Why We Shouldn't Call the Tragedy in Las Vegas 'The Deadliest Mass Shooting in U.S. History'

Calling the Las Vegas mass shooting that left more than 59 people dead and hundreds more injured the “deadliest in U.S. history” isn’t accurate—and describing it as such erases many of the violent massacres in this country’s past.

That includes the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, which led to the death of more than 300 Native Americans from the Lakota Pine Reservation and the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, where between 70 and 163 Native Americans were killed.

In addition, the Colfax Massacre of 1873 resulted in the deaths of up to 150 black citizens.

These are only a few examples of the United States’ history of violence that has routinely led to the deaths of people of color and the poor.