Students Protest Abercrombie T-Shirts

About 100 people joined in a Harvard Square protest Saturday against a line of Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts that some deemed offensive to Asian-Americans.

The protest, which was organized Wednesday night by members of various campus Asian organizations, went forward despite Abercrombie’s decision Thursday to apologize for the T-shirts and pull them from their stores.

One of the shirts shows two slant-eyed men in rice-paddy hats above the slogan, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service—Two Wongs Can Make It White.” Another shirt features a dancing Buddha with the slogan “Get Your Buddha on the Floor.”

The rally, which began at noon in front of the Square’s Abercrombie store, included students from Harvard, Wellesley, Boston University, Boston College, Tufts and UMass-Boston. Organizers said the protest grew from 50 to as many as 200 people—not counting motorists who honked in support of the rally. Other estimates put the number at 50 to 100.

John K. Yasuda ’05 said the crowd included many pedestrians who joined in the protest upon learning about the cause.

“It was incredible,” Yasuda said. “It was an affirmation of what we were doing.”

Organizer Christopher Tam ’03 said the protest was a good opportunity to educate the public.

“We passed out fliers explaining the historical nature of the T-shirts and why they were offensive,” Tam said.

Tam also said he hopes media coverage of the protest will help persuade Abercrombie executives to respond to the demands made by protesters throughout the country.

Tam said these demands include a formal public apology and explanation from an Abercrombie executive, the publication of the apology in all Abercrombie stores and catalogs and on the company website, increased diversity training for their employees, increased diversity in catalogs and other promotional materials and the acceptance of all returns of the t-shirts.

During the rally, protesters asked passersby to sign a petition asking Abercrombie to meet these demands.

No Abercrombie spokesperson could be reached for comment yesterday to respond to the students’ demands.

“The reason why we still held the protests, even though the t-shirts were pulled, was because there were fundamental flaws in the company’s philosophy,” Tam said. “They tried to push the envelope by creating stereotypical t-shirts.”

Tam said the company’s statement that the shirts were meant to be funny was not an excuse.

“Racism, intentional or unintentional, is detrimental to the people on the receiving end,” Tam said.

Tam said protesters hope to use the Abercrombie incident to prevent such an occurrence from happening again.

“The greater goal is to make an example out of Abercrombie, so that other companies take measures to produce responsible clothing,” Tam said.

At the end of the rally, an Abercrombie employee came out of the store wearing a “Pizza Dojo” T-shirt, one of the shirts that had been pulled in response to protest.

The protesters responded by booing the employee and the organizers of the protest called Abercrombie and reported the incident, Tam said.