Beyoncé faces criticism after a shirt used during a performance in Juneteenth during his tour Cowboy carteR unworthy for its representation of Mexican Native and revolutionaries.
The garment, exhibited during a concert in Paris, presented images of the Buffalo Soldiers, black units of the US army at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
The controversy arises from a long description printed on the back of the shirt, which said: “His antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: Warrior Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, smuggers, intruders and Mexican revolutionaries.”
Images of the shirt and videos of the performance also appear on the official Beyoncé website.
While the superstar prepares to return to the US for presentations in his hometown of Houston this weekend, fans and indigenous influential people have resorted to social networks to express their disapproval.
Critics argue that the t -shirt language frames the Native Americans and the Mexican revolutionaries as villains, instead of victims of US imperialism, and promotes an anti -indigenous feeling.
A Beyoncé publicist did not respond to requests for comments on the reaction.
Who were the buffalo soldiers?
The Buffalo Soldiers served in six military units created after the civil war in 1866. They were composed of previously enslaved men, free men and black soldiers of the civil war and fought in hundreds of conflicts, including the Spanish -American war, the First World War and the Second World War, until they dissolved in 1951.
As indicated by the appointment in Beyoncé’s shirt, they also fought numerous battles against indigenous peoples as part of the EU army violence and theft campaign during the expansion of the country to the west.
Some historians claim that the nickname of “buffalo soldiers” was granted by the tribes that admired the courage and tenacity of the combatants, but this could be more a legend than a reality. “In short, we lack that information,” said Cale Carter, exhibition director of the National Museum of Buffalo Soldiers in Houston.
Carter and other museum staff members commented that, only in recent years, the museum has made greater efforts to cover more the complexities of the battles that buffalo soldiers against the Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries, as well as the role they played in the subjugation of indigenous peoples. Like many other museums in the country, they hope to contribute more nuances to US history and be more respectful of the ways in which they have caused damage to indigenous communities.
“We romantize the west border,” he said. “The first stories that talked about buffalo soldiers were influenced by many of those factors. So we didn’t see a change in that narrative until recently.”
The diversity of voices that debate how the history of buffalo soldiers said Michelle Tovar, director of education of the Museum, has often lacked. The current political climate has exerted enormous pressure on schools, including those of Texas, to avoid honest debates about US history, he added.
“Currently, in this area, many school districts are denying us the possibility of teaching this story,” said Tovar. “We are a museum where at least we can be a center, where we can invite the community, regardless of what the districts say, to learn already everything possible to continue teaching authentic history.”
Historians examine the reason for recovery
Beyoncé’s recent album, Act II: Cowboy Carter, It has explored a kind of American iconography, which many consider their way of subverting the proximity of the gender Country With whiteness and recover cowboy aesthetics for African Americans. Last year, he became the first black woman to head the music list Country from Billboard, and Cowboy Carter It earned him the top award of the 2025 Grammy Awards, to the album of the year.
“Buffalo Soldiers play a fundamental role in the appropriation of the West American by blacks,” said Tad Stoermer, historian and professor at Johns Hopkins University. “In my opinion, (Beyoncé) is very aware of the role of these images. This is the tour of Cowboy Carter, By God! The whole tour, the whole album, the whole piece is located in this multidimensional narrative. ”
But Stoermer also points out that buffalo soldiers have been framed in US history in a way that also plays with the myths of US nationalism.
As the use that Beyoncé makes of the images of the Buffalo Soldiers implies, African Americans also use their history to claim their role in the creation of the country, Alaina E. Roberts, historian, author and professor at the University of Pittsburgh said that studies the intersection of the lives of African Americans and the American natives from the civil war to the present.
“That is the category in which she thought she was perhaps entering this conversation, but buffalo soldiers are even one step above that because they were literally involved not only in the Western settlement, but in the genocide in a certain sense,” he said.
Increase online reaction before shows In Houston
Several Influencersindigenous artists and academics resorted to social networks this week to criticize Beyoncé or qualify the language of his anti -indigenous shirt. “Do you think Beyoncé will apologize (or recognize) about the shirt?” Asked Indigenous.TV, an indigenous news and culture Instagram account with more than 130 thousand followers, in a Thursday publication.
Many of his critics, as well as his fansthey coincide. An avalanche of publications in social networks criticized the pop star for the historic frame’s frame.
“Buffalo soldiers represent an interesting historical moment. But we must be honest about what they did, especially in their operations against US and Mexican indigenous people,” said Chisom Okorafor, who publishes on Tiktok under the username @confirmedsomaya.
Okorafor said that there is no “progressive” way to recover US history for the construction of empires in the West, and that the use of Western symbolism by Beyoncé sends a problematic message.
“That black people can also participate in US nationalism,” he said. “Black people can also benefit from the atrocities of the US Empire. It is a message that tells them to abandon immigrants, indigenous people and those who live outside the United States. It is a message that tells them that it is not only a virtue to have been born in this country, but the more your lineage extends in this country, the more virtuous you are.”
