Even after the 2013 college football season has ended, another misguided T-shirt message reared its ugly head.
Briefly.
Gamedayr.com reported that a presumed Texas Longhorns football fan was, perhaps, trying to celebrate the hiring of Charlie Strong as head coach by promoting his likeness on a burnt orange T-shirt.
The message read "BLACK IS THE NEW BROWN," with Longhorns coming out of the "B" and "K" in "BLACK."
The item was being sold for $19.95 on Etsy, but was taken down quickly. The accompanying description with the T-shirt called for Longhorns fans to "celebrate Charlie Strong's arrival in style:"
"After 16 years as head coach of the Longhorns, Mack Brown is stepping down to make way for Charlie Strong as the new head coach. Celebrate Charlie Strong's arrival in style."
Apparently, the message was trying to highlight the fact that Strong became the school's first African-American head coach, replacing former coach Mack Brown, but the message was met with disapproval.
"It's stuff like this that, according to NPR, gave Strong pause when offered the Texas job. Edith Royal, wife of the late, great Darryl K. Royal, called Strong and urged him to take the position," Yahoo! Sports' Graham Watson wrote. "Royal's 1969 team was the last all-white national championship squad. Tight end Julius Whittier became the first African-American to play for the Longhorns in 1970 and the landscape of the school was changed forever.
"It was further changed with the hiring of Strong.
"But as this ill-advised T-shirt shows, everyone everywhere still has a long way to go."
Extramustard.si.com added, "Of course this one shirt is hardly an indication of the attitudes of the entire school, but the fact remains that Charlie Strong is Texas' first ever African-American head football coach, so misguided displays such as this one seem especially troubling."
Meanwhile, a blog from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's website defended the T-shirt:
"All right, before the PC police get all bent out of shape let's do the right thing here and do everything possible to explain why this is absolutely not racist. Because, remember, if we talk about why this shirt might be racist that would definitely be racist.
"First of all, the shirt clearly is a play on the name of Strong's predecessor, Mack Brown. Sure, "Black" doesn't have anything to do with Strong's name but that doesn't mean it's about his race, either. And even if it is about his race the guy is black and so maybe this shirt is meant to celebrate that achievement with a punny shirt."
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