Wednesday, September 16, 2009

ABC Wednesday-"I": Cigar Store INDIAN

I was surprised to see this wood-carved cigar store INDIAN statue in front of a souvenier shop at Park Point in Duluth, Minnesota since our Native American INDIANS are not happy about the way that they are depicted. Because it is not PC anymore to use sterotypical images of INDIANS, it seemed somewhat out-of-place, but it certainly offered an IMAGE for ABC Wednesday!

18 comments:

  1. It's hard to keep track of what is acceptable now a days.
    I always loved these guys.

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  2. j'ai jamais compris pourquoi aux états-unis, l'emblème des magasins de cigares étaient un indien, peut être à cause d'une publicité ?
    I have never understood why in the United States, the emblem of the stores of cigars were Indian, can be because of an advertising?

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  3. He sure looks like he's not crazy about what he's doing! ;)

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  4. do they consider it as derogatory?

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  5. I like this, I've seen many in NYC, but this is quite different. Sorry for the natives, hope they don't mind too much. I usually don't care or utterly enjoy caricatures of Italians everywhere.

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  6. I haven't seen one of these in years.

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  7. Perfect 'image' from the past. Thanks for the reminder...aren't we having a beautiful week weatherwise in St. Paul? :O)

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  8. He looks quite sad. Maybe he just got off the trail of tears.

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  9. This appears to be an old one too.
    Sherry

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  10. Well, that guy certainly looks unhappy!

    It's an odd thing to use Indians to advertise cigars. Do you know how that came about?

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  11. o good golly miss molly it is like the poor gollywog figures featured innocently on pots of jam here for years and now totally un-pc. Do they still show "Westerns" with cowboys and indians in the US - of course I'm sure they do.

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  12. Actually I've seen some Cigar Store Indians looking quite OK, but this one IS sad.

    Jay, I believe Indians historically used tobacco for ceremonial and medicinal uses before the Mayflower.

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  13. It does seem a bit strange to still have it out, but thats the way it goes sometimes.

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  14. I lived in Duluth for several years in the 40s. And I remember Park Point. Wow! [I was very young!]

    This poor guy doesn't look very happy, but I'd guess he has become an antique icon.

    Nice post. Thanks for the memories.

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  15. I haven't seen one of these for years. Never thought of them as being anything other than art. Hmmm.

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  16. I love the indian. I hate that it is politically incorrect to display these type of images. I went to the Indian Reservation this week near where I live and the sign still says, INDIAN reservation. I think it would sound absurd to say Native American Reservation.

    And what do we call people born in Mexico? There are so many names it's hard to tell which is the correct answer anymore. Are they Mexicans, Latinos, Chicanos, Spanish or what?

    Sorry. PC bothers me.

    I love your photo. Great post.

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  17. We did have them around here, too, but that was along time ago. However, I saw one in Covent Garden, London only last year.

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