Controversy has engulfed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) over a recent photo that featured president Suzanne Clark posing with a set of Native American headdresses.
This past March, USCC President Suzanne Clark came under fire after she posted a photo of herself on Instagram smiling alongside two white women in Native American headdresses. The photo came within a week of Disney apologizing for featuring a Native American dance routine at its Florida theme park, which critics saw as culturally insensitive.
After significant backlash online, Clark apologized, saying she took the photo while on vacation and that the headdresses were placed there by the DJ.
“While they were only worn for the seconds it takes to snap and post a photo, it was wrong to don those headdresses, which hold deep meaning for Native Americans, all of this was a mistake, and I am deeply sorry,” she said.
Shortly thereafter, the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA), an organization that advocates for Native American representation in education and other public platforms, reached out to Clark and asked for a sit-down meeting to discuss how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce could better serve Native American communities.
“We at NAGA, along with most American Indians, find Ms. Clark’s indiscriminate promotion of our sacred bonnet to be highly offensive,” said NAGA board member Eunice Davidson Wicanhpiwastewin (Good Star Woman), adding that Clark’s actions are “inconsistent with many of the principles of the chamber’s Fortune 500 members.”
According to the group, Clark subsequently agreed to the meeting only on the condition that NAGA representatives fly out to her office in Washington, DC. Because the group is based in North Dakota and would have to fly out at their own expense, NAGA has interpreted Clark’s invitation as an empty gesture devoid of substance.
“We are not surprised that Ms. Clark ignored NAGA’s request for a meeting to discuss its employment and philanthropic support for American Indians by making a statement to Politico—through a spokesperson.” Eunice Davidson said in a press release. “Instead of apologizing to all American Indians, Ms. Clark confessed her own ‘deep sorrow’ while ignoring NAGA’s request for a meeting to discuss the steps her organization and its members can take to promote the positive and inspiring culture of American Indians.”
“American Indians are very wary of non-American Indian ‘concerned bystanders’ who so easily dismiss concerns within our community. We regularly fight back against these ‘woke’ progressives who use the racism and discrimination facing American Indians as a vehicle for the vindication of their own value interests,” she added.
Board Member Tony Henson of NAGA said, “The American Indian is one of the smallest minority groups in this nation registering in at just 1.3 percent. If Ms. Clark is truly ‘deeply sorry’ for her conduct, she should put down Politico, leave the Swamp and meet with NAGA on the Reservation.”
“Only then will the Chamber and its members—many of whom repeatedly profess diversity, equity and inclusion—truly understand the root causes of American Indian poverty, unemployment, homelessness, suicide, alcoholism, abuse, and drug addiction. Only then will these bystanders understand the highly offensive nature of Ms. Clark’s conduct,” Henson said.
While NAGA opposes logos and mascots that mock Native American culture, the organization’s general counsel Scott D. Cousins made it clear that the group believes “culturally appropriate American Indian names, logos, and imagery that honor American Indians help public schools neutralize offensive and stereotypical American Indian caricatures and iconography while teaching students and the general public about American Indian history.”
Breitbart News reached out to several Fortune 500 companies associated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Facebook, Amazon, UPS, and J.P. Morgan) asking for comment on Suzanne Clark’s actions and received a response only from J.P. Morgan, which “declined” to answer.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Republican Party have increasingly been at odds in recent months as the organization has moved leftward in favor of Democrats. This past January, Suzanne Clark cheered President Joe Biden’s expansion of a visa pipeline that would outsource American jobs to foreign workers.
“Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the expansion of the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program whereby corporations like Amazon, Facebook, and BlackRock hire foreign students over American STEM graduates at a 15 percent discount by avoiding tens of billions in FICA taxes,” Breitbart News reported.
“Specifically, Biden expanded the OPT program to include 22 fields of study from which corporations can hire foreign students at American universities for coveted white-collar, entry-level jobs,” the report added.
House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) told Breitbart News in January that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would no longer be welcomed in the Republican Party if it continues to endorse Democrats and back big business at the expense of Americans.
“The Chamber left the party a long time ago,” McCarthy said. “In the last election, the Chamber supported Democrats. The Chamber gave a higher score to Democrats who are voting for this policy because they signed some letter then voted the opposite of what the letter said than Kevin Brady who was chair of Ways and Means and brought us the tax cuts.”
“I just assume they have as much influence in the future as they do now—none,” he added. “Our responsibility is to the American public. That is who’s going to drive it. If special interests are the American public then they’ll have a say, but it’s the American public we’re going to.”
The Chamber also backed several Democrats over Republicans during the 2020 congressional elections, working to preserve the Democrat majority.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
“Had Republicans flipped just a handful more seats—they flipped a net 15 from Democrats in 2020—they would have the majority instead of the Democrats right now. The Chamber, which endorsed 23 House Democrats in 2020, may have made the difference in helping keep the Democrats in the majority as some of the members the business group endorsed survived tight reelection races,” Breitbart News noted.
As news of Clark’s NAGA snub spread in Washington, DC, several Republican insiders voiced their discontent.
“Senate Republican aides are shocked and outraged to see this problematic cultural appropriation. How can we trust the Chamber’s open borders lobbying when their own leadership violates the lived experiences of Native Americans?” one Senate GOP aide told Breitbart News.
“The Chamber lost its status as a pro-business conservative organization when they decided to bend the knee to Nancy Pelosi and endorse far left radicals for congress at her behest,” a GOP consultant who works with top candidates nationwide also said.
“The Chamber is now a fully owned and operated subsidiary of the Democrat Party and as such, now has to embrace the left’s woke orthodoxy or suffer the consequences, as the leadership there is quickly learning,” the consultant.
During the 2020 election, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Democrat Rep. Sharice Davids for her congressional run in Kansas, positioning her to become the first lesbian Native American to serve in the U.S. Congress. Breitbart News reached out to Davids’ team for comment and received no response.