I Believe California Has a Right to Exist

"Given this statement, I feel it is appropriate to affirm that I believe that Gavin Newsom also has the right to exist, and I further believe that California itself has the right to exist. And the right to defend itself, specifically from Nevada, but not necessarily from Oregon."

"Many insist that California is a colonial enterprise, and much of it was stolen from its original inhabitants, the members of the liberal-arts faculty of UC Berkeley. Moreover, California's mongrel architecture proves that we, the current inhabitants of the land, have no authentic roots here."

"I raise these points about indigeneity because the word has a contested meaning: To some, it means 'deserving,' and to others, including, possibly, Governor Newsom, it means 'not Jewish.'"

The piece uses satirical humor to examine the inconsistency in how political figures and commentators apply concepts of sovereignty, self-defense, and indigeneity. It begins by noting Governor Newsom's affirmation of Israel's right to exist and defend itself, then applies this same logic absurdly to California's right to exist and defend itself. The author then explores the contested nature of indigeneity claims, noting that California itself has a complex colonial history and that even Los Angeles's original Spanish name obscures earlier inhabitants. The satire highlights how indigeneity arguments are selectively deployed in political debates, with the term sometimes meaning "deserving" and other times carrying different implications depending on context and political convenience.

Read at The Atlantic