O.K. is it me or is this odd (Obama t-shirt)

[vi5]

I was at a mall this weekend and there was a shirt stand. And it had a ton of Obama shirts. Every single one was a pro-Obama shirt. There were no McCain shirts and there was nothing else even remotely negative towards Obama on display at the stand at all.

But amidst all of them was one of Obama that had huge frizzy hair a-la Buckwheat and it said "Obama.......Otay!".

I mean maybe it's my age but isn't Buckwheat pretty much up there with Amos and Andy and Steppen Fetchit (sp?) as a simple of horrible racial stereotypes? If this were in the middle of other anti-Obama or pro-McCain garb then I could see it being intended negatively and would have just shaken my head and been disgusted and moved on to whatever else I was doing. But since it wasn't I wasn't sure if it was just a gross miscalculation or what the deal was.

In any event I found it very odd and disconcerting, probably even more so than if it HAD been part of some display or grouping of things that were also offensive.

[tosh]

1. It's not you.

[MNDemNY]

2. Being a huge Buckwheat fan, I laud his endorsment. O-Tay!!!

[Poll_Blind]

3. Sounds like an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt.

PB

[grace0418]

4. Is in reference to the popularity (some years back) of the Eddie Murphy impersonation

of Buckwheat?

It's still a bit odd.

[Occam Bandage]

5. Sounds like an attempt at a joke, with no particular political motivation.

[vi5]

9. That's kind of where I netted out on it...

..mostly because of the context of all the other material on display. Plus, like I said it may be one of those things that because I grew up with it and hearing about all the Bill Cosby buying the rights to Little Rascals, and also Eddie Murphy lampooning it that maybe I'm hyperaware of the potential contexts.

But I think in the end you're right. Just a silly shirt with no insidious underlying motivation.

[TlalocW]

6. It could be ironic

Like if there were a Macacas for Obama shirt. Or more relevant, a shirt that says, I'm for 'That One.' Using the racism or perceived racism of the other side and throwing it back in their face, not letting them forget their past slurs, by putting it on a shirt.

But then, what the hell do I know?

TlalocW

[AllentownJake]

7. I just got a THAT ONE 08 Shirt

and my friend just made this one is voting for that one shirts.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Where'd you get it at?

[AllentownJake]

12. link

http://www.thatone08.com/

[EstimatedProphet]

13. Thanks! I like!

[ElboRuum]

8. But there was nothing else there to that effect, right?

If so, I'd call it clumsy and ill-conceived but otherwise innocent.

[vi5]

11. Yeah, not at all...

That's why I found it weird. The stand was practically pro-Obama central. And it was in an area of Northern NJ with a large African American population as well so it's a solidly blue pro-Obama area.