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The Indigenous community responded with outrage and called for the firings of several Fox News hosts who made a series of overtly racist comments on air.
On Wednesday, October 13, Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy during an appearance with her husband—former Wisconsin Republican Representative Sean Duffy—blamed the struggles of the Indigenous community on "government dependency" which she claimed leads to "alcoholism" and "family breakdowns."
You can see an excerpt of the segment here:
Co-host Jesse Watters agreed, alleging Democrats are responsible.
"Yeah, they're just going to try to send more slush funds to the reservations, and make them out to be victims, and then have them keep voting for Democrats."
Campos-Duffy went on to assert that Christopher Columbus—long wrongly credited with "discovering" the United States and the Western world—is "the first victim of cancel culture."
She suggested Indigenous groups were "just as brutal" as Columbus and other colonizers.
Her husband concurred, claiming Indigenous groups "burned villages, raped women, [and] seized children" in addition to, he said with no trace of irony whatsoever, taking land.
The Fox News segment soon attracted the attention of IllumiNative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing "the visibility of—and challenge the negative narrative about—Native Nations and peoples in American society."
In a series of statements posted across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, IllumiNative condemned the attacks as "racist," "horrific" and "incredibly harmful."
IllumiNative founder and executive director Crystal Echo Hawk also issued a longer statement about the racist, inaccurate rhetoric.
""This rhetoric is incredibly harmful and dangerous and very clearly rooted in racism and White supremacy."
"Instead of allowing people to perpetuate revisionist history that erases the true history of this country—we need to start calling it what it was."
"Genocide."
"For so long, Americans have chosen to omit and forget us from history and the present day."
"They render us down to grossly inaccurate stereotypes to perpetuate the discrimination and oppression of Native Americans that begun with their 'founding fathers.'
"But we know these are lies non-Natives tell themselves to feel better, even proud about the horrifying truth of this country—and of their ancestors."
The controversy also garnered attention from the online community, which also widely criticized Fox News for airing the segment.
Fox News Attacks Native Americans After Vice President Harris Calls on Americans to Reckon with Its Shameful Past | Opinionhttps://shar.es/aWYRzv— Native News Online (@Native News Online) 1634516683
'Literal Nazi propaganda': Fox News' 'stupefying racism' ripped to shreds by Native American leader\n\nDuring a segment defending Columbus Day, weekend host Rachel Campos-Duffy resorted to a racist stereotype about Native Americans as violent alcoholics.https://www.rawstory.com/fox-news-racism-2655307739/\u00a0\u2026— Jacob Windrix (@Jacob Windrix) 1634523051
Never forget that @govkristinoem @KristiNoem paraded the Duffy's out a few times to score political points.\n\nAwful awful people. All three of them.https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-native-american-racist-attack-rachel-campos-duffy-sean-duffy_n_616b8422e4b00cb3cbd3bdf8?fbclid=IwAR00bYUK7w_Vm58BTiVHqqvziTZj5I_SRg6WBamm0_704OjYBYFK83dhZSY\u00a0\u2026— Dana P (@Dana P) 1634566792
@FoxNews grab a fricking brain. From somewhere. Anywhere ffs! Apologize on air and fire your racist idiots. They're disgusting. #USA #FoxNews #racismhttps://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1450064138542227457\u00a0\u2026— Milt Davies (@Milt Davies) 1634558068
Ignorance and racism is alive a well on Fox News. White folks rewriting history in their own image. What happened to the Native American people was simply genocide. Their problems comes from that history. That\u2019s it. Schmucks!https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-native-american-racist-attack-rachel-campos-duffy-sean-duffy_n_616b8422e4b00cb3cbd3bdf8\u00a0\u2026— C. D. Padro (@C. D. Padro) 1634475270
Far Afield Media strongly denounces the blatant stereotypes spouted in this segment. The guests should be banned from future appreances on Fox News, and the host should give a heartfelt apology.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/native-american-group-calls-on-fox-news-to-fire-hosts-over-racist-comments/ar-AAPBYEh?li=BBnbfcL\u00a0\u2026— FarAfieldMedia (@FarAfieldMedia) 1634472900
Racist Faux Fox News hosts Jesse Watters and Rachel Campos-Duffy brought out every stereotype about Native Americans they could think of.\n\nNative American Group Calls on Fox News to Fire Hosts Over \u2018Racist\u2019 Commentshttps://a.msn.com/01/en-us/AAPBYEh?ocid=winp-st\u00a0\u2026— MelonCollieMollie Grand Duchess of Terror (@MelonCollieMollie Grand Duchess of Terror) 1634428846
Fox Propaganda needs to be shut down.https://www.thedailybeast.com/native-american-group-calls-on-fox-news-to-fire-hosts-over-racist-comments\u00a0\u2026— Heather Hale \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a (@Heather Hale \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a) 1634473933
Anyone believing Fox News is unable get further into the gutter, needs to get their head out of the sand.https://www.thedailybeast.com/native-american-group-calls-on-fox-news-to-fire-hosts-over-racist-comments?ref=home\u00a0\u2026— Adam B. Bear (@Adam B. Bear) 1634454817
\u201cCampos-Duffy also asserted in the segment that the struggles Native Americans endure today \u2018have everything to do with government dependency, cycles of poverty and alcoholism, and family breakdowns\u2019\u201d\n-\nTheir network is racist propaganda spewed daily. So disgustinghttps://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1449508151557038081\u00a0\u2026— \ud835\udc04\ud835\udc31\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2f\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b \ud835\udc0f\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc29\ud835\udc1e (@\ud835\udc04\ud835\udc31\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2f\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b \ud835\udc0f\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc29\ud835\udc1e) 1634471717
(THREAD)\n@FoxNews hosts Jesse Waters & Rachel Campos-Duffy expressed skepticism about the victimization of Native Americans ... by making stupefyingly racist comments about genocide denial & drunken Native Americans on national TV.\n\n@FoxNews, listen up...https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1448921612166877188\u00a0\u2026— President Fawn Sharp (@President Fawn Sharp) 1634335586
Here's a wake-up call: this is literal Nazi propaganda on American TV. \n\nThese two racists said Native Americans are welfare-dependent drunks whose ancestors committed equivalent atrocities to the foreign invaders behind the world's largest genocide & transatlantic slave trade.— President Fawn Sharp (@President Fawn Sharp) 1634335586
@FoxNews, Native Americans know too much about history not to fight back. How many hate crimes against Native Americans do you think we will let you incite on national TV without retaliation? \n\nWe are not afraid of you; we will not play around; and we will hold you accountable.— President Fawn Sharp (@President Fawn Sharp) 1634335586
Fox News, Fox News executives, and every board member of their corporate sponsors are going to be publicly held accountable if they continue to air genocide denial and incitement against Native Americans. \n\nAsk Dan Snyder and Rick Santorum.— President Fawn Sharp (@President Fawn Sharp) 1634335587
Unless @FoxNews wants 574 Tribal Nations to directly confront/expose every single board member, investor, exec accountable for this programming for the rest of their lives, Fox News best fire those two arrogant, degenerate racists & leave Indian Country alone.— President Fawn Sharp (@President Fawn Sharp) 1634335587
Fox News has not responded to requests for comment.
The remarks from the Fox hosts came on the heels of Columbus Day, which many states, cities, towns and organizations around the country have begun to recognize as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
The change has been precipitated by a shift in public awareness of the truth about Christopher Columbus' acts as scholars have given greater attention to the harms committed under his governance, particularly the genocide, rape, sex trafficking of children, torture, murder and enslavement of Hispaniola's Indigenous Tainos as well as other Indigenous people of the Caribbean, Central and South America.
Although there has been a slow shift in the way the history of America's Indigenous peoples is taught, many schools still teach Columbus "discovered" America.
However, Columbus never actually set foot in North America. The holiday celebrating his "discovery" further perpetuates this myth.
Also long disproven are the myths about his accomplishments.
Vikings explored and had settlements in North America 500 years before Columbus. It was widely known the Earth was round, but Columbus falsely believed the Earth was much smaller than other explorers calculated.
It was widely believed another land mass existed in the Western Hemisphere of accurately calculated views of the Earth, which was why the explorers who arrived within a few years of Columbus knew they were landing on new territory and not in Asia.
The more the lies taught for decades to justify his holiday are stripped away and the truth revealed, there is little to admire about Columbus.
The truth also fails to support the Duffys' racist rhetoric and stereotypes about Indigenous people.
Indigenous people living off reservations outnumber those living on reservations. Alcoholism and substance abuse levels as well as divorce and single parent households have been on par or less than their White contemporaries for several decades.
A recent study by the National Institute of Health showed a majority, 59.9% of Indigenous people choose to completely abstain from alcohol opposed to 43.3% of White Americans.
And government assistance has long been highest amongst economically disadvantaged White Americans over all other groups.
The Duffys' racist portrayal of Indigenous people in the United States as drunks all living on reservations collecting money from the government is an inaccurate, harmful lie.
Hopefully Fox News will recognize the error and take appropriate action.