Fredrick Joseph, who came to the media spotlight when he created the #BlackPantherChallenge, is taking on a new challenge: the use of racially insensitive images in sports logos. More specifically, Joseph is taking on the Washington's Redskins mascot.
In an attempt to show the hypocrisy of using a race of people as a mascot, Joseph put on a shirt with a cartoon of a white man and the word Caucasian underneath, then walked the streets of New York looking for a reaction. He got one all right. Joseph then took to Twitter to share the ridiculously over-the-top reactions
.
The Hypocrisy of Racist Logos: Last weekend I decided to wear this shirt, I figured it would catch some by surpri… https://t.co/JEXajuWHPG— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054385.0
The shirt is a play on the Washington “Redskins” logo to demonstrate how people look wearing apparel with a logo th… https://t.co/epILisksLv— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054390.0
Next, an older white lady stopped me in the street and said “why would you wear that? It’s disrespectful!” So I a… https://t.co/whn1u69lWx— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054397.0
The third person or rather people was a group of white guys across the street and one pointed at me. I can see from… https://t.co/eGpCMrPA9G— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054401.0
Usually it's the south that gets called out for racism, but from the sounds of things, Manhattan is a breeding ground for white supremacists.
As I walked through Manhattan, people looked at me and rolled their eyes, pointed, made snide comments, etc. But,… https://t.co/0oLiLpF6oN— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054405.0
Basically, I was being shamed as a black person for wearing a non-disrespectful shirt with a white person logo on i… https://t.co/qcwMiOtQwL— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054410.0
The openly hostile hatred Joseph experienced simply walking around in a tee-shirt is outlandish.
I was fairly surprised by the reactions of people because again, there are so many disrespectful and racist represe… https://t.co/ZGNCttf9v1— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1533054414.0
To make matters even more insulting, many Twitter users didn't believe his story.
But others understood the profound effects of naming a team after a race of people.
@FredTJoseph for the win. Fighting supremacy, one story + experiment at a time. https://t.co/L0Hc1O4qXD— Erica Buddington (@Erica Buddington) 1533138325.0
Unfortunately, Dan Snyder, owner of the Redskins, has made it clear he has no intentions of changing the name of the team. According to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell:
Dan Snyder has really worked in the Native American community to understand better their perspective, and I think it's reflected mostly in a Washington Post poll that came out in [May 2016] that said over nine out of 10 Native Americans do not take that in a negative fashion, the Redskins' logo or the Redskins' name, and they support it
We think this debate may rage on for a while.
H/T: Huffington Post, Newsweek