Simplistic View of T-Shirts Trivializes Controversy

To the editors:

I believe that Shai Bronshtein’s comment “Hardly Racist” (Feb. 5) misrepresents the point of view of most people who have been protesting Spencer Gifts’ allegedly racist T-shirts. Bronshtein begins his editorial by stating that he differs from the protesters in that he “support[s] Spencer Gifts’ right to produce” the T-shirts. Having closely followed the debate over the T-shirts on Cambridge Common and other forums of student discussion, I can confidently state that the average protester also supports Spencer Gifts’ right to produce merchandise that may offend some people. It is misleading to portray somebody as an opponent of free expression simply because they vocally disagree with how a company uses their right to express themselves freely. Similarly, it is inaccurate to portray concerned students as completely humorless people who base their opinions and actions on “knee-jerk” reactions.

Bronshtein describes the T-shirts as depicting a “slanty-eyed Asian character,” but he neglects to mention that they show much more than that: they depict a bucktoothed, mentally-deficient-looking Asian character who wears his hair in a rattail-like queue. Although this hairstyle is no longer popular in Asia, this is exactly how 19th-century racist propaganda depicted the immigrants from Asia who comprised the “yellow peril.” Bronshtein neglects to mention these aspects of the T-shirt images. He also fails to place the image of the pigtailed Chinaman in a historical context. It is not only because the T-shirt image is stereotypical that it is offensive to some people, but also because it is reminiscent of racist propaganda that caused substantial harm to Asian-Americans who lived during a less enlightened period in the past. In the absence of an illustration, Bronshtein’s incomplete description of the T-shirts is misleading to readers who have never seen the T-shirts before.

The only direct quote that Bronshtein uses to portray the protesters’ point of view is a comment that was left by a non-Harvardian on an online petition. As anybody who has discussed this issue with their friends and acquaintances knows, most Harvard students have much more nuanced views on this issue than the petition signer whom Bronshtein quotes. By conflating all protesters’ views with the simplistic views of a single petition signer with poor spelling and poor grammar, Bronshtein sets up a “straw man” that is that much easier to mock and attack than the real thing.

JENNA N. LE ’06
February 6, 2006