A 'Wild West' display at Blackpool Illuminations has been removed by the council following complaints that it reinforces "racial stereotypes" about Native Americans, LancsLive reported. The controversial display depicts six men in headdresses around a totem pole.
Tony Perry, an NHS manager, author and member of the Chickasaw Nation tribe, filed a complaint to Blackpool Council over the display located to the north of Blackpool Promenade. A letter from the tribe dated in September last year said the display paints Blackpool "as a community that supports racism and discrimination."
Now the decision has been taken to remove it entirely following pressure from Tony and another citizen.
After what Tony describes as a "productive" eight months since filing the complaint, Blackpool Council has made the decision to replace the display. It's a move, Tony explains, that isn't about "replacing" but instead finding something "better".
Tony told LancsLive: "The council were very responsive to my concerns, I raised them in September last year and they responded quite quickly then to say they would take it under review. They have done that, they got in touch with me around a month or so ago and we chatted about where things were.
"They said they have made the decision to retire the tableau and wanted to work with me to try to find a Native American artist to try and replace it. It's not about taking something away, it's about replacing it with something that I think does work with what the original designer wanted to do. So in terms of celebrating what they had in mind for native people and our culture, being a part of the illuminations and its exhibit, there is a way this can happen by actual native artists."
Now Tony is working with the council to replace the artwork. He said: "Its a UK-wide feature and I'd love to have the chance to go, it sounds just breath-taking and we need something like that when we get into the autumn and winter months just to get a bit of brightness, especially in this mad world we live in."
In September last year, Tony filed a complaint to every member of the council regarding the display. In the filed complaint seen by LancsLive, Tony writes: "I was dismayed to see stereotypical Native peoples dancing before a totem pole on the Visit Blackpool site for the Blackpool Illuminations. I understand there is a second illumination showing native Hawaiians in caricature as well. Native Americans have long been caricatured - often in the name of 'honouring' them - as an attempt to erase our culture, redefine our history and assimilate us with Euro-centric ideals."
Tony then points out that in 2020, indigenous people across Canada and North America mourned the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at Marieval Indian Residential School and 251 graves at Kamloops Indian Residential School.
"These were the graves of children whose last days were spent erasing who they were," he adds.
It later reads: "Examples of these attempts to define - and ultimately erase -Native peoples continue to this day in North America and abroad. Much of it is so insidious that those who do it don't even know, and some believe that what they're doing honours people like me. We see it in mascots, like the Exeter Chiefs rugby team, or with our images in lights, as the world sees with the Blackpool Illuminations.
"Showing - let alone promoting - such illuminations also does little to promote Blackpool as a welcoming community. Instead, it paints Blackpool as a community that supports racism and discrimination. It doesn't reflect the difficult conversations and changing societal values on race that we've seen since the Black Lives Matter protests that sparked your resolution. Worse still, these illuminations are seen by hundreds of thousands of people each year, which means that they spread stereotypes to other communities in the UK and beyond."
Tony said: "I know for some people this is making something out of nothing, but the important part for me is about having consistency. In terms of how other British Minority Ethnic people are treated, it's basically having a similar sort of approach. You wouldn't have something with blackface or stereotyping south-Asians or other people, it wouldn't be accepted.
"I think what has happened is, because it's not just here, I think it's because people know so little about native Americans and yet they have played such a big role in British and Western ideas. There is a lot to unpick with that but native Americans have played a big role even in British history. I think people believe we don't exist anymore, like cave people, which is fair enough but we are still here.
Tony is a citizen of the Chicksaw Nation - a native American tribe - which sees itself as "people with at least dual-citizenships".
"It's not just this, I found just yesterday a mural in Glasgow, there's a few of them spread around and one recently has been built. Its a wild west theme but then it has a caricature of an American-Indian in it. So I wrote to their council about the same sort of thing," he explained, "it's a wider theme and I think it casts back to people not knowing that we are still here."
"It's a gap in knowledge and that is totally understandable, I'm native American so I know about it, but I don't know about indigenous people from Brazil or Australia if you know what I mean. So it's practicality but it's also just having a thought because I wouldn't want to caricature an aborigine from Australia."
It is understood that Blackpool Council are now working with Tony to find a Native-American artist to replace the display. He adds: "It's really not about just taking something away, I'm not saying let's shut it down and move on. I'm saying let's make something better."
A council spokesperson said: "We are re-imagining the tableau for the 2023 Illuminations season with input from representatives of the Native American Network. We are looking to produce a new design that will celebrate indigenous culture.
“The current tableau will be rested for this season to enable that work to be undertaken."
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