In 1974 Ayn Rand gave a Q&A; session to the graduation class of The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. In this Q&A; session a participant asks how to account for the cultural genocide of Native Americans and Any Rand gives a long answer to this. In his 2006 book ”Endgame: The Problem of Civilization”, Derrick Jensen used this answer as source material for an alleged quotation of Rands answer. While the quote does indeed contain sentences uttered by Rand during the session, they have been severely taken out of context and recombined to something quite far from the original answer. While the quote is more or less a fabrication, it is often used as a direct quote of Rand. Here is the full audio from the Q&A; session, plus an accurate transcription of the answer in question. 9:24 - Question: Uh mam, at the risk of [unintelligible], at the risk of stating an unpopular view, when you are speaking of America, I couldn’t help but think of the cultural genocide of native Americans, the enslavement of black men in this country and the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II. How do you account for all of this, in your view of America? 17:45 – Rands full answer with regards to the Indians: But now as to the Indians, I don't even care to discuss that kind of alleged complaints that they have against this country. I do believe, with serious scientific reasons, the worst kind of movie that you have properly seen - worse from the Indian viewpoint - as to what they did to the white men. I do not think that they had any right to live in a country merely because they were born here and acted and lived like savages. Americans didn’t conquer, Americans did not conquer this country... Whoever is making sounds there, I think it's [unintelligible], he's right, but please be consistent, you are a racist if you object to that. You are that because you believe that anything can be given to men by his biological birth or for biological reasons. If you are born in a magnificent country which you don’t know what to do with, you believe that that's a property right. It is not. And since the Indians did not have any property rights - they didn't have the concept of property - they didn't even have a settled society, they were predominantly nomadic tribes. They were a primitive tribal... culture, if you want to call it that.   If so, they didn't have any rights to the land, and there was no reason for anyone to grant them rights, which they had not conceived and were not using. It would be wrong to attack any country which does respect, or try for that matter, that respects individual rights. Because if they do, you are an aggressor and you are morally wrong if you attack them. But if a country does not protect rights, if a given tribe is the slave of its own tribal chief, why should you respect the right they do not have? Or any country which has a dictatorship. Government... the citizens still have individual rights, but the country does not have any rights, anyone has the right to invade it, because rights are not recognized in this country; and neither you, nor a country nor anyone can have your cake and eat it too - in other words want respect for the rights of Indians, who incidentally, for most cases, of their tribal history, made agreements with the white man. And then when they had used up whichever they got through the agreement of giving, selling certain territory, then came back and broke the agreements and attacked white settlements. I would go further, lets say this, lets suppose they were all beautifully innocent savages, which they certainly were not, what was it that they were fighting for? If they opposed white men on this continent. For their whish to continue a primitive existence? Their right to keep part of the earth untouched, unused, and not even have property but just keep everybody out, so that you have to live, practically like an animal or maybe a few caves above it? Any white person who brings the element of civilisation, has the right to take over this country. And it is great that some people did, and discovered here, what they couldn't do anywhere else in the world and what the Indians, if there are any racist Indians today, do not believe to this day: In respect for individual rights.

• published: 15 Aug 2015
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