Recent immigrants -- those who call themselves "Americans" have the gall to say that people whose ancestors have been on this continent for thousands of generations no longer have a right to live here. But these people who are labeled illegal aliens are more similar to indigenous peoples culturally, ethnically and geographically than the dominant people whose tenure in this part of the world is relatively short -- the real aliens.
How did these aliens acquire that right?
The semantics of colonial language supports a colonial reality that doesn't reflect actual history. It's absurd.
Indigenous claims to territorial integrity, the sovereign right to secure borders apparently have no validity in a colonial territory (the United States). However, the Coastanoan Ohlone Peoples of Indian Canyon have an inherent right to self-determination that they have never assigned to the United States or the state of California, both of whom occupy Ohlone lands by a sustained undeclared war.
On Nov. 5, 1994, at an academic conference at UC Berkeley titled "Ethics in a Global Community Symposium," Coastanoan Ohlone Peoples of Indian Canyon Chairperson Anna Marie Sayers recognized a Guatemalan citizen as the first legal immigrant into their territories. The territories of the Ohlone extend from the territories occupied by the city of San Francisco to Monterey and into what is now referred to as the San Joaquin Valley.
On this historic occasion, dozens of individuals lined up and received resident and work visas issued by the Ohlone. Many of the people produced passports from nations such as Rwanda, India and the United States to be duly stamped with the official seal of the Ohlone. Others produced documents to establish their national identity. All immigrants were issued roll numbers to record the number of those allowed to legally immigrate to the territories of the Ohlone. That total number currently equals less than 500.
Regardless of arguments from the colonizers (the United States) on the legal basis why the Ohlone do not have the right to determine who is a legal immigrant of their territories, in reality, no statement of the United States has valid international legal foundation.
Even though the United Nations recognizes the inherent rights of indigenous peoples, the United States consistently guts the substance of any laws that threaten the existence of its nation.
The Ohlone have never relinquished their rights to self determination. Their inability to enforce legal jurisdiction in the face of an overwhelmingly military force does not preclude their rights to territorial jurisdiction. The United States simply has the ability to enforce illegal jurisdiction. Exposing colonial and imperial oppression is an obligation for all peoples seeking a truthful, peaceful and just world.
The Ohlones' natural right to control immigration pre-dates any assumed rights to control immigration. Proposition 187 allows the real illegal immigrants (U.S. citizens) to call others illegal.
The Ohlone alone have the right to determine who is a legal immigrant into their territories. Proposition 187 is a continuation of the attempts of California and the United States to prop up colonial policies under the guise of an egalitarian system.
The United States has yet to admit the truth: it is the real illegal immigrant. Proposition 187 isn't much of a law to hide behind.
Lee A. Sprague is an undeclared junior, a legal resident of the Ohlone Territories and the junior elect AS representative.