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“After raising Mason for a year and a half, Buckley and Becker moved to adopt. It was straightforward until, late in the legal proceedings, the Choctaw Nation intervened on behalf of the child’s great-uncle. It turned out that Mason’s birth mother — and therefore Mason — is a Choctaw citizen.
“His mother had never mentioned this. We had never been told that there was anything there,” Buckley says. “Mason didn’t even look Indian in the least regards. Most everybody that was involved in the case was equally shocked.”
Although the court and the state of Arizona were on the cusp of allowing Mason to be adopted, the legal proceedings were terminated and the process started all over again. This time the Indian Child Welfare Act would hold sway.”
– NPR, Native American Adoption Law Challenged As Racially Biased.
“The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) issued the following statement after National Public Radio broadcast and published “Native American Adoption Law Challenged As Racially Biased” – an inaccurate and imprecise story about an Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) custody case:
NPR violated its ethics policy by failing to thoroughly fact check its reporting and allowing racist language and views on air unchallenged. “Native American Adoption Law Challenged As Racially Biased” by Wade Goodwyn contains multiple factual inaccuracies, lacks context, and propagates racist language and ideas.
Goodwyn says “It turned out that Mason’s mother – and therefore – Mason, was part Indian.” This is a misleading and incorrect statement: The child’s mother is a tribal citizen, therefore the child is also a tribal citizen. This designation is foundational to federal Indian law. To frame it otherwise is inaccurate and irresponsible, especially given the sensitivity owed to children involved in ICWA cases. Goodwyn also discloses the identity of a child involved in adoption proceedings – a violation of their safety and privacy.
Goodwyn uses a quote from the child’s adoptive parent: “Mason didn’t even look Indian in the least regards.” This is deceptive and racially-coded language that defines the child’s identity by physical appearance or skin color. These types of depictions of Native people are blatantly racist and should have been addressed by editors before publication and in the story. In ICWA cases, the child’s identity is based on a political connection to a sovereign nation, and is not based on racial identifiers. This framing runs counter to NPR’s policy of respect and accuracy.”
– NAJA News, NPR airs inaccurate story about ICWA case.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #51 – ICWA Attacks.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
