Johnson campaign: Swanson behind ad complaints

Attorney General candidate Jeff Johnson’s newest television ad has angered some in the native American community who say it casts a native American lookalike as a thwarted identity thief. A Johnson campaign spokesperson assures that the man, a white actor, was made up to look like a woman–part of the stolen-identity concept of the commercial–and that such allegations of racial stereotyping are likely the work of DFL attorney general candidate Lori Swanson or her campaign.

The ad, reviewed here, caught the attention of the Minneapolis School Board’s Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. For her, the identity thief’s costume conjures memories of Hollywood westerns where, oftentimes, natives were played by white actors. She called Johnson’s campaign to ask that the ad be pulled from the air and an apology issued. She says she was told, “We’re not going to do it, because by your logic we’ll also have to pull the ad that shows a meth addict as a white guy.” Flanagan counters that white Minnesotans haven’t been subjected to racism as native Americans here have and whites haven’t been categorically stereotyped as criminals.

Catherine Whipple, managing editor of the Minneapolis-based native newspaper The Circle, questions how dramatizing a crime gives voters information on the candidate. She writes, “Choosing to portray a criminal with stereotypical imagery of a low-income American Indian does not inspire confidence that this candidate will demand equitable legal services for all the people in the state of Minnesota.”

Flanagan says bloggers and activists have been discussing the spot, but Johnson communications volunteer Chris Tiedeman says the campaign has received fewer than a dozen complaints.

“This is all being fabricated and made up as a political game, and it’s had no effect,” he says. “If you watch the ad, the idea is that the caller is supposed to be talking to a woman