Following complaints by University of California, Davis students alleging “cultural appropriation,” the school’s stores have stopped selling dream catchers entirely.
“Cultural appropriation is not ‘hot’ and maybe you should try not profiting from people who you deny a space to,” an alleged student dubbed “Newest Pansexual Icon” tweeted on April 10.
Pictured alongside the tweet’s caption is a photo of the “What’s Hot” section of the UC Davis student store, along with a multicolored dream catcher.
@ucdavis @ASUCDofficial @Chancellor_May why is UCD selling dream catchers under “what’s hot” but erases the fact that this campus is on Native land. Cultural appropriation is not “hot” and maybe you should try not profiting from people who you deny a space to pic.twitter.com/z0eUcEcVHH
— Newest Pansexual Icon (@Queerest_cat) April 10, 2018
Y’all let’s make sure that everyone sees this. This should not be ignored https://t.co/s4oCISrXfZ
— Newest Pansexual Icon (@Queerest_cat) April 11, 2018
Two days later the student added:
What I’m suggesting is that the institution of UC Davis should not be fucking selling NATIVE art while fucking denying the fact that this campus was built on NATIVE land. Native art should only be sold by Native artists.
— Newest Pansexual Icon (@Queerest_cat) April 12, 2018
Others chimed in.
Bruh STOP. Despite what you may think there isn’t a huge demand for cultural appropriation. Im sure the American economy will survive if non-natives stopped selling dream catchers and other native-appropriative items.
— lilzipota (@lmcalitto) April 12, 2018
Soon after the official UC Davis Stores’ Twitter account tweeted in response to Pansexual Icon’s complaint.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have removed the item from UC Davis Stores.
— UC Davis Stores (@UCDavisStores) April 12, 2018
Additionally, in response to Pansexual Icon’s original tweet, another alleged student brought up an annual UC Davis event with ties to Native American culture.
And the pow wow is this weekend too right ??♀️
— pele (@littlepeleina) April 10, 2018
According to UC Davis’ website, the school’s 46th Annual Powwow was hosted on April 14 and is described as an event that “celebrates the traditions and contributions of Indigenous people and cultures,” and “creates a space on the UC Davis campus for Native American music, dance, Native voices, art and culture to be vibrantly visible.”
“It provides opportunities for the campus and local Native community to build connections to address the social, cultural, historical and political issues facing Indigenous people,” the description continues, labeling the event an opportunity to celebrate “cultural traditions and practices.”
This is far from the first time the specter of cultural appropriation has reared its head at UC Davis.
In May 2016, the UC Davis student government rented out a pair of sumo suits for an annual block party on campus, drawing backlash from students.
Some accused the organization of appropriating Japanese traditions, while others labeled the event a form of “fat shaming.” One student even went so far as to call the event “white-supremacist anti-Asian structural racism.”
The dream catcher product was not displayed on the UC Davis store website at the time of publication.
“Inclusiveness is one of our values at UC Davis Stores. Providing our student body with a diverse product mix , including culturally significant products, is one of the ways we show our support for the diversity of our campus,” Aaron Ochoa, Director of UC Davis Stores told Red Alert Politics. “There was a concern raised on social media that UC Davis Stores should not be displaying Dream Catchers under the category of ‘What’s Hot’. The UC Davis stores removed the product from the sales floor to give us a chance to assess the situation and consult with our campus partners, like the Cross Cultural Center. We understand that cultural appropriation is a serious subject, and we want to give the concern the attention it deserves.”
Red Alert Politics reached out to Pansexual Icon, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
