Kylie Jenner traveling to Navajo Nation for a vacation during a pandemic is just plain cruel

In a now-deleted thread, Twitter user BeatByBenally called out "self-made" billionaire Kylie Jenner for vacationing in Navajo Nation, his homeland. At present, the region has some of the highest deaths per capita owing to the ongoing pandemic. In light of this, Jenner using the region as nothing but a quick vacation spot is insensitive and cruel. Several other users have since expressed their criticism of the socialite's decision to go on a little summer trip⁠—especially since she is yet to pay the thousands she owes to the underpaid workers who manufacture her clothing line.

"Kylie Jenner has a lot of nerve to vacation on the Navajo Reservation," he wrote. "Our people are infected and dying at a higher rate than most places in our country. Our government shut down, this includes all our parks and [a] ban of tourism." Evidently, BeatByBenally had strong feelings about the exploitation of his land as a vacation spot while residents die owing to a lack of medical resources and government funding. Therefore, he had one request: "Please take you and your white privilege off our land!"

In a follow-up tweet, he shared, "I wanted to let y’all know that the resort she was staying at (Amangiri) is on Southern Paiute, Pueblo, & Ute land! However, she did take photos at Antelope Canyon which is on Navajo land." Others agreed with the Twitter user. The Middle Eastern Feminist, a page on Facebook, shared the tweet and added, "The Kardashians are parasites. Yet they are billionaires because the system rewards people like them with their greed and mentality. How about they pay the thousands of starving workers in Bangladesh the minimal pay they haven’t even paid them during a global pandemic?" One person posted, "She's out of touch, to put it mildly. She's still very young and very wealthy. She lives in a bubble. Is anyone surprised?"

The problem BeatByBenally highlighted extends far beyond a simple vacation; Native Americans and their resources have been exploited by those in power in the United States ever since European colonizers entered the Americas. Jenner is only the latest to suffer from a colonial hangover. The Navajo Nation is one of the least funded regions of the country while its people have been fetishized and exoticized in mainstream pop culture and media. While we're happy to enjoy their "exotic" jewelry and clothing, we do not seem to care about their suffering. At present, BeatByBenally shares that there are 8,142 confirmed cases of Coronavirus on the Navajo Reservation and 396 deaths. If you would like to help him fight the pandemic, you can donate to his GoFundMe​.