Indigenous Historian Nick Estes on Toppling Statues, Racist Team Names & COVID-19 in Indian Country

President Trump’s visit to Mount Rushmore comes after months of escalating coronavirus infections in Native communities.

But Indigenous scholar and activist Nick Estes says South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, like many of her Republican counterparts across the U.S., has taken a “hallucination-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic,” and notes she refused to enforce social distancing at this weekend’s event that attracted thousands of people.

He also reacts to growing pressure on the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians to change their racist names.

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