The impact of Walter Plecker on VA Indian communities is well known, but it's important to remember that these racial integrity laws began decades before his rise. After the Nat Turner Rebellion, some tribes lost their lands due to mixed African ancestry (Gingaskin), while others were threatened with similar consequences (Pamunkey, Nottoway). Throughout the mid to late 1800s, some tribes began enforcing implicit and explicit laws that disenfranchised Indigenous families, often their kin of darker phenotype, long before Walter Plecker's paper genocide. Our 21st-century minds cannot comprehend the weight of these decisions of that day, and we do not condemn our ancestors. We are humbled by the perseverance of our ancestors, who found themselves on both sides of our communities' efforts to reorganize as tribal entities. We, however, can no longer ignore that not all of our kin have been brought home with welcome arms to our tribal communities in the 21st century.

These historical injustices have left many legitimate descendants of federal or state-recognized tribes blocked from reorganizing as tribes at a state and federal level. The irony of denying these descendants the right to reorganize exposes the reality that they are, in fact, legitimate descendants of the recognized tribes. These descendants, however, are denied their rights to enroll due to BQ, enrollment moratoria, disenrollment, discrimination, and incomplete base rolls.

The consequence of this denial and injustice is exclusion from cultural, linguistic, and economic opportunities for Indian people. The absence of these descendants, numbering in the tens of thousands, is also a missed opportunity for the recognized tribal nations and states to address critical environmental concerns. We are calling on Virginia to adjust its tribal recognition process and the state's relationship with communities by implementing several fundamental changes.

• Use MD, NC, and NJ best practices to establish a Commission on Indian Affairs and disband the current Indian Advisory Council. The commission should include the following:
  • A representative elected from each state-recognized tribe.
  • A representative from an inter-tribal council of Indian people residing in VA but not Indigenous to the state boundaries.
  • A representative from three Indian organizations representing the ethnolinguistic Algonquian, Siouxan, and Iroquioian communities
•  Allow for the establishment of three state-recognized Indian organizations, one for each ethnolinguistic group, to enroll well-documented descendants from the recognized tribes who have been disenrolled or denied enrollment for the various reasons listed above. Without intervention from the recognized tribes.
• Establish a Truth and Reconciliation subcommittee to investigate the historical and contemporary injustices by state-recognized tribes against documented descendants and the state's complacency in addressing them. 
• Ensure that the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Truth Commission are responsive to and provide appropriate mediation when tribal members and descendants bring grievances to the state.

The state and representatives have to date ignored a litany of grievances which include, but are not limited to:

• Racial injustice claims in the state recognition process
• Disenrollment issue with state-recognized tribes
• Election issues with state-recognized tribes

Given the states' continued acceptance of tribute from treaty tribes of the 1677 Middle Plantation Treaty, they have implicitly established they are the de facto governing body that inherited the responsibilities post-Crown of England. This means they have the legal responsibility of addressing the grievances of the communities and their descendants should internal conflict or inter-tribal conflict arise. 

These changes will help rectify past wrongs and provide a more inclusive future for all Indigenous people in Virginia. Please sign this petition to support our call for reforming Virginia's tribal recognition process.

For more info on the issues that continue to go unaddressed by tribes, states, and federal government, especially in Virginia, below are a few resources to read.

https://newsadvance.com/community/new_era_progress/news/monacan-legal-fight-brewing-over-finances-leadership/article_6ece3d06-0234-11ed-a857-a3f151303317.html​

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/virginia-native-americans-race​

https://virginiamercury.com/2022/04/04/a-tough-choice-ahead-for-the-secretary-of-the-commonwealth-on-the-mattaponi-tribes-future/​

https://time.com/5141434/virginia-indian-recognition-pocahontas-exception/