T-shirt protest should be civil

A recent controversy over several Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts hit home recently. \nA new line of shirts the clothing company produced portrayed Asians and Asian-Americans in an unfavorable light.\nOne T-shirt even displayed the phrase: "Two wongs can make it white," -- a slight modification from the old "two wongs can't make a white" racial joke, Asian Student Union senior chairperson Christopher Chan said.\nDue to an overwhelming response from the Asian and Asian-American population, Abercrombie & Fitch and online bidding agency Ebay have both removed the T-shirts from their shelves.\nThe Asian Student Union has done an admirable job in expressing its disapproval of the shirts through writing letters and even visiting local store locations. And while Abercrombie & Fitch has yet to issue a formal statement, spokesperson Hampton Carney has expressed publicly his condolences to the Asian and Asian-American communities. \nHowever, some Bloomington community members have not been so civil in their protests. Reports have come from Abercrombie & Fitch's College Mall location that protestors have gone so far as to spit on a store manager, said IU sophomore Ryan Parks, a local Abercrombie stock room manager.\nThis type of behavior seems contrary to what protestors are trying to accomplish. If problems arose due to offensive material on a T-shirt, would it not seem inappropriate to answer such an offense with an offense?\nOffensive material can be found everywhere -- a variety of social classes, races and both sexes are denigrated daily in advertisements and apparel. Playboy apparel, while not outwardly or visually offensive, makes reference to a magazine that many women find offensive. A number of companies, such as BadWool or MeanTees, exist for the sole purpose of creating offensive material that many find humorous.\nThe ASU has done the right thing in calmly expressing their offense with Abercrombie & Fitch with great civility.\nPeople have every right to be offended at such material, the response to such should never warrant further vicious action. Employees of Abercrombie & Fitch who were not directly involved in the creation of shirts should not be made to suffer for the actions of their company.\nAs long as people keep their protests civil, this unfortunate situation will be resolved to the best of both parties' abilities.\nStaff vote: unanimous