Can’t say that I would argue with singer Billie Elish’s statement made when she accepted her 2026 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. She stated, “No one is illegal on stolen land.” This is in reference to the war being waged on immigrants by the Trump administration. The land our nation claims is land stolen—not bought and paid for—from the original people who inhabited it. History clearly documents the “land grab”. In this way, we are all immigrants. outside of Native Americans, all of us originated from somewhere else . . .came from somewhere else . . . immigrated here.
I can’t argue with that because it is true. Ms. Eilish caught some flack over the statement because it seems that her home—a multi-million-dollar mansion—sits on “stolen land”. That land originally belonged to the Tongva Tribal Nation. The tribe acknowledged this fact but stated that the singer has never contacted them about the land. They appreciate the acknowledgement of the land as “indigenous” but question her sincerity. They kind of see it as a “prayer and thoughts” sort of statement.
No one wants to be called a hypocrite. A day or two after the Grammy Awards, Ms. Eilish put out a statement about a recent ancestry test she took. The test revealed that she had a small percentage of Native American heritage in her family background. A DNA test. The test confirmed that she was 1/164th Native American. Though she doesn’t agree, the implication is that “technically” she has a right to the land that her mansion sits on. She acknowledges that being “native” is more than a number from a DNA test. That just shows the person where he or she comes from. Real proof comes in honoring the land, history, culture, and living communities.
Though Ms. Eilish understands this, there are a lot of people who see her 1/164th score as validation of her indigenous heritage and place in a tribe. Lots of people believe this. They believe it because that is the great American myth and most are ignorant of history and reality.
From the beginning, the goal of the people who settled here and formed our nation was the land. To own the land, they need to remove the inhabitants already occupying it. They used concepts like the “Doctrine of Discovery” and “Manifest Destiny” to justify their actions. Our nation was built upon these ideologies. Colonialization—plain and simple. But to work the inhabitants either had to be removed, assimilated, or eliminated . . . they had to disappear.
History paints the story if we want to delve deeper than the white-washed garbage the present administration wants to sell us. From the beginning of our nation, the original inhabitants were to be removed—even extinguished. Pushed westward from their lands, found, massacred, poisoned with disease, starved as their food sources were annihilated, rounded up, placed on reservations, made to assimilate, boarding schools . . . all designed to rid the land of these people. To get rid of them. Genocide. History shows this movement of genocide.
General Philip Sheridan in 1869 declared, “The only good Indian I ever saw is a dead Indian.” This became “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Richard Pratt, founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania (model for all boarding schools), in 1879, had this to say, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Both were staunch in their goals of getting rid of the “Indian problem” . . . both had their methods of genocide. The goal was removal and the mans was genocide. Look it up. Plenty has been written and is being written about it. It is the wiping out of people and their cultures.
Thank goodness our nation no longer practices genocide . . . right? I suppose, considering the present administration’s immigration policies and activities, that statement is debatable. It sure feels like genocide no matter how much this administration wraps it up in “red, white, and blue”. If you ask the Native American tribes, they will tell you that genocide is alive and well. Instead of blatant it is more subtle . . . almost silent, but it is still there. Which brings me back to Ms. Eilish and this idea of DNA or blood as the definitive solution to who us a Native American.
Blood quantum—a controversial, colonial-era policy measuring the amount of “Indian blood” a person possesses to determine Native American identity and tribal enrollment.
The goal of blood quantum is not to quantify “Indianness” but to bring “Indianness” or “Indians” to the state of extinction. To make them disappear. This is not a scientific-based method—there is no science that grounds it. The only “science” might be the fact that if this practice continues there will be no Indians/Native Americans remaining—no tribes—they will be eliminated through simple math. Blood quantum is not real. It is made up. Created to extinguish Native Americans. Silent genocide.
Tailyr Irvine is a photojournalist whose work has been published in National Geographic, the New York Times, the Smithsonian, the Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. She has hosted shows across the country. She has been on the national Public Broadcasting System’s programs. She is a registered member of the Salish and Kootenai Tribal Nation on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. She shares the stories of life and culture from the Native side. One story that intrigued and bothered her was about blood quantum. The result was a documentary story, Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native America. Ms. Irvine states that this “not real” issue “focuses on how the government-imposed system of blood quantum affects who Natives marry, who they have kids with, who they spend their life with and how this number dictates one of the intimate choices that we have.” The end result is extinction. Take a moment to watch her as she explains this silent genocide. There is a short version at this link, or a longer version that explains it in greater deal at this link. She tells the story well.
Ms. Eilish’s statement pulled back the curtain hiding the long-held secret of genocide against Native Americans who were the original inhabitants of our nation. It still exists. It is still practiced. Amazingly the Native Americans are a resilient people who have survived this continuing onslaught of purposeful extinction. And, yes, it will continue. As the Trump administration has demonstrated since Day One, there is an on-going cleansing of America hidden behind ridding our country of illegal immigrants. It is “cleansing”. It is an act of aggression. An act of cruelty. All aimed at ridding our nation of people of color. We witness it daily. Because their skin and culture are not “white” . . . they must go.
I have Native American friends who now carry tribal documents stating that they are American citizens. Proof that they belong. I am scared for them. I am scared for my neighbor who is Hispanic. He is a naturalized citizen of the United States. A legal resident who has jumped through all the hoops, signed all the papers, and sworn allegiance to the country. But I watch daily to see if unmarked vehicles will come, a knock upon his door, and him being escorted away. Not only him, but others. Not only people of color, but people of gender. A couple, gay, live on the corner of the street. The vile rhetoric and treatment against the LGBTQ+ have made me fear for them. They are not wanted by the present administration. Actions speak louder than words and demonstrate this fact. No one is safe who is contrary to the present administration’s desires and whims . . . no one.
These are scary times. We are witnessing the act of genocide cloaked in patriotism . . . draped in “red, white, and blue”. We cannot turn away. We must ally ourselves with those who are being attacked. If not . . . well, remember the words of Pastor Martim Niemoller:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
