theonlyleftydesk:saturnineaqua: blackqueerblog: The original cowboys were black and latinx people be
theonlyleftydesk:saturnineaqua: blackqueerblog: The original cowboys were black and latinx people because the ranches were the only place they could get employment in the west Everything that white man said “culture diffusion” is literally colonial smash n’ grab. The terms are LITERALLY right there. White men never would have been called cowBOY in the first place…they called them cowMEN. It was only Black and Latinx/Latine people who they denied the respectful term “man” to, calling them “boy” and “girl/gal” pejoratively. Literally, the word ‘cowboy’ was a pejorative used in reference to nonwhite cattle handlers, and this was common kowledge up until the late 1940s, white people decided the word looked cute and they wanted it for themselves. Hence when all those westerns became popular TV shows in the 50s and 60s, they started calling white men cowboys, and removed all people of color (except the stereotypical Savage Indians, who were usually played Latinx/Latine actors…) And the word ‘buckaroo’ is a corruption of the Latine/Latinx Spanish term “vaquero”…which literally means “cow man”…because racist white people couldn’t be assed to learn Spanish or how to roll their Rs. -- source link