A store in Rapid City, South Dakota, has removed a novelty item that depicted an "Indian" in a headdress with wine bottle to his mouth.

The owners of the Gold Diggers store said their Indian employees didn't find the miniature statue offensive. "We cater to the Native American community; we admire them," Roger Thompson told The Rapid City Journal. "We don't make fun of them, we employ them."

But Robert Cook, the president of the National Indian Education Association, wrote to the city to complain. Mayor Alan Hanks asked Gold Diggers to remove the item from the shelves.

Get the Story:
'Offensive' souvenir figure pulled from store shelf (The Rapid City Journal 7/15)
The Fives: Racism, consumerism, the media and our continuing obsession with skin color (The Rapid City Journal 7/15)