Cartoon by Thom Little Moon

Citizenship would have prevented slaughter at Wounded Knee
By Tim Giago
Native Sun News Editor Emeritus

What would have happened to Native Americans if they had been declared U.S. citizens by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

Dissenters or questioners of my last article on Indians being left out of the 14th Amendment brushed it aside by saying that Indians never wanted to be U.S. citizens, but instead wanted to be considered citizens of their own sovereign nations. Perhaps, but they also could have been included in the 14th Amendment as U.S. Citizens just as they were made citizens in 1924 giving them U.S. citizenship and allowing them to retain their rights as citizens of their own nations. 

Today Indians are citizens of their own nations, citizens of the states where they reside and citizens of the United States. 

Visit the all new Native Sun News website for the full story: Citizenship would have prevented slaughter at Wounded Knee

(Tim Giago, Editor Emeritus of the Native Sun News, can be reached at unitysodak1@vastbb.net)

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