August 08, 2009

Texas store sells wine holders

Derogatory statue discovered

By Brian DaffronUpon entering the Texas Best Smokehouse, he saw what upset his wife–“a ceramic figure of a Plains Indian–like the Lakota–with the male in a headdress, with the head tilted back and the mouth open. It has a ceramic hand, which is the right hand, as if he’s holding a container. In this particular situation, they had put an alcoholic beverage bottle and put the tip of the bottle inside the mouth of this figure.”

“It was pretty disgusting,” Narcomey said. “I was pretty perturbed myself. But my second reaction was that I need to document this.”
And:Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney M. Bordeaux condemned the sale of these items and said items such as these are “… offensive, racially derogatory and depicts a stereotypical and prejudiced portrayal of Native Americans. … People may have the right to free speech, but there are limits to any right when it disparages and infringes on the rights of others. Anyone who thinks the item is ‘cute’ and ‘funny’ is a bigot and a racist.”

“It really perpetrated a very negative image of the stereotypes of how Indian people have always been portrayed,” Narcomey said. “It’s been something that I have always grown up with in Oklahoma–that we would never amount to much of anything except being a common laborer and an alcoholic. But I never bought into that.”
Comment:  The examples of anti-Indian racism just keep coming.

For more on the subject, see Indian Chief Wine Holders.

1 comment:

Rob said...

Some comments posted on Facebook:

Jim Soulliere:  I will never understand why anyone would think this is ok...

Kevin Gover:  Because Indians aren't real, contemporary human beings. Some people think of us as being like leprechauns. Racists aren't always hostile, but they are always ignorant.