Daily Archives: November 3, 2004

Globe & Mail: Court says “Kemosabe” not racist

Lone Ranger and TontoAccording to an article in the Globe and Mail, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission spent a shift watching old re-runs of the Lone Ranger in an effort to determine if the term “Kemosabe” was a racist term. They decided that:

[...] while the western TV series treated native Americans in a disrespectful manner, the term Kemosabe is not a racist term. “The board concluded Tonto is the Lone Ranger’s partner and friend. He is clean-cut and well groomed and, although he speaks a form of broken English, he is neither dumb nor stupid,” Justice David Chipman wrote.


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