Indians Want Strip Club Renamed

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Crazy Horse Kin Want Strip Club Renamed

By CECILE BRISSON

Associated Press Writer

 

http://hosted.ap.org/photos/P/PAR50310161713-big.jpg

Oglala Sioux American Indian Alfred Red Cloud, an emissary of the

storied American Indian warrior Crazy Horse's descendants, left,

delivers a letter to a Crazy Horse Nightclub's official Jacques

Asplanato in Paris, Saturday Oct. 16, 2004. Descendants of Crazy

Horse want the Paris "Crazy Horse Club" to stop using his name,

saying it's disrespectful to him and his offspring. (AP

Photo/Laurent Rebours)

PARIS (AP) -- Descendants of the native American warrior Crazy Horse

want a change in the famed Paris strip club named after him. Alfred

Red Cloud, a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe, delivered a letter

Saturday to the operators of the Crazy Horse saloon asking them to

change the club's name.

 

"The name is a sacred name to our people. Nobody uses that name back

home - even our own people," Red Cloud told reporters outside the

posh club, located near the Champs-Elysees.

 

"I'm not trying to close the establishment down, I just want the

name changed," he said.

 

The Crazy Horse Paris was established in 1951 and is well-known for

adult entertainment. The Oglala Sioux warrior fought against the

U.S. military in the 1800s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The letter was from Harvey White Woman, a descendant of Crazy Horse

and an executor of his estate. "I want the young people of my tribe

to remember him as a strong leader and warrior and not some

nightclub in Paris," the letter said.

 

The letter did not threaten legal action, but Red Cloud said that

relatives of the warrior were prepared to do "whatever it takes" to

get the name change. "Maybe with other chiefs, maybe attorneys."

 

Jacques Asplanato, a club manager, received the letter but did not

read it. He said he was just an "intermediary" and would pass on the

letter to the club's operators.

 

Red Cloud expressed concern that the club may be demeaning to women.

 

"As I went into the place, the way it is set up, it exposes women,"

he said. "Women are sacred to us, they are the keepers of our

generations to come."

 

© 2004 The Associated Press.

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