Harrison Ford: Indigenous people ‘marginalized and killed in cold blood’

Actor Harrison Ford used his commencement address at Arizona State University this month to call for greater protections for indigenous communities, saying they were being “marginalized and, in many cases, killed in cold blood.”

Mr. Ford made the remarks as part of a broader appeal for environmental and social justice, telling graduates: “We need cultural change. We need to extend social justice. We need to respect and elevate the indigenous people that are being marginalized and, in many cases, killed in cold blood. These communities have long understood that the trees, the mountain, water, soil are not commodities.” 

Mr. Ford spoke Monday to ASU’s largest graduating class ever, with more than 14,000 undergraduates earning more than 15,000 degrees at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe. He also received an honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters from the university. 

The 83-year-old opened with a self-deprecating look back at his own college years, telling the crowd he had been “squandering my life in riotous living” before stumbling into a drama class in search of an easy grade — and falling in love with acting. 

Mr. Ford, a longtime conservation advocate, wove the indigenous people remarks into a wider plea for environmental action. He warned that despite new science and new policies, the world continues to lose nature to “profiteering, corruption, conflict — including land that is already protected on paper.”

Mr. Ford urged graduates to “stand up for someone who can’t stand up for themselves” and to “bring people together who weren’t talking before,” calling that kind of action true leadership.

He closed by telling the class that the potential of their entire generation was what gave him hope, ending with a final charge: “Go change the world.”