Paper genocide
A 2023 article published by Cultural Survival defines the term as "intentional destruction of documents and records related to a particular group of people, usually with the intent of erasing their histories and cultures",[2] while a 2019 article in National Geographic characterizes the term thusly: "Paper genocide means that a people can be made to disappear on paper".
[3] The term is often used to refer to government policies regarding Native Americans in the United States and the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, primarily the Taíno.
[3] Despite the apparent elimination of indigenous peoples from the Caribbean, several historians note that a paper genocide may have obscured the continued existence of groups such as the Taíno.
[3] Additionally, according to the magazine, many censuses in Latin America did not provide an option for indigenous peoples, instead requiring respondents to identify as either "Hispanic", "white", "black", or mixed-race.
[5] In a 2020 blog for the Law School Survey for Student Engagement at Indiana University, Vickie Sutton, a law professor at Texas Tech University and member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, described the "policies of first Great Britain and then the United States against the indigenous population in America" as "genocidal", both physically and in paper form.
[6] The paper genocide of Native American tribes can have an impact on gaining federal recognition,[5] an important aspect of tribal sovereignty in the United States.
[9] In a similar case, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts began seeking federal recognition in the 1970s, but their efforts were hurt due to inconsistent data from the United States Census Bureau.
[11] Between 1790 and 1850, Native Americans were largely excluded from the survey, with a major exception occurring in the 1850 census, when Puebloans in the New Mexico Territory were recorded as "Copper".
[7] Even then, the conductors of the census were instructed to only record "families of Indians who have renounced tribal rule, and who under state or territory laws exercise the rights of citizens".
[7] The passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924 affected how indigenous peoples from Latin America who were living in the Southwestern United States were recorded.
[7] As the Census Bureau was concerned that laborers from Mexico would attempt to portray themselves as Native Americans, many indigenous people from Latin America were recorded only as Hispanic or Latino.
[13] The law both prohibited interracial marriages and codified strict racial distinctions, with all people in the state being recorded as either "white" or "colored".
[13][14] According to the National Park Service, the law's "strict definitions of whiteness and blackness led to a mass erasure of Virginia Indian identity.
When researchers do not do this, at worst, they continue the practice of paper genocide and at best, it is an unapologetic microaggression.In 2024, television station KGPE of Fresno, California, reported that the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, a tribe that owns and operates the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, had disenrolled several members of the tribe after requesting proof of heritage and allotment papers.
[15][16][17] Several of those who had been disenrolled said that the process was unjust, with Claudia Gonzales, a former member of the tribal council, saying, "If we knew this was coming, then we would have taken precautions and measures to protect the general membership from those few that decided they want to try to create paper genocide".
