Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - July 24, 2024 - Sen. JD Vance's controversial comments about Indigenous people have resurfaced, potentially affecting former President Donald Trump's campaign among Native American voters.

Vance referred to Native Americans as the "enemy" when arguing against renaming the Wayne National Forest in Ohio, a forest named for Major General Anthony Wayne who massacred Indigenous people during the Northwest Indian War.

Vance argued that Wayne fought wars and won peace for the government and hewed Ohio out of rugged wilderness and occupied enemy territory.

Oneida tribe member Marin Webster Denning argued that Native Americans are not the enemy, and that revisions of history erase them.

Oneida activist Jacob Abrams said that some people may view Wayne as a hero, but not for them. Vance's disparaging comments about a holiday celebrating Indigenous culture in 2021 are also being scrutinized in the wake of his selection as Trump's running mate.

ICT Journalist Mary Annette Pember of the Red Cliff Ojibwe Tribal Nation in Wisconsin found a tweet from Vance during President Joe Biden's first year in office, where he wrote, "Indigenous Peoples' Day is a fake holiday created to sow division.

Of course Joe Biden is the first president to pay it any attention."

Vance's comments may hurt the Trump campaign's voter outreach efforts, particularly in Arizona, where Biden won the Grand Canyon State by roughly 11,000 votes in 2020, largely due to turnout from Indigenous voters in Navajo country.