THE BUFFALO HEARD

By Xavier Delapass Sanchez,

The Buffalo Heard originated in the South Texas City of Laredo. The name was given to me by my brother Moe D. Sanchez, for our Indian newspaper. It's been around for a few years but never on the net. Hopefully this new beginning on the moccasin telegraph will be a successful experience.

Have a little patience with us as we are still under construction.

uh-dah
XAVIER DELAPASS SANCHEZ

THE INDIANS OF TEXAS

By Gary J. Gabehart

Wake-up America.

The question on the lips of many White folks (Tybo's) these days, in Texas and the Southern Plains, who have had their heads in Wild West magazines for years, or grew up with TV Westerns, is -- where are all the Indians?

The short answer is, they are all around you! Just look around you.

The problem of course is the image burned in the minds of the American population, by Hollywood and the media, of the lethargic Indians charging blindly into the "always organized ranks" of the U.S. Calvary to mostly die in mass. But the real picture is quite different, Indians quit the loin cloth and animal skins about the time that Anglo's appeared in the America's with cloth -- actually, even some time before that!

Imagine an Indian running around in a loin cloth in a Texas Blue Norther -- never happened! What about the Indians in the northern part of the North American Continent? Were they the other dreaded naked savages that we hear so much about. Some things should just be plain common sense.

The various uneducated media (where did they go to school?) of the world is the cause for most of this goofy information about Indians and what they were then and what they are now. Of course, they must have drawn their information from Hollywood films and Wild West Shows where Indians and others dressed up for the paying public in sometimes outlandish costumes, then changed into their jeans at the end of the day and went home to a pot roast supper -- "what's for dinner honey?"

But wait, don't we find that imagery in all parts of our society when that portion of an insecure society wishes to put a group down? What about the dumb Polish fella, the Negro in Bib overalls, the drunken Irish guy, the lecherous Jew, the lazy Mexican, it goes on and on.

Elements of our society have created this imagery to put groups down -- if you were not of the privileged class, then an "other class" could be found for you -- especially if dime store novels could be sold from that imaging.

The sad part of all this is that the working folks were often these demeaned classes who were the ground breakers, the pioneers, the Ranger's and Army Scout's. But in the end, many never received their just due.

What is the answer? Wake-up America and realize you've "been had" by people who have made a ton of money portraying Indians as they never were. The worse the better to disenfranchise them.

Wake-up and realize that those raided Indian villages contained whole families -- Mother's, Father's, Children, Aunt's and Uncle's. Those raids were home invasions by "some members" of the cowardly privileged class and the U.S. Army of the day -- I ask you, who would not retaliate by killing settlers who brought the Angels of death in the first place?

Wake-up America, wake-up!

Gary J. Gabehart, Mishiho (Mish-eh-ho) A Chickasaw Indian
Mishiho@aol.com

THE BIRTH

Today, the Buffalo Heard Newspaper was born in San Antonio, Texas. It is the news of Indians in South Texas and the world.

Good Luck Buffalo Heard.

Xx