Race row after US bar promotes ‘Drink like an Indian’ offer
By ANITuesday, November 30, 2010
LONDON - A bar in the US has sparked outrage after it launched a campaign inviting customers to ‘drink like an Indian’.
Managers at the sports bar have been forced to apologise to American Indian groups after receiving hundreds of complaints about the posters and fliers.
The flyers, which advertised drink specials throughout the Thanksgiving holiday period at Station 280, in St Paul, Minnesota, featured drawings of a cowboy and an American Indian in traditional garb slumped together on the floor.t also included a scantily dressed woman dressed like Pocahontas with the slogan: “Drink like an Indian, party like a pilgrim. Party your ass off with us!”
Kathy Dickerson, a craftswoman and folk storyteller with the Oklahoma-based Kiowa tribe, spotted the flyer on her friend’s Facebook page.
“I just didn’t seem right. When things come up like that, we have to make sure people understand we’re still here, and there’s such a thing as cultural sensitivity,” the Daily Mail quoted her as telling Twincities.com.
“They had a picture of a woman on there, too. We don’t dress like that,” she said.
Bar owner Chris Mueller pulled the marketing campaign and said he plans to make a donation to an American Indian association to make good his apology. (ANI)
