Sacred Pipe Resource Center observes centennial of Indian Citizenship Act, urges Native voting

‘Having to give up your Native identity to be an American citizen was wrong’

A federal official spoke a hundred years ago at a Standing Rock Sioux Reservation ceremony to announce the passage of a law recognizing Native Americans’ new right to vote. “You have shot your last arrow. That means that you are no longer to live the life of an Indian. You are from this day forward to live the life of the white man.”

Cheryl Kary recalled the ceremony at an event on Monday commemorating 100 years of the Indian Citizenship Act. Around 25 people gathered at Sertoma Park in Bismarck, N.D., for her organization’s “Reimagining Citizenship.”

Kary, executive director of Sacred Pipe Resource Center, gave copies of a document with quotes from the 1924 ceremony held at her tribal nation. It explained that men had to shoot an arrow to symbolize that they would abandon their culture to assimilate. “But you may keep that arrow; it will be to you a symbol of your noble race and of the pride you feel that you come from the first of all Americans,” according to the historical record.

Kary said her non-profit set up the event to promote the Native vote and create a safe space where Indigenous people could reflect on history’s impact on present civic engagement. “It was a pretty traumatic type of ceremony, telling men you shot your last arrow and now you have to take up the plow and women have to take up the purse,” said Kary. “That type of message about you having to give up your Native identity to be an American citizen was wrong then. It’s even more wrong now.”

With the Indian Citizenship Act, also known as the Snyder Act, the federal government quit barring the Native vote. However, not until decades later would each state consent to it.

Sacred Pipe’s event plans were for archery, beadwork and music. Staff wanted attendees to use a bow and arrow to symbolize they hadn’t shot their last arrow. When heavy rain prevented those activities, Kary and United Tribes Technical College President Leander “Russ” McDonald spoke about the history of the Indian Citizenship Act. They shared stories about the importance of perseverance, while staff distributed meals and door prizes.

McDonald spoke to participants about a distinction in recognizing American Indian citizenship. “People of European descent did not have to renounce their cultural ways in regard to becoming a citizen for the United States,” McDonald told Buffalo’s Fire.

McDonald also noted many American Indians served in the military during World War I, despite not being recognized as U.S. citizens. According to the National Museum of the American Indian, nearly 12,000 Native men had registered for military service. “Approximately 10,000 American Indians joined the Red Cross, collecting money and donating supplies to support the war effort.”

He also discussed how America’s dark history of assimilation and cultural genocide against American Indians continued for hundreds of years. “Today if somebody came up to me and said, “You have to give up all your Indian rights to become a U.S. citizen,” I don’t think a whole lot of us would,” said McDonald. “I think we’re far enough down the road here that we know that we have retained, and we’ve gotten back some of those rights as a tribal people – and just the basic human rights of being a human being here on this earth.”

Before closing the event, Kary addressed the importance of the Native vote. “What I wanted people to do was think about citizenship and what it means for us as urban tribal people living away from our homelands, what it means to be a citizen of our tribal nations as well as the United States,” said Kary. “And just to think about what being a good citizen means.”

Sacred Pipe is known in the Bismarck-Mandan area for urging individuals to interact with the community. Leading up to North Dakota’s June 11 primary election, the nonprofit encouraged Natives to vote.

“We just wanted to emphasize that a little bit more,” said Kary. “Showing up and having a presence at the polls in a primary election is probably the best way that we can demonstrate our citizenship.”

Sourcing & Methodology Statement:

World War I. National Museum of the American Indian. (n.d.). https://americanindian.si.edu/static/why-we-serve/topics/world-war-1/