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Free speech does not absolve Ann Coulter and her employers from inciting hatred. Earlier this week, the conservative pundit posted on X, “We didn’t kill enough Indians,” in response to a speech by Melanie Yazzie, a Native artist and professor, about decolonization.
Her remarks have offended and inflamed Indian Country in a chilling reminder that the haters still hate and some public figures in America are still pro-genocide. I have to respond for myself, my kids, grandkids and generations of relatives past who were silenced by violence and policy.
Coulter’s post, which has since been deleted, was not a gaffe. She’s a shock jockey who knew she’d get over a million likes and shares the first day she posted this. It’s a shameless endorsement of the darkest chapters of American history.
From massacres of Pequots in the early colonial era to Wounded Knee in 1890, from forced relocation on numerous trails of tears to the children buried at residential schools for the education of Native youth, to the current crisis in missing and murdered Indigenous people, genocide is not ancient history, but the foundational practice of American nation-making.
We must do better and we must move forward. Coulter wants to bring us back. Her words embolden hate and ignorance. They hurt Native survivors of violence and their families. They fuel stereotypes and justify ongoing injustice, including attacks on tribal sovereignty, land and lives. When public figures normalize this, they give license to the world to devalue native lives.
I recommend action. For the organizations that employ, contract and provide amplification to Coulter, they should sever all ties and deny all opportunities. For the rest of us, we should boycott any venue that won’t.
