Our Rights Won’t Be Taken by Alt-Right SCOTUS

Within the course of a week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) undermined Tribal sovereignty, opted out of combatting the climate crisis at the federal level, stripped bodily autonomy of people with uteruses, as well as revoked accountability if/when police not issue or honor Miranda rights.These recent decisions make it clear that SCOTUS’s primary purpose is to perpetuate white supremacy and patriarchy. 

This is nothing new for Indigenous, Black, brown and LGBTQ2S+ people. This country was founded on genocide, stolen land, and stolen and enslaved peoples — not on the principles and practices of legitimacy, equity or justice. And today, the current majority of SCOTUS judges undoubtedly believe in upholding the original intent of the all-white, slave-owning men who wrote the constitution.

Last week, SCOTUS dealt a blow to tribal sovereignty, ruling that states have “jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country”(Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma). SCOTUS is rarely a beacon for upholding Tribal Sovereignty, yet the sovereignty and self-determination of Indigenous Nations continues to be inherent, regardless of a colonizer’s approvals. 

At the end of last week, SCOTUS ruled the Environmental Protection Agency does not have authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants because Congress has not specifically authorized EPA to do so in the Clean Air Act (West Virginia v. EPA). During a time of increasing climate crisis, SCOTUS is crippling the most basic climate mitigation strategies. 

Amongst the onslaught of SCOTUS decisions was the disregard for 50 years of protected bodily autonomy — the right to safe abortion (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization). While this decision is truly staggering and laden with racism, misogyny, transphobia, and classism, many knew this day was coming. Congress has failed to codify abortion rights, and without federal protections, the right to body autonomy for people with uteruses is now subject to the whims of state politics.

The Vega v. Tekoh decision flagrantly reduces the accountability of police when they dishonor the Miranda rights of citizens in police custody. The reduction of accountability means that if taken into questioning, a person can be subjected to unjust interrogating and coercion, which may impact their trial and they would have no avenue for redress to hold police accountable nor change the impact the acts have on a trial. Although the decision does not reduce the obligation to issue Miranda rights, this decision will exacerbate the racist biases that funnel people into the prison industrial complex.

The undermining of Tribal sovereignty, the disregard of the increasing climate crisis and the attack on our rights over our own body’s has long impacted Black, Indigenous, People of Color, queer, and lower income people at disproportionate rates. These recent decisions perpetuate systemic racism further. 

These recent decisions were only a few in a SCOTUS storm, and while they may feel like deep losses, we must remember that this was the result of actions by a few and we are many. We are engaged community members – relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors. We will continue to pick up signs and rally. We will continue to venture into the halls of our local governments. And we will continue to call and write our elected leadership. 

We must vote our values, and we will continue to build safety and security for ALL people. Our work to give voice to the rights of Mother Earth and all those who have long been marginalized or disregarded is more urgent than ever.

What Can YOU Do?

Get engaged - Find out who has been organizing in your community already and get involved. People already organizing on these issues  need fresh energy. We need you. Host a sign making event, organize your neighbors to visit your elected leadership, and know the candidates in the next elections (local, state, and national).

Work on Healing - It’s okay to feel hurt. We need to move through grief in order to heal. To fight injustice, we must be healthy, whole people. We must continue to take care of each other and our communities during hard times. Particularly as People of Color, Black, Indigenous, queer, and economically oppressed people, healing is not a luxury - it is a necessity. In the words of Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” 

Donate to Planned Parenthood Alaska: Donate Online Today

Abortion funds: https://www.plancpills.org/donate;

Birthworkers, such as the Alaska Native Native Birthworker Community: https://secure.everyaction.com/IXCe_XZI5kSPSlpzgTdCVQ2

Our human rights and the sovereignty of Native Nations are INHERENT, yet we have witnessed before the rolling back of inherent and hard won rights. We know that we must continue to both advocate for and exercise our rights. 

Native Movement believes in grassroots community organizing and the power of people collectively advocating for justice. Native Movement will continue to uphold and acknowledge Native Nation’s sovereignty, fight for our human rights and resist the settler colonial powers that try to suppress our rights.