Trump Doesn't Do Buffalo; But We Should
The Truth Hurts: We Win or Lose Together
When Donald Trump went to President Theodore Roosevelt’s library opening in North Dakota, 25 men dressed as Rough Riders stood behind him. Of course, the Rough Riders were made famous when they charged up San Juan and Kettle Hills in Cuba with TR during the expansionist Spanish American War. Celebrating the Rough Riders without mentioning the Buffalo Soldiers who saved their raw hides is precisely the problem with Trump. The American greatness he hearkens back to is a myth of white supremacy that wouldn’t be possible without people of color. And if America is to (continue to) be great in the future, the story must include all of us or it will fail.
(Photo credit: The White House)
On July 1, 1898, the 1st Volunteer Cavalry, the Rough Riders, another segregated all-White unit, the 3rd Cavalry, and the 10th Cavalry, the all-Black Buffalo Soldiers, assaulted Kettle Hill. That victory at hand, they moved to San Juan Hill to join more all-White units and the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry, more Buffalo Soldiers.
During the battle, Sgt. J.E. Andrews, the 3rd Cavalry color bearer was wounded. African American Sgt. George Berry ran to him to help finish the mission. Berry grabbed the 3rd Cavalry flag and carried it through the battle with the 10th Cavalry standard. At the summit of the hill, Sgt. Berry planted both the 3rd Cavalry and 10th Cavalry flags and reportedly shouted, “Dress on the colors boys!” to rally both segregated units. Jim Crow proved a weaker enemy than the Spaniards that day as those soldiers fought that battle together.
The Buffalo Soldiers weren’t incidental to the battle, they were invaluable. Twenty-six of them died and five men received the Medal of Honor, but Trump didn’t mention any of that in his remarks in North Dakota.
Instead of wrapping himself in the tragic and beautiful national quilt sewn together with all our stories, President Trump repeatedly spins yarns of fantasy, ignoring the truth of our past.
That approach will cripple America.
We are rapidly becoming a country without an ethnic majority. While White people will be the largest racial group for as far as the eye can see, Black, Latino and Asian Americans will be critical sources of innovation and excellence the country needs to compete around the world. If we shut them out, we’ll close down the pipeline to future success.
When Howard Lutnick said America was great “125 years ago” that was around the time the Buffalo Soldiers helped take San Juan Hill. It was around the time Mexican immigrant Victor Ochoa patented the electric brake for street cars. That was the era when African American businesswoman Madam CJ Walker opened her first cosmetic factory and beauty school.
There is no American economic powerhouse without dispossessed Native Americans, African slaves, Chinese laborers, Mexican and European immigrant laborers, women holding down homes and farms and factory jobs, Wall Street bankers, westward settlers, midwest inventors, students from abroad founding companies in Silicon Valley and more. We built this country together.
That’s not the story of greatness MAGA zealots like to tell, but depriving our children of the truth will make them believe some people are a drain on America’s greatness while others are the source. We are all key ingredients.
As we celebrate the promise America made to the world 250 years ago, let’s tell the stories of our failures and our great feats. America is strong enough — great enough even — to take the truth.
***Note: My great-grandfather, Charles Frank Simmons, joined the 10th Cavalry after the Battle of San Juan Heights and served in Santiago at the end of the war.
As always, bravo!