April 28, 2007

Geronimo still "Wanted"?

Terrorist or Hero?

Poster of Geronimo at local pub stirs controversyNorman Brown, a Navajo filmmaker and longtime Native rights activist, was catching up with friends at the Coal Street Pub on the night of April 20 when he saw it, about chest high, nailed to a wall leading to the kitchen.

It's an iconic image, a photograph of Geronimo on one knee clutching a rifle across his chest. Brown had seen it a hundred times. But what caught his attention this time was the "wanted" label above it something about crimes against the government a $5,000 reward, and the shackle around his ankle.

History remembers Geronimo as a legend and a hero to his people. But during his time, the Apache leader was, as the poster attests, a wanted man. His raids across Arizona and New Mexico, following the murder of his mother, wife and children by Mexicans, caught the attention of the U.S. Army, and one Gen. George Crook.

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