George Will Gets It All Wrong in His Attack on ICWA

Race is ugly business. The business of race can be seen in the higher rates of incarceration of black Americans. It is in the higher rates black Americans and Native Americans are killed by law enforcement. It is an aspect of our existence that we created, and one that has no basis in fact. George F. Will attempts to attack the issue of racial separation by targeting the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). He fails.

Mr. Will first attempts to attack the concept of sovereignty in his statement. “The 1978 act’s advocates say it is not about race but about the rights of sovereign tribes, as though that distinction is meaningful.” This attack on Indian Tribal sovereignty is strange when coupled with the call for natural rights. “This is discordant with the inherent individualism of the nation’s foundational natural rights tradition…” This statement of natural relies upon the consent of the governed and the understanding of sovereignty. The sovereignty of the government itself, built off of the American tradition, rests within the rights of the people. Native Americans are no exception. Neither are we an exception to the rule of consent of the governed, and such consent was never granted. It was forced.

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