Popular Shoe Brand Apologizes for 'Appropriating' Native American Culture, Using the Word 'Moccasin'
On Monday, President Joe Biden became the first sitting president to officially acknowledge “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in place of Columbus Day, much to the excitement of woke Twitter users and politicians alike.
It took 232 years but, thanks to President Biden, Indigenous Peoples Day will finally be commemorated this Monday.
The FIRST President to do so.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) October 9, 2021
The Biden White House will be the first to officially commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day this coming Monday. This gives White House backing to efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward appreciation of Native peoples. https://t.co/qJVQaG5NVO
— Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) October 8, 2021
Today is #IndigenousPeoplesDay. It’s a day we can ALL spend…
??Reading Indigenous authors
??Learning about the history of Indigenous peoples
??And Listening to our Indigenous brothers and sisters— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) October 11, 2021
Amid all the excitement, one company decided to go the extra mile in its celebration. According to NPR, Minnesota-based shoe brand Minnetonka took the opportunity to apologize for the offensive action of using the word “moccasin.”
“We recognize that our original products, some of which are still sold today, have been appropriated from Native American culture,” CEO David Miller wrote. “We deeply and meaningfully apologize for having benefited from selling Native-inspired designs without directly honoring Native culture or communities.”
Miller said the word “moccasin,” which describes the brand’s signature shoe, is derived from the Ojibwe word “makizinan.” This apparently means the word had been “appropriated,” even though many words in the English language are derived from other languages.
As far back as 2008, the company was engaging in woke practices. That year, it redesigned its logo to remove the word “moccasin.”
In 2020, the company once again redesigned the logo to remove symbols around the letter “T” making it look like an arrow. In addition, Miller said the company has worked with Native Americans in the past.
“For many years, we have privately supported Native causes in our home state of Minnesota — but simply giving back is not enough,” he wrote. “We are taking a more active and public stance in supporting Native communities.”
You see, it is not enough to support minority groups, or even to remove imagery from your logo that may “offend” someone. No matter how many steps a company takes, it will still inevitably fail to please the woke mob.
Miller added that the company has now taken its commitment to wokeness even further. Minnetonka has hired a so-called “reconciliation advisor” named Adrienne Benjamin to try and mend its relationship with potentially offended Native Americans.
“When a company is called out, there are always words, but real change and effort undoubtedly starts with the redistribution and sharing of resources,” Benjamin wrote in a blog post on the company’s website. “Since much of this company’s wealth came from appropriation, it would only be right for this company to truly invest back into those communities from which it stole … To me, that must come first and foremost.
“No artist, activist, or the like will want to work with nor trust an organization that is not putting its money where its mouth is in reference to its appropriation, and the benefits, they’ve experienced because of it.”
In other words, the only way Minnetonka can make up for its alleged sins is to hand over a bunch of money to Native American tribes.
The company also rolled out an “action plan” including five pillars: “staffing, brand language, design collaborations, business relationships and philanthropy.” NPR said the plan includes “recruiting more actively from Native American talent pools and other underrepresented groups,” because nothing says togetherness quite like discriminating based on group identity.
In the grand scheme of things, a shoe company apologizing to Native Americans is not a huge deal. However, the damage done by the incessant “cancel culture” pushed by the left in today’s society is much more worrisome.
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