Staff editorial

Undress racism

  The Asian-American-themed Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirts were blatant examples of racism. Customers of all ethnicities should boycott the company that allowed the shirts to be marketed and such insults to be manufactured.

We commend the Organization of Chinese Americans for forcing the company to remove the line of T-shirts. But it was really the students and youths, who are the company's target customers, who spoke out and made a difference. Many Stanford students wrote complaints to the company and UW's Chia-Chi Li organized the Saturday protest and helped create a boycott Web site. Customers always know best.

Michael S. Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, should be very sorry that this line of T-shirts was allowed to get on the shelves. That it was allowed is a sign that there is something lacking in the structure and review process of the company.

The online auction site eBay has the right approach: The site has been taking the listings for the T-shirts -- one bid went as high as $250 -- because they violated its ban on any items that promote racism.

Jeffries should issue a written apology and guarantee that this type of racism will not happen in the future. Until that has happened and steps are made within the corporation to address those concerns, shoppers cannot expect to trust Abercrombie and Fitch to practice good ethics. Students should sign the petition available on www.boycott-af.com and boycott the clothing company.