and cultural murder.
DeleteJohnson Moore, first I will inform you that we don't have "garb" and to state such shows just how disrespectful you are, and how much you obviously hate Native people.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I post your name in hopes that people who google you do indeed find you making comments like this showing that your only intent against ICWA is a racist one, and not that for the concern of Native children.
How do you know how Native people live? You insult our traditions as if you know how we dress, when in fact, we dress just like you do, our children are photographed just like any child in this country.
Our children are proud of their heritage, and if they want to dress in traditional ways and dance, or even have their photograph taken while in their traditional regalia, then they should! Children who are of any culture should never be made a target by adults such as yourself for what they wear... is it that you want these children to feel ashamed of their culture?
How do you know what child is part of their culture and what child is not? I was not raised on a reservation, went to public schools when I was young, but I have always been a part of my culture, and my children were raised the same, as are my grandchildren. Who are you to judge if any child is part of their culture?
You say I misquoted you, but not just myself, but many others clearly recall you holding a picture up of a boy dressed in his traditional regalia, and saying loudly "Do these boys look like this?!" with emphasis on "this" as if it were disgusting. Apparently you have forgotten how hateful you were on Dr. Phil, but many of us have not forgotten it.
You want to end ICWA because you had a hard time? Do you know how many thousands of children this law helps? Or how many hundreds of children who have been HARMED by those who make a choice to IGNORE the law?
South Dakota has been ignoring the law, and this you support? Do you support the adoption of four Lakota girls into the Mette family, who were then raped and sexually abused by their white adoptive father? If the ICWA law had been followed, these girls would have been SAFE at HOME with their FAMILY!
What other kinds of abuses do Native children have to go through just because you are in a hissy fit because you had a difficult time adopting two boys? Is it all about YOU?
I do not want to end ICWA, I plan to make it stronger! I plan to see changes made to ICWA, and I have US Senators agreeing with me on my ideas.
You say ICWA is antiquated, and I say you are older than the law... what does that make you?
Perhaps you should learn WHY this law HAD to be made to PROTECT Indian children. It does not enslave them, it surely does not HARM them. Indian children should have the right to be protected from being forcibly taken from their families. All children should have this right.
For your reading pleasure, be sure to scroll down for the rape case of four little girls
ReplyDeletehttp://lakotapeopleslawproject.tumblr.com/post/52237250233/south-dakota-covered-up-and-enables-sexual-abuse
I'd like to ask Mr. Moore if he has knowledge of any other race in this country that has endured throughout American history the systematic kidnapping of children from their families as a method of cultural genocide. Are you saying that we don't have a legitimate concern that white people want our children? Have you ever studied the 'real' history of Native America and the terrorizing colonization that occurred? Are you familiar with the governmental policy of genocide in the early 1800's? Are you aware that many Native Americans died as a result of the governments delivery of small pox contaminated blankets in their efforts to fix the "Indian Problem"? When they couldn't kill us all the policy was changed to take the children and put them in boarding schools where they were beaten, raped or killed if they did not comply with the ways of the white mans world. The white mans world considered Native Americans to be savage but it was the white mans world that brought the violence. Theories were made up about what our religious practices meant and usually without a grain of truth to them. Our societies were far more civilized than any experienced across the ocean. We were not ignorant and our values were honest and a huge part of our communities.
ReplyDeleteToday people like you attempt to perpetuate the barbaric solutions to what you see as lacking in our family systems. What is lacking are the generations lost because of your ignorance and prejudice. So, why do we need ICWA? We must protect our children from people like you who seek to destroy the Indian in every child with even a drop of Indian blood. Culture is stronger than blood quantum. Indian-ness goes beyond blood quantum and travels straight to the heart. You don't have be in the middle of the culture to live the culture. It is simply part of who we are. Your sons as they grow older will most likely seek out their roots and nothing you can do will eliminate the need they will have to connect with their Native heritage.