Rick Santorum says ‘there was nothing here’ before US, dismisses Native culture
“We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here,” said Santorum.
Rick Santorum is in hot water after he completely glossed over the existence of Native Americans.
The CNN senior political commentator made shocking remarks last week over the state of America before it was funded by European settlers. A clip of his comments went viral on Monday.
“And so they came here, mostly from Europe, and they set up a country that was based on Judeo-Christian principles—when I say Judeo-Christian, the Mosaic laws, 10 Commandments, and the teachings of Jesus Christ, the morals and teachings of Jesus Christ,” Santorum stated at a right-wing student organization, Young America’s Foundation’s Standing Up For Faith & Freedom conference.
“That’s what our founding documents are based upon. It’s in our DNA.”
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He added that not much was going on in the country before it was founded as America, despite archeologists saying native people may have been in the Americas as early as 12000 BC, according to Scholastic.com.
“We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here,” Santorum added. He eventually called out native people.
“I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture,” he said. “It was born of the people who came here pursuing religious liberty to practice their faith, to live as they ought to live, and have the freedom to do so.”
Once social media users caught wind of the comments, they swiftly made remarks.
“Dear @RickSantorum: You have an open invite to enroll in my high school U.S. History class because you are in dire need of a refresher course. For one, I can teach you about the Iroquois Confederacy. We learn about that in the first unit,” wrote award-winning teacher and PBS host Sari Beth Rosenberg.
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“Seriously is any one surprised to hear this hot garbage coming from Rick Santorum?! Nothing was here?! No native American culture in American culture?! America hasn’t changed?! Ok @CNN… ok!,” added DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.
Sports editor for The Nation Dave Zirin added, “To think @RickSantorum– with all his time in DC – never walked five minutes and went to The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian @SmithsonianNMAI and learned something about Indigenous history, culture and influence. What an incurious, bottom feeding bigot.”
Some users have even called for the ex-Senator’s termination. One user tweeted:
“Rick Santorum says that nothing was in America before white colonizers arrived. “There isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” 1. We committed mass genocide against Native Americans. 2. We took everything away from them. @CNN why is this racist still employed?,”
Santorum is a 62-year-old Republican from Winchester, VA, who served as a United States Senator for Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007. In June 2012, he launched the nonprofit organization Patriot Voices, with a mission to “mobilize conservatives around this country who are committed to promoting faith, family, freedom and opportunity” in support of causes across the country.
He became a CNN senior political commentator in January 2017.
According to The Daily Beast, a spokesperson for Santorum released a statement saying, “I had no intention of minimizing or in any way devaluing Native American culture.”
CNN has yet to release an official statement at the time of this article being published.
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