One thing I will never be nostalgic for....
....is Chief Wahoo.
I know there are people who argue that Chief Wahoo is meant as a positive depiction of "fighting spirit." I know these people mean well, but this idea has always sat uneasily with me. I hadn't quite put my finger on why, however, until I watched We Shall Remain, Episode 4: Geronimo.
An excerpt:
Narrator: In a few short years [after his surrender], Americans came to view Geronimo in an entirely new way. When he had first arrived in Florida, crowds gathered at the prison to gawk at “the wickedest Indian who ever lived.” Eight years later, as Geronimo was being taken from Alabama to Oklahoma, crowds gathered again. This time they came to cheer a national hero. What had changed was America itself: Geronimo’s surrender had ended the Indian wars that had raged for nearly three centuries.
Phil Deloria, historian: Once that moment is perceived to be over, there’s an almost immediate turn to a kind of nostalgic sensibility. “Boy, you know, those were the days, right, when we faced off against these, you know, these challenging dangerous Indian opponents. Gosh! I miss those times.” Once the despised savage, Geronimo was now the valiant warrior who had held out against impossible odds.
David Roberts, writer: By the 20th century, Geronimo comes to stand for some of the values we hold most dear in America. The lone battler, the champion of his people, the guy who never gives up, the ultimate underdog. He becomes an icon, a sentimental icon of what was once a real enemy. And there’s something amazingly American about that transformation. [emphasis mine]
In other words, when we "celebrate" the "fighting spirit" of the Indians, we're not really doing that. We're celebrating our own superior strength to conquer them.
I know there are people who argue that Chief Wahoo is meant as a positive depiction of "fighting spirit." I know these people mean well, but this idea has always sat uneasily with me. I hadn't quite put my finger on why, however, until I watched We Shall Remain, Episode 4: Geronimo.
An excerpt:
Narrator: In a few short years [after his surrender], Americans came to view Geronimo in an entirely new way. When he had first arrived in Florida, crowds gathered at the prison to gawk at “the wickedest Indian who ever lived.” Eight years later, as Geronimo was being taken from Alabama to Oklahoma, crowds gathered again. This time they came to cheer a national hero. What had changed was America itself: Geronimo’s surrender had ended the Indian wars that had raged for nearly three centuries.
Phil Deloria, historian: Once that moment is perceived to be over, there’s an almost immediate turn to a kind of nostalgic sensibility. “Boy, you know, those were the days, right, when we faced off against these, you know, these challenging dangerous Indian opponents. Gosh! I miss those times.” Once the despised savage, Geronimo was now the valiant warrior who had held out against impossible odds.
David Roberts, writer: By the 20th century, Geronimo comes to stand for some of the values we hold most dear in America. The lone battler, the champion of his people, the guy who never gives up, the ultimate underdog. He becomes an icon, a sentimental icon of what was once a real enemy. And there’s something amazingly American about that transformation. [emphasis mine]
In other words, when we "celebrate" the "fighting spirit" of the Indians, we're not really doing that. We're celebrating our own superior strength to conquer them.
posted by Christine Borne at 9:05 AM
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