‘Nostalgic racism is racism’: Disney criticised for Texas students’ performance

theguardian.com:

Walt Disney World apologised after a Texas high school drill team performing at the entertainment giant’s Florida theme park wore fringed outfits and chanted: “Scalp ’em, Indians, scalp ’em.”

“The live performance in our park did not reflect our core values and we regret it took place,” a spokesperson, Jacquee Wahler, said in a statement.

Native American advocates criticised Disney and Port Neches-Groves high school after video of the performance to Twitter.

“Any Natives who attend [Port Neches-Groves high school] should prolly just accept their classmates dehumanising them cuz ‘tradition’, right?” wrote Tara Houska, an Ojibwe tribal attorney and founder of the Giniw Collective and Not Your Mascots.

“Shame on [Disney] hosting this,” she said. “Nostalgic racism is RACISM.”

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a Disney employee asked the troupe to remove headdresses prior to their performance.

Wahler, the Disney spokesperson, said the performance that followed was “not consistent with the audition tape the school provided and we have immediately put measures in place so this is not repeated”.

It has been a tough month for Disney, which faced backlash over its response to Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education act, a measure known by critics as “Don’t Say Gay” and branded as anti-LGBTQ+ rights.

According to screenshots posted by Houska, Port Neches-Groves high school, whose band performed