Native American Activist Upset With Use of Codename “Geronimo,” and Terms Like Apache, Blackhawk, Tomahawk…
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]
I used to think that Democracy Now! was a dishonest liberal media outlet. But today I revise my opinion. Clearly they are a right wing organization designed to parody the left and make them look silly.
How else do you explain this?
I especially love the detail about how Geronimo’s great grandson, Harlan Geronimo, is among the offended. Clearly that is a made up name, right? Given that apparently “Geronimo” was not really named “Geronimo” but was actually named Goyaałé (if Wiki can be trusted and on this sort of thing it usually can). [UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I beg to differ. See my update below.] Geronimo was just what Americans called him, reportedly after hearing Spanish speakers appealing to St. Jerome.
So clearly that is just a made up name, right?
Really, seriously, it’s the best satire outside of the Onion, except that it isn’t plausible that anyone would be that silly in real life.
Hat tip: The Blaze, which for some reason treats this obvious parody as serious.
Update: This all reminds me of a classic exchange in Hot Shots! Part Deux. At one point there was danger approaching our heroes, and one of the team members, Williams, talks on the radio about it:
Radio: Recon reports Indians on the warpath in your area. Over.
Wiliams: Ain’t no Indians around here. Over.
Radio: Do not take literally. Repeat. Do not take literally. The vultures are circling the carcass. Repeat. The vultures are circling the carcass. Over.
Williams: I see a couple of gulls, but I don’t…
Radio: The pit bull is out of the cage. The crips are raiding the store.
Williams: Hey, you yanking my crank?
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Wikipedia can never be blindly trusted, ever. It is a good way to find original source materials that can be trusted, but as a Web site that can be edited any time, anywhere, trusting an unsourced allegation on Wikipedia is like proving your point by saying you saw it on the Internet.
Winona Laduke? That fraud is an old friend of “Walking Eagle” as we call Ward Churchill around here. Pure loon.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:01 amChief Illiniwek is no longer available for comment.
JD (306f5d) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:18 amwait until they hear about omaha beach in WWII…
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:23 amOh, c’mon. Look at what she named her children, according to Wikipedia:
Enough said. Especially given her parents’ background.
But hey. More power to her. I think.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:23 amAaron, or the 101st Airborne …
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:40 amwe should not use these terms ever ever ever and simply let this failed civilization sink into history wif whatever dignitah they can yet muster I think
happyfeet (9bcfed) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:43 amthe American Injun civilization stood solemny at the precipice of faily faily fail
happyfeet (9bcfed) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:46 amOf course, “happyfeet” nickname ridicules the legendary “HappyFeet” indian tribe. Known for its breakdancing prowess.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:46 am“Geronimo!,” said happy feather mischievously.
Nobody laughed.
happyfeet (9bcfed) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:47 amyou steppered on mah flow Mr. SPQR
happyfeet (9bcfed) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:48 amSeeing as we name the most formidable of our weapons, Apache, Comanche, Tomahawk, which is a
narciso lopez (79ddc3) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:53 amsign of respect.
SPQR is right. Winona LaDuke, more self-hating Jew than Indian, is closely associated with disgraced phony Indian, plagiarist, and notorious America hater, the odious Ward Churchill.
In 1992 LaDuke collaborated with Churchill on “Native North America: The Political Economy of Radioactive Colonialism.” They claimed the U.S. federal government was dumping radioactive waste on Indian reservations. (It was an attempt to resurrect a more modern version of the old genocidal Blood Libel that blankets from smallpox wards were distributed among Indian tribes.)
LaDuke also wrote the Preface to Churchill’s 1993 “Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Expropriation in Contemporary North America.
LaDuke is a disingenuous attention seeking far left political activist who’s seized on the “Geronimo” issue to promote herself at the expense of Native American pride and dignity.
ropelight (2b7298) — 5/9/2011 @ 9:00 amWell, I’m speaking for myself, of course, but my Grandma was full blooded Cherokee; and I don’t have any problem with the use of Indian names and allusions to such (Tomahawk missile) in the slightest.
Of course, I’m not an identity politics fetishist, and spent the better part of my lifetime serving the nation in the US Navy; so add that to my “wingnut” status and you’ll see why in the eyes of most lefties that I’m an “inauthentic! race-traitor!“.
But truthfully, using such names in a military context especially, at least in my opinion, is an homage and certainly not an insult…
I mean, “stay-puft-marshmellow” cruise missile doesn’t inspire much awe really.
Bob Reed (5f2db5) — 5/9/2011 @ 9:13 amHow did she become the spokesperson for all native american peoples/tribes? Do they all think alike?
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 5/9/2011 @ 9:16 amAs Moe Lane pointed out this past weekend, when the Army names its helicopters after a Native American tribe, they hold a ceremony in which representatives of the tribe participate.
Joshua (9ede0e) — 5/9/2011 @ 9:30 amShorter big MFM median – this is just further proof of your racisms and hatred of brown people and white supremacy and white victimization and you suck.
JD (d56362) — 5/9/2011 @ 9:35 amGreetings:
But, but, but, his name wasn’t Geronimo really now, was it. Isn’t Geronimo eSpanish for Jerome?
I don’t think the noble First Peoples gave their children eSpanish names now did they? Unless it was something that they did when they went off slaughtering their noble First Peoples neighbors or illegal white immigrants from Europe.
11B40 (e1a6f4) — 5/9/2011 @ 9:36 amI really can’t say I’m surprised. Many of you may not remember the print ad years ago these lefty Indian groups took out claiming it was insulting to name sports teams after Indians, and they had two football helmets emblazoned with derogatory words for Jews and Blacks to demonstrate how insulting it was to them, implying we don’t single out other ethnic groups this way.
Quick! Somebody tell the Greeks (Spartans, Trojans), Scots (Highlanders, Gaels, Fighting Scots), Daughters of the American Revolution (Patriots), Catholics (Battlin’ Bishops, Fighting Cardinals), Scandinavians (Vikings, Norse), Irish (Fighting Irish), Southerners (Ragin’ Cajuns, Rebels), and Europeans in general (Knights, Black Knights, Golden Knights, Crusaders, Paladins, etc.). They’re being insulted. In most cases they’re self-haters who are insulting themselves.
How obtuse can these people be? They actually think they make sense when they insist this sort of thing is meant as an insult?
Personally, I’m starting to lean toward accomodating their wishes. Not because I’m sensitive to their feelings. But now when I hear names like “Apache” I’m starting to associate them with “whiney” and “hypersensitive” instead of “warriorship.” Who wants to play on team that evokes that sort of mental imagery? I’d rather play on a team named after people made out of sterner stuff.
Like the DAR.
Steve (266b4d) — 5/9/2011 @ 10:10 amThat last line should read “like the ancestor’s of the DAR.”
Steve (266b4d) — 5/9/2011 @ 10:13 amAnd Ward Churchill was a faux indian anyway. He claimed 1/16 Cherokee, but the Cherokee Nation would not accept him in the tribe because he wasn’t 1/4. He cashed in on a good job of pretending for many years.
PatAZ (f79bea) — 5/9/2011 @ 10:18 amAfter last months dumping of Indian remains into buckets etc in a mad rush to open the LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes because a history of LA started….there(?) there are (for me) reasons for outrage and sensitivities.
Blogs abound of posts citing and speaking on behalf of Indians, disparaging Indians. For myself, I don’t like it when tribal nations are bandied (no pun), with blatant insensitivity and complete lack of mutual regard.
There are conservative Indian bloggers http://www.badeagle.com/ Russell Means holds many highly conservative views. Coarse stereotyping endures; very grating.
Many Indians are ultra-patriotic, I include myself…..I am ambivalent about the usage of Indian names for warcraft….since I don’t really see non-Indians honoring these chiefs or tribes otherwise. Its not so blithe a context for some. Too granular for non-Indians? It gives me pause…but as I stated I am already highly sensitized to this general topic.
dudeabides (7b2c6d) — 5/9/2011 @ 10:23 amsometimes you’re better off dead there’s a tomahawk in your hand and it’s pointed at your head
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 5/9/2011 @ 10:27 ambtw, Aaron my father fought on Omaha Beach-age 18
dudeabides (4af6f8) — 5/9/2011 @ 10:40 amRight now wearing Cleveland Indians cap which I bought specifically to be anti-pc. Plus I like the smiling Redskin logo. How is it that Cleveland and Washington manage to keep those derogatory references to Indians with an arrow. And I thought a more appropriate code word for Usama was goatfecker.
Also since I live in libtard central where some old Joos mistakenly voted for Buchanan in 2000 and many still insist that the Goracle was robbed, my W 2000 cap comes in handy too.
We should mock political correctness, the religion of peace, AGW and assclowns like Chomsky and fatboy Mikey Moore et al.
Calypso Louie Farrakhan (d36a3f) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:11 amGeronimo is actually a transliteration of Hireonimous — Holy Named.
nk (db4a41) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:16 amcaly
i don’t know how the redskins do it, but i am more than a little amused that their big football rivalry is with the Dallas COWBOYS.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:22 amNo one in the military bats an eye when some mighty weapon, like an Apache gunship, is named for these tribes. We realize they are part of the heritage of this location, and full of bravery and many other values our military believes in.
There are other traits to the native Americans than their ability to fight wars, but the military can focus on one aspect.
Let the lefties, or farmers, or whoever, honor natives too, if they like. Don’t take something away which is meant sincerely.
Furthermore, code names are meant to be difficult to understand. We can’t call Osama Bin Laden something obviously evil, because we are more interested in success than in political correctness. Isn’t this obvious?
Dustin (c16eca) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:23 amOff topic: I’ve still got my “Run Jessie Run” hat. I paid 5 bucks for it and got a pretty good pulled pork sandwich with 2 sides, potato salad and baked beans, as part of the deal. It was 1984, nearly 28 years ago.
ropelight (2b7298) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:33 amDustin
that makes me think of a funny bit in hot shots! part deaux (sp) when recon tries to warn them of danger:
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:39 ambtw, i totally wanted to track down youtube of that moment, but couldn’t.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:44 amOh yes, back when Charlie Sheen mattered because of the quality of the movies he was in.
Good movie. Anyhow, I imagine they picked the name because it was not obviously evil, so people claiming to be offended need to realize that the name was picked specifically because it was not disparaging.
We also need to recognize the unusual degree of effectiveness in display, and not inject any elements that might reduce that effectiveness. Making SEALs walk on eggshells because we might prosecute them for nothing, or take their careers for not catering to the ever more ridiculous victim politics of professionally native americans (not normal people who happen to have that heritage) is not a good idea.
I recall some moron telling me the term ‘Native American’ was racist because ‘they’ didn’t want any part of ‘this thing’ (meaning America, as a country). But I know Native American folks who love this country. Anyone who tries to speak for them all is a clown, IMO.
Dustin (c16eca) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:47 amDustin Professor Jacobson said that next time they should call the target George W. bush, so no one will be offended. 🙂
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:51 amI might have to just quit the internet. I dont’t know. Almost everything I read about anymore just pisses me off.
And, JD, I blame the NCAA. But even more I blame the lily livered board of trustees, chancellor, and PC faculty pukes who managed to remove one of the most beautiful and longstanding traditions at any American University.
elissa (cfb31e) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:58 amI’m surprised that the Muslims haven’t complained that we code-named UBL after a known drunkard. Maybe the shared affection for killing innocents outweighed their outrage.
SaintGeorgeGentile (0f7448) — 5/9/2011 @ 12:36 pmHey – if we had code-nmed the operation as Operation Deep Six, we would still have had lefties complaining that they couldn’t fathom why we named it that was …
elissa – while nuch on the Internet is depressing, there is much of value here, too … and ongoing informative entertainment such as our host’s blog, and a bunch of others …
So – don’t do it ! Many of us, myself included, would miss you …
Alasdair (e7cb73) — 5/9/2011 @ 12:45 pm“It was an attempt to resurrect a more modern version of the old genocidal Blood Libel that blankets from smallpox wards were distributed among Indian tribes”
Are you implying that smallpox blankets weren’t given out? There’s documentation of plans of blankets being used at Fort Pitt.
jbrauer (b5a79f) — 5/9/2011 @ 12:58 pmjbrauer, you are refering to an episode involving British army (and one of some dubious documentation itself). However, there is not documentation of the US Army intentionally spreading small pox. That’s why Ward Churchill got fired – for writing fraudulent stuff.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:01 pmWarrior Wahwah Crybaby was unavailable for the interview.
kansas (7b4374) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:05 pmNow, now. In 2000, almost 3,000,000 Americans voted for Winona LaDuke to be Vice President of the United States. That counts for something.
old maltese (393547) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:09 pmElissa – they were feckless cowards for giving in. As happyfeet once said, I would not cropss the street to pee on their head if their hair was on fire. Maybe, after the flames had already burned out.
JD (85b089) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:09 pmold maltese, uh no. It shows that the Green Party can find 3 million dopeheads and bus them to the polls.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:17 pmActually, according to Jake Tapper’s blog the actual code name for the assault on OBL’s compound was “Operation Neptune Spear.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/us-official-this-was-a-kill-mission.html
As someone who is part Italian, I am SHOCKED and OFFENDED that someone would insult my heritage by associating a Roman god with a mass murderer like bin Laden!
Just kidding. Who do you think I am? Harlyn “Waaaah!” Geronimo?
If I were to be offended by anything, it’s that Neptune carried a trident, not a spear. And the SEALs, coindidentally enough, incorporate the trident into their insignia, the Budweiser.
But I never expect the Obama admin to get things quite right anyway.
If they want to associate my heritage with all kinds of awesome, macho stuff like SPECWAR missions, though, I’m cool with it.
Steve (266b4d) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:18 pm“I’m surprised that the Muslims haven’t complained that we code-named UBL after a known drunkard.”
SaintGeorgeGentile – I’m guessing that naming it Operation Goatf*cker would not have been considered culturally sensitive by some Georgetown cocktail party types.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:22 pmJust remember. It’s never the goat’s fault what happens.
elissa (cfb31e) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:27 pmjbrauer, there’s a big load of blankets contaminated by smallpox waiting for you to come get them for transport in a horse-drawn covered wagon to distribute to Indians. Since vaccinations haven’t been invented yet, it would be a good idea for you to get right with the Lord before you go down that long lonesome road.
ropelight (2b7298) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:40 pmThe Europeans came and stopped their genocidal wars against each other. And they never thanked Europeans for the horses, either.
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 5/9/2011 @ 1:45 pmso long and thanks for all the horsies
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 5/9/2011 @ 2:02 pmThe living relatives of Apache Chief Geronimo have every right to take issue, as it does relate to them personally. We don’t have many institutions schools centers etc. named for Indian leaders. In Anchorage they did name a mall after my own tribe, Dena’ina! These things honor a given heritage and confer meaning.
I personally hate the PC police…but to make Indians figures of fun/disparaging remarks; while ALSO making the case that you are exalting a heroic heritage…..then, if you don’t agree you are a whiney liberal…Case closed. Nuanced or serious? Not really- more like an elaborate snarky circle jerk to, well, pontificate.
dudeabides (7b2c6d) — 5/9/2011 @ 2:05 pmwhen you have facts argue facts when you have accomplishments argue accomplishments when you have heritage make a tasty traditional snack
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 5/9/2011 @ 2:07 pmIt is well past time that Sioux City became Sue City.
Ed from SFV (4a7c52) — 5/9/2011 @ 2:42 pmThe smallpox to do reminds of this old joke:
The early relationship between the old and new worlds was based upon trade – the Europeans traded the Indians smallpox and alcohol, the Indians traded the Europeans tobacco and syphilis.
max (2f2a28) — 5/9/2011 @ 2:42 pmGreat. Some has-been drunken Italian sailing for the Spanish crown mis-calculates the diameter of the Earth, and consequently after running into the wrong continent, thinks he’s in India. So we get to be “Indians”.
Thanks. Can we call you palefaces “Asians”?
Bigfoot (8096f2) — 5/9/2011 @ 2:57 pmThanks. Can we call you palefaces “Asians”?
Give it a shot. It might catch on.
Asians do better in math anyway.
Pious Agnostic (6048a8) — 5/9/2011 @ 3:21 pmGiven the overwhelmingly likely ethnic background of the SeALs who carried this out, perhaps the operation should have been called Wotan’s Bolt or Lugh’s Spear.
stari_momak (d5f987) — 5/9/2011 @ 4:43 pmMom and I, card carrying Indians, were grousing about this yesterday. It’s not enough we lost the West, no, we have to suffer through these whining imbeciles shaming Indians everywhere…
American Indian scholar David Yeagley clarifies,
The name “Geronimo” was not meant to equate the Apache Indian leader with Osama Bin Laden. Not at all. It was the code word to announced if and when the Navy Seals found him. Not that any liberal really considered Bin Laden a bad man, but, for the sake of protesting the honor of the U.S. military, liberals were willing to pull a few Indian women (and one Indian man) together to voice a denigrating protest in the very moment of US victory. This is what liberals do with Indians. They make Indians into fools, into destestable belly-achers. The Indians that fall into this sickening role obtain minimal notoriety as Indians, but they do inestimable harm to the Indian image in America, and thus to the Indian’s ability to have a positive life in society. These Indian protesters actually betray the American Indian. They bring shame and indignity upon all Indian country.
While it is certainly mistaken to compare Geronimo to Bin Laden, since Geronimo was protecting his people and their territory, and Bin Laden appears to have been a crazed Muslimist, without country or ethnic people (with which he specifically identified); but that’s not what the military was doing. That’s what superficial liberals and their few trained Indians are wanting everyone to think. They are merely splicing together a thought, a racist protest, with a superficial juxtaposition of words, or names, (in this case, Geronimo and Bin Laden)–which is in fact the basic liberal tactic. It’s always a play on words and names.
Dana (4eca6e) — 5/9/2011 @ 6:47 pmNative Americans you can ask for reparations when Barack boards the mothership and returns to planet Lookatme.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/9/2011 @ 7:10 pmIf you say Bush won fair and square you will be booed by the leftys.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/9/2011 @ 7:20 pmor you will be called a liar is more like it.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/9/2011 @ 7:25 pmThere’s two important lessons to be learned here.
1.) The white devils won, so they can name stuff any way they like.
2.) Nobody likes whiny Indians…except for whiny lefties.
Dave Surls (936526) — 5/9/2011 @ 7:32 pm(takes a peek at Bering land bridge)
Sure. It’s all a matter of timing.
carlitos (c2a84d) — 5/9/2011 @ 7:39 pmYou know what why not name the operation after Jharp.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/9/2011 @ 7:48 pmFine with me. I could never figure out what geographic feature is supposed to make Europe it’s own continent, anyway. Or even a subcontinent of Asia, as the Himalayas do in India’s case. There isn’t even a lousy isthmus between Europe and Asia.
As a matter of fact, I’m going to start referring to myself as a “West Asian.” Then start demanding racial preference programs when it comes to hiring, education, etc.
We “West Asians” have always been a minority of the population on the greater Asian landmass.
Steve (266b4d) — 5/9/2011 @ 8:29 pmIn historical terms, “Operation Yamamoto” might have been a better fit. Probably would have understandably annoyed the Japanese, though.
M. Scott Eiland (43e415) — 5/9/2011 @ 11:50 pmSince “oriental” is now politically incorrect, feel free to call us palefaces “occidentals”.
Of course, if you go back far enough, we’re all “Africans”.
LarryD (feb78b) — 5/10/2011 @ 7:00 amShe should change her last name to Ladousche.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/10/2011 @ 10:41 amAt the time the three Old World continents were named, nobody from the civilisation doing the naming had been north of the Black Sea; consequently, it was believed to keep going north, and thus to separate Europe from Asia. By the time explorers found that the Black Sea terminates just a bit north of Romania, and where they thought was boundless sea there’s just the Ukraine, it was too late to change things.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 5/12/2011 @ 1:39 am