Gabe Galanda Publishes "Into the Void: Indigenous American Civil Rights"

Gabe Galanda has published "Into the Void: Indigenous American Civil Rights," in the February edition of Washington Association of Justice’s Trial News.

Gabe explains how, over the last two centuries, a great many duty-based Indigenous kinship societies have transmuted into rights-based neocolonial entities and human rights violators, rendering Indigenous citizens the lone naturally born Americans who do not universally enjoy civil rights protection. 

His article can be read here. Here’s an excerpt:

Federal law superimposed an individual rights regime upon Indigenous societies beginning with early nineteenth-century treaties, which conferred personal rights in the form of lands and annuity monies as modes of assimilation. Indigenous societies and tribal nations have struggled with neocolonial, rights-based governance regimes ever since.

Gabe Galanda Publishes Scholarly Essay on Indigenous Kinship Renewal and Relational Sovereignty

Gabe Galanda has published "In the Spirit of Vine Deloria, Jr.: Indigenous Kinship Renewal and Relational Sovereignty" on SSRN.   

Next year his essay will be published by Fulcrum Books in a book that honors the legacy of Vine Deloria, Jr. Gabe will also present his paper at the 18th Annual Vine Deloria, Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium this May.

In addition to Vine Deloria, Jr., Gabe honors several of his mentors and heroes by citation to their scholarship and words, including Robert Williams, Jr., Robert Hershey, Billy Frank, Jr., Darrell Hillaire, and Alan Parker.

Here's the abstract of his essay:

This essay heeds Vine Deloria, Jr.’s inspiring call for the renewal of Indigenous kinship tradition and counsels for the development of relational sovereignty. The first part deconstructs the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1978 landmark decision in Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez to expose its distinctly economic underpinnings. That case exemplifies a steady erosion of Indigenous reciprocity, and concurrent rise of tribal per-capitalism and neocolonialism. The second part suggests five actions that Native nations could take to restore inclusionary, duty-based kinship systems and rules.  First, Native nations should replace blood quantum with alternative citizenship criteria rooted in traditional kinship principles. Second, Native nations should renew kinship terminology to eliminate neocolonial identifiers. Third, Native nations should outlaw disenrollment and bring their relatives home. Fourth, Native nations should lift enrollment moratoria and welcome their lost generations. Lastly, Native nations should—after pausing to understand the colonial legacy of federally sanctioned monetary distributions to tribal individuals—cease per capita payments and reinvest in community revitalization. By drawing on Indigenous traditions of reciprocity and shared destiny, Native nations should reconcile their peoples’ modern individual rights with their customary obligations and duties to one another. Through these strategies, Native nations can engage in a new paradigm of relational sovereignty, whereby Indigenous human existence is exalted and protected over individual power and profit.

Gabe Galanda Named Arizona Law Alumnus of the Year

For his outstanding career achievements and inspiring commitment to service, the Arizona Alumni Association has named Gabriel Galanda the 2023 Alumnus of the Year for the James E. Rogers College of Law.

Gabriel Galanda graduated in 2000 from the Indigenous People’s Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. A member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, Gabe is now one of the country’s leading Indigenous rights attorneys.

As the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman in Seattle, Gabe navigates complex legal and political issues to defend Indigenous nations and businesses and to advocate for the rights of Indigenous citizens. His work has received recognition including the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award. 

Beyond his work in the legal arena, Gabe also founded and operates Huy, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing religious, cultural and rehabilitative opportunities for Native American prisoners. As chair of the organization’s Board of Advisors, he has led amicus curiae efforts before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts across the country.

Throughout his busy career, Gabe has remained connected to the university and the College of Law. He is a regular and generous donor to the college, and he also is generous with his time, visiting Tucson to meet with students and serving on the college’s Board of Visitors.