Opinion: 'Geronimo' name problematic for Indian Country

Monday, May 16, 2011  

"What's in a name? Shakespeare had a point when he had Juliet telling Romeo that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But don't tell that to the many Native Americans furious at the Pentagon for code-naming Osama bid Laden "Geronimo" in the raid that found and killed him.

Members of that community have taken to pen, Internet and radio denouncing the usage, highlighted last Sunday by President Barack Obama on the CBS News show "60 Minutes." In a long description of the raid into bin Laden's hideaway compound in Pakistan, the president told of how one of the Navy SEALs reported by secure radio from the site the phrase "Geronimo E-KIA," meaning "enemy killed in action."

In the daily online magazine Religion Dispatches, an Emory University-sponsored site devoted to "analysis and understanding of religious forces in the world today," Joseph Geronimo, a great-grandson of the famous Apache chief, is quoted as calling the reference "a slap in the face" to three generations of Geronimo descendants who served in the U.S. military."

Get the Story:
Jules Witcover: Geronimo: Bin Laden's problematic code name (The Baltimore Sun 5/16)

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