ESPN’s Bomani Jones Wears Controversial “Caucasians” Shirt

ESPN TV host/reporter Bomani Jones appeared on Mike and Mike as a fill in for Mike Golic on Thursday, April 7 wearing a T-Shirt resembling the Cleveland Indians’ “Chief Wahoo” logo.

After hearing that his shirt was dominating social media from co-host Molly Qerim, Jones said he wore the shirt because it states how weird it is to have a team called the ‘Indians’, “It’s just like the Cleveland Indians shirt — exactly like the Cleveland Indians shirt with one small change. If you are offended by the shirt, you must be offended by the Indians’ Chief Wahoo logo. If not, you’re hypocritical.”

The shirt features the word ‘Caucasians’ in red scripts like the Indians’ logo and features a white male color palette for Chief Wahoo, with a money symbol sticking out from behind his head instead of a feather.

Jones also said that, “The reason they won’t get rid of Chief Wahoo, which is completely indefensible, is they could still sell stuff with it. They can say they’re gonna de-emphasize it, but they’re not just gonna set money on fire. I thought [the shirt] was the exact same thing, and I could see the value in the design, so I was like, hey, we might as well give this a run.”

Jones brings up a good point about using stereotypes as sports mascots and even references teams like the Atlanta Brave, Florida State Seminoles, and Washington Redskins:

“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 topic of mascots like Chief Wahoo and the Redskins name have drawn a lot of controversy since their inception due to the continued profiting off of the stereotypes.  A few years ago, Robert Roche, a Chiricahua Apache and director of the American Indian Education Center, planned to file a $9 billion lawsuit against the Indians for their use of the logo.

Article by Nick Vigliotti