Commentary
It's time to call the Indian Wars to an end
by Winona LaDukeThat the death of Osama bin Laden was relayed with the words "Geronimo EKIA [Enemy Killed in Action]" prompted a din of protest in the halls of Congress.
Harlan Geronimo, a great-grandson of Apache Chief Geronimo and an Army veteran of two tours in Vietnam, asked for a formal apology. He called the Pentagon's decision to use the code name Geronimo a "grievous insult."
His call for an apology was joined by most major Native American organizations. The Onondaga nation stated, "This continues to personify the original peoples of North America as enemies and savages. ... The U.S. military leadership should have known better."
It is an ironic moment in history. A hundred years after Geronimo's death at Fort Sill, Okla. -- where he died after 27 years as a prisoner of war, because he was Apache -- this great patriot is accorded little peace.
The analogy, from a military perspective, is interesting. More than 5,500 military personnel were engaged in a 13-year pursuit of the Apache chief. He traveled with his community, including 35 men and 108 women and children, who in the end surrendered in exhaustion and were met with promises that were never fulfilled. It was one of the most expensive and shameful of the Indian Wars.
A hundred years later, similarly exorbitant amounts of both time and money have been spent finding Osama bin Laden, but that is where the analogy ends. Geronimo was a true patriot, his battles were in defense of his land, and he was a hero. The coupling of his name with the most vilified enemy of America in this millennium is dangerous ground.
But to the military, it is familiar ground. Native nomenclature in U.S. military affairs is widespread. From Apache Longbow and Black Hawk helicopters to Tomahawk missiles, the machinery of war has many Native names.
In a war zone, to leave the base is to "go off the reservation." To move farther away is to go into "Indian territory." Indeed, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Fort Carson in 2008 (named after the infamous Indian killer, Kit Carson). There, he instructed the troops to "live up to the legend of Kit Carson ... fighting terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan, hunting the remnants of the deadly regime in Iraq, working with local populations to help secure victory. And every one of you is like Kit Carson."
It may be time to end the Indian Wars.
Many military bases have been carved out of reservations and Indian territory, and at least 19 reservations are named after forts themselves (Fort Berthold, Fort Peck and Fort McDermitt among them).
The U.S. military has had a huge ecological impact on Native Hawaiian lands, ranging from Kaho'olawe to Pohakuloa. The former is an entire island seized by the military in 1945, and the latter is being seized today, for the expansion of the Stryker base. The U.S. military has detonated thousands of atomic weapons in Western Shoshone territory and the Pacific, and until recently, Schofield Barracks in Honolulu was riddled with deadly depleted uranium waste.
Despite these and other impacts, Native people enlist in the U.S. military in high numbers, and have the highest rate of living veterans of any community. These people deserve respect.
It's been 100 years since Geronimo passed to the next world. It would seem that it is time to rethink the military's use of terms like "Geronimo EKIA" and "the reservation." It is indeed time to bring the Indian Wars to a close.
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Winona LaDuke, who lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, is director of the nonprofits Honor the Earth and White Earth Land Recovery Project. Her most recent book, "The Militarization of Indian Country," explores military impacts on Native Americans. She was Ralph Nader's Green Party vice presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000.
Comments (6)
Kit Carson was never an Indian killer. He was married to two Indian women and a an adopted son was Navajo and was named after Kit.
The author repeats exactly the argument of using names. This is a double standard.
The problem is that Indians no longer use their languages but many complain about the terms used in the English language. Many of these terms are favorable to the native American.
Although Kit Carson had adopted a Navajo child, he did indeed lead a campaign of scorched earth against the Navajo, in which many Navajo found were killed. To say he never killed Indians is false. Many Navajo children were taken by other tribes, Mexicans, or the Army and put on the slavery market, forever lost to the Navajo people. This Navajo Iraq war veteran agrees wholeheartedly with LaDuke's notion of ceasing the naming enemies of the United States with American Indian names. Using the "Apache" or "Blackhawk" Helicopters or "Tomahawk" missiles against the enemy puts us in a light of being American. Calling America's greatest enemy "Geronimo" does not.
Mr. Farr in answer to your comment ..."our" language was forced from us in schools. so yes some have forgotten and are re-learning what our ancestors lost. And second look up "Kit Carson" here is a bit of info for you. So please study before you speak out against a people that had everything taken away at one point in time. Thank You.
Beginning in 1863 Carson waged a brutal economic war against the Navajo, marching through the heart of their territory to destroy their crops, orchards and livestock. When Utes, Pueblos, Hopis and Zunis, who for centuries had been prey to Navajo raiders, took advantage of their traditional enemy's weakness by following the Americans onto the warpath, the Navajo were unable to defend themselves. In 1864 most surrendered to Carson, who forced nearly 8,000 Navajo men, women and children to take what came to be called the "Long Walk" of 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where they remained in disease-ridden confinement until 1868.
listen to my song:"Why use Geronimo's name", www.myspace.com/tncproductionsflyfreestudios
The following is not true -
"The U.S. military has detonated thousands of atomic weapons in Western Shoshone territory and the Pacific, and until recently, Schofield Barracks in Honolulu was riddled with deadly depleted uranium waste."
The number of nuclear detonations was not in the thousands. Schofield barracks is not riddled with deadly depleted uranium waste.
The US conducted 1054 tests, some of which were not in Nevada.
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/index.html
Depleted Uranium is not deadly and Schofield Barracks is not "riddled" with DU waste. The DU at Schofield Barracks consists of large chunks that were fins to training rounds for the 1960's era Davy Crockett weapons system.
well, mr helvig, let them store depleted uranium in your backyard for a few years, and tell us its not deadly then
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