Opinion: Aunt Jemina and Uncle Ben aren't just racist symbols, they flatten culture for white consumption (via latimesopinion)
Let’s not kid ourselves — the renaming of commercial brands doesn’t solve racism, especially because corporations from Amazon to PepsiCo take a stance on social issues only when it helps their bottom line. But it’s also true that cultural symbols matter. Who we read about in textbooks, see honored in statues, and portrayed on television shapes how children and young people in particular see themselves and the possibilities that are open to them.
A large part of this comes from the need to appeal to the white consumer — stripping yoga from its religious roots, for instance, and placing a white person at the front of the room to make it less “mystic” or “exotic,” also makes it easier to sell to white consumers. Throw in a few baby goats, and you’ve got a “safe” and utterly disrespectful way for white people to “experience Indian culture.”
Seeing a happy Native American woman on a Land O’ Lakes box or watching Disney’s Pocahontas helps one forget that indigenous people are modern communities, not long-vanished peoples, and that the Navajo Nation, the country’s largest reservation, had a
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