USA: Native Americans Take Offense at Osama Nickname · Global Voices
This post is part of our special coverage The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Indigenous Rights.
For the United States government, “Geronimo EKIA” (Enemy Killed In Action) is the code for <PERSON> death. For many Native Americans, however, comparing their folk hero <PERSON> to the world's number one terrorist is offensive.
<PERSON> was the most famous Chiricahua Apache figure who fought against Mexican and US armies to defend Apache lands. He eventually surrendered to the US army and lived as a prisoner of war.
Apache leader <PERSON> in 1887. Image available in public domain.
<PERSON> at Savage Minds – a blog ran by anthropology scholars – writes:
[W]hat does a nineteenth century Apache leader have to do with twenty first century Saudi millionaire? Perhaps nothing when viewed from an academic standpoint, it seems more like a non sequitur. But when read as expression of an underlying ideology, one that has legitimated American military action for centuries, the answer is: quite a lot, actually.
[…] Making <PERSON> into an Indian elevates him. The Washington Post isolates <PERSON>’s elusiveness, “[he] was rumored to be able to walk without leaving any tracks,” as the key trait that links him to <PERSON>. This is meant to illustrate some degree of respect the American military leaders have for their foe. It also serves to cast the United States in a better light. 289
We are, after all, magnanimous in victory. By heaping praise upon one’s enemy, likening them to such a worthy opponent as <PERSON>, the American military bestows prestige upon themselves. They won the fight by besting a legend.
<PERSON>, a student at Harvard writes on Indian Country, a website that brings “essential news and information from Indian country”:
[…] As news of <PERSON> death spread relief across America and the world, revelations that the assigned code name of Enemy Number One was “<PERSON>,” a legendary Apache leader, caused shock waves in Indian communities across the country. It is being interpreted as a slap in the face of Native people, a disturbing message that equates an iconic symbol of Native American pride with the most hated evildoer since <PERSON>.
[…] Time Magazine’s Swampland blog first reported the details yesterday that the target, <PERSON>, was code-named <PERSON>, in keeping with The White House’s afternoon press conference.
But the story coming from the White House evolved by evening, with what appears to be a “re-tooling” of the message, which now states that the “mission” was code-named <PERSON>.
An e-mail statement from <PERSON>, a descendant of the famous fighter, reads:
Whether it was intended only to name the military operation to kill or capture <PERSON> or to give <PERSON> himself the code name <PERSON>, either was an outrageous insult and mistake. And it is clear from the military records released that the name <PERSON> was used at times by military personnel involved for both the military operation and for <PERSON> himself.
Obviously to equate <PERSON> with <PERSON> is an unpardonable slander of Native America and its most famous leader in history.
[…] As the son of a grandson of <PERSON>, who as a U.S. soldier fought at Omaha Beach on D Day and across West Europe to the Rhine in World War II, and having myself served two tours of duty in Vietnam during that war, I must respectfully request from the President, our Commander-in-Chief, or his Secretary at the Department of Defense, a full explanation of how this disgraceful use of my great grandfather’s name occurred, a full apology for the grievous insult after all that Native Americans have suffered and the expungement from all the records of the U.S. government this use of the name <PERSON>. Leaving only for history the fact this insult to Native Americans occurred in all its pity.
This post is part of our special coverage The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Indigenous Rights. 691