Yesterday, pundit Ann Coulter stated on X (formerly Twitter) that “we didn’t kill enough Indians.” The post was shared more than a million times. As a writer and a lawyer, Coulter knows that words matter, especially for someone with her platform. Suggesting that Native Americans—whose communities and cultures persist and thrive despite the American government having systematically taken Native lands, children, religions, and lives—deserve to die or were not persecuted enough, is ignorant and immoral.
Although abhorrent, this language is not new. Getting rid of Native Americans has been the stated goal of a slew of U.S. policies from the Trail of Tears to the Termination Era. One hundred years ago, policy makers engaged in cultural genocide: killing the Indian to save the man. Many advocated to just kill the Indians. Genocidal language aimed at Native Americans was supposed to be something of the past. It was something that mainstream society had rejected and moved past—until Coulter’s post.
We call on all those who are decent, who have moral values, to denounce this type of hate speech. We should not treat each other in this way. The dark history of the United States’ policies towards Native people should not be repeated. Join us in standing up for the rights of Native people and preserving our existence for generations to come.
John E. Echohawk
NARF Executive Director
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