Hardly Racist

Hello. I am, apparently, a racist. It’s also been said that I support slavery and wish that no progress had ever been made toward equality in civil rights. Why have I been labeled in this unfortunate manner? The simple answer is that I support Spencer’s Gift stores’ right to produce what some Asians have termed offensive and “racist”: a t-shirt that proclaims one should “Hang out” with one’s “Wang out” and depicts a slanty-eyed Asian character.

Oh, the horror.

As all great social movements begin, so this one did with an online petition to show just how mad some Asian-Americans (hereafter Asians), were. And they were mad. According to one thoughtful signer, if a non-Asian wears the shirt, “s/he’s just EXTRA racist. But either ways [sic], whoever made/sell/buys the shirt should be shameful of themself! [sic]” Aside from the gripping prose this author employs, I can’t help but notice and wonder how one might be “extra” racist. But more importantly, I fail to see how wearing a shirt with a comically stereotypical Asian on it is racist at all.

It seems ridiculous to call the shirt racist in and of itself. The argument, of course, is that it perpetuates stereotypes. Do you know what often perpetuates stereotypes? Truth. Believe it or not, many Asians tend to have eyes that are narrower than most people of Caucasian background (hereafter white people). Thus, there may perhaps be a grain of truth behind the shirts, even if they are “offensive.”

And so we must distinguish between racism and offensiveness. Every day we see things that offend us. Yet just because I find something distasteful, backward, or inane does not mean it is racist, immoral, or unlawful. Racism implies a malicious hatred of a race. Making light of a cultural aspect of a group, in this case with a horrid pun, does not necessarily constitute a malicious attack on that racial group. If you want a t-shirt to be upset about, look at the ones that tell girls to throw stones at boys. If this shirt told people to stone Asians, then it would be something with which to take issue. However, it very benignly tells us to hang out with our Asian friends. I wholeheartedly support more hanging out with “wang out’s.”

In fact, the quickness of minority groups to take offense weakens these groups. Even as a Jew, I sometimes get frustrated with groups that are constantly searching for anti-Semitism to chastise. When minorities constantly look for evidence of racism, they distance themselves from society and prevent their integration into common culture. By making themselves victims, they hurt their cause rather than helping it.

It is easy for people to get riled up. And when someone insults something that they are either self-conscious, self-righteous or insecure about, the knee-jerk reaction is to become indignant. Down with t-shirts that make fun of my race! Shame on them for using humor I do not find funny! But what it comes down to, upon closer inspection, or even any kind of rational thought, is that one cannot find any offensive intent on the part of Spencer’s. They may be making shirts that just aren’t funny, and are clearly in poor taste, but the goal is clearly not to ostracize Asians or attack their noble heritage. Thus, I say these fateful words which I am told fly in the face of all social movements and threaten to drag our society back to the time of slavery and lynching: you may not like it, it may be offensive to you, but sometimes you just have to lighten up and deal with it.



Shai D. Bronshtein ’09, a Crimson editorial editor, lives in Matthews Hall.