No Person Is Illegal...

"No person is illegal on stolen land." I’ve heard this phrase before and while I thought it was an interesting point, it didn’t seem entirely practical, right? Although no one has ever really advocated for “open borders,” this phrase saying “no one is illegal” seems to be a little bit of an overreach. At least that’s kind of what I thought, but I still believed the phrase pointed out the hypocrisy of those who stole this land and then pulled up the ladder. However, I learned a lot more about the history of Native Americans in this country, and this phrase has some new meaning for me.

I will admit that I am always learning and if I’m shown evidence or a convincing argument, I am willing to consider and adjust. I have some core values such as human dignity, care for the environment, and decency that don’t really change except how they manifest. I’ve learned that a lot of the knowledge I’d based my beliefs on previously were fabricated, manipulated, or intentionally omitted critical parts. History is taught as factual, but I’ve seen recently how language can be used by the media and the government to sweep truth under the rug. So our history is not only manipulated by those who teach it or write it, it’s already been manipulated by the people who recorded it in the first place. All this to say, I’m much more skeptical of “truths” I was taught as a young person.

Now, as a young person, I already believed that the treatment of Native Americans was incredibly unjust. I remember getting in trouble in elementary school for pushing back against the idea of manifest destiny and driving the indigenous inhabitants off of the land. But the way it was presented was pioneers seeking a new life and there being incidental conflict. The Trail of Tears was a corner page in my history book as if it was one sad incident, but the truth is so much harsher. Native Americans were systematically hunted down. From the end of the Revolutionary War on (and in some cases before), the United States made a policy of killing them through war and bounty programs to ethnically cleansing from their home lands. It was not incidental or accidental. It was intentional. Not only were Native Americans murdered and displaced by the hundreds of thousands, many were also stripped of their language, heritage, and culture. The original Americans, the indigenous inhabitants, driven across the country and systematically eliminated… this is our legacy.

With the continued genocide in Gaza and Palestine, we’ve heard a lot of people talk about the right of the Israelis to this land. The stories are very different, since Palestinians/Arabs (unlike European settlers) have existed in this space as far back as history records, but the argument for ancestral right to land is one I would like to dig in on. If we’re being fair and truly believe that heritage should be a deciding factor on who the land belongs to, European descendent Americans like myself should probably shove off. That’s not practical obviously. Even if I wanted to leave (sometimes I do!), what country would take me? But there’s a lot of space between self-deportation and white supremacy, am I right?

Back to “no one is illegal.”

As Native Americans were pushed West, they were not confined to our arbitrarily drawn borders. Some tribes even fled south into central America. This may not have been a major number, but did you know that the largest ethnic group in Mexico are Mestizos (60%) who are of a mixed cultural background, both indigenous and European (Spanish). Another major group is Indigenous Mexicans. Of the immigration we see whether from Mexico or other central/south American countries, indigenous and mixed indigenous heritage are prevalent. Indigenous people who have been on this land since before this “nation” was a thought. If we want to talk about heritage as a right to the land, these folks have a far greater claim to it than any descendent of European immigrants, no matter how far back you want to go.

I’m no policy expert and I realize there are needs for order but no one has legitimately advocated for “open borders” no matter how much this term is applied. However, the cruelty the US has shown to immigrants from Central and South America, is immoral. Previous administrations are far from blameless, but under Trump, it’s become something I cannot fathom how anyone can defend. We as Americans sit on a throne built on the blood and bones of Native Americans as well as kidnapped and enslaved African descendants. We have destabilized entire regions around the world with our exploitative and colonialist policies and yet we have the nerve to talk about people fleeing situations we’ve contributed to as coming to us from “shit-hole countries.” 

Many people have pretended to have reverence for the Bible or for the Constitution, but I think we can drop the act. They truly don’t care about either. Power and bigotry have always ruled this country and though I believe Trump’s actions are the worst I will see in my lifetime, a broader view of our history would show that MAGA knows exactly what they mean when they say “again.” Back to a time when white supremacy doesn't need masks. When it is our government's policy to hunt down humans based on bigotry and truly nothing else.