Aide calls Indians "arrow throwers"

Aide to Miami mayor candidate & commissioner used arrow-chucker insult, 'tira flecha.'

By Marc A. CaputoIn addition to trashing old people and constituents on Twitter, an aide to Miami mayoral candidate and City Commissioner Francis Suarez also hurled what many see as a racially tinged insult: "tira flecha."

The phrase, which literally means "arrow thrower" (but loosely translates as "spear-chucker" to some) is frequently used by people of Cuban descent in Miami to refer to those who look like Native American Indians--particularly South or Central American--but it's also less commonly used to refer to an ignoramus.

The exact context of its use by Suarez's aide, Christina Haramboure, isn't clear because she won't return an email about it.

"I guess someone has to like tira flechas....#quepena," she tweeted July 12, 2012 at 1:10 a.m., about the time she was complaining about her noisy neighbors.Comment:  For more on the savage Indian stereotype, see Indians in The Lost Colony and Depp to Indians: You're Still Warriors.