I have created this blog to shed light on the numerous sovereignty movements throughout the United States. Two years ago I entered a Masters program at Union Institute & University in the field of History & Culture:Cultural Anthropology. When I registered for my first course, I never imagined my studies would lead me to indigenous people or sovereignty movements throughout the United States. While I had some knowledge of sovereignty movements in the U.S., it was simply due to the fact that I lived in Washington, DC for 8 years and watched them battle over "taxation without representation". I had no idea that there were indigenous people throughout the United States struggling to regain sovereignty of land, laws and culture that was striped of them by the United States, often through coercion or military means.
After stumbling on the topic of indigenous sovereignty, I found myself reeling with emotion. The idea that my country, the self-proclaimed leader of democracy and freedom throughout the world, was responsible for repeatedly ignoring cries for sovereignty in their own country among indigenous groups.
Armed with this new information, I began researching sovereignty movements within the U.S. and decided to focus my studies on Hawaii. My decision to focus on Hawaiiʻs sovereignty movement was made on two main factors; First, the Akaka Bill was making its way through Congress and caught me interest and Second, as a visitor to the archipelago, I felt a connection to the indigenous people that had been so kind to me while I visited.
As I venture further into my studies, I have found that sovereignty is not as limited in the U.S. as most Americans think and it has much more to do with than Native American Casinoʻs and tax-breaks. It is about equality for all Americans.
