Another unfortunate incident all due to ignorance...

As a life-long Chicago Cubs fan, I always love it when new players make an immediate impact on the team. This is the case with Kosuke Fukudome, one of the newest Cubs hailing from Japan. In order to honor the rising star, many Cubs fans have shown their support of him in various ways. Unfortunately, the manner in which they are "honoring" him is extremely offensive, ignorant, and racist. Below are examples of the apparel:




I realize that none of these people probably realize that what they're doing is racist and really ignorant, but that isn't a justifiable excuse at all. These aren't little kids, these are grown people mocking another race in the most stereotypical ways possible. This is equatable to people going to the game in blackface with some watermelon in support of Derrick Lee. I don't understand why people can't celebrate someone who isn't white without defining them by their race...horrible representations of their race at that. And that is coupled with the fact that Fukudome has even said that most of the signs and apparel he sees aren't even written in correct Japanese or in Japanese at all. So not only are these people being extremely ignorant, they can't even do it correctly.

Fukudome has said that he appreciates the "support" from the fans, but how could he not say that? Do you think he would be well received if he said the fans are extremely ignorant and offensive? No.

I'm getting increasingly tired of ignorance being used as an excuse to do offensive and racist things. If you don't know about someone's culture or about them as a person, then don't go and perpetuate ridiculous stereotypes about them and later say you didn't know any better. Do some research, please. As they say, ignorance is bliss. These fans are in heaven.