Back when we were talking about appropriation as a way of making money (in that specific posts, with bonnets), I mentioned that I had a worse example. Ta-da!
https://ictnews.org/news/navajo-word-for-beautiful-at-center-of-controversy
In summary, a Dutch woman took the Navajo word for beauty, "nizhoni", and made that the name of her company.
That may not seem like a big deal, but registering names internationally can cause issues. For example, there was a Spanish company sock company that had trademarked the name "Nike" (the Greek goddess of victory). They sold that trademark, then the new owner interfered with some advertising for the US company around the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-08-fi-4596-story.html
The Dutch company faced some pushback from Navajo people, not just for the name use but also for AI-generated images of Native American models that were apparently being used to make the use of the name seem more legitimate.
The initial response to the pushback was "Get a life!" Then there were expressions of wanting to support the Navajo people, perhaps through donations. These sentiments seemed insincere when photos of actual Navajo people were used without permission to imply that the company was employing real Navajo. (They were not.)
They finally apologized and said they were working on changing the name, but that it was a complicated process. In fact, they appear to have successfully changed to using just the designer's name now.
(I could link, but I don't want to give any traffic to her overpriced cardigans.)
Technically, I guess this is still better than Lady Antebellum wanting to sound less racist by stealing the name of a respected Blues artist and battling her legally over it, but it's hard to compare.
https://www.knkx.org/blues/2024-01-27/lady-a-seattle-blues-singer-music-lawsuit-career
Regardless, note the pattern of taking without asking, resenting being asked about that, doubling down, and maybe eventually changing, but being really determined to ignore issues of respect.
It is easier to do it with marginalized people.
For many people, it is easy to romanticize Native Americans and keep them firmly in the past; then that romance is free for the taking.
They're still here.
It would be completely possible to respond to the initial pushback better, but it would be even better to not go down this path in the first place. That would take some awareness and respect.
There was a growing concern for me that made the Nizhoni story worse. That led to me annoying a minor celebrity, which I will get into after something else.
Stay tuned!
Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2021/07/music-review-lady-a.html
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