by Greg Lincoln
I thought it was very rude of CNN to describe the voters who are not white, black, Latino, or Asian as “something else” during their election coverage on Tuesday, November 3rd. That “something else” includes the indigenous peoples of this nation.
Native groups everywhere are reacting to CNN saying that this action invisiblizes our population and erases who we are.
Our native cultures are rich and vibrant, the traditions surrounding our customs and foods are centuries old, and the expressions of our cultures are shown in the beauty of our art and languages. We have been here since time immemorial so it is unsettling and frustrating to see that.
Reactions have ranged from anger to sarcasm to thinking it is funny.
Those who are seeing another side of it are humorizing and capitalizing on the ignorance of CNN. Social media outlets have blown up with #somethingelse memes and cartoons. There’s even “something else” t-shirts and other merchandise for sale.
So, as of Friday CNN has apologized according to APTN national news saying “Our exit poll results included a poor choice of words and in no way did we intend to minimize the importance of indigenous communities and the Native American vote…We have corrected it for any of our coverage moving forward.”
Thank you.
