An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

afforded them citizenship. 25 Some have even sought to return to the
homeland of their ancestors, one generation removed and, later, several
generations removed. Black people in the United States and throughout the
diaspora have been forced to pursue this path because they were forcibly
removed from their homeland. Some might believe that Black people
seeking belonging in the US nation-state and showing patriotism is an
expression of some blind allegiance to the democratic project, or worse, to
whiteness.
Kelley argues that the history of Black folks has been about movement
both “real and imagined.” Black people have always desired freedom
through their movement to a new place to call home, in order that they may
belong. While Black folks might no longer be imagining an exodus to
Africa, the term has “always provided black people with a language to
critique America’s racist state and build a new nation, for its central theme
wasn’t simply escape but a new beginning.” 26 But what is home and how
has history disrupted people of African descents’ conception of home? It is
hard to say. But are we to tell the descendants of those ripped from their
homeland, whose ancestors’ blood exists in the soil, that this isn’t their
home? People of African descent have a responsibility to think about their
relationship to this indigenous place, and what their responsibility might be
going forward to Indigenous nations. By the same token, Indigenous people
of what is now the United States, I would argue, have a responsibility to
their Black relatives. What that responsibility looks like will depend on a
particular Indigenous nation’s protocols—and they shouldn’t be afraid to
adopt new protocols. However, it is something that we need to think about
collectively, for the purpose of our shared futures. And this book is my
attempt to recover histories, rethink older histories, and contribute to the
future of these people.
Indigenous peoples have desired to live freely as sovereign people, right
next to the US nation-state. Indeed, the basis of the legal and political
relationship of the United States with tribal nations—treaties—is rooted in
tribal nations’ ability to exist as sovereign entities alongside the United
States. However, this relationship has been unequal at least since the
1830s. 27 It is an unequal relationship, but Native people hold treaties as
sacred. It is the defining political feature that distinguishes Native people
from other oppressed groups. In addition to seeking their sovereignty,