Illustration by Cody Angell

I have never owned a piece of Abercrombie & Fitch clothing.

And frankly, I never will.

Sounds a bit harsh ÷ but not after the release of A & Fâs latest line of ãfunä T-shirts that were emblazoned with cartoon characters with slanted eyes and conical hats accompanying statements such as ãWong Brothers Laundry Service: Two wongs can make it white,ä ãPizza Dojo: Eat in or wok outä and ãBuddha Bash: Get your Buddha on the floor.ä

The clothing company that targets college-age students pulled the shirts from its stores around the country last week amid protests in front of A & F stores from Asian American groups. I commend the West Coast and East Coast college students and the San Francisco community for demanding an apology.

ãWeâre very, very, very sorry,ä A & F spokesman Hampton Carney said. ãItâs never been our intention to offend anyone.ä

Even if the shirts do not display direct racial slurs, the messages still sting. Chinese culture has been increasingly viewed as an American fad in recent years with clothing, accessories and tattoos. Appreciation of a culture is okay, but exploiting an ancient culture into a trend is disrespectful.

It pains me to see my Chinese American culture as pop culture ÷ when did it become cool to clothe yourself with a hip item that is culturally demoralizing?

ãThey depicted Asian Americans in dehumanizing and very stereotypical ways, ways that showed disrespect toward Asian Americans,ä said Dennis Arguelles, assistant director of the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California Los Angeles. ãThey are always looking for new ways to capitalize on cultural images. Thereâs nothing particularly wrong with that, but when it stereotypes a whole race of people, thatâs unacceptable.ä

Of course, some have argued that Chinese Americans lack a sense of humor. Others say itâs just a T-shirt.

Well, itâs not. These statements are a symbolic gesture that pushes Chinese Americans back more than 100 years, when they first arrived in this country as railroad workers, farmers, laundry owners, restaurant waiters and grocers.

Although many are unaware that the Chinese Americans have been in the United States for several generations, even fewer recognize the harsh racism the Chinese faced while making their homes here.

The first substantial group of Chinese immigrants came during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s. Resentment grew when the Chinese were accused of stealing jobs. Immigration was temporarily banned when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which remained in effect until World War II.

Tucson was not free from this type of discrimination either. Whites and Hispanics misunderstood the early Chinese settlers who spoke, dressed and ate differently. The Chinese were used as cheap labor to build the part of the Southern Pacific railroad connecting Yuma to Casa Grande and then Tucson. Others who stayed after the railroad was built ran laundries and grocery stores in town despite anti-Chinese leagues that sprouted in Arizona cities in the 1880s.

As for Chinese Americans not taking a joke, well A & F should learn how to pun. Two wongs can make it white? I have no idea what that means. It takes two Chinese to do something right? Two Chinese people equal a white person? Huh? Sounds offensive though. Pizza Dojo: Eat in or wok out, this does not make sense either. A dojo is a room in which karate or aikido is taught. A wok is a pan for frying or steaming. So should people eat a hot, delicious meal in a martial arts room? Good idea; Iâll try that at my party this weekend.

Buddha Bash: Get your Buddha on the floor. Pardon me, but shirts printed with ãGet your Jesus on the floorä or ãGet your Allah on the floorä would never make it to a major chain store.

For too long, Chinese Americans, along with other Asian Americans, have sat on the sidelines of mainstream society, dismissing the discrimination or suffering in silent vengeance.

Todayâs Chinese Americans are seen as the model minority ÷ the successful minority group that goes to college, gets good jobs, buys nice homes and cars. But that picturesque ãAmerican Dreamä story has cracks. The lack of Chinese Americans in positions of power ÷ in politics, top businesses, media, the list goes on ÷ is dreadful. This group has trouble shattering the glass ceiling.

We need to stand up for ourselves. It is time to take the more than 100 years of silent opposition and bang our fists against the windows of A & F.

Thereâs still much work to do in achieving equality and getting the respect we deserve. Making T-shirts that throw us back into another century is regressive and does not jibe with the idea that all Americans are treated equally.