Cedric Sunray: Judge tears Cherokee child from her father

Hundreds of articles have been published and thousands of comments have been shared online. Tribes around the country have galvanized their support. Even so, Baby Veronica was sent to South Carolina where she may live out her childhood years in the arms of a family who clearly loves her, but whose inclusion in her short life has caused a tidal wave of controversy and calls of racism. A committed father in Oklahoma clearly is devastated and wrongfully separated from his child.

Custody battles are many times brutal narratives and the issues surrounding the Veronica case are ones which have played over time and time again in Indian country. Most of these cases are little known such as In re Bridget R. Here it was stated by the court, “…ICWA does not and cannot apply to invalidate a voluntary termination of parental rights respecting an Indian child who is not domiciled on a reservation, unless the child’s biological parent, or parents, are not only of American Indian descent, but also maintain a significant social, cultural, or political relationship with their tribe.”

Dusten Brown most likely never voluntarily withdrew his parental rights and so this case could be argued as non-applicable. We could also argue that determining a “significant social, cultural, or political relationship with a tribe” is up to a large number of interpretations. I do not disagree with any contestation by a tribal body of what constitutes these definitions accurately and I realize that non-Indian courts cannot adequately determine such definitions. However, in all honesty, it is highly doubtful that the Brown family could have met a standard of significant social, cultural, or political tribal relationship if judged and determined by a contingent of Indian people who were not being persuaded by the pressure of upholding tribal sovereignty.