A performance which took place at the heart of Disney World — on Main Street, U.S.A. in Magic Kingdom — has prompted Disney to issue a response.
Magic Kingdom
Oftentimes, you’ll walk through Magic Kingdom and hear a high school marching band making their way down Main Street, U.S.A. Recently, a high school band and dancers performed in the Most Magical Place on Earth but their performance has been heavily criticized. Here’s what Disney had to say about it.
Recently, the Port Neches-Grove High School marching band and dancers performed in Magic Kingdom. Port Neches-Grove High School is located in Port Neches, Texas. According to the Port Neches-Grove High School website, the dancers are called the “Indianettes” and they are technically a “drill team” that marches with the band.
The performance from this drill team in Magic Kingdom has drawn heavy criticism.
©Port Neches-Grove
Tara Houska is Ojibwe from Couchiching First Nation and is an attorney. According to the TED website, Houska is a tribal attorney and she “advocates on behalf of tribal nations at the local and federal levels.” Recently, Houska spoke out against the performance from Port Neches-Grove High School and posted a clip of it on Twitter.
You can see Houska’s tweet and a clip of the video of the performance from Port Neches-Grove below. In it, the dancers, who are wearing fringed outfits, are heard saying “scalp ’em Indians, scalp ’em.” According to the Orlando Sentinel, that phrase is part of the school’s “Cherokee” fight song.
Cuz a bunch of kids in fringe chanting “scalp ‘em Indians, scalp ‘em” is honor, right?
And any Natives who attend @pngisd should prolly just accept their classmates dehumanizing them cuz “tradition”, right?
Shame on @DisneyParks hosting this. Nostalgic racism is RACISM. pic.twitter.com/ELsJHRgJlw
— tara houska ᔖᐳᐌᑴ (@zhaabowekwe) March 18, 2022
Wahler shared that they are “reviewing its processes and the other groups scheduled to perform to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.”
Magic Kingdom
According to the Orlando Sentinel, activists have called the performance a “racist depiction of Native American culture.” The Orlando Sentinel notes that photos and videos of the performance had been publicly shared on the social media accounts associated with the school and one part of the march had been livestreamed by a club from the school. But the Sentinel shares that by Friday afternoon, “the club’s social media pages had been deleted or made private.”
According to Houska, others who have emailed the school have received a response talking about the “disrespect with which they were treated at Walt Disney World in Florida.” Click Orlando reports that the school district issued a statement to KFDM-TV in Beaumont and the Associated press saying that the district is “aware of the concern regarding the performance of our band and Indianettes at Disney World.”
Cinderella Castle
The District reportedly stated the following: “We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our school district. Our district is nearing 100 years old, and our Board of Trustees is committed to always making the best decisions for our students, staff, and the communities of Port Neches and Groves.” (From Click Orlando)
Click Orlando notes that a spokesperson from Port Neches-Groves “told KFDM-TV that this was the eighth time that PN-G performed the routine at Disney World. The spokesperson says Disney has never asked ahead of time about the planned performance.”
According to CNN, a spokesperson from the school said “This is our eighth time at Disney…They don’t ask what you’re going to do as far as a performance. It’s just contest video and they see the uniforms. They asked for nothing else. This is the same performance we’ve done all eight times.”
Main Street, U.S.A. Crowds
According to the Orlando Sentinel, a Disney employee did ask the group to “remove headdresses prior to their performance, and the chants heard in the parade were not part of the school’s rehearsal.” Photos of the drill team does show them wearing headdresses generally during past performances though.
Houska was interviewed by the Orlando Sentinel and she shared that the “performance included dancers performing gestures used to stereotype Native American communities and that nobody stepped in.” Houska said, “You see not only this really obviously racist chant being said and a bunch of presumably non-Native people wearing fringe and putting their hands over their mouths and doing ‘war whoops’ or whatever. There’s that, and then there’s all the people that are cheering them on … who are tacitly saying, ‘This is okay.'”
Main Street, U.S.A.
Houska said that “[It] doesn’t actually get at the root of the issue, which is you have a team called the ‘Indianettes,’ who you knew normally wear headdresses and who were not allowed to wear their fake headdresses but were allowed to use their chant…So that seems really disingenuous on Disney’s part.” (Orlando Sentinel)
She went on to say, “It would be a lot more believable that they are willing to carry out these values if they unequivocally condemn this behavior, acknowledge their mistake and continue to try to not only increase representation, but prevent something like this from happening again.” (Orlando Sentinel)
Main Street
According to Click Orlando, Shyanne Begay, who is with the Indigenous Peoples Movement, said the school has been “contacted by native groups for years, expressing concern at what they call offensive behavior.”
The Cherokee Nation issued the following statement from Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.: “Port Neches-Groves Independent School District continues to use offensive and stereotypical depictions of our tribe, and this is yet again exampled by their cheer team recently in Orlando. For the past couple of years, we have written to the Port Neches superintendent and school board asking them to cease using this offensive imagery, chanting, symbolism and other practices in their school traditions as this does nothing but dishonor us and all Native American tribes who are making great strides in this country. School leaders need educating on cultural appropriateness, should apologize for continuing to ignore our requests to stop and need to make swift changes to correct these offensive displays across their school district.” (Click Orlando)
According to Click Orlando, the Cherokee Nation has “said the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District has never acknowledged the letters or requests it sent.”
Magic Kingdom
Update: According to WESH 2 News, The Florida Indigenous Alliance has now called on Disney to ban any school that uses Native American mascots from performing in the parks. Robert Rosa, chairman of the Florida Indigenous Alliance, shared “They used the term scalping. Scalping came when the Europeans came because they would sell the scalps of Native Americans and get $5 per scalp. So you know that’s offensive on a whole other level.”
Rosa said that Disney needs to do more than just put out a statement. “We just want them all in all to ban it from Disney, from their cheer competitions, their dance competitions,” said Rosa. According to Rosa, doing that would send a strong signal to others around the U.S. and the world.
Magic Kingdom
We’ll continue to look for any more statements from Disney or other updates about this matter.
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Can someone explain why, at no point apparently, didn’t ANYONE from Disney stop them mid performance? There are Disney cast members along the sidelines for every performance and parade and at no time did they think, ‘um, this is not ok’?
Something about this feels off …. did the dance team not appear in the audition tape? They are clearly wearing a bedazzled version of traditional Indian garb, including head dresses in the photo and headbands and feathers in the video. They also appear to be chanting in a Native American dialect. Not unusual for this part of the country.
What did Disney think was going to happen? Clearly this is obsolete for today’s woke Disney but not Texas high schools. Know what you are bringing in, Disney.
Get a grip people!! Oh maybe we should subject them to a life of cancellation is that what you want? It’s a bunch of high school kids following a tradition that was ok for 50 years and now it’s deemed a crime. We are doomed as humans ughhhh!
Relax, they’re kids, no need to punish them . They are playing a part in the performance. They worked countless hours on that . Blame the coaches, but I’m sure it never crossed their mind that the routine they have practiced is now construed as offensive.
I think it’s more on Disney than their guests. I’m sure the young girls did not mean to offend and have been proud of their history. And, despite appearances, many do have Native American ancestry.
From what I have read, this band has performed this same routine at Disney several times without any controversy. This school has performed this similar routine many times during their history. Why the controversy now?
As someone who has been through the vetting process to take their dance studio to perform in the parade I know that disney asks for pictures of the costumes, a lengthy video of the choreography while in motion to prove we can keep stamina up the entire parade route. They replied to us with notes on what to change and or fix so they knew exactly what they were putting up. IF they actually changed their performance day of, disney should have stopped any music and rerouted them off stage. This was not acceptable!
Disney claims the audition tapes were inconsistent with the actual performance. Ok, so maybe the school did a bait and switch. But if it’s true that this was the 8th time this performance has taken place at WDW over the years, then Disney knows better. Shame on the school and shame on Disney.
I have American Indian heritage and don’t think there’s a problem but I also don’t look for issues with everything that happens in life. If you are offended, get over it. There was nothing malicious intended!!
When cheer squads chant “fight!fight!fight!” Aren’t they promoting violence? And if a fight breaks out are they responsible for the fight and the harm to both sides? It’s not like a cast member is supposed to swoop in and round everyone up and stop the parade. Seriously! I get the ones in charge could have cut the music and stopped it, but come on Stacey think it through. I’m old school. Its a fight song for a sport team. I have Indian heritage. I guess I’m just a bit tougher than the ‘let’s find every reason on earth to be offended and protest ‘ type person.
Awful. Disney you can do better. This is not ok. Someone needs to get their head on straight and pay attention before allowing this to happen.
This is just amazing to me. I do not like the chant at all and Disney should have known that and said performance is fine but no chant. Why is Everything racist ?!
My great grandmother was full Blooded Cherokee Indian and albeit I denounce the chant the Indians are a heritage – my heritage But I’m not a savage and don’t call to have this school and the children that attend that school to be dragged through the “Woke” mud. Start teaching American History in schools again and not this indoctrination they do now. I’ll wait to see if my comment is posted or deleted.
It’s interesting that the same people who feel that the Texas High School Band dress and chant are OK, but at the same time books are banned because they speak of slavery or the holocaust. Wow!
Wow is Texas so behind that using Indians as their mascot can be taken wrong. Especially saying, “scalp, em”. My high school used Indians as a mascot but changed it in 1990 to be more sensitive.
Well, there goes Peter Pan and Island of the lost boys.
NOPE! Disney needs to do more than say “it won’t happen again”. They need to do something huge like donate tons of $$ or let Native Americans represent their culture / heritage in Epcot. So we can show them the respect they deserve! I’M STILL SO SICK TO MY STOMACH. Disney needs to help make this school STOP doing these performances / dances completely! I grew up with an AP, my son grew up with an AP but these last few years are leaving a bad taste in my mouth. What will it take to get back to Walt’s vision ? Who can turn the Disney Company around ? It’s gone far off path and its showing every single week…….
Does everyone need to be a victim now a days ?
I’ve performed at Disney many times with student groups – they require video auditions and photos of performance attire. They check numbers in the photo/video against the numbers you report in the application. They want to know what you’re playing in advance, and if it a vocal song they don’t know, they ask for lyrics. They check everything. So it seems unlikely that they wouldn’t have had a conversation early about those headdresses if it raised red flags. Possibly the director didn’t include the headdresses in the application photo/videos – but that doesn’t make sense either because intentionally hiding something like that when you know Disney won’t like it sounds like an invitation to have your application rejected the following year. In short – someone on the Disney end probably approved it.
I really do appreciate all the hard work that the DFB does to give us information about the latest happenings at Disney. What I have come to not appreciate so much is using the Blog to foster the political and social positions of the DFB staff in these posts. Why can’t we all just back away from the cancel culture and “wokeness” and get back to just enjoying Walt Disney World as the Happiest Place of Earth as Walt intended it to be. Since the day WDW opened I have visited the parks around the world over 100 times and I still feel the magic. We need to remember the words of Walt when he said, as he opened Disneyland: “To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”
They’re from Texas, what do you expect from a historical racist Red State with so many controversial bills/laws including a woman’s right too choose and bias voting laws just to name a few. Texas is a great state with great people, but the current controling administration is still stuck in the pass. But then again, look who is running the show at Disney now. You really think Bob Chapek really cares?
This stinks of today’s woke liberal politically correct crowd. It’s not what you say, it’s how others perceive what you’ve said . What made what they said in the parade wrong or bad this time, and not the other times it was said since 1925? The school district made a statement which I think is an apology. Over the years I’ve enjoyed Disney with my children, and my grandchildren. My wife and I have been to Disney World by our self several times. In light of Disney’s reaction to this and the Florida’s legislation to protect grade school children, I’ll think long and hard before I spend anther dime on anything connected Disney. I hope many others do the same. Walt would be ashamed of what has happened to his beloved Disney World. Keep pleasing the woke society and the moral majority will leave you behind. If anything I’ve said offends you I apologize!
NA
Waiting for the day Walt’s beloved Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is on the chopping block and cancelled. Surprised it hasn’t been targeted yet. This is a movie that depicts “little people” in a satirical way. How offensive and insensitive, right? The whole movie and all the merchandise line should be totally removed from existence. Sounds crazy…but that’s essentially what occurs when people look for any little thing to be offended about.
If something doesn’t directly affect you, you should just stay out of it. There are too many people nowadays who love to be offended on behalf of someone else. Everything is racist and everything should be cancelled. Mind your own business and live your own life.
Hmm…not sure this is the huge deal that it’s being made into. And maybe I’m being petty, but an educated lawyer shouldn’t really use ‘cuz’ and ‘prolly’ in their public post. The other comment was correct…everyone is a victim these days. I think we’ve taken things too far.
Disney is apologizing to every woke criticism out there. Just stop. You can’t please everybody.
I agree with Roz. Let’s teach our children more about American History, like SLAVERY and THE HOLOCAUST. OOPS, I forgot ,that’s not allowed in some places around our Wonderful Country.
To those claiming that it was “ok for 50 years but suddenly not” or other related things…So was heavy aggressive and blatant racism early in the country for a couple of centuries. So was sexism. So was slavery when our country was founded. So because it was ok for a while in a past society that may have been wrong, it somehow stands to reason it’s still ok? That’s flawed logic. Think outside of your own perspective and what you are accustomed to, and consider what those in the misrepresented culture or history actually feel. It’s so easy for us to argue nowadays without actually feeling the experiences first-hand, even if part of the afflicted groups, but especially if we aren’t even part of the groups that are/were discriminated against. If your life has never been limited or damaged because of your culture, you really have no place to say whether the offense is accurate or not, so just be quiet and let proper equality and progress happen without you. It doesn’t take away anything from anyone, only helps those treated as lesser or different.
The school shouldn’t still be using this. Though in Texas, I’m not surprised. Disney should have done better and needs to do better if they truly give a crap about how stuff is shown in their parks. They have plenty of processes, lawyers, staff members, technology, etc. to do a better job with what they allow to happen. It became news anyway, so why not for Disney stopping the parade to fight against apparent racism and obvious misrepresentation? At least Disney seems like the proactive good guy then, rather than apathetic and reactive which seems to be the actual truth too often. They only seem to care if it affects their image or bottom line, not whether it fits “core values” they supposedly hold.
Let’s teach our children more about American History, like SLAVERY and THE HOLOCAUST. OOPS, I forgot ,that’s not allowed in some places around our Wonderful Country.
Ron, the holocaust didn’t happen in America. Maybe you should learn your history.
“Woke” I thought meant “informed” and if it does then why do people use it as a negative?
We should all be properly informed about a topic before we comment on it.
When something is in need of change, such as the racial-stereotypical tones of the performance in question, it doesn’t mean that the performing school group should be “cancelled”. It means they should re-work their performance, excluding the racial-stereotypical tones.
I am sure that there have been previous objections to the show’s racial-stereotypical tones but it probably didn’t reach this level. I appreciate DFB for including this “incident” in its newsletter. I has sparked interesting debate on the topic of cultural-sensitivity and cultural respect.