5.11.2004

Not to keep posting about t-shirts, but...okay. So I was walking to my Elephant Larry Emergency Meeting (don't worry, it was all about good stuff) and I was passing through St. Mark's Place, where all the tchotchke stores are. Now, if you don't know, these stores basically exist to fill your every novelty/pseudo-rebellious/pseudo-offensive need, from funny sunglasses and wigs to skull rings to shirts celebrating punk rock or the idea that you actually fucked the t-shirt observer's mom. In any case, I usually casually browse the t-shirts as I walk down the street, never really seeing anything new, but this one caught my eye. It was a black t-shirt with the statue of liberty on it, and it said "Welcome to America. Now Speak English." Okay. Fine. Not the most friendly shirt in the world, but the hitch is that every single last one of these novelty are owned by immigrants.
And granted, they do speak english, but damn if that shirt really isn't anti-immigrant at its core. And it's being sold by recent immigrants. I just can't quite imagine the storeowner perusing a catalog (or however they go about picking shirts that say "Fuck You You Fucking Fuck)and being all "Yes. That's the shirt I would like to sell in my store." Curious.

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