Julianne Jennings: Abusing Native Americans for profit in Italy

In terms of the use and abuse of Native American cultures, the “School of Equestrian Training - SEF Italy” is offering a new program called, “Riding Native” to the public. Maximilian Zito, the programs director, is promoting its “savage” equestrian experience on SEF’s website fully dressed wearing buckskin, feathers and beads, while “allegedly” using the Lakota language to describe the various riding techniques of American Indians like, Taking the Scalp, Assault on the Band Wagon and Bison Hunt to authenticate its program offerings.

Because Westerners have always had a fascination with the exotic, especially with the Wild West, where cowboys shoot Indians, Mr. Zito also invents a history with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual for new age gullibility, and allows the powerful to commit race hate without consequence—the narrow, distorting lens through which racial minorities are frequently portrayed reinforcing stereotypes, while profiteering off of a false reality based on the Western cult of materialistic consumption.