In case you missed it this morning, ESPN’s Bomani Jones wore an incredible ‘Caucasians’ shirt during his appearance on Mike & Mike and prompted a whole variety of responses from viewers. The shirt makes a statement regarding the Cleveland Indians’ “Chief Wahoo” logo, which is considered by many to be insulting and insensitive to Native Americans.
Following the strong buzz on social media, Mike & Mike‘s Molly Qerim sat down with Bomani to discuss the responses and his motivation for wearing the shirt. Never one to shy away from voicing his opinion on controversial topics, Bomani had some very sensible reasoning behind it.
“To have a problem with the the logo of this (pointing to his shirt) would be to have a problem with the Indians. But if you’re quiet about the Indians but have something to say about my shirt, I think it’s time for introspection.”
Bomani also went on to talk about other insensitive logos in sports and, again, it’s hard to argue with any of the points he made.
“The tomahawk on the Braves jersey — I grew up rooting for that team. There’s no defense for doing that. Like the Indians logo. There’s no defense for doing that. Why would you make these people a mascot? Well, it’s based on the stereotypes we’ve had of them in the past. What would be the justification for keeping them, or the need? And then Washington, where it’s just a slur…a flat-out slur.”
The fact that anyone had a problem with the shirt being worn on TV in the first place (and plenty did) only speaks to the hypocrisy of the entire thing — all it does is show that the logo has just as much potential to be demeaning to white people as it does with Native Americans. It’s perfect.
With all the buzz that the shirt has generated, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see more notable sports personalities make their own statements on this (or any other) topic.
