wfn.org | American Indians protest use of Crazy Horse name

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Dec. 11, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-34-71B{556}

 
NEW YORK (UMNS) - The American Indian community is protesting the
unauthorized and offensive use of the Crazy Horse name by several companies.

Best known as an Oglala Sioux chief who helped defeat George Custer at the
Battle of Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse is revered by many American Indians
today as a great warrior, teacher and spiritual leader. But to their dismay,
the Hornell Brewing Co. uses his name for a malt liquor and Liz Claiborne
manufactures an exclusive line of clothing for J.C. Penney Co. under a Crazy
Horse label.

At a Dec. 11 press conference sponsored by the Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), United Methodist Church and United Church
of Christ, several representatives discussed actions being taken to deal
with the issue and broaden public awareness. The press conference was
followed by a noon demonstration at Liz Claiborne headquarters in New York.

Sammy Toineeta, a National Council of Churches executive and member of the
Lakota Nation, talked about her reaction upon first seeing an advertisement
for "The Original Crazy Horse Malt Liquor" on the streets of New York in
1992. "I felt like somebody hit me in the stomach," she declared.

The status of Crazy Horse as a spiritual mentor and leader is so respected,
she added, that American Indians don't even give their own children his
name.

William Means, an Oglala and director of the International Indian Treaty
Council based in Minneapolis, feels a direct kinship with Crazy Horse. "My
own great-grandfather rode with Crazy Horse," he said. The unauthorized
corporate use of the name is "a personal attack against my family and our
history," he added. 
  
The Estate of Crazy Horse and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe have been engaged in a
legal battle with Hornell Brewing Co. over the name since 1993. A new
lawsuit was filed against Hornell in federal court on Oct. 30, which will be
tried under Lakota Customary Law.

The complaint includes such charges as disparagement and defamation of the
spirit, false endorsement and violations of rights of publicity and privacy.
"What we would really like is for them to just stop using it," explained
Phyllis Frederick, an attorney involved with the Crazy Horse Defense
Project. "The family considers this not only an insult but a theft of
property." 

The Crazy Horse Defense Project focuses on public education and fund
raising, and it initiated a boycott of Arizona Ice Tea, a Hornell product,
about five years ago. The boycott has gained the support of some religious
groups as well. 

Frederick pointed out that even the Patent and Trademark Office of the U.S.
Department of Commerce has refused to allow Hornell to register Crazy Horse
as a trademark. In a 1995 response to Hornell, the office noted that besides
being a great warrior, he was revered by the Oglala and other Siouan nations
as "a religious and spiritual leader who preached against the use of alcohol
and other European-American approaches to life and land."

The patent office's examining attorney concluded that "using the name of the
great leader on beer is particularly offensive, not just as a crass
commercialization of his persona, but because it undermines his teachings
and demeans his reputation as a spiritual leader."

In the case of Liz Claiborne and J.C. Penney, the United Methodist Board of
Pension and Health Benefits has taken the lead for the ICCR in shareholder
resolutions and negotiations around the Crazy Horse label. The Board of
Pension is a major institutional investor.

More than 800 religious organizations and American Indian institutions have
signed on to ICCR's public letter to Liz Claiborne CEO Paul Charron and J.C.
Penney CEO James Oesterreich, saying retention of the Crazy Horse name is
unethical and even financially risky. "It is to engage wittingly or
unwittingly in exploitative, racist behavior against American Indians." 

Means, who also is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Washington Redskins,
said his council would bring up the Crazy Horse issue during a U.N.
conference on racism next year in South Africa. "We take issues like this to
the United Nations as a violation of human rights," he added.

Gary Brouse, an ICCR program director, believes the Crazy Horse brands of
beer and clothing eventually will disappear. "The real issue that non-Indian
people have to deal with here is their perception of themselves and their
history with the Indian people," he said.

Often, according to Brouse, companies will claim that they use an American
Indian name or reference as a way to honor that group. But that excuse
doesn't stand after American Indians make clear that they find the use of
such names insulting and degrading, he said. 
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United Methodist News Service
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