Protest Against Racist Portrayal of Native Americans in Diablos Poster

Update:

Diablos responded very quickly to the comments on its Facebook page and to EW‘s request for comment:

Shame on us…. yes, agreed. It was in VERY poor taste. here’s our general response on the issue … While fetish events frequently offend someone, this is a case where the offence was not intentional and poorly considered. The posters and facebook event logo have been pulled and changed. We sincerely apologize for the offence.
By nature fetishes frequently involve objectification, within the fetish community it is mandatory that it be consensual objectification. In this case we made a big mistake and didn’t consider consent of the community we were depicting. We try to be a completely inclusive bar. We host drag shows, fundraisers, bingo, fetish events, and we have a very diverse clientele. We failed this time. We are very sorry!

Diablos is having a Fetish Ball Thanksgiving weekend, and its poster uses a woman in an “Indian headdress” to advertise the event.

For many Native peoples and others, Thanksgiving marks the genocide of Native tribes and colonization of Native lands and wearing or depicting someone in an “Indian headdress” feeds into racist stereotypes.

According to Will Doolittle who has begun calling attention to the poster on Facebook, “Diablos Bar, in Eugene Oregon, perpetuates racist stereotypes in advertising their ‘Spanksgiving Fetish Night.’ Their phone number is 541-343-2346. Their facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/diablosdtl I told the person answering the phone that they’d probably be receiving more calls about this insulting poster. She said she is sorry if people are offended but they can’t do anything about it.”

The response to the poster had only just begun as this blog went up, so Diablos has not yet had chance to respond to the Facebook comments.

Word is that tomorrow, after culture night at the UO Many Nations longhouse (17th and Columbia), people will go as a group to approach Diablos about the issue.

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