ESPN’s Bomani Jones riles fans up with Cleveland Caucasians shirt
For years now, many have urged the Cleveland Indians to drop the Chief Wahoo logo. The mascot depicts a racist caricature of Native Americans, and is clearly offensive to many Native American groups.
[Sign up for Fantasy Baseball | Play for $40K | Expert rankings | Mock draft]
While the team has moved away from Chief Wahoo as its primary logo, he hasn’t gone away completely. It’s still incredibly easy to pick up merchandise with the mascot front and center.
In order to point out the racism to those still in denial, Shelf Life Clothing created the “Caucasians tee,” a shirt that parodies the Indians logo, but replaces the Native America with a stereotype of a white person. Those shirts have existed for some time, but were thrust into the national spotlight Thursday.
That’s Bomani Jones of ESPN wearing a Cleveland Caucasians shirt on the network. He immediately began trending on Twitter, as many watching had strong opinions about the T-shirt. Not surprisingly, Jones was reportedly told to cover up the shirt after some at ESPN “freaked out,” according to TMZ. Jones appeared later on the program with his hoodie slightly zipped up, but people at home could still make out the logo.
If you’re sitting at home thinking, “that’s offensive,” well, yeah, that’s the point. Native Americans see the Chief Wahoo logo often over the six-month period when baseball is played. On top of that, the logo is worn and endorsed by a professional baseball team. It’s impossible to ignore, but little is done to change that.
Compared to the exposure Chief Wahoo gets throughout half the year, the Caucasians shirt pales in comparison. Ideally, it elicits the same response, and people who have adamantly denied the racism behind the Chief Wahoo logo will reconsider their stance.
Probably not, though. The people who staunchly defend Chief Wahoo will more than likely continue to fill their diapers complaining about Jones and his Caucasians T-shirt. That’s the point. The Caucasians shirt is supposed to expose the hypocrisy of those who still support the Chief Wahoo logo.
Jones is a big-time sports personality, and ESPN is a huge sports network, so it will be interesting to see if the publicity the shirt receives prompts change from MLB or from the Indians. That seems incredibly unlikely, but credit to Jones for bringing more attention to the issue.
[Elsewhere: Kenta Maeda’s Dodgers debut could not have gone any better]
ESPN has suspended on-air personalities for less, so Jones’ actions could cost him some screen time in the coming weeks. If that’s the case, we’re willing to guess Jones is more than happy to lose some pay if it causes some to reconsider their position on Chief Wahoo.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
Grandstanding: A Yahoo Sports podcast
Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed
– – – – – – –
Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
