[Vision2020] Buffalo:Cruel Joke Relates to Cruel History!

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

L. Falen et. al.

You must be joking that you did not understand the racist implications of 
that joke?
  
The poor use of the English language, the historical associations between 
buffalo and Native Americans, and the way the buffalo was senselessly killed, all 
posit the actor in this joke in the light of an unflattering, ironic and 
cruel stereotype of a Native American.

No response that I read on V2020 (I apologize if I missed something) 
addressed critical historical facts that are relevant to why this joke was so 
insensitive and cruel.

The huge buffalo herds that once roamed areas of North America, helping to 
sustain some Native American cultures, were wiped out by the invading conquering 
genocidal Europeans, in part to deliberately remove a source of food, etc., 
from the indigenous population.

I would rather have read that joke spoken by a crude "white" man from Europe 
with poor language skills, considering this sort of character is at least one 
sort who might have been involved in the massive ugly slaughter of Buffalo 
committed by Europeans in the old west.  They killed buffalo from the comfort of 
trains by the thousands and left them to rot!

I imagine that some Native Americans reading that joke would be very sad and 
angry to see a Native American being portrayed as a senseless killer of an 
animal that once sustained the true discoverers of this continent, especially 
considering that the buffalo were wiped out by Europeans in part to destroy some 
native cultures, as they committed horrendous human rights violations against 
Native Americans.

What ugly and cruel irony is contained in that joke!

By the way, for those who unthinkingly use the term "Indian," it is a 
misnomer created by the ignorant invading genocidal European's who thought they had 
discovered India.

Ted Moffett
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