In the summer of 2020, non-Indigenous owned or affiliated Minnetonka moccasin CEO David Miller owned up to taking advantage of, and profiting from Indigenous culture. Since 1946, Minnetonka moccasins has copied and mass produced "Indigenous-inspired" designs, under the premise that there was some connection to, or involvement of, Indigenous artists. At that time, I was personally shocked to hear that the company had no actual affiliation with Indigenous artists and had been profiting off of moccasin designs and sales for many decades and not even recognizing their cultural appropriation violations. In the fall of 2021, over a year after the company publicly recognized their wrongdoing, Minnetonka released a statement that they were in the process of hiring a reconciliation advisor to help them gain accountability and hopefully give back to the Indigenous communities that they have profited from for so long. In revisiting this issue, I thought of a connection to author Thomas King's book, The Truth About Stories, and the discrimination he faced and identified in his chapter "Let Me Entertain You". As King recounts his contribution as a speaker during an "Indian Awareness Week", he details how he was brushed off for wanting to be rightly compensated but in the end was dismissed. Many Indigenous communities are being taked for granted in the same way, as demonstrated by Minnetonka moccasins history of designs and sales. These accounts explicitly bring awareness to the disenfranchisement and discrimination Indigenous people have historically faced when their knowledge, culture, and traditions are used to benefit others but the rightful sources are not recognized in the least.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. House of Anansi, 2003.
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-business-david-miller-minneapolis-cultures-9f002c50824cc424d8acf81b7ab6b5dc