And this is why we emphasize that people who aren’t black stop using “non-x”, this includes using the term non-native. The oppression black people experience is universal. The experiences and sentiments of antiblackness exist in EVERY group. We say non-black when talking about our oppressors because everyone is our oppressor, even indigenous Americans. This is why BIPOC needs to be retired too.
Antiblackness is alive and well in all communities. And we need to talk about it without being afraid or silenced.
And if you aren’t black, please reblog this!!!
Below is the transcribed tweet:
During slavery, not every Native tribe was friendly to Black slaves. It’s an inaccurate portrayal of the history of chattel slavery to promote the myth of the friendly Native American assisting runaway slaves. At least five Native American nations owned Black chattel slaves.
Many more individual Native people and Native tribes assisted with rounding up, hunting, and re-enslaving runaway slaves. In fact, for many tribes this was a core part of their treaty agreements with the United States government.
Perpetuating this myth of the “friendly Native” assisting runaway slaves when actual slaves may very well had been afraid of encountering a Native American while running away, knowing that that person would have had a high chance of kidnapping and selling them back into bondage,
is harmful not only to the memory of our ancestors but to the telling of true Black and Native history. It’s particularly harmful when there are thousands of Afro-Native people in this country whose ties to tribes are through enslavement of their ancestors by tribal citizens.
It’s about time that we have honest discussions about Indigenous peoples’ roles in maintaining slavery in this country through runaway slave hunting and their direct roles in enslaving people of African descent. These were not just individuals either.
treaties and constitutions included clauses about runaway slave catching and regulations on holding Black people in bondage. The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole Nations all implemented Slave Codes in their formal laws and brought their shackles across the Trail of Tears. For slaves, this was a Trail of Tears, Blood, and Violence. Slaves had some of the highest rates of illnesses and deaths while being removed on the Trail of Tears and dealt with abuse and violence at the hands of not only federal
but their Native American owners as well. This is something that is NEVER discussed. Most people will just put up a number for the amount of slaves on the Trail of Tears and call it a day. These people’s lives mattered. These were not “friendly Native allies.”
Earlier this year, we did a thread on the Chickasaw Nation’s propaganda about assisting “runaway slaves.” Which is completely untrue.
Let’s analyze the facts here. Did members of the Chickasaw Nation help runaway slaves find “refuge” in their Nation? No! In fact, Chickasaw citizens were known for being slave catchers! Chickasaw citizens would often go hunting for runaway slaves in order to reenslave them!
Please sign our petition to Deb Haaland! We are still denied citizenship in the Chickasaw, Creek, and Choctaw Nations and Seminole Freedmen are currently living under a 3/5th compromise Haaland co-sponsored a bill that removed protections for Black descendants of enslaved people owned by members of the Five Slaveholding Tribes in 2019. In four of these tribes, there are active Jim Crow policies. We must hold her accountable. https://change.org/p/debra-haaland-deb-haaland-stand-against-modern-day-jim-crow-in-indian-country…Show this thread
