Courtesy Jeff endoza Students from GU and other universities stage the first D.C. protest against Abercrombie & Fitch, which has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for a line of T-shirts protestors allege are racist.

Students from Georgetown and area universities protested Abercrombie & Fitch’s new line of Asian-themed T-shirts in a demonstration held in front of the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Wisconsin Ave. Friday afternoon. Principal organizer Linda Jong (NHS ’03) said students have held similar demonstrations across the country, but this was the first Washington, D.C., protest against what participants said was a racist and offensive line of clothing.

“The line of clothing Abercrombie produced recently includes T-shirts that present negative stereotypes about Asian Americans,” student protester Brian Redondo (COL ’05) said. “Its caricatures are blatantly insensitive and poke fun at the struggle of Asian American immigrants and the way they speak.”

Five T-shirts were marketed in Abercrombie’s retails stores, Web site and catalogue. One featured the slogan, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs can make it white,” while another contains jokes about Buddha.

Approximately 50 student activists met in Red Square Friday to make posters and then walked down to Abercrombie & Fitch at Georgetown Park Mall. The protesters were informed they could not assemble in front of the store because it was privately owned, Jeff endoza (COL ’04) said, resulting in the move to the Wisconsin Ave. store, which sells the children’s line.

Although Abercrombie pulled the shirts off of shelves April 18, student groups around the country have formed the National Boycott Abercrombie Campaign to push for an end to what its official Web site calls the “reinforcement of negative stereotypes.” Jong said the protestors’ demands included a public apology from the company’s chief executive officer and the inception of an educational advertisement campaign promoting diversity.

“We made the decision to stop selling those shirts because we did not mean to cause offense,” customer service manager Tom Goulet said in an April 19 Washington Post article. Store employees from the Wisconsin Ave. store declined to comment, saying they have been instructed to forward questions or comments to a general hotline.

Demonstrators held signs, chanted and marched for about an hour and a half. Across the street, other students solicited signatures from passing shoppers for a petition demanding an apology from Abercrombie. “The goal of the protest was to show Asian Americans unifying to combat racism and celebrate Asian heritage,” Mendoza said. “We want to educate people who don’t know [about the shirts] and stop it from ever happening again.”

Protestors included students from Georgetown, University of aryland, George Washington University and American University.

The Metropolitan Police Department was present at the demonstration as a precautionary measure.

“The shirts were not only offensive to Asian Americans but it’s also necessary to recognize racism when we see it,” Grace said. “The police were extremely supportive and actually signed our petition.”

Jong said the protests would probably continue periodically until demands were met. “We’ve got a long battle ahead of us,” she said at the end of the protest. “This is something we’ll keep working towards.”