URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001397.asp

Friday, September 12, 2003

"Peggy Larney of Dallas, a Choctaw Indian, protested the use of headdresses and feathers. "When other people that aren't Indian do it, they're not being authentic to it. It's just not right," she told the local press. Vernon Bellecourte, another AIM spokesman, called the Indian Guides program a "cheap Hollywood" version of American Indian culture. "They sit around in a circle with their chicken feathers, they have their little greetings and they call their groups various tribes," he griped. "It totally distorts our culture. They can only relate to this very superficial, stereotypical image of who they think we are."

But it's the critics who are doing the stereotyping."

Get the Story:
Michelle Maklin: P.C. vs. the Indian Princesses (Townhall.com 9/12)

Relevant Links:
YMCA Indian Guide Story - http://www.yindianguides.org/ighistory.htm
YMCA Indian Guides - http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Social_Organizations/
YMCA/Indian_Guides_and_Princesses
YMCA - http://www.ymca.net/index.jsp

Related Stories:
YMCA drops Indian 'guide' and 'princess' program (04/28)
YMCA makes changes to 'Indian' program (10/03)
YMCA looks at 'Indian Guide' program (5/1)

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