Cowboys and Indians

I used the above term yesterday, and someone whom I did not know, injected himself into the conversation and lectured me about prejudice.  Come again?  How humorless does someone need to be not to remember childhood games?  In no uncertain terms, I told this person to shove it where the sun don't shine.   To this person's mind, playing cowboys and Indians plays on negative stereotypes which reinforces bigotry and results in discrimination.  I  think he needs to get a grip. 

My people are cattle and horse people.  We're also a mixture of several races, mostly white and Indian.  I think the unkind term is "breed," as in "half-breed."  We don't use that word.  In 1807, my gggggrandfather and his family were in Texas capturing wild mustangs to bring back to Louisiana and sell.  By 1835, my family had the largest cattle herds in Texas.  Cowboying and being an Indian is just who we were.  When we were kids, our  games reflected a lot of that heritage.  Since my cousins and I were often darker than the neighbors, and because of our Indian blood, we almost always got to play the role of the Indians.   We were very proud to be Indians.  We knew the stories of Chief Joseph, Tecumseh, Pontiac, Cochise, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse.  We knew more great Indian Chiefs than the White kids knew White generals. 

I remember the summer I turned 11.  I was spending that summer with my Aunt Lela and her family.  Their farm had horses for us kids to ride.  Playing cowboys and Indians with real horses is the ultimate experience for an eleven-year-old.   That was also the summer I learned that riding low and shooting at the enemy under the horse's neck is a lot more difficult that it looks, especially at a full gallop.  My older cousin, when he stopped laughing at me laying in the dirt, explained to me that usually when you saw an Indian riding a pony with a blanket, the blanket was generally covering a saddle.  Saddles gave you something substantial to hold onto when you were trying to do tricks.  That was not the last time I fell off a horse, but by the end of that summer, I was a pretty darn good rider. 

This is me at eight.

Yesterday, when I used the term, I was inviting some guys to come to the rodeo in Calgary this summer.  I wasn't thinking about the trick riding from so many years ago, but I was thinking about the physical wrestling that often accompanied our games of cowboys and Indians.   All those Canadian cowboys looking so cute in their wranglers and loud shirts, two-steppin', partying like there's no tomorrow in the tent and camper city set up next to the rodeo grounds.  I had such a good time year before last that I get a big shit-eating grin on my face each time I think about it.

So, you bet I'm going back up to Calgary this summer and play cowboys and Indians, and just like I did when I was eleven, I get to be the Indian.  If that bothers some politically correct yahoo with no sense of humor and no memory of his childhood, well then, tough shit.  I'm fortunate in that I get to choose which side I want to be on.

Comments

[Brenda]

Even I, with my blonde hair and green eyes, have an Indian line in my heritage. My father's mother was 1/2. Makes me proud to know that a little of me is part of the TRUE American.

I know you're going to have so much fun watching those cute butts in those tight jeans! I kinda like that passtime too (grin)

[Brenda]

P.S. You sure were a cute little Indian!

[Bowietrek]

Yes, you were a cute little Indian, and I too like like watching those tight butts. That's why I am a football fan. My great-grandmother on my mother's side was a full-blooded Cherokee. Though I don't look Indian, many of my cousins sure do. I always wanted to have jet black hair like them, and once dyed my hair black in high school, but my father made me change it back to blonde. He also wouldn't let me wear my bikini, though a bikini back then was almost total cover. I had to return it.

[Bowietrek]

Oh, forgot to mention, the best butt in the NFL is owned by Doug Flutie, formerly of the San Diego Chargers. He will probably retire soon, and I will sure miss seeing him play.

[TriciaGal]

What a cutie! As a grandma of 9 (6 boys) I've become an expert on little boys and can tell you that Cowboys and Indians is preferred over a rousing game of Americans and Iraquis! Love your site. Thanks for the good work ;)

[oldwhitelady]

Cowboys and Indians. That was a lot of fun to play. I guess we're supposed to forget all the television we watched as kids. I wonder what that person would say when they heard that the kids at one school I went to, played girl bulls and boy bulls.
By the way, going up to Calgary sounds like a lot of fun.

[Kathy]

My boys don't play cowboys and Indians (although I would have no problem with it if they did).

No, for them it's more like predator and prey, which, when all is said and done, pretty much boils down to the same thing.

And being San Diego residents and longtime fans of the Chargers, we also love Doug Flutie, for his butt and also because he's a little guy who can play football. My 7-year old aspires to be Doug Flutie someday, he's short and athletic and wants to play football even though he's a midget and I adore him.

[Houston]

You pass on to Sean what my mama hammered at me: You can do anything you want to do. You just got to want to do it bad enough.

Y'know, my mother was far from perfect, but god bless her, she never lost sight of the fact that we were supposed to be standing on her shoulders getting a better view of the possibilities.

Kathy, I can't tell you how proud I am of you, Doug and your boys.

You are an incredible family. I am both honored and humbled to know you even as peripherally as I do.