"The Indians Killed Buffalo and Used the Whole Animal. When I Eat Meat, I'm Honoring Indians."

The Plains Indians of the 19th century didn't have the same choices as us.

The greater lesson of the Indians referred to in the title quote is not that they killed buffalo, but that given their constraints, they obtained their food and clothing in the most sustainable, least invasive way. To follow those principles today means to go vegan.

The Indians didn't kill buffalo gratuitously. To kill animals strictly for pleasure, as is nearly always the case when we eat meat, dairy, or eggs in the "developed" world and have some awareness of alternatives, may in fact be quite disrespectful to the memory of the Indians. The same should be said for severely confining animals, mutilating them, and distorting their bodies to be obese and top-heavy or to overproduce milk and eggs - all standard practices in modern animal agriculture.

The buffalo of lore ran free. But even if you consume no animal products other than those from free-ranging animals you kill yourself (which rules out virtually everyone in the Western world), from an environmental standpoint alone you're still irresponsible. If everyone hunted, we'd kill off all the wildlife and create an ecological disaster in no time.

Here's another way that eating meat (especially beef) and dairy dishonors Indians. In the 1880s, ranchers took over much of the land on which the Indians lived. Often the takeover was violent and deceitful. The Indians were killed en masse and relegated to reservations. The ranchers imported huge humbers of cattle, who chewed everything in sight and displaced native flora and fauna and greatly reduced biological diversity. In some cases, thriving ecosystems were turned into dry, dusty deserts. To support the beef or dairy industries is to add insult to the Indians' and the land's injuries.

One more thing I should add is that I'm quite sure that some of the people who claim to be honoring Indians when they eat meat don't seem to be that knowledeable about Indians, or care much about them, or mention them in other circumstances. In other words, the whole Indian thing is often just another seat-of-the-pants excuse. It's much more satisfying, and honorable, and honest, to be as kind and respectful as possible to all sentient beings, and to strive to leave as small an environmental footprint as practical, and in almost all cases in this neck of the woods, that means - among other things - transitioning to a peaceful plant-based diet. In that way you'll honor all life.