To gain citizenship often implies that a person would have equal rights with other citizens within that state or nation, but for Indigenous people, that has been far from the truth. Historically, we have prevented Indigenous from gaining American citizenship due to them being sovereign nations and separate from the United States. Still, in reality, we prevented them from acquiring citizenship due to racism and have systemically controlled their nations by forcing dependence on these sovereign nations. The Fourteenth Amendment helped many former enslaved people gain citizenship, but they purposely left out Indigenous people. Many Indigenous tribes often questioned how American citizenship would impact Indigenous sovereignty and how authentically they would be treated if they gained it. One could argue that gaining American citizenship is harmful because it causes the erasure of Indigenous Sovereignty by erasing the importance of Indigenous citizenship and lessening Indigenous control over legal matters.
Indigenous communities have had to deal with systemic racism and often don’t trust the United States Government. In 1924, we granted many Indigenous people citizenship due to many Indigenous people serving in the military, but this came with the black lash. People within Indigenous communities were often forced to give up their heritage to gain American citizenship, even though they were still not treated as equals. Many were promised financial and medical assistance for themselves and the community. Many promises to the people who took American citizenship often were not fulfilled. As a result, many Indigenous people feel like accepting American Citizenship is betraying their people to be treated like second-class citizens. The distrust of the American Government was well-developed, and some Indigenous people would reject citizenship due to not having any faith in the American Government and its policies regarding Indigenous people.
Another question about gaining American citizenship involved legal issues. Indigenous Americans had a massive distrust toward America in dealing with and treating Indigenous people regarding crimes. They felt they would be treated harshly and not given protection. Oftentimes, Indigenous people have been treated harshly by the Federal Government and have had many murders against their communities without any justice and were neglected by the Federal Government.
Such issues regarding Indigenous sovereignty and American Citizenship have brought up the topics of the erasure of Indigenous Sovereignty by erasing the importance of Indigenous citizenship and lessening Indigenous control over legal matters.