I honestly think it was because of Pocahontas. Like cowboys and indians was always an american pop culture western thing. But then the same deal happened with ninja's and samurai. Fighting and warrior shit was just cool in the 90s. Look at all the kung fu movies. You didn't have to give a shit about cultural appropriation. You find some cool shit about another cultures warriors and you make a badass character. No one complained no one gave a shit. Kids we're just like like oh shit a bad ass native character. Oh shit a ninja. Oh shit a tall ass sexy african character that uses dance fu. Simpler times.