The American Indian Movement of Florida is calling for a boycott of Pasco County in response to statements made by Roger Michels, a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and President of the Chasco Fiesta, an annual parade and staging of a play written by a local resident in 1922 which AIM describes as racist and replete with offensive stereotypes of Native Americans. After getting nowhere with attempts to negotiate with local officials, AIM members have recently conducted protests of the event. AIM claims that Michels told fellow Chamber of Commerce board members at a recent luncheon, “I want all of you to go out and buy guns, because we are going to kill AIM members,” later adding, “I want to bury them.” Michels later told local papers that he was joking. AIM has called for a boycott of the county “until the good citizens of Pasco County are able to rid themselves of the vile racists such as Michels who are misrepresenting them to the public.”
