White people 🌙
"A growing number of white Americans expressed alarm over the Osage’s wealth—outrage that was stoked by the press."
—David Grann, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
> hayseeds for jesus | charlie goodnight
As The Branson Family still listened, I continued an introduction to the coffee shop in Tulsa where I worked.
I began to tell them about our weekend breakfast burritos with bison from the Osage Nation just west of Tulsa.
My enthusiasm for anything is a blessing and a curse.
At the coffee shop, I was a walking Wikipedia page stuffed with cool and curious facts about bison. They're the state animal of Oklahoma and the national mammal of America. 🦬
- One rancher named Charlie Goodnight in 1889 said the best way to keep a herd of bison was to leave them alone.
- "They won't live if they are penned up. They've got to have all the room they want."
Bison are surprisingly fast, too. One colliding with your chest wouldn't kill you. But you would be eating boiled carrots and shredded chicken at the hospital for a while. 🥕
On the day I met The Branson Family, there was only time for a few nerdy bison facts.
They still seemed sincerely interested in what I had to say.
The reason I remember them so well is because most customers didn't show anywhere near as much interest in knowing who grows their coffee, where their eggs and dairy are from, and that the bison population once plunged from tens of millions to hundreds.
Before I knew it, I was excitedly telling them about how the Osage Nation was at the center of the book and movie "Killers of the Flower Moon." 🌼
I assumed that since they seemed conservative, I needed to tread carefully and not appear to be blaming white people for the mistreatment of Native people (and bison).
But their nods seemed to say they at least knew about the history of the Osage murders.
I had just assumed they wouldn't care about such things.
- next time "Coffeehouses are for coffee and revolutions."
- listening Echo & the Bunnymen "The Killing Moon"
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