Osama, Geronimo, and the scalp of our enemy

by zunguzungu

Philip Gourevitch, The New Yorker:

“The main argument for releasing a photograph of the punctured scalp of our enemy is that it will provide proof that bin Laden really is dead. In other words, seeing is believing.

Nick Allen, Telegraph:

The code name Geronimo had apparently been chosen for bin Laden because, like the Native American chief, he had managed to evade capture for years and was apparently able to vanish into thin air. In Geronimo’s case his ability to stay on the run gave rise to legends that he was able to walk without leaving any tracks, and that he could survive being shot. More than a century before bin Laden escaped from the caves of Tora Bora, Geronimo was said to have pulled off a similar evasion in New Mexico.

Gordon Mitchell Sayre, The Indian chief as tragic hero: native resistance and the literatures of America, from Moctezuma to Tecumseh:

Colonial leaders who fought against Tecumseh, Metacom, or the Natchez not only feared dying in battle but also depended on their Indian foes for political survival. They needed to consolidate and demonize the threat of native rebellion into the figure of its leader, because they wanted to receive the power and support to do battle with this enemy. If a single Indian chief could be identified who had the power to sign treaties of surrender or cessions of land or to bring miscreants in for punishment, the colonizers’ job became much easier. The status of native leaders could be even more important to native leaders after violent conflicts broke out. At Detroit, Natchez, and elsewhere, native rebellions were quickly assumed to reflect a great conspiracy among a number of tribes, and on leader was believed to be the mastermind behind these conspiracies. We see this imperialist political dynamic all the more sharply in the early 21st century as the specter of Osama bin Laden drives so much of U.S. foreign policy.

Michael Yellow Bird, “Cowboys and Indians: Toys of Genocide, Icons of American Colonialism”:

Recently, a First Nations student who knew I was writing this article stopped by my office to share a cowboy, Indian, and Muslim “joke” that he had heard on the radio:

“There was a cowboy, an Indian, and a Muslim standing at the edge of the world. The Indian said my people were once great in number but now are few. The Muslim said my people were once small in number but now are great. The cowboy said that’s because we haven’t played cowboys and Muslims yet.” (A joke told on a local hip-hop radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, 2002)

Our discussion about the meaning of this anecdote soon led to how the United States is colonizing the Middle East and that this joke is not that far from the truth since select members of the Arab world now seem to have become the “new Indians.”As we talked it became clear that since September 11, the colonial press was doing its part to make sure that this nation continues to love cowboys and hate Indians. For instance, immediately after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the king of the cowboys, George W. Bush, reminded Americans that they are the greatest people in the world and that “America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon of freedom and opportunity in the world.” He promised vengeance, stating, ‘The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I’ve directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”‘

Not long after Bush’s statement, the New York Post began assisting in the search for these evil people by publishing articles describing Geronimo or Goyathlay (Chiricahua) and Tecumseh (Shawnee) as terrorists equivalent to Osama bin Laden. When I brought this issue up at a social work conference on cultural diversity, stating that such things increase America’s hatred for Indigenous Peoples, some white “native” New Yorkers in the audience trivialized my concerns, telling me that this newspaper is not taken seriously so I shouldn’t worry about it. Of course, I was exasperated with this comment since it is typical colonizer behavior; instead of listening, they are constantly telling us how we should feel or behave and what we should or should not take seriously. It is never difficult to decode or make explicit the real consciousness of America when it concerns Indians, and, I am convinced, the New York Post did this story just in case Americans forgot whom they are supposed to hate.

1969 poster for People’s Park movement:Petition to Repatriate Geronimo’s skull:

To the Congress of the United States of America,

In 1918, the President’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, and several accomplices desecrated the grave of Apache holy man Geronimo at Ft. Sill, OK. The men removed Geronimo’s head and a prized silver bridle which had been buried with him. Using acid and amid laughter, they stripped Geronimo’s head of hair and flesh. They then took their “trophies” back to Yale University and put them on display in the clubhouse of the secret fraternity “Skull & Bones.”

The “Skull & Bones” is a secret society founded at Yale in 1832. Its history is intertwined with that of the German Illuminati and the Nazi Party. They maintain a windowless building called “The Tomb” at 64 High Street, New Haven, Connecticut. The club’s assets are controlled by a front company, The Russell Trust Association, Inc. Every year, 15 Yale juniors are “tapped” for Skull & Bones membership. They are indoctrinated into the cultish society with elaborate rituals steeped in satanic theatricism and latent homosexuality. The goal of this fraternity is to create the ultimate network of “good ol’ boys” around the world. Their alumni includes Prescott Bush’s son (George H. W.) and grandson (George W.) as well as heads of state and leaders of numerous intelligence agencies, trading companies, business empires and law firms.

Several years ago, a Skull & Bones member anonymously “leaked” information regarding the society and “The Tomb.” This included documents and photographs. One of the documents detailed Prescott Bush’s graverobbing exploits. One of the photographs was of a skull and bridle on a shelf, next to a framed photograph of Geronimo. Other sources have since come forward and confirmed that Geronimo’s skull is indeed on display in “The Tomb” and considered the “mascot” of this “club” on High Street.

Although the Skull & Bones refuses to officially acknowledge their existence, members have tacitly admitted to possessing Geronimo’s head. In fact, Skull & Bones members (including Jonathon Bush, the President’s brother) met with Apache leaders in New York in 2000 and attempted to hand over a skull. It was obviously not the skull seen in the smuggled photograph. When this apparent substitution was exposed, the “Bonesmen” changed their story, saying the proxy skull was that of an Indian child.

The Skull & Bones then threatened legal action if the documents and photos from “The Tomb” weren’t returned immediately. They apparently had second thoughts, after realizing authorities might ask questions about the apparent abundance of Native skulls kept in New Haven. However, neither skull has been returned and that of Geronimo is apparently still the official mascot of the Yale club.

We the undersigned are horrified with this display of elitist, racist witchcraft and ask Congress, with the assistance of whatever law enforcement necessary, to launch an immediate investigation into the theft and possession of human remains by the Skull & Bones society, the Russell Trust Association, Inc. and/or any members of the US Government involved, past or present.
Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Geronimo at the World’s Fair:

WHEN I was at first asked to attend the St. Louis World’s Fair I did not wish to go. Later, when I was told that I would receive good attention and protection, and that the President of the United States said that it would be all right, I consented. I was kept by parties in charge of the Indian Department, who had obtained permission from the President. I stayed in this place for six months. I sold my photographs for twenty-five cents, and was allowed to keep ten cents of this for myself. I also wrote my name for ten, fifteen, or twenty-five cents, as the case might be, and kept all of that money. I often made as much as two dollars a day, and when I returned I had plenty of money -more than I had ever owned before.

Many people in St. Louis invited me to come to their homes, but my keeper always refused. Every Sunday the President of the Fair sent for me to go to a wild west show. I took part in the roping contests before the audience. There were many other Indian tribes there, and strange people of whom I had never heard.

Geronimo riding a Ferris Wheel:

One time the guards took me into a little house that had four windows. When we were seated the little house started to move along the ground. Then the guards called my attention to some curious things they had in their pockets. Finally they told me to look out, and when I did so I was scared, for our little house had gone high up in the air, and the people down in the Fair Grounds looked no larger than ants. The men laughed at me for being scared; then they gave me a glass to look through (I often had such glasses which I took from dead officers after battles in Mexico and elsewhere), and I could see rivers, lakes and mountains. But I had never been so high in the air, and I tried to look into the sky. There were no stars, and I could not look at the sun through this glass because the brightness hurt my eyes. Finally I put the glass down, and as they were all laughing at me, I, too, began to laugh. Then they said, “Get out!” and when I looked we were on the street again. After we were safe on the land I watched many of these little houses going up and coming down, but I cannot understand how they travel. They are very curious little houses.