"We’ve all heard references to the ‘special rights’ of American Indians. Sometimes, it’s an affirmation of Indian nationhood; other times, it’s an attack on Indian sovereignty. Given these two ways of using it, we need to be careful with the phrase ‘special rights.’ Perhaps we shouldn’t even use it.

Here’s an example, from a 2001 study of Native American rights by the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society: “The Legislative Research Division defined tribal sovereignty as ‘the inherent right of the tribe to govern itself.’ It further explained that: ‘This right is predicated on the fact that prior to European colonization, tribes conducted their own affairs and needed no outside source to legitimate their powers or actions. Once the Europeans arrived in North America, they claimed dominion over the lands they found, thus violating the sovereignty of the tribes already living there. As a consequence, Native Americans in Michigan retain a host of special rights, including gaming, hunting and fishing….’”

The Michigan study says ‘tribal sovereignty’ is rooted in the original sovereignty violated by the colonists, and that ‘special rights’ is a name given by the violators to the sovereign powers that were not violated. But from the Indian perspective, not explored in the study, these powers are not special rights at all; they are remnants of original free and independent existence."

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Peter d'Errico: ‘Special Rights’ is a Loaded Term (Indian Country Today 8/29)