"The anger in Indian country over the association of Osama Bin Laden with Geronimo is palpable, and rightly so. Aligning the Apache leader Geronimo—who fought valiantly for his tribal homeland and people against incredible odds—with the cowardly mass murderer Osama Bin Laden is beyond offensive. Such insult extends beyond Geronimo because he is a symbol of the American Indian warrior. To paint Geronimo with the same brush as a global terrorist like Bin Laden suggests that American Indians are bloodthirsty savages. This stereotype is a complete falsehood. The honor of a native warrior was never found in violent acts committed during wartime; rather, it was in the fact that they had chosen to lay their lives on the line to save others from harm.

American Indian warriors did not fight just to kill. Among many plains tribes, combat between tribal nations involved counting coup, where a warrior humiliated his opponent by touching him with a coupstick, rather than killing him. In doing so, a warrior’s honor was elevated and while his enemy was disgraced, he lived to fight another day.

The American Indian warrior was a defender and protector of his people above all else and there was no limit to what a warrior would do to save his people. A number of Tribes had a select group of warriors among them who would stake themselves to the ground before an invasion by the enemy so the rest of the Tribe could escape, buying time with their lives.

Even when Tribes stood against the U.S. Calvary in the 1800s, the main purpose of war was not solely to kill, it was to remain free on Tribal lands, and to protect innocent elders, women and children. Their defiance was a statement: Native people have the right to exist."

Get the Story:
Ruth Hopkins: Geronimo and the Myth of the Bloodthirsty Savage (Indian Country Today 5/7)

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