The Agony of the Tees
by Latoya Peterson
Talk about hipster racism:
A 25-year-old New York City graduate student is threatening to sue a T-Shirt designer after being assaulted for wearing one of his designs. [Ed Note - The designer of the shirt is pictured above.]
The woman bought a $69 shirt from Apollo Braun’s Manhattan boutique that bore the words, “Obama is my slave.” When she wore the shirt on Tuesday, four teenage girls accosted her - shoving her, pulling out her earphones, and spitting in her face, according to the New York edition of Metro News.
The unnamed woman is reportedly seeking solace by suing Braun - born Doron Braunshtein - for “all he’s got,” the designer claims. He, of course, is shirking any responsibility for the incident and says that the shirt reflects the views of “ordinary WASPs.”
“For a lot of people, when they see Obama, they see a slave. People think America is not ready for a black president,” the Israeli-born designer said.
Well, that should take care of the “it’s not racism, it’s satire!” counter argument I am sure is lurking around the corner. The shirt was made with racist intent. And in case it isn’t blatantly clear, check the last line of the Livesteez article:
The designer has sold several other anti-Obama styles from his boutique, including shirts with slogans such as “Jews Against Obama,” “Obama = Hitler” and “Who Killed Obama?”
Someone call me when they decide to make a “Slave Blood” shirt.
On the positive stereotypes side of things, I came across this shirt browsing Karmaloop:
To cop from the Disgrasian blog, I’ll extend a great big congratulasians to America’s Next Top Minority!
Asian readers, what will you do with your new found role as the purveyors and ultimate authority on cool?
Edit: My focus in this piece were on the tees and not necessarily Braun’s publicity stunt, but I should add that many commenters have pointed out the “girl beat up by angry minorities” angle was a little too good to be true. Gawker confirms that something is amiss.
(Thanks to Kelkeev66 and Kelly for the tips!)
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Mickey wrote:
It is too early in the morning for this…
Homegirl deserved to get accosted and spit on…for paying $69 for a *bleep bleep* t-shirt! And then she’s suing the guy! Why? Her own stupidity lead her this situation.
Yeah, I’m blaming the victim.
Joking aside, it’s sad that in 2008, someone wouldn’t understand that a shirt like this would be offensive as all get out.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:13 am ¶
Amanda wrote:
I’m speechless.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:16 am ¶
sejw wrote:
W.
T.
F.
I don’t have the words.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:17 am ¶
shah8 wrote:
Well, that shirt made me think of the undercurrents of some of the crazier supporters of Hillary Clinton who insists that Obama will have to serve them and their interests, with more vitriol than one would use against a waitress, let alone a professional like a lawyer or doctor.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:19 am ¶
emfole wrote:
this is some seriously sick shit
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:19 am ¶
RJG wrote:
FYI: When I read about this in NY Metro I found the thing just as obnoxious, and also blogged about how shitty the designer and the person wearing it are, but it’s worth mentioning three things:
1) This is not a first hand account. Someone else is telling the newspapers what happened to the girl wearing the shirt. Not the teens, not the girl, not anyone at the scene who witnessed it.
2) The person telling the newspapers about this is Apollo Braun. Who, as clearly shown from his shirts, enjoys being a sensationalist asshole who revels in misinformation and playing off cultural paranoia. This makes me question if the story is 100% true, or even true at all.
3) In the end it’s still an amazingly strong case of Hipster Racism [and already I get to use my favorite new term!], and if this was his attempt to generate press over how controversial he is via a false story (”I’m making stuff so hardcore that society attacks people who display it!”), hopefully it will grossly backfire beyond just people finding out the story is false and/or exaggerated.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:21 am ¶
Mary wrote:
Oh my God… like stupid people weren’t getting on my nerves enough today.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:21 am ¶
Ron wrote:
I think this guy is influenced by an extremist group called Jews Against Obama. This group considers Obama to be anti-semetic and anti-israel.
I think the shirt is quite hilarious. I would say to my fellow AA do not allow a t-shirt to get you all worked up. Just make your own t-shirt to reply to such attacks.
We have to stop being sensitive and defensive. We shoud be offensive on the attack.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:29 am ¶
Jus Plain Ol Me wrote:
Asian is the new cool? I blame JabbaWockeeZ.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:32 am ¶
atlasien wrote:
The first T-shirt story had me laughing out loud. And Apollo is going to get his comeuppance soon, I bet, if he walks around with that shirt in public.
The second T-shirt is just idiotic. I hate all those “X is the new Y” slogans.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:36 am ¶
Thea wrote:
Yuck! re: Obama shirt. At least he didn’t try to dress it up as irony! Maybe blatant racism is the new irony.
I’m not one of those people who sees a positive stereotype as preferable to a negative one.
Seeing “Asianness” as cool is actually pretty old hat, it seems like it caught on in the mid-90s when people started wearing bindis and chopsticks in their hair. In the sex ads of the free city weekly where I live the vast vast majority of ads are for “Hot Asian beauties.”
Call me grizzled, embittered, full of hatred…but when I see people wearing aspects of East or South (or southeast…) Asian culture for fashion I think it’s stealing rather than as respectful or flattering. IMO cultural appropriation is one of the largest manifestations of contemporary urban racism.
For a lighter take on this, see Goodness Gracious Me’s rewrite of Pulp’s Common People. It’s called “Hindi People”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL3H8nzs7T4
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 9:53 am ¶
Jus Plain Ol Me wrote:
Also, I hope that this talk of the beatdown recipient filing a lawsuit is merely talk at this point. Even though I have little sympathy for the shirt “designer,” any lawyer who brings that case to a court needs to be disbarred for bringing such a frivolous lawsuit.
On another topic…$69???!!?!?!?!! Those look like vinyl iron-on decals! I’ve been missing the book. Next week I should go to Jo-Ann’s Fabrics and buy enough supplies to start my own fashion line featuring iron-on controversial slogans. They’ll all be one-of-a-kind too, so maybe I can charge more.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:02 am ¶
Bixby wrote:
It is my understanding that the “assault” on the girl wearing the shirt may not have actually occurred. Gawker has an interesting post(p) about this possibly being more of a media stunt by the dirt bag shirt designer.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:03 am ¶
Jus Plain Ol Me wrote:
I’ve been missing the book.
(I meant I’ve been missing the boat. Sorry.)
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:04 am ¶
DEAF FEMINIST PUNK! wrote:
Once again, satire has failed.
People should NOT attempt satire. It’s only reserved for the few who are witty, clever and intelligent.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:05 am ¶
Peter wrote:
No matter what the message, if you’re putting it on your shirt, you take the consequences for yourself. Making a racist comment with your shirt and then hiding behind a lawsuit when you get called out on it is doubly cowardly.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:19 am ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
::Eyeroll and shakes head slowly in disgust::
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:26 am ¶
Matt wrote:
Apollo Braun isn’t any kind of “hipster racist.” That term, to me, always conjures an image of someone who is insensitive because everyone “knows” they’re being ironic. Braun is an entirely serious racist (albeit a shameless provocateur). I can assure you the Jewish blogosphere, however, despises him. Dan Sedarski (who is involved in something like 7 million popular Jewish blogs) goes too far, however, with this shirt, which reads “Apollo Braun: Living Proof that Zionism is Racism.” (Dan’s post is informative, but see the added disclaimer. Indeed, some of the proceeds from Dan’s shirt will go to left-wing Zionist organizations, which really gets at the problem with ‘Zionism is [anything]’ statements.) But Dan is dead on when he addresses Braun, “So here’s to you, douchebag, and your shonde for the goyim.”
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:30 am ¶
V-Knowledge wrote:
I’m not an advocate of violence, but that woman was several kinds of stupid for wearing that shirt. Seriously, what did she expect? High-fives and props?
That ass-clown who made the t-shirt…I’m not even going to waste words on such a fool.
“Asian is the new cool” eh? Dare I say racial fetishism, people?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:32 am ¶
Matt wrote:
(Now this is hipster racism. The intent is to make fun of Braun, but the shirt, reading “Obama is my (sex) slave” is terrible. I like melody’s comment about a shirt saying, “So let’s see if a Black guy in NYC was selling shirts that said: ‘My bling comes from Holocaust victims’ Is that fun?”)
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:35 am ¶
Jeff Landale wrote:
Wha? Seriously, what? Could I get some more citation for this, because I don’t want to start smashing my head into a wall until I know for sure I need to.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:39 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:
[*Reads the shirt. Spews her coffee.]
FHAT THE WUCK?!
[*Wipes monitor clean.*]
Sweet Jayzus, it’s not even CLEVER! It’s just inflammatory and stupid! Dammit, it is too early for me to be this mad. This hipster racism bullsheist cannot be good for my ulcer. Fuck a duck!
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:42 am ¶
dave wrote:
a friend of mine has that (um second) t-shirt. what’s weird about it is that as you’re reading it you’re all “oh-no-they-didn’t” because obvs the statement they’re ripping off is “____ is the new black” and “asian is the new black” is well, what it is.
but the first one is horrible, and i’m glad the guy put that quote out there from the get go so we don’t have to taste-test it for faux irony.
also weird that an israeli is speaking for WASPs.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:43 am ¶
lunanoire wrote:
What does the character for “fire” have to do w/ being cool?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:56 am ¶
F-ette wrote:
I think the entire incident was a hoax. A racist one, albeit. But I don’t think there was any altercation. See Gawker for more.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:04 am ¶
Chris wrote:
@Mickey:
I think it’s sad that people DO get offended my a shirt like this.
I mean, seriously, RACISM IS DEAD, and anyone being so oversensitive as to attack someone for wearing a shirt like this is only promoting racial segregation.
We live in a colorblind society now! Using past racial slurs and attacks in these harmonius times is laughable, comedic, and ironic.
Apparently the attackers didn’t get the memo.
/end sarcasm.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:18 am ¶
SarahSimone wrote:
I am hoping really hard that this doesn’t get people buying his shirts.
But I bet it will.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:22 am ¶
Gouw wrote:
NOBODY FUCKS WITH O ON MY BLOCK
Seriously though anybody else find this the funniest thing they’ve read all day? Not the shirt that shit is stupid as a mother fucker I mean the article, every bit of it is comedy gold.
Favorite part: “The woman bought a $69 shirt from Apollo Braun’s Manhattan boutique that bore the words, “Obama is my slave.” When she wore the shirt on Tuesday, four teenage girls accosted her - shoving her, pulling out her earphones, and spitting in her face, according to the New York edition of Metro News.” Everything about this is hilarious, even the price if you’re twelve and you still laugh at that immature shit.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:27 am ¶
Chris wrote:
@Thea:
In terms of the streetwear and hip-hop culture, Japan and Korea have made major contributions to the lastest trends.
Like mentioned before, the JabbawockeeZ have garned a lot of attention for winning America’s Best Dance Crew.
Also, in terms of dancing, bboys from Korea such as Hong 10, Physicx, and Bruse Lee have been pushing a unique style of breakdancing that is redefining the art of bboying as we know it from plain footwork and powermove combinations to intricate body movements (although, I would argue that crews like Lionz of Zion from DC - of which most of the members are Asian-American, pioneered this style back in the mid-90s).
In terms of fashion, A Bathing Ape - a Japanese company - has been a major influence on street fashion primarily seen on stores like Karmaloop. Footwear maufacturers have teamed up with Japanese labels and sneaker stores like Atmos and Mita to produce bold new colorways for their sneakers that are clamored for worldwide, especially in the U.S. (case in point: Atmos Air Max 1’s go for $450 a pair on eBay, and Mita New Balance MT580’s go for about $500-600)
So the “Asian is the new Cool” shirt isn’t simply saying that cultural appropriation of Asian fashion (which, like you said, has been around for a while) is cool, it’s that Asians themselves have now been promoted to cool-kid status.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:30 am ¶
applecart wrote:
I also read the Gawker post about how the reported assault might be a publicity stunt by the “designer” .
Consider the description of the attackers and what we’re supposed to learn from this incident: They’re 4 Af.Am. teenage girls who resort to extreme violence when they don’t “get the joke”.
Reinforces your favorite sterotypes:
A. Black people/women are angry and humorless
B. Black people are violent.
C. We should be afraid of Black people, because, look, anything can set them off!
Isn’t that the kind of racist message you’d expect from someone who thinks it’s appropriate to refer to Obama as his slave?
It’s not hard for me to imagine that the whole “assault” was just another attempt to generate a controversy to mask his utter lack of talent.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:31 am ¶
Heather wrote:
My reaction to this is pretty much the same as my reaction to the New Yorker cover. Have you people (the designers of both) lost your damn minds!? How on earth did these people think these were acceptable? I swear, I feel like I woke up on another planet sometimes.
Bad enough that someone thought it acceptable to make that t-shirt. But if you were stupid enough to 1) pay $69!!! dollars for it and 2) wear it out in public, you deserve a beat down.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:34 am ¶
Erica wrote:
There are so many different things wrong with this whole story, but the woman’s need to bring a lawsuit against the shirt “designer” draws the bulk of my ire.
So I’m kind of hoping this whole thing is a terrible, horrible publicity stunt.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:35 am ¶
Lisa wrote:
How about one saying, “I’m Obama’s slave”?
And why does the second tee say “gold” on the back? Oh, right, illiteracy…
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:37 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Chris -
Maybe. When I sent the shirt out to my people, one of my friends (also named Chris) he wrote back:
“They don’t mean us, they just like our cool shit. ”
I’m inclined to agree.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:38 am ¶
Mickey wrote:
@ Chris:
HA! I suspect this “designer” is trying to drum up business, but methinks the strategy will backfire.
I don’t get the “Asian is the New Cool” shirt. Is it saying Asian’s are “in style” now? If so, when did Asian’s become uncool?
It confuses me greatly.
Also on that same site is a young woman wearing a “Money over Bitches” shirt.
WTF?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:41 am ¶
OutcrazyOphelia wrote:
Yeah, I’m fairly suspicious that the victim of assault isn’t speaking publicly but rather phoned the shop she bought the shirt from, relayed what happened and now this guy is telling us all about why he hates Obama and trying to drum up attention. I have no doubt that the shirt exists but as I posted at Feminocracy, I don’t think anyone would pay $69 for iron on letters–at least, that’s what I need to believe.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:42 am ¶
L-K wrote:
$69 for that shirt? That’s nothing compared to the $250 “Jews Against Obama” shirt that he’s selling on his website (nope, I’m not linking it. However, there are other interesting pictures on there. By interesting, I mean racist and inflammatory).
His store is not far from where I’m at, and I will be within blocks of it today. I’m heavily tempted to go into his store, but I will hold myself back.
Maybe I should tape up the storefront with Obama posters after hours? Hmmm…
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:46 am ¶
frau sally benz wrote:
I posted about this on my blog and started circulating the story around.
Chances are that the lawsuit is a fake, but that doesn’t stop this story from being absolutely horrific. The designer exists, the store exists, the man exists. That’s all you need to be thoroughly depressed for at least a couple of hours. Ugh.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:49 am ¶
Ron wrote:
There is a whole line of outrageous shirts about Obama coming out.
By the way, Asians have been cool in California for a minute. I think the rest of the country is just catching on as usual.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 11:54 am ¶
Thea wrote:
@ Chris
Definitely in the 00’s Asians as cool has a different meaning ie bindis and hair chopsticks, but there’s still an undercurrent of Asian fetishism in the adoption of all things that you mentioned.
This is NOT in any way intended to imply that JabbawockeeZ, the bboys from Korea you mentioned and clothing lines like A Bathing Ape don’t push the limits and haven’t brought all sorts of amazing innovative things to pop culture.
I’m rather trying to draw attention to the fact that the way in which they’ve been leaped upon (with the exception of JabbawockeeZ who are American) has to do with certain ideas about how “everything from Japan is cool!!” See hipster magazines like Giant Robot for eg.
I don’t think this is a trend that is unusual to North America, in Singapore where I grew up everything Japanese was also considered cool [odd, considering that other countries like China and Japan who had dealings with Japan in WWII have a very strained r’ship with Japanese culture].
Like I said, I’m not sayin all those things aren’t super cool in and of themselves. But the consumption of allegedly obscure cultural objects from far off places is one (very old) way in which (often white) folks in (usually Western) countries show how worldly and learned they are. It hurts my feelings and makes me angry to see culture consumed in such a gross and self-aggrandising way.
As lunanoire pointed out (thanks lunanoire!) the makers of the T possibly didn’t even know/care what the character they stuck on the back meant.
Watching coolness bestowed upon a culture in that way reminds me of how popular, powerful kids in high schools would adopt people into their group for periods of time and then spurn them. It’s just a veneer of belonging. It’s impermanent, creates insecurity, and has everyone jumping up and down trying to get the cool kids’ attention, effectively securing their dominance and making their desires (instead of our own) the focus of everything. Yuck!
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:02 pm ¶
PaulPortland wrote:
I might get some flack for this, but it’s something I’ve been struggling with for some time now…
…my objection to the “Asian Is The New Cool” shirt is the whole “honorary white” thing that’s lurking behind it. And, you know what? Asian-Americans do not need to further inhabit this role that white America seems to be hellbent on placing us into - that of the buffer minority between the Blacks and Latin@s and American Indians on the one hand and the white supremacist culture on the other hand.
There seems to be a mentality among some (I’m really trying to be careful with my language here) Asian-Americans that resembles what Malcolm X called the “House Negro.” We tend to think that we’re more culturally aligned/ sympathetic with white Americans than with non-white Americans, and I think that’s a dangerous game to play.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:03 pm ¶
Joe wrote:
Haha, fail.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:04 pm ¶
Thea wrote:
Does the US have hate crime laws that could outlaw what Braun is doing ie the $250 Jews Against Obama t-shirt and accompanying “interesting” photos?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:04 pm ¶
queenofsheba wrote:
@Atlasien: I *love* “x is the new y” pronouncements. Because they all remind me of a mock interview-with-Bjork where she showed up in a dress made of ham sandwiches and pronounced “Ham sandwiches are the new black!”
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:07 pm ¶
Alexandra wrote:
I saw this over on livejournal and was wondering when it was going to get posted here. The thing bothered me the most about this whole situation was that people were arguing the teenagers were violating the students right to free speech and that they had no right to assault her. They also said they have attempted to have a rational conversation with her. None of them could seem to understand or empathize with teenagers at all. Now I don’t agree with the teenagers did but at same time I completely understand but I probably would have had a few choice words for her. In regards to the designer I hope someone comes into his shop and fills it with everything Obama related from the ceiling to floor and burns all those shirts.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:15 pm ¶
Chris wrote:
@Lisa:
How about “Obama is my President” done in black iron-on letters on a grey shirt?
I’d even shave off a couple of pounds, grow my hair out, and put on a pointless headband and model the thing myself to sell that one.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:17 pm ¶
lunanoire wrote:
Lisa,
Sorry for the error. I studied Japanese over 10 years ago, and clearly my reading skills are lacking.
Ron,
Haven’t APIA also been cool in Hawaii since the first person arrived there : ) ? I miss L.A.’s cultural mix.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:19 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
@ Matt–Apollo Braun isn’t any kind of “hipster racist.” That term, to me, always conjures an image of someone who is insensitive because everyone “knows” they’re being ironic. Braun is an entirely serious racist (albeit a shameless provocateur).
…so, are you saying that the person you hypothesize as being a hipster racist is any less serious of a racist than Braun? See, I think Braun and this grad student (let’s make her your example of the hypothesized “insensitive person” because we’re not sure if she exists) are both very, very serious about expressing their racism. To me, the racially “insensitive” person and the virulent racist operate in the same continuum of racial bigotry because they both don’t care to be sensitive to the realities of living in a polycultural world. Braun is simply more obviously so, that’s all.
The “hipster” part comes in his taking part in the trend of Obama and overpriced, yeah-I-can-do-that-at-home-looking t-shirts being retailed in a big city. So, IMO, Braun’s t-shirt, the shirt you linked to (the Obama trend and the hipness of BDSM), and this (alleged) woman wearing Braun’s shirt are all manifestations of hipster racism at work.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:30 pm ¶
RJG wrote:
@Alexandra: I think I know you if you’re talking about it being posted in a certain new york community and/or internet-drama community.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:32 pm ¶
Black Canseco wrote:
what funny about this is it give way too many people an excuse to Klannify it. and by “Klannify” i mean point to it and go “thank god i’m not like that” and then move on like everything’s all gravy.
You got folks that will never rock that shirt, but they keep the sentiments.
which is worse.
My father had a saying which i live by as well:
“I’d rather be called a nigger to my face than treated like one behind back.”
Half the people getting all worked over this shirt are the one’s i’m more worried about.
As for the lawsuit–if they’re not asking for a ton of money, they’ll win. Even when you’re engaging in hate speech, people can’t beat you up. You have to prove someone’s words can be interpreted as a threat of some sort to justify violence.
Calling Obama a slave is racist and mean, but it’s not a threat; and if it is, it’s only a threat to someone named Obama.
I’m guessing the beatdown (any Youtube of this yet?) came from folks not named Obama.
The most offensive part of this for me:
it’s a cheap-ass ugly, $5 at Wal-Mart looking shirt.
Nothing worse than a cheap lazy artist. Where’s the passion for your craft, B? Put some money behind your work and do something worth the outrage.
This looks like something he cooked up after smoking a bowl and watching that clown on SNL who does his never-funny beige-faced Barack skits.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:32 pm ¶
SR wrote:
This guy, like other hipster racists, thinks that he’s the next Dave Chapelle. I, on the other hand, am convinced that it was morons like these that caused Chapelle to quit his show.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:38 pm ¶
Bixby wrote:
Update from Gawker.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:40 pm ¶
Jha wrote:
“Asian readers, what will you do with your new found role as the purveyors and ultimate authority on cool?”
Well, the first thing I did was snort and chortle at what a ridiculous idea that is.
Then, I threw up my hands and said, “Oh, these silly Asian fetishists!”
Followed by a head-scratching, “wtf is wrong with the world today?”
That Obama shirt threw me off. In what reality does that creature live in that this is okay?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:40 pm ¶
marie wrote:
ignorant morons
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:49 pm ¶
Alexandra wrote:
@RJG
Yep it was posted in those places and in a POC-safe space I’m part of. Hmm I might know you too then. I’m debating whether I should share some of the better ones with everyone here.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 12:55 pm ¶
Hot Tramp wrote:
She’s suing the designer? I’m sorry, did he give her some sort of “You will not piss off people of color with this shirt I SWEAR” guarantee? How is it his fault if she doesn’t have the sense God gave a cat? Heavens.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:19 pm ¶
sylvie wrote:
this grad student is a blithering idiot. a racist suing another racist for exposing that she overpaid for a racist t-shirt.
as for the asian shirt? if we asians are the “new” cool, it means we’ll be the “old” cool in about two months when some other token subgroup replaces us.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:26 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:
Oh my Lord! The person who created that butt-ugly shirt is…Jewish?
….
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:27 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:
Also, it would make more sense to sue the assholes who actually beat the crap out of her, not the designer. The idiot designer did not drag her into his store, shove her in to that T-shirt, forcibly remove 69 bucks and tax from her purse and then shove her back outside to be assaulted by an angry mob.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:30 pm ¶
Matt wrote:
@TCS
…so, are you saying that the person you hypothesize as being a hipster racist is any less serious of a racist than Braun?
Compared to Braun, the average racist of any kind isn’t so bad. (I’d guess he started his own boutique since brown shirts and white hoods aren’t an option - there just aren’t organized hate groups, not even the JDL, that would take him.) But I’m not suggesting that the average “hipster racist” is “less racist” than the average “typical racist.” The inability to get outside themselves and empathize or sympathize with others is every bit as impoverished. But the offense -look at the New Yorker cover, for instance- isn’t intentional. I think there is a better chance to intervene in hipster racism, but it can be a lot more frustrating for a lot of reasons. The distinction isn’t meant to forgive anyone, just to inform a response to them. With Braun, the only approach is to try to marginalize him.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:45 pm ¶
L-K wrote:
As Bixby pointed out @ 52: the story isn’t true! The writer over at Metro got fired today for letting this story get published.
It’s a publicity stunt on his end! There wasn’t a group of four female teenagers who assaulted a 25-yr-old graduate school student for wearing his shirt.
Which now evolves into a bigger issue. The fucker had the audacity to make a story up, depicting young women of color as aggressive and violent individuals.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:48 pm ¶
babybro wrote:
LOL, man, news these days try to jump so fast on a story, they don’t even realize when it’s false. All so they can get the biggest scoop. I rather have news about growing trees that is actually true than “the world is coming to an end” which is false.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 1:58 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
@L-K: “The fucker had the audacity to make a story up, depicting young women of color as aggressive and violent individuals.”
So I guess curb-stomping Doron’s ass is not an option for me and my fellow pissed-off WoC. Too bad.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 2:03 pm ¶
EvilAngelfish wrote:
Ugh.
Even if this is a hoax, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Why is it always ‘A [insert brown person] beat me up/kidnapped me/killed my children’?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 2:15 pm ¶
L-K wrote:
“So I guess curb-stomping Doron’s ass is not an option for me and my fellow pissed-off WoC. Too bad.”
Ehh, trust me, I’m in the mood to do some curb-stomping, too, as I’m literally within walking distance. Highly freakin’ tempted. And if I fit the stereotype that he’s trying to convey, well, then, so be it.
But, how the hell does one go about developing a faux story like this and manage to get it printed? Yes, obviously the reporter sucked, and yes, it’s the Metro. But, the reporter didn’t ask himself, “umm, I should contact the alleged suer.” He didn’t even do that!
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 2:23 pm ¶
L-K wrote:
“Ehh, trust me, I’m in the mood to do some curb-stomping, too, as I’m literally within walking distance. Highly freakin’ tempted. And if I fit the stereotype that he’s trying to convey, well, then, so be it.”
Just to expand on my own post: the point is that I’m not going to. However, again, this developing story is extremely disturbing that this individual, who has demonstrated to be an attention parasite, went out of his way to fabricate a story that depict young WoC in such a way. He already has significant controversy surrounding him, apparently over the $250 shirt, so why go about it this way?
I also am having a hard time identifying this as hipster racism. It’s just straight out racism. He’s not trying to be ironic, he’s not trying to be witty. He straightout does not like Obama:
“The majority of the Jews – at least the ones that are proud of their religion and practice it – like me, don’t want to see Obama – a man who’s middle name is Hussein, and his family from his Kenyan father’s side is Muslim, as the leader of this great country.”
http://gothamist.com/2008/05/12/apollo_braun_de.php
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 2:46 pm ¶
lunanoire wrote:
Does anyone know the precise definition of “fighting words?” Fighting words are not protected free speech under the 1st Amendment and may be regulated by time, place, and/or manner restrictions.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 2:51 pm ¶
G.K. wrote:
To posters 55-59:
The T-shirt attack incident is a fake (check the Gawker link) . Basically, what this whole thing boils down to is that he got the free publicity he wanted, and his claim of people thinking Obama is a “slave” is just some BS—funny how he only talks about what OTHER people say, aand not what HE realy thinks—but in this case,actions speak louder than words! He may not be a racist, but he damn sure is profiting off of of the use of it.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 3:03 pm ¶
harrumph wrote:
This may be sort of a weird tangent to go off on, but the term “hipster racism” doesn’t really sit well with me. “Hipsters” have been, in recent years, a scapegoated bogeyman. Nobody self-identifies as a hipster — it’s just an epithet people in one corner of the youth culture (or “counterculture “) use to badmouth people in another corner. Jazz snobs call indie kids hipsters; indie kids call bike punks hipsters; bike punks call jazz snobs hipsters, whatever. All the bad behavior or ridiculous trends we attribute to hipsters are forever somebody else’s fault and somebody else’s problem; blaming things on hipsters or ridiculing them is a way of avoiding any self-examination or self-directed criticism.
Extending that logic to racism seems counter-productive and just wrong (like “reverse racism”). Hipster racism is just straight-up racism, and it’s perpetrated by all kinds of people from varied backgrounds in many walks of life; it shouldn’t be shunted off onto some nebulous, quasi-mythical demographic who everybody can safely sneer at or complain about from a secure distance. This sort of stuff is all over the place.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 3:17 pm ¶
harrumph wrote:
aw crap, I said who instead of whom
let’s pretend I wrote “at whom everybody can safely sneer or about whom they can complain from a secure distance”
much better!
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 3:20 pm ¶
Joseph wrote:
Sometimes something happens that mobilizes so many racist, ethnic and/or religious stereotypes all at once that it seems like it was invented in a secret mountain laboratory by a cabal of old white guys in lab coats. You know, like “I Love New York” or the Bush Administration.
Apparently, that characterization isn’t far off. As others have pointed out this “tasteless, racist publicity stunt”–thanks Gawker– was a hoax. (You know, like “I Love New York” and the Bush Administration…) But if it’s all the same, I’d still like to imagine that grad student getting her ass “Death Proofed” by a bunch of righteous black girls anyway.
Does that make me a bad person?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 3:58 pm ¶
browne wrote:
Why it so easy to believe obvious bs? When I heard this story I knew it was pr for this very “talented” designer.
When do a grad students hang out in places frequented by places that don’t allow alcohol? Almost never, so kids beating up one, totally unbelievable.
But it is pretty amazing he makes this insulting shirt, makes up this insulting lie and gets even more press as a reward.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 4:27 pm ¶
uu wrote:
If this incident did in fact happen (though I find highly suspect), just look at the idea of it. The designer was in fact making fun of obama but he was greatly making fun of and making money off of those who were too oblivious to get the message that a shirt like that would be seen as a faux pas.
With everyone touting the we live in a “colorblind” society and that we “transcended race” as CNN has put it ad nauseum, the designer knows from the get go that’s all B.S. and most likely wanted to make money off ofthe dumb shit people who believed in that montra.
From that idea, I don’t blame the designer at all. The victim (if there was one) should only blame her privilaged upbrining for not equiping her with the common sense to stay away from a message like that. I would go so far as to say it would be an interesting social experiment on what we consider racial insensitive material, what isn’t and the kind of people who decide either.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 4:56 pm ¶
Ike wrote:
If Asians are so cool, why is the model a non-Asian doing the squinty eyes?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 5:00 pm ¶
Ejunco wrote:
I read this on some other blog. I know everyone’s said and thought this before, but why did that dumb-ass wear a shirt that she bought with her own cash and had words that she knew will give give her the wrong attention!!!!???!!! And now shes gonna sue?
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 6:41 pm ¶
Jay wrote:
Asian readers, what will you do with your new found role as the purveyors and ultimate authority on cool?
They’ve been saying that since the 80s when Pac-Man was in the arcades.
And besides, if we were really cool, we might actually get to be leads in movies like 21, or the Forbidden Kingdom, or Speed Racer, or the Eye, or the Grudge…
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 7:08 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
@ Matt–Compared to Braun, the average racist of any kind isn’t so bad.
IMO, Racism, in all of its permutations, is bad for the very fact that, at the core of it, is intention: the intention is to elevate a person or group of one race or ethnicity usually at the expense of another, be it by stereotyping a person or people (like creating a fabricated story about young people of color attacking a white woman for wearing a t-shirt meant to be a “joke” or calling APIA people a “cool” trend) or annihilating a racial group (like Hitler and his government did with the Jews and whites did with the Native Americans). So, saying that the average racist “isn’t so bad” compared to the Brauns or the David Dukes or the Jesse Helms or the George Wallaces or Adolph Hitlers, creates a false dichotomy when, like I said in my previous comment to you, racism works in a continuum. We deal with each variation as they manifest on the continuum and how we feel we can best address it.
Like the New Yorker cover. Without rehashing the post about it and derailing this thread, you and I need to agree to disagree. I feel the cover was quite intentional. As I pointed out in my post, the editorial staff could have hipped themselves to the reiterated arguments in the old and new media about Obama-as-secret-Muslim and Michelle-as-angry-Black-nationalist-woman and thought of a far cleverer alternative than visually regurgitating the arguments. (Heck, Latoya and other commenters at that thread came up with better ideas.) But they chose not to (intention), and we saw what we saw.
As for the deeper intentionality, I’m going to quote my mom, who’s an up-South Mississipian who 63 years of lived experience gives her a perspective on segregated and post-desegregated US and how it plays out:
“The New Yorker played it both ways, as a joke and as a dogwhistle. TNY visually rendered the fear that many of the editorial staffers may have heard expressed during their lives and social circles out of the earshot of racially mixed company, but a white woman actually revealed to me: the fear that if a Black person(s) get(s) into power, like POTUS, s/he/they will do the same thing to white people that white people have done to Black folks and other PoCs. In other words, forget the joke, get the message, fellow white people.”
Ultimately, Matt, I’m at a point where I’m really sick and tired of figuring out and/or being told whose racism–or any other form of bigotry–is “not so bad” and “far worse.” It’s like asking me to pick–or recommending to me–a particular person’s specially made poison to kill myself. I’d prefer to not pick any poison at all.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 7:38 pm ¶
Ori wrote:
I posted this a few days ago on my Facebook posted items feed because I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe. And I think that designer deserves a good ass whooping for his ignorance.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 8:20 pm ¶
Matt wrote:
@TCS: I see where you’re coming from, and I agree with you to a great extent. When you write, “I’m really sick and tired of figuring out and/or being told whose racism–or any other form of bigotry–is ‘not so bad’ and ‘far worse’ ” I don’t think that’s something you should have to worry about. I don’t think the onus should be on you to try to figure that out. And I think it’s wrong that most of society does place the onus on you.
Unless, that is, you want to participate in a discussion on race that will move things forward. I know at times I don’t want to - it’s too tiring and frustrating and just plain not good for my health. But I know at the end of the day, if I want to make things better, I need to be nuanced about all kinds of things I shouldn’t have to bother with. Otherwise the world would be fair.
David Remnick of the New Yorker really does believe his cover was progressive satire. (Even if there’s more to the cover he subconsciously refuses to recognize. I think anyone who’s ever really struggled with facing up to their own privilege understands how that’s possible.) He’s being ridiculous when he says the onus is on you to figure out what he’s trying to get at. And, yes, that is a choice he’s making. That’s where I’ll really fault him, and that’s why I’ll call it “hipster racism” rather than “hipster insensitivity.”
Racism is racism because it’s structural. Because David Remnick and Apollo Braun have positions where what they say matters in a peculiar way. They have the power to try to put the onus on us to “understand them,” while we have to fight and scrap to get them to listen. (I’m simplistically ignoring that Braun is fortunately somewhat marginalized.) And that structure has nothing to do with who is worse or any such distinction. So on that, I agree with you.
But I’d like to think I would talk to Remnick and try to change his mind. Apollo Braun leads me to romanticize antifas strategies that I’d usually recoil from. (But I gotta say Vidal Sassoon was one tough SOB.)
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 8:25 pm ¶
lxy wrote:
Regarding the “Asians R now Kewl” meme, looking to White America for affirmation or self-worth is a sucker’s game.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 8:46 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
@ Matt–there’s a way to be nuanced and move the conversation forward without talking about some racists and forms of racism not being as bad as others, as you have said in your comment previous to your last one. Part of it is recognizing that racism is structural as well as personal, institutional and interpersonal, and that its many manifestions–be it hipster bigotry, crude anti-Semitism, or genocide; David Remnick’s choice to run that New Yorker cover or Apollo Braun creating and selling that bloody t-shirt, or my now ex-partner saying what he said to me–that still operates on the singular principle of positioning one group of people at the cost of another group’s complex humanity based on race and/or ethnicity. Addressing how each one of those variations arise, interconnect with other forms of racism, and plays out in macro and micro-levels gives us the tools to move the conversation forward and figuring out methods to combat it, not parsing which type of racist “isn’t that bad” or saying racism is simply “structural.” Again, such parsing that creates a false duality with an ideology and its believers that function more like, to use another analogy, a (negative-or poisonous, if you will) ecosystem: living, morphing, and every unique form doing its part to maintain and perpetuate the advantages/privileges of one group at the expense of another. And I’m not OK with the parsing or the poison. Period.
Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 10:35 pm ¶
Torontonian wrote:
I guess I’m not cool enough, because this is news to me.
Except for Asians who don’t dress or act like that, i.e., what the mainstream thinks of as “Asian”.
Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 12:26 am ¶
HIN wrote:
“There seems to be a mentality among some (I’m really trying to be careful with my language here) Asian-Americans that resembles what Malcolm X called the “House Negro.” We tend to think that we’re more culturally aligned/ sympathetic with white Americans than with non-white Americans, and I think that’s a dangerous game to play.”
THANK YOU PAUL!!! Especially since I’m in China right now, this has definitely been heavy on my mind. Fellow Asians, STOP. THIS.
Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 12:48 am ¶
texascowgirl wrote:
I want Obama to be elected POTUS in O8, but as an AA woman I sometimes wonder if there is enough Rolaids, Tums, Pepto Bismol and high blood pressure medicine for black people to deal with what will come with it. If you think the haters are cutting up now, wait until after he wins. If racists were willing to go quietly into the night we wouldn’t be having this discussion nor have a need for this blog. This is the tip of the iceberg.
Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 1:35 am ¶
Diana wrote:
Braun needs a good old fashioned beat down for that mess.
Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 8:40 am ¶
Matt wrote:
TCS: there’s a way to be nuanced and move the conversation forward without talking about some racists and forms of racism not being as bad as others, as you have said in your comment previous to your last one. Part of it is recognizing that racism is structural as well as personal, institutional and interpersonal, and that its many manifestions What makes you think I don’t recognize that?
Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 10:31 am ¶
Thea wrote:
We are now closing this thread. Thanks to all commenters!
Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 2:26 pm ¶
Jesse wrote:
Y’know, the Asian as cool thing has been around at least since the late 80s, when anime was first starting to make big inroads into American culture. A lot of children of the 70s like myself watched “Star Blazers” and “Speed Racer” and “Battle of the Planets” and thought they were the coolest things ever because they were a refreshing change from what we were getting.
To some degree, it the influence of Japanese culture is an expression of Japanese power. That is, it IS the second biggest economy in the world, so the idea that Japanese movies and fashion and pop culture would have no influence beyond the islands is simply silly. I’d argue that the fact that Americans pick up stuff from Japan and Korea means that the cultural transmission is less one-way than it was, and on somewhat more equal terms. When I say that I mean it used to be them aspiring to be like Americans (abandoning traditional forms of dress, stuff like that) and now they are taking their version of our culture, the one they have made their own, and sending it back to us.
Heck, they did the same thing with cars and radios and computers and kicked ass. An American autoworker is as likely to work for Toyota as for Ford these days.
So when I see people appropriating or wearing Asian stuff (or many others) I get less worried about it. It’s part of a very complicated inter-cultural transmission and isn’t always as simple as disrespectful appropriation, although that happens.
Posted 25 Jul 2008 at 6:34 am ¶
Jeffrey Lew wrote:
“Asian readers, what will you do with your new found role as the purveyors and ultimate authority on cool?”
I think I’ll go and use my newly found coolness to have sex with white women! Nothing says racial empowerment like humping a white girl.
Oh, wait…. I’m an Asian guy. Never mind… the “coolness” only applies to women.
Posted 25 Jul 2008 at 3:23 pm ¶
bas bleu wrote:
Joseph: “Apparently, that characterization isn’t far off. As others have pointed out this “tasteless, racist publicity stunt”–thanks Gawker– was a hoax. (You know, like “I Love New York” and the Bush Administration…) But if it’s all the same, I’d still like to imagine that grad student getting her ass “Death Proofed” by a bunch of righteous black girls anyway.
Does that make me a bad person?”
If so, then we are both bad people.
Posted 13 Aug 2008 at 10:56 am ¶