Indigenous Rights: A Pathway to End American Second-Class Citizenship By William J. Fife III and Beylul Solomon1 Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Fine Arts; and Associate Professor of Education for Rehabilitation and Human Services Concentration, Northern Marianas College Abstract: Nearly 4 million American residents in US territories are second-class citizens, lacking individual and collective voting rights and burdened with other gross socioeconomic and healthcare disparities. These disparities affect many honorable veterans that suffer from physical and mental injuries due to fighting for rights they themselves do not possess. The Insular Cases, self-determination, and critical race theory are current hot topics in Washington DC. Out of the five US territories, only Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands fully supported a resolution denouncing the systemically racist Insular Cases at a Congressional hearing in 2021. Even Trump-appointed Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") Justice Gorsuch called for the end of the Insular Cases in 2022. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ("CNMI") and American Samoa had reservations about fully supporting the resolution due to concerns regarding cultural survival. Legislative solutions to address the prejudiced language in the Insular Cases and the overall nature of second-class citizenship in US territories, which would require statehood to remain American, have yet to materialize. Implementing the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ("UNDRIP") through local and federal legislation could be a consensus-based solution to not only replace the Insular Cases but also overturn what this Article will refer to as the Discovery Cases – rulings linked with Johnson v. M’Intosh, which include the Insular Cases. Indigenous rights protections could also provide interest toward statehood for the CNMI, as well as potential reunification with Guåhan. UNDRIP-based legislation could end Pacific territories’ concerns regarding closer integration with the US by ensuring Indigenous rights and simultaneously laying a foundation to end second-class citizenship in America. This presentation was originally published in The Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (RLSJ). Download the original article here.
Introducing the Issue of American Second-Class Citizenship
Struggles for fundamental rights are gaining momentum in America, especially in American lands existing outside of statehood. Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Guåhan (officially known as "Guam" in the present day, but this paper will use the Indigenous term "Guåhan") are all exercising their right of self-determination through community-based dialogues and referendums alongside legislative efforts for potential statehood and voting rights.2 The movement to end second-class citizenship in America is ramping up. One of the remaining racist legacies of the "separate but equal" Plessy-era SCOTUS rulings from the early 1900s are the Insular 1
This article would not be possible without the scholarship, advocacy, and inspiration from the late, great Dr. Haunani Kay Trask and her sister, Miliani Trask, former CNMI Rep. Jacinta Kaipat, Emma and Pete Perez of 500 Sails, Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Dr. Michael Bevacqua, Robert J. Miller, and Robert A. Williams. Special thanks to the people of British Columbia and all of Canada for their boldness in legislating UNDRIP at the local and federal levels while showing that a new, post-colonial world that respects Indigenous peoples is possible.
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Susan K. Serrano, Elevating the Perspectives of U.S. Territorial Peoples: Why the Insular Cases Should Be Taught in Law School, 21 J. GENDER RACE & JUST. 395, 395–458 (2018); Gabriela Miranda, Decades-long Debates Surrounding D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam Statehood Have Been Reignited. What’s the Best Option?, USA TODAY (Apr. 30, 2021, 4:16 PM).