Two false extremes cloud our understanding of deep Indigenous history. On one end lies Hobbesian contempt—the belief that life in the state of nature was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” In this view, Western civilization elevated select human cultures above nature, bringing them closer to the image of a divine creator. Any culture that saw itself as part of, equal to, or subservient to the natural world was dismissed as inferior—godless, primitive savages fit only to be harnessed like draft animals, forcibly converted, or annihilated for standing in the way of progress. This species-centric view placed nature outside human enlightenment, leaving everything beyond humankind with only two fates: subjugation or extermination.

Nick Estes, Letters From The American Empire