Go Whities?

Sports mascots have always been an area for the racially conscious, and after being inspired by some hats (what, you thought I could have a post without talking about clothing?) I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon a bit and at least touch on it (albeit yearssssss late).

So you're probably familiar with certain controversies surrounding the use of stereotypes of Native Americans as sports mascots? I mean come on, we all grew up with them:

Chief Wahoo here (of the Cleveland Indians) was one of the few Native faces (ironically) I saw when I was a kid...other than those...well you know, on the tv being shot down by cowboys and raping white women.



Same can be said for local (I'm only saying that b/c I'm in D.C. right now) football team, the Washington Redskins....redskins...really?


Is this starting to make you feel a little uncomfortable? The issue isn't anything new and it's been around the block a couple of times, with some teams changing their names and others even refusing to schedule games with teams sportin' the racist mascots.

Still, a number of official sports teams rock the logos and mascots, and 3 years ago, a group of Colorado University students decided to name their intermural basketball team the "Fightin' Whities" in an attempt to make a statement against another local school whose mascot was (is?) the "Fightin' Reds". They even managed to get themselves mentioned on CNN:



There's a thin line for everything though,

What exactly qualifies as "offensive"? Clearly, titles such as the Red Skins and Indians as mascots are clearly offensive. The first is a racial slur, and the second is just ludicrous, using a racial category as a mascot is miserable? Why is that ok, when there are no Detroit Blacks or San Francisco Orientals? (Oh wait, scratch that last one, looks like Akron Ohio's already got that one down).

But what about civilizations? The Spartans...the Aztecs...the dreaded Celtics? Boston's basketball team sports a loving leprechaun like figure, embattled with clovers like a bad case of chicken pox.

Or what about categories such as "warriors", "chiefs", and other such ambiguous terms that could possibly be alright, but often sport racist caricatures as their logos?

I think, as a general rule, race, ethnicity, or religion should not be incorporated as mascots in our current day and age. Maybe 50-100 years ago, they were ok, but we're not so ignorant anymore, and as the demographics of America change, it's time that we change our institutions, no matter how beloved, as well. Of course, there will always be that one special case, such as in the situation of the Florida State Seminoles, who actually have a working relationship with the Seminole tribe and have permission from the tribe to use...well...the tribe as their mascot and logo.

The thought just came up in my head because I was on Hella Tight checking out some of the gear, when I got curious about some of the hats that I had seen, but hadn't thought too hard about until now.

You'll notice a strong similarity to some of the pictures above:

The Hella Tight Whities

The Hella Tight Red Necks


It's actually all very comic...but to me, that's what's most troubling about it.




P.S.

Vincent Chin is rolling in his grave.