My First Rodeo

I quit my job, left my wife and kid, put the mobility scooter on the trailer and high tailed it out of helltown for Yuma, Arizona. I'm now living in my car down by the river, or by the lake as the case may be, and considering what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. It occurred to me that I'm sitting here in one of the most famous places for western lore, and I remembered back to my childhood and what I wanted to be when I grew up, and thought why not? I want to be a cowboy. I have Levi's and a western shirt. All I'd need would be a hat and a buckle to get started.

Unsure of how to go about that other than acing the look, I noticed the rodeo was in town and thought that might be a good place to start. Because seriously, I can't see myself as the kind of cowboy that works on a ranch. I don't want a job, much less a difficult job that doesn't pay squat. But riding bucking broncos or bulls, roping calves and wrestling steers sounds more like something I could do. I've always found insanely crazy, dangerous things appealing and I've managed to survive, so maybe I could be a rodeo cowboy. I figured it's worth looking into.

The rodeo has an interesting history going back centuries and spanning three or four cultures. Events such as bronco riding and calf roping date back to the Spanish colonial era and the ranch culture that developed in northern Mexico. Horses had to be broken and calves had to be roped. Mexican vaqueros were the original cowboys and rodeos are still a prominent part of northern Mexican culture. Indians worked the ranches whether they wanted to or not and rodeo became an integral part of their tribal cultures. Anglo's got into the action when the U.S. annexed the southwest after the Mexican-American war and ranch life was popularized by Wild West shows like Bill Hickock's. About 100 years ago events became formalized into rodeos much like we know them.

So rodeo is truly a multi-cultural phenomenon dating back centuries. It's the result of intersections among Spanish Colonial, modern Mexican, Indian and Anglo American cultures, with some black cowboy involvement as well. The rodeo is a microcosm of much of the history of the west. Yuma is an iconic old west city. I thought it would be great to experience my first rodeo there.

Unfortunately, the only multicultural thing about the Yuma rodeo were the faces in the crowd and the fry bread burritos that were sold from an Indian truck in the vendor area. Almost everything official about the rodeo was strident nationalism, military veneration, and spiritual warfare doctrine. They barely paid lip service to the western heritage and completely erased the centuries of Mexican-American and Indian participation and tradition. And perhaps not in-coincidentally, attendance has been in decline for many years. Is there a connection? Is the decline in attendance inverse to an increase in strident nationalism and far right Christianity? I can't say at the moment, but that's something I'll be looking into up the road.

I lived in Tucson for eight years. I didn't pay much attention to the rodeo, but I couldn't help notice it. The Tucson rodeo, known as the Festival de Vaqueros, and the associated rodeo parade are huge events for the community. The parade is the largest non-motorized parade in the country and possibly the world. It draws over 150,000 spectators, includes over 550 horses, 2,200 marchers, 90 wagons and buggies, and at least 10 marching bands. Unlike Yuma, the Tucson organizers explicitly frame the rodeo as 'La Fiesta de los Vaqueros' as a nod to its history, and emphasize that it's a 'celebration of multicultural heritage,' including Mexican vaqueros, indigenous groups, and other communities in the parade. I still need to confirm that Tucson hasn't gone over to the dark side in the intervening years, despite their publicity, but knowing Tucson, I'm guessing not. So I was expecting much better from Yuma.

Unlike Tucson, the Yuma parade had few floats or participants. A lot of them were riding horses, but not that many. Mexican Americans were represented, but the percentage was far less than the makeup of the city. There was a Cocopah Indian float with Miss Cocopah, and the tribe also had a presence as a sponsor at the rodeo. The parade had zero marching bands, only one wagon, and no buggies. The crowd was sparse along the route and not many at the end. I'm from a small town of 7000 in Indiana and the high school homecoming parade in that small town is bigger than the Yuma rodeo parade. It has more floats, a marching band, and quite a few more spectators. I knew Yuma wasn't going to be Tucson, but I expected the city would have the same fervor for it, just on a smaller scale.

I asked around and was told it used to be a lot bigger, but no one knew why it had fallen off so much. Again, I can't help wondering if it has something to do with the overt nationalism, worship of the military, right wing religious zealotry, and the erasure of the Mexican-American and Indian communities from the old west and rodeo narratives. That's something I'll continue looking into, but a stranger can't just come out and ask people about it, not with much hope of an honest answer.

The theme for the parade was 'Cannonballs to Rockets.' It was framed as a celebration of the evolution of long distance bombing as a way to honor of the military. The organizers asked that we wear red, white and blue to visibly demonstrate our support the military. Most of the floats had a military theme and about half the participants were active service members, children in military gear, local police, and border patrol. The only float that had anything to do with western tradition was doing the U.S.A. chant throughout.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's great that the military and law enforcement take part in a parade. They deserve it for the work they do. But I suspect so much in-your-face performative patriotism is a turn off to normal people who are as patriotic as anyone but just want to enjoy a parade. The rodeo parade had little to do with the rodeo or Yuma's western heritage. It was just almost all about the military. I don't think there were even any cowboys on horses. If so, no more than a few.

But not everything was military or police. Many of the participants were young girls and women in western wear with their horses. That is the good part. People just having fun and actually celebrating their heritage. It comes off as very positive and wholesome. It's the same with 4-H in the midwest. I'd think that's what a rodeo parade should be all about. Western heritage, people who are into the lifestyle, and, ummm, the rodeo.

I go to sprint car races around the midwest. At first it was just to take phots, but after getting to know a few of the drivers and their families, I started to watch the races and root for them, and soon I came to enjoy the racing. Sprint car racing is dangerous and requires an impressive level of crazy just to get on the track, and an you have to be totally insane to be really good at it. When I was a kid I raced dirt bikes and did suicidally crazy stuff in cars, so I can relate. But what most impresses me about the sprint car scene is the overall wholesomeness of it all. Sprint car culture is a multi-generational family affair with good, wholesome vibes all around. The racers and their families and friends in the pit area, the crowd in the stands, little kids running around like little kids, and the authorities who put on the event are all friendly to each other and to strangers. They seem like good people all around. And for most the friendliness seems genuine, not the 'church nice' variety where the smile is warm and the eyes are cold, like with run-of-the-mill small town folk.

Of course there is a lot of overt nationalism and religion at sprint car races. The announcers profess their love for God and law enforcement, first responders, and the military. The national anthem is played or sung, then God Bless America, then a patriotic country music song. That's followed by a prayer for the drivers and the fans and the military, police, et. al. Everyone in the pits and the stands stands and takes off their hats as instructed. Then on with the show. No doubt all of that performative patriotism and piety appeals to people of a particular political persuasion, but it's not presented that way and without the manipulative politics, there's certainly nothing wrong with respecting people who risk their lives for the public good or having religious faith. At the sprint car races I've attended it is not presented as exclusionary.

So I figured the rodeo would be a lot like that, and it was in form but not in detail. Unlike the form, the detail was disturbing. It starts out bad and ends with a call for overthrowing the government and installing a right wing Christian theocracy.

These were the words that came out of the loudspeaker to start the festivities:

"In today's event you will experience loud noises. There will be extreme athleticism by both humans and livestock. You may also see content that has been deemed politically incorrect. Here in Yuma Arizona we will stand for the American flag and only kneel for the fallen. We will begin with prayer and our focus will be on God. We will honor our flag and pay tribute to our American heroes. If you are sensitive to any of this content we encourage you kindly stand up, exit the facility and enjoy the rest of your evening. For those of you who love your country, love God, and love celebrating the western lifestyle, sit back and hang on tight as the rodeo begins just moments from right now."

Ummm kay. Wow.

Exclusionary much? The rhetorical purpose is to mark off ideological territory like a dog pissing on trees along the street. Using the term 'politically correct' as they do sets the stage for what's to come. What exactly are these things that are not politically correct? You think he's talking about animal cruelty? Not so much. He's telling people who don't love a far right God, or don't love and worship the U.S.A. and its saintly military to get the fuck out of their rodeo. The part about kneeling references Colin Kapepernick and the BLM protests, to add a whiff of racism to the overall stink. They pay lip service to 'celebrating the western lifestyle' at the end, but whose western lifestyle? Not the Mexican-Americans or the Indians, or those who love and care about the western environment, that's obvious.

Then a different announcer:

"This isn't our first rodeo. Born through the dust of the American West we've been at it for a couple hundred years, and the code we live by has been around just as long. We work hard, play fair, and finish what we start. We stand for our flag to honor their sacrifices but when we fall, we get up again and again and again because this isn't just optional to us, this is our lives. For our family, our community and the charities we support, we have never taken the easy way out. There's no three point line, no tv timeouts. We enter to win and ride to survive. This is who what we are, this is what we do. We are the pure American Sport. We are Pro Rodeo."

"A couple hundred years"?

That part serves to further erase the non-white history of the rodeo and its connection with actual history. No acknowledgement of vaquero origins. No recognition of how Indians are a core part of rodeo past and present. No references to Yuma specific history. Not even any frontier spirit romanticism, which is what I think most people would expect if they go to a rodeo. Just pure extreme right wing nationalism with a dollop, if not a wallop, or racism.

When he says 'We are the Pure American Sport,' the 'we' of which he speaks are the Anglo cowboys. After having effectively erased the Mexican-Americans and Indians, pure white is what he is talking about. They might as well have unfurled a swastika.

Judging from my crowd pictures, it looks like less than 10 percent of the crowd was Mexican-American or Indian, that in a town that's over 60 percent Hispanic and Indian. Chatting with people since, I'm told it used to be much more diverse. But with the exclusionary rhetoric it's not hard to see why it's mostly a white thing these days. They are being told they can watch, or even participate, but that their ancestors' contribution doesn't exist and doesn't mean shit if it does. This is the white cowboy's country and these are our values. Bow your greasy heads to the red, white and blue and the angry right wing God or get the fuck out. That's the real message.

But all that is just warmup for the prayer, which takes it to an entirely different level of wrong.

"The very first thing that we're gonna do, is we're gonna pray before we start the rodeo. Some people want to take God out of the pledge of allegiance, and out of the money, but we're not gonna let them take God out of the rodeo. We're gonna pray before we start here this afternoon, so join me and let's do the Lord's prayer, the grace. Heavenly father, we come to you today. Lord, I plead the blood of Jesus upon this arena, upon the livestock that's gonna be in it today, Lord, and the contestants Lord. The contestants and I know how dangerous rodeo is, so I just lift them up to you, I place them in your hands, and I pray for your redemption. Lord the people who have come to watch here this afternoon, I pray they have a great time with their family and their friends. I pray that you take them home safely after the rodeo. Lord, the men and women that fight for this country, they mean so much to me, and I want to ask your forgiveness, Lord, for when I take the freedoms they fight for for granted. Lord, I just pray most of all that you'll just bring each one home safe and reunite them with their family. Lord, we love you. We look forward to a great afternoon here in Yuma and in the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen."

It mostly sounds like typical public platitudes to the uninitiated, but the key to understanding what this is really all about is the phrase 'I plead the blood of Jesus upon this arena.' 'Pleading the blood of Jesus' is specific terminology from charismatic/Pentecostal spiritual warfare theology. Dominionism is another term for it.

The spiritual warfare doctrine holds that Christians are in constant combat with demonic forces that control the government, most public institutions, and a lot of key individuals. So it's on Christians to take over the government and public institutions and create a theocracy. For them prayer isn't just communication with God - it's a weapon to fight Satan and his minions on earth. That would be people like me and you, as well as our elected representatives, liberal clergy, Hollywood, and creative people in general.

'Pleading the blood' specifically refers to the blood Jesus shed at his crucifixion and the belief that it has cleansing and protective power. When they 'plead the blood of Jesus' over a space or person, they are invoking Christ's sacrifice as their right to control that space, creating a protective barrier around it, and purifying the contaminated ground. The cleansing gets rid of demonic influence, the barrier shields against further demonic attack. Pleading the blood establishes Christian dominion over a physical location or person.

The bit about asking forgiveness for briefly taking the military for granted is simply precious.

Once you're clued in, you can see the opening words and prayer are more than just performative patriotism and piety. It's well-thought-out propaganda with hidden structure and meanings for a radical right wing Christian nationalist agenda for taking over the government of the United States, and the world. Sounds crazy, eh, but it's right there in the text.

In real time, however, all that coded right wing crazy Christian takeover talk only lasted about three minutes. After that it was all pageant and rodeo, with many a word from the sponsors.

Of course there were more nods to the God and the military, which are largely indistinguishable, and plenty of exhortations to worship the flag, but they were minor and not all that different than what you get at sprint car races. Mostly the announcers talked about the actual rodeo - the events, riders, and livestock, and told stupid jokes. Between events, they pitched the sponsors and told more stupid jokes. Young girls rode fast horses around the arena with the flags of the sponsors, and the American flag, and sometimes other flag like Arizona or the border patrol or various military things. The border patrol was mentioned a lot and had a recruiting booth there, and they were part of the opening ceremony. They all appeared to be Hispanic. No mention of ICE whatsoever.

The rodeo itself was great. I found it very entertaining as a sport. It's a competition with a very high degree of difficulty and danger. It takes real skill, bravery, and serious confidence to compete and do well in it.

The bull riding is the apex event. Some of those bulls have thrown the rider every time they've been ridden over several years. They throw the riders immediately and then try to kill them. The sharp end of their horns have either been cut off or ground down so there is apparently no danger of getting gored, but there are other means by which a raging bull can severely damage a human and they make every effort to do just that. The bucking broncos are similar. Steer wrestling takes great horsemanship, timing and strength. Calf roping the same plus great skill throwing a rope while hauling ass on a horse. Barrel racing and other riding skill events the girls do is fun to watch. All the girls in the girls events are 16 or younger. What's up with that?

And there's a totally insane event where young kids try to ride – hang on actually – to a sheep that's scared shitless, running for its life and bucking like a bronco. All the kids were 8 and under, probably averaging five or six.

One poor kid was three. They all get thrown violently, some are trampled, and a lot of them are crying when it's over. I'm sure I would have wanted to do it when I was eight, and maybe even six, but someone should call child protective services on the idiot that did that to a three year old. That's just horrible parenting.

As you are no doubt aware, there are concerns about animal cruelty in the rodeo and of course I am against cruelty to animals. Horses and bulls are tortured into becoming homicidal maniacs and many calves have their necks broken when they get roped.

But I eat meat so it's hard for me to be overly judgmental when I look at the big picture of how rodeo animals live their lives. I know If I were given a choice I'd take the life of rodeo livestock over that of an industrial farm animal without hesitation. For the most part they live relatively well in spacious pastures and only feel pain and maybe fear during transportation and for the few minutes they are competing in the rodeo itself. Like horse racing, the rodeo authorities argue that the animals are highly trained athletes and enjoy what they are doing. That seems a bit self-serving, but there may be some truth to it in some events. Perhaps I'm anthropomorphizing, but the horses and bulls sure seemed self-satisfied when they throw the cowboys, and the bulls took particular delight in trying to kill them when they are down. The poor little calves no doubt do not enjoy being roped and tied, much less having their necks broken on rare occasions that happens, but at least they go out running rather than living their entire lives in a tiny pen and then getting a hole blown in their skulls at the end of an assembly line in a meat packing plant.

I see it kind of like professional football or boxing where severe injuries, including brain trauma and long drawn out horrible deaths are common. Every Sunday much of the nation watches and cheers as humans are severely injured both short and long term for our entertainment. What's in it for the victims is that they are handsomely paid and live very well for at least a short time, or somehow otherwise feel they benefit from their sacrifice. The livestock don't have that choice, but they do get the benefits. In a more perfect world no one would watch either humans or animals be inflicted with immediate pain and long-term suffering and possible death for our entertainment, but this ain't a perfect world and I am not perfect either. So we live with the trade off. All we can do is somewhat regulate it to avoid the worst, which they do.

All in all though, I really enjoyed my first rodeo, both as a writer, documentary photographer, and as a spectator. I realize the photos I got aren't great, but I plan on going to more rodeos and hopefully filling out a better photo essay at some point. In the meantime, these serve as illustration of the spectacle, if not the terrors that like beneath.

But after all that far right political and religious crap, I realized I no longer want to be a rodeo cowboy and will have to find something else.

Maybe I'll be a Baptist preacher, instead. That way, I won't have to work. Or maybe Pentecostal. I'll look into that next.