On Tuesday’s edition of The Five, Jesse Watters took issue with an Independence Day tweet by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in which the congresswoman said, “This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.”
“Congresswoman Bush said two things,” said Watters. “Really dumb things. She says this land was stolen. This land wasn’t stolen. We won this land on the battlefield and we bought it, right? We purchased Spain–I mean we purchased Florida from Spain. We have the receipts. What, do you want to give Florida back to Spain?”
“How about the Seminoles?” asked Geraldo Rivera.
“Well, what about them, Geraldo?” retorted Watters. “We won that territory on the battlefield. It was an ugly, brutal battle, but we won it. We’re not just gonna give everything back to the indigenous people of this country.”
During the infamous Seminole Wars, the United States launched a military campaign against the Seminole people to recapture fugitive slaves that had taken refuge among the tribe. Later, the government forced Seminoles to move west of the Mississippi River after a prolonged armed conflict.
As to Bush’s comment about Black people not being free, Watters asked, “Where?” He pointed out that St. Louis, which Bush represents, has a Black mayor, district attorney, and police chief. “So are you saying these Black leaders are denying freedom to the Black people of St. Louis? That’s insane.”
According to a study published in 2019, about 55 million indigenous people were killed by violence or disease in the Americas between the time Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 and the year 1600. That number represents approximately 90% of the indigenous population over that time. Later, after the formation of the U.S., the federal government waged armed conflict against Native peoples, and engaged in forced resettlements of entire Native populations.
*story by MEDIAite
