The Right to Belong: Are Native Americans Sub-Citizens?

In this episode of All My Relations, Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Temryss Lane (Lummi Nation)—sit down with Indigenous rights attorney Gabe Galanda (Round Valley Indian Tribes) to discuss the mounting legal threats to Tribal Nationhood, citizenship, and sovereignty. As executive orders and court cases attempt to undermine Native status and question our birthright citizenship, we unpack what’s happening and what’s at stake.

Together, we explore the legal history behind Native Citizenship, from Elk v. Wilkins to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, and how the Supreme Court continues to challenge the political status of Tribal Nations. Gabe highlights the ongoing erasure of Indigenous identity under U.S. law, warning that Native people remain "sub-citizens," not universally protected by the U.S. Constitution, and that our status exists at the mercy of an act of Congress. He raises the unsettling reality that if a simple majority of Congress were to revoke the 1924 Citizenship Act, we could once again be placed in legal limbo.

We also turn inward, examining how Tribal policies around blood quantum and disenrollment are eroding our sovereignty from within. Gabe points out that over 70% of Tribal Nations still use blood quantum—a colonial, racialized construct—to determine belonging. We ask ourselves how we can continue to argue for our political status while using a racial measurement to determine our own citizenship? If we don’t address these internal challenges, are we eradicating ourselves before the government even has the chance?

This episode is an urgent call to rethink Indigenous citizenship and belonging before external forces dictate our future.

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Big thanks to our team at Tidelands, our Patreon supporters, and all of you listening. Until next time… All My Relations.

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Follow us on Instagram @amrpodcast, or support our work on Patreon. Show notes are published on our website, Allmyrelationspodcast.com. Matika's book Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America is available now! T'igwicid and Hyshqe for being on this journey with us.