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[lafinjack]

As you may have heard, this week the Republican Party released what they’ve termed a “Pledge to America,” a document that lists their agenda for the next legislative session. Erin Echols, a student at Kennesaw State U., took a look at it and was struck by the contents, particularly the images

Comments

[schexyschteve]

I can't do anything but laugh at these fools. Because if I do anything else, I'll rage.

[intrikate88]

Erin! I had a little crush on her husband when we were in classes together, I'm glad to see he married a smart woman. :D

[hotcoffeems]

...Territory folks should stick together! Territory folks should all be pals! Cowboys dance with the farmers' daughters, farmers dance with the ranchers' gals!

Sorry, but the whole Western Cowboy mythos as a political selling point...who exactly are they trying to appeal to with that? It seems like it's an iconography that wouldn't have the same mystique with the segment of the population that they need to *win over*. They already have the conservative-old-fart demographic that might dig the rural West imagery.

As for the Unbearable Whiteness of Being, well, that's a pretty potent and pervasive thing: only "safe" and vague minorities belong here. Both of those women (note they're both women, and in backup roles) could belong to almost any group. Except really scary ones. They're whitened up.

[shellazure]

Visit the place I grew up, and you'll know that it's not just old farts who love or have a fond spot for the cowboy mystique. Really, small and mid-sized towns all over the country aren't that much different.

[hotcoffeems]

I grew up in small towns in the South, and it's a bit less of a thing. Especially among anyone who is young enough not to have lived through the 50s.

[notgarystu]

The trope is still pretty pervasive in small-town Arizona, especially where I grew up. Hell, my hometown's sister-town has an image of a rodeo champion emblazoned on their "Welcome To [Town]" sign.

[bowtomecha]

contract... pledge... same old b.s.

[vilawolf]

While I will not argue that the cowboy hat has become a pseudo-symbol of modern racism, .... look the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage was my personal playground growing up

[mswyrr]

:DD ((HUGS THE AWESOMES OF HISTORY))

Thank you so much for sharing! I look forward to reading up on these people. :)

Though, in the case of Buffalo Soldiers, correct me if I'm mistaken, but weren't they part of some of the same type of asshattery white soldiers were perpetrating against Native Americans at the direction of the US Gov?

:-/

[vilawolf]

The "Buffalo Soldier" regiments were active from the Civil War on through Vietnam and only ended when segregation was struck down.

Buffalo Soldier Museum - Military History1861-1865 - Civil War - Blacks made up 12% (178,895 men) of the Union Army and 25% (30,000) of the Union Navy. Thousands more served in service units as laborers and the like. Some 2,751 blacks were killed in battle; another 65,427 died primarily from disease

[mswyrr]

Thank you for the information. I was aware that the term "Buffalo soldier" came to mean any African American soldier prior to segregation, but since you were talking about Buffalo soldiers during the US "cowboy" period, I specifically meant the men who fought in the late 1800s. In particular, I've read their participation in the "Indian Wars" characterized as one group of oppressed people being directed by the American government to beat down another.