Rick Santorum, a politician-turned-cable news commentator most famous for having the same last name as a disgusting sex act, was a featured guest at Young America’s Foundation’s Standing Up for Faith & Freedom seminar over the weekend. The program aims to assist “students at Catholic schools advance conservative ideas, with an understanding that young people encounter unique challenges and opportunities at modern Catholic institutions.” It also teaches them to ignore genocide, apparently.
While giving a speech about fighting for “religious freedom,” Santorum made some boneheaded comments about Native Americans. “If you think about this country, I don’t know of any other country in the world that was settled predominately by people who were coming to practice their faith. They came here because they were not allowed to practice their particular faith in their own country,” he said. Santorum later added, “We came here and created a blank slate. We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” Gee, I wonder why.
Yes, strange how when you commit a genocide against an existing people, their culture goes away. https://t.co/lguHEAslYJ
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) April 26, 2021
Santorum is being widely criticized for his willfully ignorant comments, including by assembly-member Yuh-Line Niou (D-NY), who tweeted, “He needs to full stop stfu. Our tribes are alive and thriving. Everything we know day to day has our native cultures embedded. We are on their land. We eat their food. Use their words. Drink their water.”
Here’s more:
https://twitter.com/dellcam/status/1386704650674573313
"Actually, genocide is good" https://t.co/lpbKE1pLG9
— District Sentinel (@TheDCSentinel) April 26, 2021
THAT'S BECAUSE OF THE GENOCIDE AND WHITE SUPREMACY YOU WILLFULLY IGNORANT TOAD https://t.co/ITnu0BQcdk
— Soraya Nadia McDonald (@SorayaMcDonald) April 26, 2021
The word "Minnesota" is literally from a Native American language. Every time you say the name of this state — and several others — you're speaking a Native language. https://t.co/8MkaDpb8Pz
— Tom Weber (@webertom1) April 26, 2021
CNN has to cut him today. Or did they already cut him? I mean, he's said/done other absurd/offensive/bigoted stuff but can today be the end? https://t.co/GGDyx7MQuS
— deray (@deray) April 26, 2021
even if you ignore rick santorum, cnn is still elevating him and pumping into him millions of homes on a regular basis. "just ignore it" is how we got to this bad point and ignoring it will just make things worse.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) April 26, 2021
This is gross and diminishing to the horrific tragedies Native Americans endured. As someone who grew up on and still has family that lives on reservations, I can say that this country has decimated Native American culture and forced it onto to small plots of land. "Nothing"…. https://t.co/SeqTqNPBuL
— Mi 🍔 les (@MilesDompier) April 26, 2021
No, Rick.
We won't let you erase the crimes and genocide committed against Native Americans nor will we let you erase the meaningful and diverse cultures of Native Americans that continue to this day and will continue long after you're discarded in the trash of false prophets. https://t.co/yKN3MVB30a
— Joe Sanberg (@JosephNSanberg) April 26, 2021
America as we know it was built —physically and culturally — by enslaved people and their descendants during/after a genocide that deliberately sought to erase indigenous cultures https://t.co/g87p3UIuxq
— sarah kelly (@thesarahkelly) April 26, 2021
Yeah, this is really racist, and @CNN continuing to employ him is really infuriating. https://t.co/r2uwmqS3YB
— Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo) April 26, 2021
I guess Rick Santorum is doling out the red meat, potatoes, beans, corn, peanuts, pumpkins, tomatoes, squash, peppers, nuts, melons, and sunflower seeds. (all foods first grown by Native Americans that we still eat today. https://t.co/ZBVppZZXwm
— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) April 26, 2021
Look at the sheer stupidity and ignorance of @RickSantorum. I guess he skipped over the mass genocide of Native Americans by his white European ancestors. THAT is what destroyed the Native American culture. What an idiot. https://t.co/KihmOiFJee
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) April 26, 2021
I imagine all the genocide had something to do with that. https://t.co/EdZ2sFtoJ2
— Maggie Serota (@maggieserota) April 26, 2021
“We birthed this from nothing!” Rick Santorum on the continent of North America/ in a delivery room holding a baby somebody else just gave birth to https://t.co/9EwZOxWs27
— Erin "Skeleton Factory" Ryan (@morninggloria) April 26, 2021
https://twitter.com/henderstu/status/1386698968617390081
Go back to Urban Dictionary, Rick.
(Via Media Matters)