Like nearly every host at Fox News, Jesse Watters, who co-hosts the daily show “The Five,” has a very selective (and incorrect) take on what has transpired in the United States since the nation declared its independence from Great Britain 245 years ago.
On Tuesday, Watters demonstrated his massive ignorance of American history during a discussion of a tweet sent out by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on July 4th in which she reminded the country of its painful and ugly past:
When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people.
This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) July 4, 2021
That one tweet enraged Watters, who declared:
“Congresswoman Bush said two things. 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?”
Co-host Geraldo Rivera asked Watters:
“How about the Seminoles?”
Proving his ignorance yet again, Watters replied:
“Well, what about them, Geraldo? 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.”
Fox News host Jesse Watters on land originally settled by Native Americans that was taken over by Europeans and became part of the US: “This land wasn’t stolen. We won this land on the battlefield.” pic.twitter.com/ikPewOgHyI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 7, 2021
But as Mediaite notes, Watters didn’t exactly tell the whole story about what was done to the Seminoles:
“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.”
Also, a study published by the journal Quaternary Science Reviews in 2019 reveals that some 55 million indigenous people were killed via violence or disease between the time Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492 and the year 1600. That’s 90 percent of all the indigenous people who once existed on the continent.
The United States, it should also be noted, repeatedly attacked and waged war against Native American tribes, killing them and forcing them onto reservations without any recompense for the land that was taken from them.
As usual, Fox News and its on-air hosts are engaged in a rewrite of history, pretending that this country doesn’t have blood all over its hands. But we do, and all of the whitewashing by Jesse Watters and others will never change the truth.
Featured Image Via Screenshot
