Berkeley City Council will decide whether to support a resolution at its meeting next Tuesday honoring the memory of legendary Apache tribe leader Geronimo by sending a letter to President Barack Obama condemning the use of the leader’s name in the operation that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.
The resolution, submitted by the Peace and Justice Commission, honors Geronimo — also called Goyathlay or Goyaale in traditional Chiricahua Apache culture — by encouraging schools across the nation to adopt his autobiography into their curriculum, and calls upon Obama to issue a formal apology to Native Americans for using the indigenous hero’s name for a military mission waged against a terrorist leader.
The resolution also demands that the mission henceforth be referred to by another name, such as Operation bin Laden.
“The use of the name Geronimo for the country’s most wanted terrorist is offensive particularly to Native Americans and negatively impacts the identity and social position of Native American youth,” the resolution reads.
In popular culture, the chief’s name exists as an exclamation used before engaging in acts of bravery. Shouting “Geronimo!” as a war cry began with paratroopers jumping from planes in World War II, according to resolution.
The code name used for the military operation that led to the death of bin Laden last May offended many Native American tribes, who resented the comparison between a leader viewed as a freedom fighter in their culture and a noted international terrorist.
Some have argued that the mission’s name merely resulted from the fact that bin Laden managed to remain hidden for many years while the United States continued to search for him in vain, just as Geronimo was able to evade capture by the U.S. government for some time prior to his eventual imprisonment.
The commission voted at its June 6 meeting to submit the resolution to promote peace and justice on the local level, as well as nationally and internationally.
Adelyn Baxter covers city government.
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Seriously? This is what the City Council does? This is what we pay them to do while the rest of the city goes to hell?
No wonder the Berkeley City Council is the butt of jokes around the country. The secret operation was not code-named Geronimo, but rather “Operation Neptune Spear”. The Navy SEAL team member who shot bin Laden shouted “Geronimo” because the synchronized execution checklist was alphabetized and killing bin Laden corresponded to “G”. Bin Laden’s code name was not Geronimo, it was “Jackpot”.
If Native Americans are upset that Geronimo was ever associated with a terrorist like bin Laden, Arabs and Muslims should be upset that bin Laden is associated with a murderer like Geronimo who killed and mutilated Mexican and American farmers and children.
You are calling Geronimo a murderer? The Apache people lived peacfully like all Native American tribes before the white man came. Geronimo killed Mexicans because the massacred his whole village and wife and children and he swore vingince. He killed Americans because they were tresspassing on the Apache way of life and sacred land. So in defence. Geronimo like Cochise beofer him only wanted peace and on many occassions signed a peace treaty with the white man. Look at how may treaties the U.S. Goverment violated to this day the Apache people and many other Native Americans are discrimminated agaisnt and are basically P.O.W’s.
Yea I agree with this guy. If you actually remember the meaning of Thanksgiving you might understand that Native Americans are blood thirsty savages you see in the westerns. If it wasnt for the Native Americans you would of lost the Revolutionary War and other wars. For example; all of the U.S. military messages were being decyphered by the Nazi’s and Japanese if it wasnt for the Native Americans speaking thier native language alot of key battles like
Iwo Jima, Tarawa ect… would of had alot more dead or even failed. The white man put the buffalo and many other native species endangered and some species exctinct. You cannot call Native American savages for fighting back agaisnt what the white man brought upon himself. If you would look back and actually see your history you see why the white man left white dominated Europe and came to America. For religous freedem, freedom of speech, ect and not long after they came to this new land. They turned into the same people that they fleed from in Europe. You say the Native Americans masacred women and children what about the battle at Wounded Knee? Over 3,000 unarmed men women and children slaughter by the U.S. Army. You call it a reservation but what it really is a concentration camp.