"This display is part of a 500 year tradition of exhibiting Indigenous people, a tradition first started by Christopher Columbus.’’
The quote from above is one of the first sentences uttered by the presented and is used as a way of arguing and showing why the practice of putting two people in a cage is explainable. According to the presenter, the practice started 500 years ago and became a tradition. In the past, black people from African countries and Indigenous American people were often displayed as exhibitions as something unusual, something to be seen by the white population. In more recent history, exhibiting live people started to be frown upon but preserved bodies of Indigenous people and black people can still be seen to this day in various museums all around the world. This shows that the ancient practice did not went extinct but instead adopted a new form and evolved to be accepted by the modern society form today.
"I wish I was a child so I could ask questions which will not make me look silly."
The quote from above was uttered by a woman who watched the exhibition and who was interviewed by one of the presenters. The woman was asked about what she thought about the exhibition but she refused to present her view, claiming instead that she would have wished to feel free to ask more questions about what was happening and about the lives the couple in the cage had in the place where they were born and raised. The quote also shows another problem, namely how once a person becomes an adult, it is no longer acceptable to ask questions seen as being ‘’silly’’ or childish. This is presented as a problem because in many ways, it stops conversations and debate about important questions such as racism and diverse social problem. While the exhibition wanted to open the road for such discussions, some people still felt they were unable to do it.
"For 1 dollar, you can take a picture with the couple and for only 5 dollars, you can see the male specimen’s genitalia.’’
Apart from being able to see the couple in the cage, the way they interacted with one another, ate, interacted with the various objects in their cage, the interested ones had the possibility of having a picture of them taken while standing in front of the cage. What is more, those interested had the possibility to pay a bigger fee to see the male’s genitalia. This quote makes reference to a long standing tradition of having the Indigenous’s people’s genitalia and private parts exposed to those who wanted to see them. Women were sometimes forced to have sex with interested men who were willing to pay a big sum and so, the possibility of seeing the man’s genitalia, may imply that this was also possible for those interested.
