A petition to remove the controversial “Big Indian” sign in Cincinnati’s Carthage neighborhood immediately is on its way to the city council.
At the busy junction of Vine Street and Paddock Road, a car dealership has been adorned with a 42-foot tall metal sign since 1957.
In December, Werner Lange launched a Change.org petition requesting that MotorTime Auto Sales remove the “utterly racist” portrayal of a caricature of a Native American. Lange stated that “Big Indian” remains the moniker of the vehicle dealership, despite its name changing over time.
“Erected by a wealthy racist car dealer at a time when The Lone Ranger, Hollywood’s disgraceful depiction of Native American culture, was America’s most popular TV show, this gut-wrenching ‘Big Indian’ sign stood for years at the entrance of Cherokee Motors, which sought to attract customers with such blatantly racist ads as ‘We’re on a war path against high prices’; ‘Come in and smoke peace pipe’; ‘We no scalp-um’; and ‘no Indian giving,'” The petition of Lange says.
There are about 1,000 signatures on the petition, which Lange claimed to have been supported by the Ohio Peace Council.
A member of the Piqua Tribe of Alabama and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Kenneth Barnett Tankersley, is listed as one of the signatories, according to Lange. Tankersley gave this explanation for joining the campaign, according to Lange:
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“As a Native American, I find it incomprehensible that such widespread prejudice still exists in our nation. We are not treated like human beings in Cincinnati,” Tankersley remarked.
Additionally, Lange intends to bring up the sign’s potential code violation with the council. Although he claims the city code’s section 895-5 forbids signs taller than forty feet, he still expects the sign’s racist content will be sufficient to prompt the council to take appropriate action.
“It certainly violates the Vision of the City Planning and Engagement office ‘to create an aesthetically, vibrant urban center that is a model for cities nationwide,'” Lange stated.
[content-first] When protesters gathered outside MotorTime Auto Sales on January 15 to demand that the owner remove “Big Indian,” they encountered counter-protesters who saw the sign as a significant piece of Cincinnati heritage.
We have lived here as a family for more than a century. John Russell, a native of Carthage, told CityBeat during the demonstration, “My grandpa taught me history off this [sign].” “There are a lot of Native Americans in this small area, and they enjoy it. If people from the north feel that this is racist, all they have to do is turn around and leave the area.”
The petition will be presented before the council by Lange on February 28.
