Identity Determines Rights: Why “Black” Is Not a Nationality

(For educational and spiritual purposes only. Provided by Ashaniyāh School of Natural Law.)

We’ve been told for generations that we are “Black” or “African-American.” But what does that really mean? What nation is called “Black”? Where is its government? Where is its land? Where are its treaties?

The truth is: there is no nation called Black.

Color is not a nationality. “Black” is an adjective — a description, not a people. “African-American” is a political label created in the late 1980s, not an ancient identity. Neither term connects us to a sovereign nation, tribal government, or land base.

When you check “Black” or “African-American” on government forms, you are essentially declaring yourself stateless — a person with no recognized national identity. In law, a stateless person has no inherent claim to a homeland, no treaty rights, and no political status. Without a nation, you are treated as property, subject to the full jurisdiction of the state. This is not an accident.

Black = Death

Here is the deeper truth that most don’t know: in legal dictionaries, the word “Black” is associated with “civilly dead.”

• In Black’s Law Dictionary, “civiliter mortuus” means civilly dead — one who is deprived of all civil rights.

• Historically, to call someone “Black” in law was to classify them as having no legal standing, no rights, no inheritance, no claim to land.

So when you accept “Black” as your identity, you’re unknowingly stepping into a status of death — not a living man or woman, but a corporate fiction. This is why the system has no obligation to protect you. On paper, you’re already “dead.”

How We Were Separated From Our Roots

Before European colonization, our ancestors lived as sovereign tribal nations across the Americas and beyond. Many were already here long before 1492. Others arrived from Africa, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world as explorers, traders, and allies. We were farmers, herbalists, builders, and healers. We had our own governments, laws, and sacred ways of life.

Colonization and slavery were not just about chains — they were about paperwork.

• Reclassification: Tribes were renamed, nations dissolved, and people recorded under new “racial” categories.

• Erasure of Treaties: Promises of land and protection were broken as nations were removed and “Indians” redefined.

• Color Codes: “Negro,” “Black,” and later “African-American” became catchall terms to disconnect us from our original nations and make us subjects instead of citizens.

Ask yourself: if over 100 million Africans were brought across the Atlantic on wooden ships, where are the ships? The records? The bones? The mass graves? Where is the evidence? Much of what we have been taught about our own history has been carefully edited to hide our indigenous roots.

The Spiritual Meaning

In spiritual law, names carry power.

When you accept a name given by someone else, you also accept the role and status attached to it. “Black” was not our name. It was imposed to erase our memory of being indigenous, sovereign, and tied to the land.

Identifying as indigenous or aboriginal — reconnecting with your tribe, your ancestral lineage, your true nation — is not just paperwork. It is a spiritual act of remembrance. It is a reclamation of your divine inheritance.

When you declare yourself “Black,” you tell the world you are a color — and, in law, a status of death. When you declare yourself “indigenous” or “aboriginal,” you tell the world you are a living member of a nation, a people with a history, a land, and rights.

Political Implications

In law, nationality determines rights. Without a nation, you have no standing in treaties, no recognized claim to reparations, and no legal framework for self-determination. This is why governments prefer you to identify as “Black” or “African-American.” It keeps you under their jurisdiction.

Reconnecting to your indigenous roots — whether through genealogy, tribal membership, or creating a new tribal government — is how you step back into your lawful standing. It’s not about denying African heritage; it’s about acknowledging the full truth: many of us are the original people of this land, not immigrants to it.

Questions to Ask Yourself

• What nation is called “Black”?

• If millions of people were enslaved and shipped across oceans, where are the records?

• Why do government forms only offer color codes instead of actual nations for so-called “Black” people?

• Why were indigenous and African peoples labeled the same way on census forms after the 1800s?

• And most importantly: Why does “Black” in law mean civilly dead?

Reclaiming Your True Identity

At Ashaniyāh School of Natural Law, we teach about the power of names, nationality, and sovereignty. We help mothers, families, and communities reconnect with their roots, reclaim their lineage, and step into their rightful standing as sovereign people.

Identity determines rights. It’s time to remember who we really are.

(Disclaimer: This content is provided for spiritual and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Each individual is responsible for their own research and actions.)