Dan McLaughlin beat me to the Corner to post about Land O’ Lakes’s decision to remove “Mia,” the company’s iconic rendering of a kneeling Native American woman, from its packaging and corporate imagery. McLaughlin compiled a useful history of the logo, highlighting the benign image’s small but vocal contingent of malcontents who have, at long last, gotten their way.
I share Dan’s concern about the endgame implied by this decision. If we get rid of all Native American imagery in public life, who is made better off? Presumably the 20 or so people genuinely outraged over the depiction of an Indian woman kneeling on a butter package would be satisfied. It’s nevertheless unclear if actual Native Americans will be better off when every popular reference to their heritage has been erased from the cultural landscape.
I realize that in principle this makes me no different from the hyenas who boycott conservative businesses — remember Brendan Eich? — but I still can’t see myself buying Land O’ Lakes butter or eggs without Mia on the package.