Beyoncé slammed for anti-indigenous t-shirt

Popular pop singer Beyoncé took the stage in Paris during Juneteenth performance on her Cowboy Carter tour wearing a t-shirt that has garnered her plenty of backlash due to its anti-indigenous nature, several news outlets have reported.

The Guardian reported that the t-shirt featured images of Buffalo Soldiers who were Black US army units active in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The back of this t-shirt included a long description of the soldiers, including “their adversaries were the enemies peace, order, and settlement: warring Indians and bandits, cattle robbers, murderous gunsmen, bootleggers and trespassers.” Beyoncé also posted images of the shirt and videos of the performance on her website.

Victims of American imperialism

Some critics of her text are upset with the way it portrays Native Americans and Mexican revolutionary, especially because they don’t explain that these people were in fact victims of American imperialism. 

Others are simply against the antisemitic language on the shirt that she wore on stage.

Several Native influencers, performers and academics took to social media to criticise the lack of sensitivity on Beyoncé’s part.

Many historians claim the nickname “Buffalo Soldiers”, given to the warriors by the tribes that admired their bravery and tenacity, may not be true. according To the AP.

Cale Carter is the director of exhibits at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, Houston.

Genocide

Carter and other staff at the museum said the museum has recently expanded its efforts to show the complexity of the battles that Buffalo Soldiers waged against Native Americans, Mexican revolutionaries and their role in subjugating Indigenous peoples.

Other museums in America are also looking for changes to show more respect for the indigenous peoples who were victimised by the colonisation.

Carter stated that “we romanticise Western frontier”. “A number of these factors impacted early stories which talked about Buffalo Soldiers. “So you didn’t really see a significant change in the narrative until very recently.”

Buffalo Soldiers “were involved literally in not only the settlement of West but of genocide, in a way,” Alaina, a professor, author and historian at the University of Pittsburgh.

“While performing in Paris on #Juneteenth (June 19), Beyoncé wore a Buffalo Soldiers shirt that contained text that describes Indigenous peoples as ‘Indian opponents,’ ‘antagonists, ‘ and ‘enemies of peace, order, and settlement,” said Indigenous.tv on Instagram. “Do you think Beyoncé will apologise (or acknowledge) the shirt?” Indigenous.tv has over 130,000 Instagram followers and is an Indigenous news account. asked In a separate posting.