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Hello everyone, I don't know if you guy's have all hear but there is a major issue going on now regarding racial stereotyping of Asian Americans by a major clothing company. The company that is responsible is non other than our friendly neighbor, Abercrombie and Fitch. Abercrombie has decided that racist pictures stereotyping early Chinese Americans is the next "IN" thing. Well I say F that. This is such a blatant disregard for the Asian American Community. Abercrombie has always been a racist clothing store. Ask yourself, "When was the last time I saw a minority model in an Abercrombie Ad?!" answer is never. All the models are the ideal Aryan race (blonde hair blue eyes) candidate.

I have been in contact with the Asian Pacific American (APA) community on a national level and we are mobilizing a joint effort to fight this prejudice. I am doing my part in contacting everyone I know and creating awareness that this is wrong. Please aid in this campaign for justice by doing your part. You might be asking, "what's the big deal?" The answer is, this is racism. This is crude stereotyping of Asian Pacific Americans. This is no different than putting a picture of an African American picking cotton, or a Hispanic American picking fruit, or a Middle Eastern American wearing a turban and holding a bomb. This is wrong and this should not be allowed in this country built on democracy. Please don't feel that you should be embarrassed to speak up on this serious matter of importance. This issue is pertinent to all and should rightfully be aided. Please help us. I sincerely thank you for your cooperation.

Alexander F. Chang (Asian Pacific American Coalition- Student Coalition Chair)
Temple University Main Campus
2029 N. Broad St. Hardwick Hall Rm 760
Philadelphia, PA 19122
(215) 777-6169
Gallant1@temple.edu
AIM: TheGentleman482

Hey guys,

This whole Abercrombie T-shirt issue has been really heated and I just wanted to share my two cents about possible steps we could take from here. I know that many of you guys and your college campuses have been very proactive in venting your outrage against the company and are interested in taking some course of action. Tonight, I talked to a number of APA student leaders, about the possibility of coordinating a national effort in addition to the efforts on campus or regional initiatives. I tried to look at it as objectively as possible and this is a plan that I think is feasible.

1. Writing a letter to the CEO of A&F, Mike Jefferies, with a list of demands such as the removal of the culturally insensitive t-shirts from stores immediate and to have a formal apology to the APA community. This letter would be signed on to by all the APA groups and other parties concerned about this issue. We would require a response within five business days? or take action.

2. Possible appropriate actions that individuals have brought up include writing press releases to the media, a complaint letter writing campaign to the company headquarters, and I feel the most effective way is to have a national phone call drive to disrupt the business hours of A&F on a selected day.

This plan is very tentative and more than anything else I hope that I received some feedback and promote a dialogue so that we can create some sort of national effort. Thanks. Hope to hear from you.

Clarence Tong

University of Pennsylvania

PLEASE READ ON!!

A number of Abercrombie and Fitch's latest line of summer t-shirts are imprinted with images and words that are extremely offensive and racially insensitive to Asians and Asian Pacific Americans. The captions on these shirts read, "Wong's Laundry: Two Wongs Make It White", "Pizza Dojo: We Love Long Time", and so on. Pictures of these shirts are attached. They are clearly inappropriate, perpetuating some of the most ignorant stereotypes about Asian Americans, and should be removed from their inventory immediately. It is crucial that we make our voice heard that it is unacceptable to promote and sell merchandise that is demeaning against Asian and Asian Pacific Americans. Furthermore, this is not the first time Abercrombie & Fitch has received complaints for their t-shirt designs. Other ,such as the Catholic and LGBT community, have been targets of this type of behavior before. So please voice your opinion, by forwarding emails, or taking time to directly contact a company spokesperson.

NORTHEAST: liz_agnew@abercrombie.com

SOUTHEAST: mark_sarajian@abercrombie.com

MIDWEST/WEST: peter_nagle@abercrombie.com

CHICAGO: greg_wynne@abercrombie.com

SAN FRANCISCO: janelle_homer@abercrombie.com

In addition college, campuses and APA organizations across the country are planning to mobilize. I will keep you up to date with such efforts. Thanks for reading and your support.

Abercrombie, Intentionally Racist

Email Sent out to us earlier in April

I am a medical student at USC and I think this issue might be of interest to you, and hopefully you can investigate this further. Initially I thought that the corporate heads at A&F were not racist but just stupid (like their press release stated). But I did some more investigation and I found something that may show that they did this intentionally.

In my mind, this tee is even more offensive than the new line [Ed: Wong brothers, pizza dojo] that came out because the characters on this shirt spell out the name of Li Hong Zhang, a Chinese official who signed a bunch of foreign concession treaties (most famous the Russo-Chinese and Shimonoseki Treaty) around the turn of the century to countries that came in and put up signs like "no dogs or Chinese allowed". He represents to many Chinese a symbol of the "Century of Humiliation" characterized by foreigners coming in to carve up China’s territory amongst themselves.

This shirt disproves the claim that A&F made a stupid marketing error in their "attempt" to appeal to the APA market. Obviously it took research to find this guy and put his name on the shirt. Is this an accident or a coincidence? Most likely NO, since in the Chinese language, the odds of having an identical WRITTEN name with somebody else is almost zero. A&F found Li Hong Zhang, and probably picked him knowing that they can get away with poking fun at APAs (because most APAs can't read Chinese or know Chinese history). A&F is getting away with selling this shirt to Asian Americans (and others). It's like putting "Uncle Tom" onto a shirt and marketing it to African-Americans. This shirt indicates a high likelihood that A&F had a racist intent and that they are not a bunch of idiots that they are spinning to the public.

Philadelphia Rally at King of Prussia

Temple U, U PENN, Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Drexel

Here is the debriefing of the KOP protest yesterday. Please feel free to add other perspectives and check for accuracy.

Upon arriving at the King of Prussia Mall parking lot around 5:45pm on April 26, 2002, mall security vehicles prevented the bus from dropping the Penn and Temple students off at the Neiman Marcus entrance. The security vehicles followed the bus until they had parked outside of the actual mall parking lot. The students did not know that this was part of regular mall procedure and found it contrary to what they had discussed with the Upper Merrion Police Department prior to their arrival. After parking they met up with Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore students who had been kicked off the mall premises. They staged their protest at an intersection by the entrance to the Strawbridge’s parking lot.

At the protest spot the students were constantly under surveillance by mall security. A few groups of 2-3 people at a time proceeded to enter the mall, without identifying themselves as protestors. They removed any protest paraphernalia, such as t-shirts, clipboards, and signs. The others remained outside chanting, holding up signs, and wearing the “Artfulbigotry & Kitsch” t-shirts, urging entering customers to boycott Abercrombie and Fitch.

On their way through the parking lot, two students were questioned by security officials who explained why the bus was not permitted to drop the students off at the mall entrance. Contrary to the students’ prior understanding, the entire parking lot area was considered private mall property, while the sidewalk perimeter where the students were then gathered was fine for protest. The security official continued to explain that while the shrubbery lining the sidewalk was also private property, he would “not be stingy,” and allow us to remain there.

One Penn student went into the Abercrombie and Fitch store independently, still wearing her anti-Abercrombie t-shirt. She walked around the store and later saw two other protest students and made small conversation. They were then approached by a female manager and asked if they were affiliated with the protest. They said yes, and were told that mall security had been told that anyone identified as a protestor was being asked to leave the store, as it was Abercrombie private property. The student asked the manager whether they were approaching every Asian person and asking if he or she was a protestor. The manager skirted the issue and claimed that they were specifically pointed out as part of the protest. The student asked who had pointed them out, and the manager gave no specific answer, saying they had seen them outside.

Two Penn students entered the Abercrombie and Fitch store to survey the merchandise and staff. They made their way around the store, and immediately noticed an Asian female employee wearing the offensive “Pink Pagoda” t-shirt. In addition, two of the racist t-shirts remained for sale in the store: Tiki Golf and a provocatively dressed Asian female with the slogan “On top since 1892.”

Later, the two Penn students met up with two other Penn students and decided to re-enter Abercrombie and approach the store manager to inquire about comment cards. When they asked the employee for comment cards, he gave them a puzzled look and referred us to the manager. When the manager came over, they politely informed him that there were t-shirts that they found offensive. He immediately asked them to leave the store, and said there were other groups that had been harassing him earlier. The students then asked for the corporate customer service number. When he returned with the information, the students asked why they had been kicked out, and the manager replied that he was not at liberty to comment. The manager then threatened to call the police if they re-entered, and refused to give us just reason for being kicked out. When they were asked whether any customer with a complaint would be removed from the store, he said yes.

Outside of the store, they called the customer service number that the manager had given and an automated message directed callers to dial a separate number for complaints regarding stores. When the student spoke with a customer service representative and informed her that there were still offensive t-shirts on the shelves at the King of Prussia Abercrombie location, she replied that they should have been removed. The representative was also surprised to hear that one of the employees was wearing one of the racist t-shirts. In mid-call, students witnessed two security officials in the lower level pointing in their direction. A little while later an action news reporter approached them and asked if they were protesting Abercrombie. They told him about being kicked out and the presence of racist t-shirts still on the shelves.

Shortly thereafter the security officials approached a group of the students that were sitting in front of an adjacent store on the benches. The officials asked the students whether they understood “the rules.” One student asked what these “rules” were. The official replied that they were not allowed to use video cameras within the mall, distribute pamphlets, and be around the Abercrombie area. The students promptly left to meet other groups within the mall, who were concentrating on pamphlet distribution and petition signing.

The students then went outside to join the protestors still rallying at the intersection of the mall’s perimeter. About half of the group decided to re-enter the store and begin chanting, “1-2-3-4, Abercrombie is a racist store. 5-6-7-8, Stereotypes lead to hate.” Once the group got to the store, 4 security officials were stationed in front of the store, with several others scattered in the vicinity. Several students entered the store and after a while, one student ran out of the store and began the chanting. Others joined, and the security officials began corralling the students out of the mall, as they continued to chant. During the chanting, the head mall security officer complained to a nearby student that the protestors had been giving him a headache for the past six hours. A student responded that Abercrombie had been giving the students a headache for the past 110 years. Later, an official said that “we have some of you working for us,” apparently referring to Asian American students. They were continuously told to “stop pushing [their] buttons.”

Once outside of the mall, one student, who had participated in the chanting and did not respond to security officials’ requests to stop, was apprehended and accused of scattering anti-Abercrombie literature within the mall. One of the security officials retrieved a flyer from the first floor of the mall and presented it to the police, noting that there were no group affiliations written on the flyer. He noted the website address: http://www.boycottaf.com, and the police officer asked the apprehended student if it the group had made the website. The student said she was not aware of who had created the website. Later, this student was cited for disorderly conduct. A group of students who had participated in the chanting were also questioned and later released.