‘Assimilation Aesthetic’ Draws Fire

My brother gave me a heads up on a little controversy over Ralph Lauren’s use of photographs of Indians used to promote its RRL line, which, come to find out, is supposed to be celebrating rugged, traditional Americana. I was unaware of this line, since I am not in the market for $290 pants. (Seriously?) Carhartt is sufficiently rugged and traditional Americana for me.

So, here’s the nature of the hubbub…

(CNN) — Ralph Lauren’s 2014 holiday ad campaign for its RRL line was raked over the coals on social media this week for its “assimilation aesthetic,” featuring what appear to be antique photos of stoic Native Americans dressed in Western attire.

Now, the company is apologizing for the imagery and has since removed the images from its website.

“Ralph Lauren has a longstanding history in celebrating the rich history, importance and beauty of our country’s Native American heritage,” the company said in a statement. “We recognize that some of the images depicted in the RRL look book may have caused offense and we have removed them from our website.”

Ruth Hopkins, a contributor to the site Last Real Indians, took issue with the campaign’s use of Native Americans, claiming that the imagery is not only ignorant, it’s a harsh reminder of a time of extreme oppression, and even genocide, for the nation’s indigenous people.

“What many people alive today fail to realize is Natives of the Assimilation Era wore western clothes because they were forced to do so,” she wrote.

Indian boarding schools of the late 19th Century proudly displayed “before-and-after” photos to tout the success of their “civilizing” mission.

As you all know by now, I generally have little patience for hand-wringing over perceived historical slights — especially when said hand-wringing is clearly a means to forward a contemporary sociopolitical agenda. This is different.

On this one the critics have a point. Hopkins has it right: There was a concerted effort to break and erase indigenous cultures — forbidding the use of native language; cutting long hair; requiring the wearing of westernized clothing; intense pressure to convert to Christianity. This was not the natural cultural exchange that moved in multiple directions on a porous frontier, sparked by trade and intermarriage. What happened in the late 19^th and the first half of the 20^th Century can properly be called as an attempt at cultural genocide.

I doubt that the RRL ad men (Mad Men?) knew a damn thing about the history — they probably just thought the images were “cool.” Now they know.

Whether RRL should have scrubbed the images is another matter. I’m not much in favor of removing images merely because they “cause offense.” Maybe adding some context to the web site would be a better way of respecting the history.