In 1924 the state of Virginia passed a very unethical set of laws called the "Racial Integrity Acts". It states that all people registered in the census or in birth records had to be racially classified as either "White" or "Colored" making no distinction between those of Native American status or mixed ancestry. This also forced many native woman to marry white men in order to maintain proper citizenship status, while on the other hand it stripped the tribal identity of most natives in Virginia. I declare that our to right to a nationality be exercised properly according to articles 4,5 and 6 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We declare our right to a nationality and the right to maintain and govern ourselves as indigenous people of North America.



