Monday, November 27, 2017

Manon McCollum - Trump drops 'Pocahontas' jibe to Native American veterans

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42146195

When addressing two famed Navajo veterans who were code talkers during World War Two, President Trump dropped in his nickname for Senator Elizabeth Warren: "Pocahontas,"  referring to her claim that she has Native ancestry.

I think that this slight, while not nearly as bad as the institutional abandonment of Native communities and the alcoholism and other issues that face Native communities today, it is still and extremely offensive and tactless to make, especially at the expense of three ninety-year-old war heroes.

The meeting took place in the Oval Office, in front of a portrait of Trump's favorite president and personal hero Andrew Jackson. This juxtaposition is almost more insulting than his offensive phrasing. Jackson, after all, orchestrated the deaths of thousands of Native peoples on the Trail of Tears, and was generally a man who hated Native peoples with a burning passion.


1 comment:

  1. I'm embarrassed that Donald Trump hosted native american war heroes in his office right next to a painting of a man responsible for genocide. It's embarrassing, how did nobody in the white house think about that

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