CNN Urged to Dismiss Rick Santorum For Saying ‘There Isn’t Much Native American Culture’

The Native American Journalists Association is calling for Rick Santorum’s immediate dismissal from CNN after a video surfaced in which he boasts about the founding of the United States—or, settler-colonialism—and seemingly ignores Indigenous nations. 

“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,” Santorum, a CNN senior political commentator, former Republican senator, and two-time failed presidential candidate, told students at the right-wing Standing Up for Faith and Freedom conference, hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, on April 23.

In his speech he passionately claims the U.S. was built by Europeans seeking religious freedom—and fails to acknowledge the violent assimilation and mass genocide that settlers committed against Indigenous nations across North America and the world. 

On Monday, Santorum responded to criticisms of his comments by playing them down.

“I had no intention of minimizing or in any way devaluing Native American culture,” Santorum told USA Today.

In a statement published Monday evening, NAJA urged CNN to “immediately dismiss” Santorum from his position and cautioned Indigenous journalists from working with and for the broadcaster.

“With a lack of accountability or ethics around multiple racist and insensitive comments from CNN staff, the Native American Journalists Association urges its members to avoid working with the network to avoid harassment and racism,” the statement says.

Santorum’s gaffe is the latest in a series of anti-Indigenous remarks at CNN, the statement claims. During its 2020 presidential election night coverage, CNN infamously lumped Indigenous voters into the “something else” category.

Then, last week, CNN identified Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan as a white woman, even though she is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. According to NAJA, CNN has not corrected its mistake. 

NAJA is also calling on advertisers, funders, and journalism diversity organizations to indefinitely pull out their support for the broadcaster.

CNN did not respond to VICE News by the time of publication, but we will update the story if we hear back.

Several prominent politicians, Indigenous leaders, and allies have spoken out against the video clip since it first appeared on Twitter.

“The erasure of Native people and histories—which existed before and survived in spite of a white supremacist empire—is a foundational sin of a make-believe nation,” said Nick Estes, a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and co-founder of the Indigenous resistance organization, The Red Nation.

Fawn Sharp, president of the national congress of American Indians, issued her own statement and did not mince words.

“Santorum is an unhinged and embarrassing racist who disgraces CNN and any other media that platforms him,” Sharp said. “Televising someone with his views on Native American genocide is fundamentally no different than putting an outright Nazi on television to justify the Holocaust.”

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