Is this T-Shirt actually racist or associated with racists?
September 23, 2015 12:56 PM Subscribe
I saw this T-Shirt on a 10-12 year old boy at a neighborhood parade last week. He was part of the parade, in a unit sponsored by a dive bar. Possibly relevant info: This is not a biker bar specifically but my town's one-percenter outlaw biker gang has had events there.
This (otherwise perfectly legitimate and normal) parade was held in a very diverse neighborhood and I thought the shirt was at best in poor judgement because its message is at best unclear and it would totally look at home on a skinhead, IMO.
I tried to google for it without success, so I come to the hive mind with my question: Has anyone seen this design before? Is the shirt's design (the legend "Team Whitey" with the clenched fist) actually sold by or associated with any Skinhead, Klan, or Nazi-type groups? If not, where does the design come from?
This (otherwise perfectly legitimate and normal) parade was held in a very diverse neighborhood and I thought the shirt was at best in poor judgement because its message is at best unclear and it would totally look at home on a skinhead, IMO.
I tried to google for it without success, so I come to the hive mind with my question: Has anyone seen this design before? Is the shirt's design (the legend "Team Whitey" with the clenched fist) actually sold by or associated with any Skinhead, Klan, or Nazi-type groups? If not, where does the design come from?
I haven't seen it irl, but I'm inferring that it's a white supremacist answer to the black panther raised fist.
posted by brujita at 1:04 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by brujita at 1:04 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah, poor taste at best, but if I was being charitable, I would assume it was representing solidarity with someone nicknamed "Whitey" i.e. Ford, Bulger, etc.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:05 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Rock Steady at 1:05 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: To me this looks like the sort of thing that is probably racist/has unintended racist connotations. But I don't know that it's an organized White Power kind of thing. Like... maybe it's just ill-advised?
The thing about t-shirts is that any jackass who doesn't think things through can design one and get it printed up.
About 10 years ago I bought a DEFEND WESTCHESTER t-shirt at a thrift store because I thought it was funny. (Since when does lily-white and upscale Westchester County, NY, need defending?) Now it occurs to me that it could have been read as racist, or at least the sort of sneering NIMBY-ish tone deafness that seems racism-adjacent nowadays.
I wouldn't overthink it. Does it really matter whether the shirt indicates Official Racism or the airing of un-scrutinized internal biases?
(Also, chances are a tween riding on a parade float sponsored by the local "outlaw biker gang" dive bar has parents who aren't the most enlightened individuals in the world. Maybe they're genuine White Power devotees. Maybe they're just super dumb. I feel bad for the kid but either way it's kind of immaterial.)
posted by Sara C. at 1:06 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
The thing about t-shirts is that any jackass who doesn't think things through can design one and get it printed up.
About 10 years ago I bought a DEFEND WESTCHESTER t-shirt at a thrift store because I thought it was funny. (Since when does lily-white and upscale Westchester County, NY, need defending?) Now it occurs to me that it could have been read as racist, or at least the sort of sneering NIMBY-ish tone deafness that seems racism-adjacent nowadays.
I wouldn't overthink it. Does it really matter whether the shirt indicates Official Racism or the airing of un-scrutinized internal biases?
(Also, chances are a tween riding on a parade float sponsored by the local "outlaw biker gang" dive bar has parents who aren't the most enlightened individuals in the world. Maybe they're genuine White Power devotees. Maybe they're just super dumb. I feel bad for the kid but either way it's kind of immaterial.)
posted by Sara C. at 1:06 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Assuming it's not a reference to a person/nickname, the only way I can think of for that shirt to be okay is that it's maybe ironic racism or something. Like saying that you're on, "Team Whitey" is so obviously dumb that only morons would actually think it's anything other than stupid and ironic.
I think that's a bit of a stretch and probably too sophisticated for a 12-year-old. So it's either unintentionally racists and he doesn't realize it or it's explicitly racist and I'll give that shirt the fist bump it seems to be asking for a little more aggressively than the wearer would like.
posted by VTX at 1:10 PM on September 23, 2015
I think that's a bit of a stretch and probably too sophisticated for a 12-year-old. So it's either unintentionally racists and he doesn't realize it or it's explicitly racist and I'll give that shirt the fist bump it seems to be asking for a little more aggressively than the wearer would like.
posted by VTX at 1:10 PM on September 23, 2015
Response by poster: It's the distinction between a clueless one-off shirt design and one linked to White Power groups that I need to thread here because the organizers of the parade should be told if one of the sponsored units was sneaking that crap into a parade also attended by local politicians and major corporate sponsored units.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 1:14 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by BigLankyBastard at 1:14 PM on September 23, 2015
It seems like a Whitey Bulger shirt to me. If so, a child is wearing shirt celebrating a murderous mobster.
posted by shesbenevolent at 1:20 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by shesbenevolent at 1:20 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
That's a brofist, not any other kind of clenched fist. Not sure of anything else about the shirt.
posted by ftm at 1:20 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by ftm at 1:20 PM on September 23, 2015
Googling "Team Whitey" turns up basically nothing, and an image search doesn't produce anything relevant. So if this is a known logo or slogan of organized racism, it's way under the radar.
Googling "Team Whitey Shirt" turns up a lot of generic kinda-racist t-shirts, mostly of the cafe press print on demand variety. None of them seem White Power, just kind of ill advised (a lot of them are St. Patrick's Day themed, which uggghhhhhhh). None of the shirts are the shirt in your picture or even explicitly say "Team Whitey".
I suppose it's possible that google is preventing hate group related results from showing up in my searches, but since they are giving me garden variety lower-case-r racism, I doubt that's the issue and suspect that this is not a Thing.
posted by Sara C. at 1:28 PM on September 23, 2015
Googling "Team Whitey Shirt" turns up a lot of generic kinda-racist t-shirts, mostly of the cafe press print on demand variety. None of them seem White Power, just kind of ill advised (a lot of them are St. Patrick's Day themed, which uggghhhhhhh). None of the shirts are the shirt in your picture or even explicitly say "Team Whitey".
I suppose it's possible that google is preventing hate group related results from showing up in my searches, but since they are giving me garden variety lower-case-r racism, I doubt that's the issue and suspect that this is not a Thing.
posted by Sara C. at 1:28 PM on September 23, 2015
I'm pretty sure that it's a Whitey Bulger reference which is apparently a thing.
I'm confident that, if I continued searching around for it, I could buy that same shirt from a similar vendor to the two I linked.
posted by VTX at 1:28 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm confident that, if I continued searching around for it, I could buy that same shirt from a similar vendor to the two I linked.
posted by VTX at 1:28 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I can't find it now, but I had friends with similar shirts that were meant to be a protest of team names like the Redskins.
Free Whitey is a Bulger thing, I've never heard of the Team Whitey being a Bulger thing, though.
posted by ldthomps at 1:41 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Free Whitey is a Bulger thing, I've never heard of the Team Whitey being a Bulger thing, though.
posted by ldthomps at 1:41 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was just reading an article on how the Black Mass movie has ignited interest in Whitey Bulger merchandise. Maybe it's part of that?
posted by Ostara at 1:43 PM on September 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Ostara at 1:43 PM on September 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
I wonder if it's like "The Fighting Whities"? That would be my guess.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:26 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:26 PM on September 23, 2015
I don't think it's a Whitey Bulger thing. It's "Free Whitey," not Team Whitey. And the fist just doesn't make Boston-like sense.
posted by kinetic at 3:24 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by kinetic at 3:24 PM on September 23, 2015
Googling turns up a facebook page, an (english) strava club, some kind of soccer league team, and a shirt on amazon (not like this one) but nothing really... definitive.
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:00 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:00 PM on September 23, 2015
Turning to my go-to source for what the kids say these days, UrbanDictionary.com, the top definition for Whitey is:
an undesirable reaction to smoking cannabis common amongst lightweights and first-time tokers. Symptoms include dizzyness, clammy skin, nausea and vomiting. It gets its name from the paleness of the sufferer as the blood drains out the capillaries under the skin due to a decrease in blood pressure.
The definition was posted in 2003, and other variations on this theme mention alcohol too. It is within the realm of belief that people who work for a dive bar today might have this definition of "whitey" in their lexicon, and given this shirt to a 12-year-old for giggles.
Though even if that is the case, that shirt still LOOKS pretty damn racist.
posted by ejs at 4:55 PM on September 23, 2015
an undesirable reaction to smoking cannabis common amongst lightweights and first-time tokers. Symptoms include dizzyness, clammy skin, nausea and vomiting. It gets its name from the paleness of the sufferer as the blood drains out the capillaries under the skin due to a decrease in blood pressure.
The definition was posted in 2003, and other variations on this theme mention alcohol too. It is within the realm of belief that people who work for a dive bar today might have this definition of "whitey" in their lexicon, and given this shirt to a 12-year-old for giggles.
Though even if that is the case, that shirt still LOOKS pretty damn racist.
posted by ejs at 4:55 PM on September 23, 2015
Since it doesn't seem to appear online, I'd guess it's a self-deprecating/ironic shirt made by a local band.
posted by michaelh at 5:44 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by michaelh at 5:44 PM on September 23, 2015
If the issue to you is whether to tell the organizers of the parade, why not just tell them you saw the kid wearing that shirt and let them sort it out?
posted by AugustWest at 6:56 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by AugustWest at 6:56 PM on September 23, 2015
Re: above comment: I would be careful about relying on Urban Dictionary. Some things are accurate. Some are inside jokes or something someone just made up that is not a term anyone uses in the way they claim.
posted by AppleTurnover at 6:57 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by AppleTurnover at 6:57 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
I thought of the Fightin' Whities, too, but their logos are different.
If this was meant to promote white supremacy, I think the shirt's message would be less mystifying and easier to find online. I lean towards local band or intramural sports team, especially given the bro-ey fistbump image.
posted by gingerest at 11:07 PM on September 23, 2015
If this was meant to promote white supremacy, I think the shirt's message would be less mystifying and easier to find online. I lean towards local band or intramural sports team, especially given the bro-ey fistbump image.
posted by gingerest at 11:07 PM on September 23, 2015
For whatever it's worth, the fist image appears to be a reversed version of this clip art illustration (and hence probably a dead-end). Interestingly, Google Images was sharp enough to match up that image with this album cover, probably no relation.
posted by mhum at 1:22 AM on September 24, 2015
posted by mhum at 1:22 AM on September 24, 2015
Could it be a 2nd-hand shirt, referring to the coach on One Tree Hill? Whitey Durham? I personally wouldn't leap to ascribe evil motives to a 10 year old.
posted by Ideefixe at 11:21 AM on September 24, 2015
posted by Ideefixe at 11:21 AM on September 24, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by slipthought at 1:04 PM on September 23, 2015 [5 favorites]