"The Native American side was tragic. It's just unbelievable what has happened to them"

Skeet Ulrich’s remark acknowledges the profound suffering and injustices endured by Native American peoples throughout history. His use of the word “tragic” recognizes the depth of pain, loss, and destruction experienced by Native communities, a sorrow that spans generations. These tragedies include forced displacement from ancestral lands, systemic violence, cultural erasure, broken treaties, and the devastating impact of disease and war brought by colonization. The simple and straightforward wording conveys shock and disbelief at how severe and far-reaching these effects have been. Ulrich’s statement reflects empathy for the Native experience, underlining that the consequences of historical actions are neither distant nor abstract, but living realities for many communities today.

The phrase “unbelievable what has happened to them” emphasizes the sheer scale and injustice of the events Native Americans have endured. It suggests that, when confronted with the facts, massacres, the Trail of Tears, forced assimilation through boarding schools, loss of languages and traditions, it is almost inconceivable that such suffering was inflicted, often deliberately, by colonizing forces and later governments. This disbelief can signal a recognition of how poorly these events are understood or acknowledged by the broader public, pointing to a broader societal tendency to overlook or minimize Native histories.

Moreover, Ulrich’s words fit within ongoing conversations about historical accountability and the need for truth-telling regarding indigenous histories. They can be a prompt for broader reflection on the pervasive consequences: high rates of poverty, health disparities, and marginalization that stem from an unbroken chain of historical traumas. The statement also calls into question the narratives that have often dominated history books, encouraging listeners and readers to bear witness to Native perspectives and stories.

By using compassionate and direct language, Ulrich points to both the particularity and universality of suffering, urging society not to look away, but to seek understanding, recognition, and, ideally, a path forward toward justice and healing.