History Teacher Defends Inca Civilization’s Child Sacrifices as ‘Voluntary’ and ‘Kind’

A Colorado high school history teacher is facing backlash after claiming that child sacrifices carried out by the Inca civilization were “voluntary” and even “kind.” In a TikTok video that recently resurfaced, Emily Pool argued that the ritual killings — known as “Capacocha” — involved elite children who “volunteered” and were given coca leaves before being left to die from cold exposure.

Pool asserted that this context made the practice less horrific, and criticized what she described as a “white education” that focuses on the “bad” aspects of cultures like the Inca while ignoring their accomplishments. “The problem is we only learn the bad stuff,” she said, before adding that she would “die on this hill” defending the Inca’s motives.

Archaeologists dispute her characterization. Maria Ceruti, an expert in high-altitude Inca sites, explained that many of these sacrifices were far more violent — involving strangulation, blunt force trauma, suffocation, or live burial — rather than sedation and hypothermia.

Pool’s remarks have sparked outrage online, with critics accusing her of downplaying historical atrocities and attempting to reframe them in a sympathetic light.

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