Publisher's Note: The recent media surrounding the anniversary of this event did little to dispel the concern so many visitors to the Native News Network had just a year ago. This was the number one story in May of 2011. Where do you stand today?

Commentary

Geronimo Was No Osama

by Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Condition. Discussion »

People will long remember what they were doing when they heard the news that Osama bin Laden was finally found and killed in a $1 million mansion on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Geronimo-Apache Warrior

As many on in the eastern part of the country were getting ready to go to bed on Sunday night to prepare for another week, network news correspondents broke into their regular broadcasting to inform us that Public Enemy Number One Osama bin Laden had been killed and President Obama would be speaking to the nation. As the nation waited to hear from the president, some talking heads provided misinformation about when bin Laden was killed.

Then the President spoke with a confidence seldom seen these days to report on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, who was the mastermind of the 9/11 attack.

After President Obama spoke, the television cameras turned to the jubilant crowds outside to the north side of the White House. Here was a crowd of hundreds chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A”, all proud to be Americans.

For a moment we were all Americans. We were not separated by partisan politics. We were not separated by race or ethnicity. We were all Americans.

Then Monday we were informed the code name for the operation was Operation Geronimo and the code term used by the Navy Seals to inform the National Security Council, including President Obama, that Osama bin Laden was indeed dead was Geronimo EKIA (EKIA = Enemy Killed in Action).

At first I thought the name Geronimo was invoked the way it is used for kids jumping out of trees or those parachuting out of planes yell “Geronimo!”

That is where the comparison between Geronimo and Osama bin Laden should have ended. Geronimo was no Osama.

Unfortunately, upon further examination I discovered the name was used because Geronimo was the one American Indian warrior who evaded the United States the most. He was hard to capture.

We recommend:

Geronimo’s Stolen Identity: Why It Matters »

To American Indians, Geronimo was an Apache warrior. Geronimo represents one of the most valiant American Indian warriors in history and remains a heroic figure.

It should be noted, Geronimo never attacked the United States as Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda did. Just as our brave men and women soldiers of today’s United States military forces serve to protect American soil, so did Geronimo. He fought the United States government as it was taking Apache land.

There is a major difference between plotting a plan to attack on foreign soil, as Osama did on 9/11 and defending tribal land, as Geronimo did.

The usage of American Indians names or caricatures has always been part of US history. Beginning at the Boston Tea Party with a bunch of non-Indians camouflaging as Indians, dumped tea into the Boston Harbor.

Americans fascination with Indian names is a rip-off of a people that have constantly fought for their very existence in American society, from sports mascots to names of products, such as the Apache helicopter.

The usage of Geronimo’s name by the US government was inappropriate when it comes to the operation to apprehend or kill Osama bin Laden. It was inappropriate because even today, on a percentage basis, American Indian women and men serve in the US armed forces at a higher rate than do non-Indians.

The usage of Geronimo’s name was very inappropriate because Geronimo was no Osama.