To the IU campus and the Bloomington community
An unfortunate event has happened.
A major retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch, marketed graphic T-shirts
that was intended to draw audiences through racial references. Some
phrases used were "Buddha Bash", "Eat-in or
Wok out." and "Two Wongs can make it white," a slight
modification of the old "Two Wongs can't make a White" racial
joke.
We at the Asian Student Union in IU Bloomington together with our member
associations condemn the actions of Abercrombie & Fitch, namely,
having marketed graphic T-shirts that portrayed Asians and Asian
American in a stereotypical manner with references to old racial slurs
and commercialization of our religious deity.
We are sadden that the officers at the executive level in Abercrombie
and Fitch could issue statements that seem to downplay the outrage Asian
Pacific Americans feel all over the US as merely a result when people
cannot take a joke. It is ignorant to feel that making racial jokes is
acceptable, and at the massive scale of the stereotype that was
performed by A&F, we expect an unequivocal apology on an equally
massive scale.
We are asking for the Abercrombie & Fitch to issue a public apology
on its website regarding this issue. It is pertinent that we confirm
their sincerity of regret on their actions. We do not feel that Indiana
University is a place that tolerate racial degradation, and
marketing the product in stores that cater to the campus population
(College Mall) compromises our strive for diversity on campus.
We urge everyone who purchased the T-shirts to return them or not to
wear them. They are offensive, degrading, insensitive, and an
extremely disheartening portrayal of Asian American stereotypes. For
those who feel the exigency to write personally letters to A & F,
Asian
American Association is collecting letters of complaint in their office,
IMU Rm 672, which will be delivered in bulk to the Abercrombie store at
College Mall next Tuesday. Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Christopher Chan
Chairperson - Asian Student Union 01-02 |
