Once Upon A Time…
Remembering historical events and
considering their significance for families today
The American Southwest in the late 1800’s was one of many battlefields for the on-going wars between indigenous Native American tribes and European colonists, and both Mexican and U.S. colonial military forces. Known collectively as the American-Indian Wars, Native American tribes across the newly expanding United States fought to protect their lands and culture as they were either expelled through genocide and violence, or through the Indian Removal Act of 1830—the U.S. policy which forced tribes out of U.S.-claimed territories and onto reservations.
One of the stalwart Native American icons of these wars was Geronimo, a tribal leader of the Chiricahua band of Apaches in what is present-day Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. Over a span of 30 years, Geronimo and the Chiricahua people resisted Mexican and American settlers who tried to take their land. In 1858, Mexicans murdered Geronimo’s family, and in 1874, Geronimo and the Chiricahua were relocated by the U.S. to a reservation in east-central Arizona. Life on the reservation was restrictive, so Geronimo and his followers escaped, then surrendered, then fled again. But after continued pursuit, exhausted and outnumbered, Geronimo surrendered on September 4, 1886 to U.S. General Nelson Miles.
Geronimo and his people’s plight is but one chapter in the violent and cruel history of the battle for the land we now call the United States of America. These dark chapters in our nation’s history cannot be ignored, and the legacies of tribal nations still alive today, must be honored. When the president pardons people like Sheriff Arpaio, from the very same state where Geronimo had his last stand, the message becomes clear: marginalization, institutional racism, and hatred continue on as their own dismaying legacies in our country.
As someone with both European and Native American ancestry, I want my own children to know all the history of our country, good and bad. I also want to teach them the importance of having grit and determination, how standing up for what you believe in, even after defeat, is what builds true character. I want them to know that even until his dying days, Geronimo had a fighting spirit.
◊♦◊
Photo credit: El Reportero
“When the president pardons people like Sheriff Arpaio, from the very same state where Geronimo had his last stand, the message becomes clear …”
Sad story about Geronimo, but please explain the connection between the two.
Hi, and thank you for reading! Geronimo came from what is now Arizona and fought to protect his people and their ways of life from the United States military. Fast forward 131 years and we have Sheriff Arpaio, a figure similar to the U.S. military in the American-Indian wars, in his track record of human and civil rights abuses against Hispanic and Latino populations in Arizona in the name of law enforcement. When the president pardons Arpaio, he sends a message that institutional racism is still permitted, that people like Geronimo, and the Hispanics and Latinos of today in Arizona,… Read more »