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Media Roundtable: India's COVID-19 Tragedy & Indigenous Groups Call On CNN To Fire Rick Santorum

A patient, wearing an oxygen mask, sits outside Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), one of India's largest facilities for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients only, in New Delhi, India,
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A patient, wearing an oxygen mask, sits outside Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), one of India's largest facilities for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients only, in New Delhi, India,

On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we're discussing coverage of COVID's deadly surge in India. The country's official death toll has passed the 200,000 mark, but medical officials say that number bay be five to 10 times higher. India ranks second in the world after the US for the total number of cases, which are now at 18 million. The crisis has been worsened by oxygen shortages and a healthcare system on the verge of collapse.

Later in the show, we're discussing racist remarks about Native Americans by CNN contributor and former US Senator Rick Santorum. At an April 23 Young America’s Foundation event for conservatives, he said, “We birthed a nation from noting. I mean, there was nothing here. Yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture." The Native American Journalists Association has called on CNN to fire Santorum and urges its members to avoid working with the network to avoid harassment and racism. CNN has yet to respond.

Guests:

Sandip Roy, journalist, host of Dispatch from Kolkata, and author of Don't Let Him Know

Tristan Ahtone, award winning journalist, president of the Native American Journalists Association, and editor-in-chief of The Texas Observer

Web Resources:

Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata

The Guardian: We are witnessing a crime against humanity’: Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe

CNN: As India's crematoriums overflow with Covid victims, pyres burn through the night

The Native American Journalists Association: NAJA urges Indigenous journalists to avoid working with CNN, calls for Santorum’s dismissal

The Washington Post: Rick Santorum and his critics are both wrong about Native American history

The Guardian: CNN urged to fire Rick Santorum after racist comments on Native Americans

The Guardian: Only racist ignorance lets Rick Santorum think America was ‘birthed from nothing’