May

Racist T-Shirts: Obama Protests – Curious George Litigation

admin

Barrack Obama, Curious George, Georgia, T-Shirts, US Primaries, racist t-shirt, usa

There’s one t-shirt designer on the planet facing possible litigation like we’ve never seen before. Forget dodgy unlicensed movie and band tees, forget T-Shirt Hell, this is probably the dumbest idea anyone ever had. “I know, I will openly slur a potential Presidential candidate with racist dogma, and bring down the might of Houghton Mifflin’s legal team over copyright infringement.” A racist and incompetent in the legal ramifications of intellectual copyright, bar owner Mike Norman has been selling his wares at his bar.

I doubt it will be long before the bar is up for sale to cover Mr. Norman’s court costs, but way beyond that is the negative attention it will bring him, his bar (for now), his customers (for now), and even the name of Cobb County will be dragged down in the anti-racist backlash of the world media. I wonder if he’ll wait for the summons before he stops selling them? I somehow doubt it. Ignorance breeds ignorance, I’m not American, I’m not black, but I can relate to a man like Barack Obama far, far more than I could ever understand a guy like Mike Norman.

I’m sure Mr. Norman can blame his upbringing, nurture over nature as they say, perhaps every single person he knows in Cobb County is also a racist. Perhaps the whole county, though I very much doubt this, you just have to see the results of the Primaries* But to openly sell racist clothing seems tantamount to incitement to me. I wonder if the local authorities would’ve turned a blind eye for so long if perhaps I sold some “Kill the Whitey’s” t-shirts down in Cobb County, I’m sure I’d be dead within five minutes, the problem is, even if it was in a predominantly black area, the cops would surely shut my bar down in a day. There’s a two-tier system at work, it isn’t unique to America, and it isn’t unique to colour or creed.

To offend the moral majority, expect that majority (however much of a local minority) to protest, and do it loudly. The problem is that the authorities at large don’t like protesters, they would rather we didn’t use our rights as individuals and citizens of our respective countries (unless it is a protest against another country of government). Parliament Square in London, is right by the Houses of Parliament, the seat of political power for Britain – asides the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish regional governmental bodies. It is the only place in the country where you can expect to see politicians walking by you as you shout and wave placards, as is your right). The Labour Government took the opportunity to ban public protest in Parliament Square in 2005 – however Gordon Brown the UK P.M has just announced a repeal of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act for his next Queen’s Speech.

The flip-side of Free Speech is that those with a constitutional right can say anything they want no matter if it is true, or incites violence or hate crimes. There are ways to prosecute these cases indirectly with anti-terror and slander lawsuits, however it is essentially the price to be paid for freedom. Some argue that we shouldn’t bring attention to heretics and racists, it will only help their cause. Those who are converted by the words of a fanatic already agreed before they’d heard the full argument. T-Shirts can Feed The World, they can dazzle your friends, they can express a cornucopia of artistic and political content, they can also start fights, and I expect there will eventually be quite a few tussles in Peachtree in the near future.

Governments sanction countries, people can do the same with businesses, towns, even cities. I’m not suggesting a worldwide boycott of Cobb County, or even Mulligan’s, I doubt 99% of the world will ever visit the place, but for those who do, consider avoiding buying any of the local fashions. Sadly the orders are pouring in and Mr. Norman already has an order for 100 of his racist t-shirts by a guy in New Jersey. Who knows, perhaps someone will do the same to Clinton and McCain, though I very much doubt it, this is a race issue, it doesn’t matter what colour you are, it matters only if you understand persecution.

If Mike wants to make a political point, please spell it out for us, I suspect it is more likely a publicity stunt to attract like-minded customers from the Georgia area. If I’m writing about him, if thousands of others are doing the same, Mr. Norman must have the most famous bar in Cobb County right now. Some people say all publicity is good publicity, I’m not so sure it will apply this time, remember that Georgia voted by two thirds for Barack at the Primaries.

* Georgia Primary Results

Barack Obama – 704,247 – 66.39%

Mike Huckabee – 326,069 - 34%

Imagine how many Georgians will be fuming at the negative media attention right now!

Watch footage of anti-racist protests outside Mulligan’s Bar.