Firstly, okay, why it gotta be “White” buffalo? That buffalo’s taking advantage of its White—buffalo—privilege, and stuff.
Well, alright, this article is not about that.
I found a particular portion of the 1977 Charles Bronson movie The White Buffalo rather telling—on two accounts, actually.
One is the caricature that Native Americans were basically hippies living in peace with nature and each other. Sure, “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth” is a great talking point when the White man wants your land—yet, how did it get to be your land?
The other is the issue of epistemology, vs. ontology, actually.
The scene in question—video clip below—features Crazy Horse, “Wild” Bill Hickok, and Charlie Zane.
Crazy Horse asks Hickok, “Longhair. Why are you whites in my country? We did not ask the whites to come here. The Great Spirits gave us these hills as a home. You say, why do not we become civilized? We do not want your civilization.”
Now, Hickok replies, “You’ve spoken Red truth” to which Horse replies, “Tell me then White truth, Longhair.”
This is interesting because they’re speaking about each other’s perspective: Crazy Horse is speaking Red truth and Bill Hickok White truth.
So now, to the White truth, “In the first place, the Great Spirit did not give you these hills. You took this land by force. You took it from the Cheyenne, the Shoshone and the Arapaho. You took it with the lance and tomahawk. And now the White man makes war on you. What’s the difference?”
Horse doesn’t dispute any of that (granted, we’re just hearing a script) but offers more Red truth, “The Whites have no honor. Where White man walks, death comes out of season.”
Hickok replies, “That’s a thing called progress” but Horse notes, “It’s a thing called greed.” Was it not greed when Crazy Horse, who in real life was of the Brule Sioux tribe, does not seem to think that when his tribe “took it from the Cheyenne, the Shoshone and the Arapaho…with the lance and tomahawk” so, what was it?
In any case, he asks Bill Hickok, “Tell me this. Am I evil because my skin is red? Is it a wicked thing that I was born where my father was born? Is it a bad thing that I would die for my people?”
Hickok replies, “It’s still Red truth and not real truth.” With this, we go from subjective epistemology—Red vs. White truths—and come to ontology: the “real truth” beyond particular perspectives.
Horse replies, “Tell me this true truth, then” and Zane chimes in with, “Give Red John the word! Tell the little rooster he’s extinct!”
Hickok replies, beginning with another of Crazy Horse’s nicknames, “Worm. When Sitting Bull was a boy, the Sioux could throw 10,000 warriors into battle. Today it’s the White man’s turn. Those that you have seen on these hills and on the plains are like a handful of beads. There are many! They are more than the blades of spring grass, more than the buffalo when they smothered the Earth in their great herds. There’s no way to stand against the White man! Their weapons are terrible! They have the power! You will bend to the long knives or be broken. You will live as they say, or die on their bayonets.”
Horse recognizes that such as the brute facts of the reality on the ground and notes, “That was straight tongue, Captain. If such is the true truth, then I will sing my death song.”
Hickok notes, “No. I’ll not have your death.”
Horse says, “Why not? You are White.”
Bill Hickok reassuringly replies, “First, I am your brother and your friend.”
And so, Crazy Horse states, “Longhair. Between us there shall be no war.”
It’s a very interesting and emotive scene all around and shows us, beyond other issues that there’s subjective perspective but there’s ultimately the actual, absolute truth of the matter: however challenging it may be to get at it.
Be sure to see my books.
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