Beyoncé criticized for shirt calling Native Americans 'enemies of peace'

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Beyonce and Jay-Z during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 24, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

A Buffalo Soldiers T-shirt worn by Beyoncé and featured on her website has sparked criticism for calling Native Americans "the enemies of peace."

The shirt, worn during a Juneteenth performance on the "Cowboy Carter" tour in Paris, has also fueled discussions over how Americans remember their history. 

What did Beyoncé’s shirt say? 

What we know:

The T-shirt featured images of the Buffalo Soldiers, who belonged to Black U.S. Army units active during the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the back was a lengthy description of the soldiers that included "their antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries."

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What we don't know:

It’s unclear what Beyoncé’s response is to the backlash. Her spokesperson didn’t respond to a comment request from The Associated Press. 

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

The backstory:

The Buffalo Soldiers served in six military units created after the Civil War in 1866. They were comprised of formerly enslaved men, freemen, and Black Civil War soldiers and fought in hundreds of conflicts — including in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II — until they were disbanded in 1951.

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As the quote on Beyoncé’s shirt notes, they also fought numerous battles against Indigenous peoples as part of the U.S. Army's campaign of violence and land theft during the country's westward expansion.

What they're saying:

Fans and Indigenous influencers took to social media to criticize Beyoncé for wearing a shirt that frames Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries as anything but the victims of American imperialism and for promoting anti-Indigenous language.

"The Buffalo Soldiers are an interesting historical moment to look at. But we have to be honest about what they did, especially in their operations against Indigenous Americans and Mexicans," said Chisom Okorafor, who posts on TikTok under the handle @confirmedsomaya.

Okorafor said there is no "progressive" way to reclaim America's history of empire building in the West, and that Beyoncé’s use of Western symbolism sends a problematic message: "That Black people, too, can engage in American nationalism."

"Black people, too, can profit from the atrocities of (the) American empire," she said. "It is a message that tells you to abandon immigrants, Indigenous people, and people who live outside of the United States. It is a message that tells you not only is it a virtue to have been born in this country, but the longer your line extends in this country, the more virtuous you are."