Women, Indians, Blacks and the poor: Too dumb to vote
By Ivan Star Comes OutNative Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today Starting with the signing of the U. S. Constitution, government decision makers struggled to define their relationship with the original residents of the continent. Article I, Section 2 states that Native people are not under the control of the U. S. and therefore cannot be taxed. It also states Congress has the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, including Indians. However, regarding American history, billions have been subjected to some cleverly disguised omissions or distortions about “Indians.” A solid example is that when 38 of 41 delegates signed the U. S. Constitution on September 17, 1787, most states allowed only free, white, male, property owners, those over 21 years of age to vote. This is what “Make America Great Again” means. This translates to the poor (non-property owners), slaves (African Americans), women (yes, white women), and youth (under 21 years of age). A prevailing question is why would government want to deny these groups the right to vote and why did it try to hide it? In the least, contemporary students ought to be allowed to discuss these issues in the classroom. I think the real reasoning for not allowing the previously mentioned groups to vote was because they were considered unintelligent and/or not responsible enough. The people in power believed these groups of people didn’t know enough about politics therefore would not cast intelligent votes. This situation totally ignores the egalitarian principles of the Constitution. Also, since 1787, history texts have promulgated the idea that the “founding fathers” sat behind closed doors for months and eventually came out with the brilliant All-American constitution. They intentionally omitted the fact that the document is copied, almost paragraph for paragraph, from the Iroquois’ Great Law of Peace. Sadly, the government did was to hide this fact from its public. It is truly ironic that the new government seized the Iroquois’ system of government, the Great Law of Peace, and then denied all natives the rights incorporated in what they call their very own symbol of democracy. I say the principles on which the constitution is founded are largely indigenous. Instead, they deviously promulgated the notion that democracy originated from ancient European philosophers.
Support Native media and the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Women, Indians, Blacks and the poor: Too dumb to vote Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South Dakota, 57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com Copyright permission Native Sun News Today
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