Genocidal Buffalo Soldiers Flagged – Commentary by Billy Bearden

Photos from the flagging of buffalo soldiers glorifying genocide are below the story....

On January 17th, Carrollton Georgia put on its annual King Day parade. I attended this one with a special guest, as it took on a special meaning by some of the participants invited.

I had read where a local amateur historian named Don North and his six member "Grierson's Buffalo Soldiers Cavalry Association of Georgia" was invited to join, most likely at the behest of Carrollton's only black councilman Gerald Byrd. Mr. Byrd had allowed Mr. North to speak to his youth class at Carrollton Middle School - and I read an article in the Carrollton paper about it. It was filled with a more glowing portrayal than in this earlier interview by North.

Well I am not the most educated person, but I do know that that whole Custer/Cavalry/Western time period meant lots of innocent Indians were being slaughtered, and the Buffalo Soldiers happily did their share of butchery.

I sent out a call for help to stand against this kind of glorification, and got probably the most qualified spokesman to accomplish the task. My special guest was none other than that Native American activist, Gary Spottedwolf who is a Lakota Souix (I love his "Custer Got Souixed" poster) and whose ancestors were targets of the Buffalo Soldiers 'Ethnic Cleansing...

He wore his warrior outfit with U.S. Cavalry jacket and 4 scalp swatches. He is one tough dude, as those outfits aren't very warm, and it was about 30 degrees with a strong wind. He also brought a picture that blew me away, but sent one of North's boys into denial. It was a picture of a deep trench filled with dead Souix, and a Buffalo Soldier standing next to them. When the young misled soldier wannabe was shown the picture, he said "naw, that ain't no Buffalo Soldier". North stayed in the distance playing with his historically inaccurate 10th Cavalry flag that didn't include crossed sabers...

Initially some were heard to exclaim "he's coming to be with us!", but Spottedwolf cut that BS short. Another of the young actors walked up behind Gary and had the nerve to say "That sure is a nice jacket" and without missing a beat he retorted "It should be - I got it off a dead Buffalo Soldier."

Spottedwolf then commenced to giving the group----approximately 15 mounted riders that included North and 3 other actors (the others represented ???)--- a lecture about the real Buffalo Soldiers and their campaign of terrorism and genocide. Then a white woman started crying this was a day for unity, to which came the reply that there can be no unity as long as his people were on reservations. I told Unity lady that the Confederate government was the only 'White man's government' that accepted the Indians. She looked bewildered.

We then left the staging area and advanced to the Square and waited. I was waving the (historically incorrect for the time) Cherokee Braves flag, a Confederate Flag. Blacks were everywhere and tilted their heads trying to figure us out, but it was not our plan to interfere with their MLK parade, just the B.S. show (pun intended).

Up the hill they came, in two groups. In the first group was the majority of the riders and the young "denial" actor. Spottedwolf gave him the stiff arm salute and called him "Nazi of the West." I asked if he had killed any indians today. He did not look our way, but many spectators ignored the riders and devoted their attention to Gary.

The second group was the other three BS riders. Immediately, we saw that Mr. BS North had left his Phony Flag back at the Fort and was going topless (sans hat). Spottedwolf got them with both the Nazi and Killers theme again, and off they rode. Even the black police officer standing ten feet away from us didn't say a word.

We then went to the local paper and Gary rebutted BS North's article of the previous day. As of this writing , I am unaware if they printed any retraction or another item presenting the Souix's side.