“Caucasians” T-shirt Hot Seller on Native Reserves

A t-shirt mocking the Cleveland Indians‘ “Chief Wahoo” logo has begun popping up at Native Reserves all across North America according to a report in The Toronto Star.

The shirt features a caucasian caricature with blonde hair, a red collar, and a large green dollar sign above its head, “Caucasians” scripted above similar to the Cleveland Indians home jersey wordmark.

While the shirts have been available online for over seven years, interest has skyrocketed (especially in Ontario, Canada) after a controversy involving a Native singer wearing the top made the rounds last month.

Photo courtesy TheStar.com (click for article) — Photo courtesy TheStar.com (click pic for original article)

From the article at The Star:

Ojibwa singer DJ NDN of A Tribe Called Red was accused of racism for wearing one last month.

…

Interest in the shirts escalated on reserves after threats last month to boycott the Westfest Music Festival in Ottawa where A Tribe Called Red was scheduled to perform.

Deejay NDN, who was born Ian Campeau, had earlier filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission to protest the name of the Nepean Redskins football team.

The Cleveland Indians have used the Chief Wahoo logo one way or another since the 1950s, prior to the current 2014 season the club relegated the logo to “secondary” from “primary” status – it still appears on their home caps and the sleeves of their jerseys.

Anticipating a slew of “I’M WHITE AND I’M NOT OFFENDED, I’D WEAR THIS!” comments, well, yeah, you shouldn’t be offended… you have no real reason to be offended by this. Yes, this Caucasians logo is as equally racially insensitive as the Indians’ logo is… but it doesn’t offend. Why? It all has to do with the histories of the respective races involved in this back-and-forth, the way one race has historically treated the other — it’s as simple as that.

Flame away.