My birthright was not stripped by the children who escaped the oppression of their parents. Time did not erase my sovereignty. I was not conquered. I did not pledge allegiance to them. Their courts cannot make me theirs. Their legislatures cannot declare me one of them. No chief, no council, no president, no state, no province, no nation can just claim my birthright. My sovereignty comes from Creation. It doesn't come from a treaty, a handshake, the church or even a wampum belt. No army defends my right to speak or provides for my freedom. My freedom ends when I stop defending it. And just because my defense may not appear to have held once, doesn't mean I won't defend it again and again. My freedom does not give me the right to infringe on the freedoms of others nor can anyone assume the just power to regulate the metes and bounds of my freedom. My freedom, my birthright and my sovereignty may be infringed upon but it is not lost until I say so. No "deal" from the past and no other in the present or future can sell out the freedoms of others.