complex.com

Bomani Jones’ “Caucasians” T-Shirt Is Pissing Twitter Off

By Chris Yuscavage News Editor for Complex Sports. @cyuscavage

Bomani Jones has spent his morning co-hosting ESPN’s Mike & Mike in place of Mike Golic, and he has been trending on Twitter as a result of it. But it’s not because of anything that Jones—the host of ESPN’s The Right Time—actually said during the show. Instead, it’s because of the T-shirt that he chose to wear during his Mike & Mike appearance. Here it is:

The shirt—which, according to a Hardball Talk story, was created by a company called Shelf Life Clothing almost a decade ago and is a hot seller on Canadian Indian reservations—is designed to look like a Cleveland Indians shirt...except that it features the word “Caucasians” in place of the word “Indians” and a caricature of a white person in place of the Indians’ mascot Chief Wahoo. It also has a dollar sign in place of Chief Wahoo’s feather.

While speaking with First Take host Molly Qerim about the shirt on Mike & Mike, Jones joked that he decided to wear the shirt because “it was clean.” But obviously, he did it for a bigger reason than just that. Jones has been vocal about the Indians’ continued use of Chief Wahoo on his show, and on Mike & Mike, he said that there’s “no defense” for the Indians using Chief Wahoo as a mascot on their official merchandise at this point.

Obviously, all of this got a big reaction on Twitter. Some people called Jones out for wearing the shirt:

I don't blame Bomani for being a disgrace, I blame @espn for allowing it. @bomani_jones who hurt you? I'm serious, I don't want ppl in pain.
— Jimmie (@Jimmie_Knows) April 7, 2016

Others supported his decision to wear the shirt (and we should point out that, at first glance, there were way more people who loved the shirt than hated it):

And at one point, Jones himself even took to Twitter to respond to the controversy his shirt caused. When someone directed this tweet to him:

He shot back with this to soldify his point:

But the overwhelming response to Jones wearing the shirt has actually been “Where can I get that shirt?!”

If you can still get one (there are a lot of people looking for it right now!), you can buy it here. You should also go and check out the feature we ran on Bomani a few months back here while you wait for your shirt to arrive.

http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/04/bomani-jones-wore-caucasians-t-shirt-espn-strong-reaction-twitter/


* Where can I buy these? I have 42 siblings & 1st cousins *

I'd wear it.....



....oh wait, am I supposed to be offended by it? I'm not....matter of fact, I love that dollar sign thats in place of the feathers

I am searching now...
They are going to make some money $

I'd wear it.


Oh!
And the Cleveland teams sssssuuuuuccccckkkk!

kewl,,,good for them

although the better analogy would be something like crackers,,,cause indian is derogatory and not something they ever called themselves


but yeah,, even if it misses the point of 'offensiveness'(maybe implying Caucasians are about money is supposed to be as offensive as the stereotype of indian with a feather)

its relevant to the context of sports and mascots,,,

kewl,,,good for them

although the better analogy would be something like crackers,,,cause indian is derogatory and not something they ever called themselves


but yeah,, even if it misses the point of 'offensiveness'(maybe implying Caucasians are about money is supposed to be as offensive as the stereotype of indian with a feather)

its relevant to the context of sports and mascots,,,

Yea the Indians started off this year by going on a 2 game losing streak

And BLM hasn't whined?

American Indians never called themselves "Indians"?


*Gasp!*

I wonder who founded the group
American Indian Movement.

oh yeah,, I forgot how they named themselves in the late 60s

at least those which founded the organization accepted the name for themselves


but prior to Columbus, Indians were from India and those on this continent were falsely labeled indian by the great discoverer who got lost,,,,

It appears some people assumed or hoped others would be offended instead of proud of, or just find Caucasians” T-Shirt's .. Funny as hell.

Oh the irony

Prior to Columbus, American Indians
didn't call themselves "native Americans" either.

That is because they are native to Asia.

Mitochondrial DNA testing proved this.

Its a fact...

that's true, but the description is more accurate than 'indian', since they have nothing to do with India


but were the first discovered here on the AMERICAN continent

they are meant as an insult... but only to non whites...

call them what you want, i won't be offended... seems Indians or injuns stuck around for a few hundred years tho...

seems like,,,being the ones making the language were NOT,,,,

the losers don't write history... always been that way... the settlers beat the indians, so they called them what they wanted...


but other than indians as a group, i don't think they had a common name before indians, they all called themselves different names...


Crow, Apache, blackfoot, Caddo, etc...


i hear scientists calling them clovis people, but i think they were before the others...

Only Non Whites, Non Asians , Non Natives.. View themselves as ONE group. And then they lump muti groups together. And assume the world thinks like them (in a few categories). And then they scream for diversity .

One of the reasons I & many Americans , find the shirt so damn funny