Some Lincoln Native people say they are concerned a T-shirt design showcased on a website this week contains images that reinforce stereotypes of Natives as alcoholics.
The shirt features the words “Indian Lot” and an image of a Native dream catcher with beer bottles hanging from it. The company that designed it said it's meant to pay homage to the once-popular football tailgating lot behind the Lincoln Indian Center.
The Corner 3 Tees company hoped to sell the shirts to people who remember the spot that was popular before the Indian Center banned alcohol there last year after some tailgaters got out of control, a spokesperson said in an email.
“The lot in question netted the owners a great amount of profit over the years as its popularity stemmed almost entirely from the tailgating festivities, which involved a vast amount of alcohol around various Native American structures,” the company said in a statement. “We elected to profit from the lot’s reputation in a similar manner.”
People are also reading…
Last September, a tailgate party in the lot ended in a near riot and more than a dozen people were arrested. In October, the Indian Center’s board of directors voted to permanently ban alcohol on its grounds, ending what had become a lucrative business for the nonprofit.
Gameday parking at the center at 1100 Military Road brought in more than $68,000 in revenue during the 2013 football season.
This week, a sports and entertainment website, , published an article that unveiled the T-shirt design, which wasn't available for sale yet.
The Corner 3 Tees site didn't list the shirt for sale Wednesday, but it's unclear if complaints caused the company to pull the design.
The Corner 3 Tees spokesperson said the company might still sell the T-shirt design, or a similar design with changes to accommodate the concerns of Native people.
“Any correlation drawn from the imagery included in the T-shirts designed solely for celebrating the lot (and its popular namesake) and the supposed derogatory statement towards the Native American community is totally unintentional and misguided,” said the spokesperson, who declined to identify himself or herself.
"We refuse to provide names as the owners of the site have already been contacted by various members of the Native American community in Lincoln," an email reply said.Â
This week, Native people from Lincoln expressed concern the design would reinforce harmful stereotypes of Natives as alcoholics.
Rebekka Schlichting, a journalism graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said people who don’t know about the Indian Center’s tailgating history might get the wrong message from the shirts.
“I think they’re very offensive and encourage racism and ignorance,” she said. “Obviously, they’re associating alcoholism with Native Americans.”
Indian Center Director Clyde Tyndall said the design is an example of racism.
He said the center will continue its ban on alcohol at tailgating parties this season. However, he said, the center continues to struggle to find ways to replace the revenue it earned from the old tailgate parties.
At their peak, the parties generated as much $29,000 on a single gameday and an average of $10,000 per game.
“We won’t make that this season,” Tyndall said.