“I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture."
Rick Santorum is currently a senior political commentator for CNN.
That's all.
UPDATE: In a new statement to HuffPost, National Congress of American Indians president Fawn Sharp calls Santorum an “unhinged and embarrassing racist who disgraces CNN” and called on the media outlet to fire him. huffpost.com/entry/rick-san…
And... here's @CrystalEchoHawk, exec director of IllumiNative, a nonprofit focused on combating the erasure of Native Americans:
"Rick Santorum is fueling white supremacy by erasing the history of Native peoples. CNN must ... fire Rick Santorum.” huffpost.com/entry/rick-san…
UPDATE again: Rick Santorum tells HuffPost he had "no intention" of devaluing Native Americans when he said there was “nothing” in America before white colonizers arrived -- and that Native Americans haven’t contributed much to American culture anyway. huffpost.com/entry/rick-san…
When I asked the National Congress of American Indians' prez for comment on Santorum, I did not expect so much fire. Wow.
Full statement below.
"Make your choice. Do you stand with White Supremacists justifying Native American genocide, or do you stand with Native Americans?"
I've now heard from 3 organizations calling on CNN to fire Rick Santorum over his comments about Native American culture.
No comment from CNN folks yet.
Good morning! ☕
A day later, still no comment from CNN on whether Rick Santorum still has a job there after saying there was “nothing” in America before white colonizers came -- and that Native Americans haven’t added much to American culture anyway. huffpost.com/entry/rick-san…
The Native American Journalists Association is now urging Native American and Alaska Native reporters not to work with CNN over Rick Santorum's comments, and the network's other "racist ... and insensitive reporting directed at Indigenous people."
Good morning! ☕
Two days later, still no comment from CNN on whether Rick Santorum still has a job there after saying there was “nothing” in America before white colonizers came -- and that Native Americans haven’t added much to American culture anyway. huffpost.com/entry/rick-san…
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8 of the 11 Republican lawmakers/doctors in this video voted to overturn the 2020 election based on lies about voter fraud that led to a violent Capitol insurrection -- and they voted to do so just hours after the insurrection.
Some good news for tribes outta the Interior Dept today: Secretary Deb Haaland is reversing Trump-era actions that made it a lot harder for tribes to put land into trust.
"It's hard to express how big a deal this," said an Interior Dept official in a call with media.
Haaland is reversing Trump's 2017 action making Interior Dept HQ in DC oversee all land-into-trust decisions vs field offices doing it. It's meant lots of delays + costs for tribes.
Put into perspective:
During Obama's admin, the Interior Dept put more than 560K acres of land in trust to tribes.
During Trump's admin, under his changed rules, the Interior Dept put 75K acres of land into the trust.
Just caught Lisa Murkowski's floor speech on why she sided with Democrats and helped narrowly confirm Vanita Gupta as asst AG.
Alaska tribes had a lot of sway in her decision.
Murkowski is looking out for Alaska Native women facing horrific levels of domestic violence.
Gupta will oversee DOJ's Office of Violence Against Women. She's been a leader on VAWA + has real experience addressing violence against women.
Murkowski said she talked to Gupta for a long time about justice and the "tragedy" that Native women face such high levels of violence.
Particularly in Alaska, Native women "experience rates of domestic violence and sexual assault that are shocking, disturbing and wrong," said Murkowski.
Despite all that's been done, "we have not been able to turn the corner" on stemming this "scourge."
Ernst says Dems keep trying to "hijack" VAWA "for their own agenda on everything from gun control to sexual orientation."
On the gun control bit, she's referring to Dems trying to update VAWA so someone who has been *convicted* of abusing a person they're dating can't get a gun.
That provision, which would close the "boyfriend loophole," is in the bipartisan VAWA bill that the House passed last month.
It won't be in Ernst's alternative VAWA bill. Why?
The NRA opposes it + has warned a vote for it will negatively effect lawmakers' NRA ratings. (3/)
It's been more than 2 years since Congress let the Violence Against Women Act's authorization expire.
It's one of President Joe Biden’s signature issues ― and it’s still not clear how or if the Senate will get it done. huffpost.com/entry/violence…
Congress used to reauthorize VAWA with massive, bipartisan votes.
But Senate Republicans let it expire in 2019 because they didn't like the bill everyone else supported. Why? It expanded protections to LGBTQ and Native victims of violence + included a gun safety provision.
Senate Republicans were in such disarray over reauthorizing VAWA in 2019 that they couldn’t even agree with each other on what they wanted in their own bill. huffpost.com/entry/violence…