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Title: Red Indian ice cream at Jonesville business called 'blatantly racist'
Source:
MLive
URL Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/i ... ndian_ice_cream_at_jonesv.html
Published: Mar 25, 2018
Author: Danielle Salisbury
Post Date: 2018-03-26 11:09:31 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 451
Comments: 3
JONESVILLE, MI - A Red Indian ice cream flavor, marketed specially last week at a Jonesville restaurant, has roiled some and sparked a slew of sometimes vicious social media remarks. "If you look at all the major Native organizations, using redskin to describe Indians is frowned upon at the very least, and it is considered blatantly racist and hurtful," Natasha Crall of Hillsdale said on Saturday. Crall and her husband Adam publicly called to question the pink cinnamon soft serve named "Flavor of the week" from March 18 to Saturday at The Udder Side, 121 W. Chicago St., a walk-up and drive-through ice cream shop near the intersection of U.S. 12 and M-99. Their posts on the business' Facebook page, since deleted, generated much response, as did Natasha Crall's associated comment on a "Hillsdale Hot Debates" page. Many came to the restaurant's defense. Some attacked Crall. Many mocked and dismissed any outrage or offense as contemptible or insignificant. "Just get over it. It's just ice cream," said Dave Bauer, who owns The Udder Side with his wife Julie. "I'm tired of it. I don't think it is a controversy." He said the business, previously located across the street, has sold Red Indian ice cream all of his 30 years there, as it did the two decades preceding Bauer's tenure. Formerly Jonesville Dairy Treats, the shop opened in 1952. The maker or supplier, which he declined to identify because "it doesn't matter," gave the flavor its name, and he suspects it is related, not to American Indians, but to the country where cinnamon is produced. India does grow cinnamon trees, though much of the spice comes from Sri Lanka, according to various online reference sites. With lemon, it is among the most-requested flavors at The Udder Side, Bauer said, and people will drive long distances for Red Indian, more popular now than ever. No one has approached him at the restaurant with any related issue, he said, and he doesn't have time to be at a computer; he works seven days a week. "You can complain all you want on the internet or Facebook," he said. "If you have a problem with it, come here." Crall said she would have had she not been "directly attacked" by his customers online. Her husband initially questioned only the political correctness of calling a pink ice cream "Red Indian," and the backlash was immediate. "This is racist and bigoted, and it is not OK," she said, recalling her more forceful subsequent statements. "This may be fine here, but elsewhere people don't tolerate this..." Crall said her paternal great, great grandparents both were Cherokee, and she noted the Hillsdale area's rich Native American history. The large lake just south of Hillsdale is named after Chief Baw Beese, leader of a band of Huron-Potawotamies eventually forced in the mid-1800s from Michigan, according to the Hillsdale County Historical Society. U.S. 12 was once the Great Sauk Trail. Crall said she never called for a boycott; she is not behind a Facebook page calling for such action. She simply suggested the flavor name could reflect taste rather than skin color. "You know, it's been Red Indian for 50 years. And we've been here for 30, and I am only going to be here about four more years. I am getting ready to retire. It is going to be Red Indian until I retire," Bauer said when asked about whether he would consider a change. "This is all beyond me, because it is just ice cream. There is no malicious intent. What about Irish Cream and what about Black Cherry?... It's a nonissue as far as I am concerned." The commentary was overwhelmingly in favor of the business and the flavor, and he is not going to act based on the opinions of one, or a few, he said. There are some who share Cralls' thoughts. "Hard to enjoy food when it laughs at a history of racism," one woman wrote on The Udder Side Facebook page. "Blatant racism is blatant racism and if your company is too blind and uneducated to care, you will not have my business again," wrote another. Those stood apart among a list of comments like this one: "Love this place! Great food and the staff is always fantastic... and the RED INDIAN is GREAT!" Valerie Valdez of Hillsdale is a longtime customer. She loves cinnamon and Red Indian is her favorite, as it has been since she was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s in Hudson. The Bobbye's Pizza Place in Hudson also sells the flavor, popular there too. A sign outside the restaurant Sunday advertised Red Indian. The owner was not at work to comment. "I'm fine with the name," Valdez wrote in a message to a reporter. "My mom's side of the family are American Indian and it doesn't bother me at all." There are more important things in the world to worry about, she said. Crall, outspoken on local issues, thinks people should take more pride in the area's Native American history. "Instead of just kind of spitting on it like this." People don't seem to care; they are more willing to defend and attack than take an opportunity to be educated, and think, she said. "It seems the owners are pretty dead set... against any sort of evolution." 
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
I wonder what would have happened, or what would happen, if they renamed it "White Indian"? Now that's would make for a fun debate!
Leftists always seem to have plenty of time to seek out offense. I'm native American, born and raised here and I'm not offended.
That's because they are born with inferiority complexes,for good reasons,and spent their whole lives wrapped up in jealous anger. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
#3. To: Hank Rearden (#2)
Leftists always seem to have plenty of time to seek out offense.
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