Loyal, Strong, True, aaaaand Racist

Gooooooo, Mighty Cou-gars!

The 2013 Holy War is upon us, Cougar & U of U fans! It's time to [appropriately] show our school spirit in anticipation of the last, rivalry game for two years. (View it: Saturday at 8:15pm on ESPN2.) BYU's student body is getting especially excited, as evidenced by some of the new shirts seen around campus. One particularly bright, BYU tee stood out to me, as I was strolling up the ramp by the Tanner building. At a distance, it read Loyal, Strong and True—the mantra from the BYU Cougar fight song. But as I neared Asian wearer, I noticed that the "L" in Loyal had been replaced with the letter "R" for Royal.

Justification Preface

Before I continue, you should know that I had just spent the afternoon reading an article on cultural competency, which cited examples (and non-examples) of how designers of global instructional materials need to be sensitive to language and cultural differences, which might impede instruction.

The Racist Part

Maybe it was the happy-go-lucky smile on this Asian kid's face that triggered it for me, but when I read "Royal" instead of "Loyal," I busted up laughing. "This kid is brilliant!" I thought. I was in awe of the creativity and humor required to produce a personalized shirt that poked fun at the linguistic stereotypes surrounding his Asian heritage, while at the same time, acknowledging BYU's classic-blue heritage. Additionally, the shirt looked like it was professionally done; he'd obviously spent a lot of time and money on his creation. Simply witnessing that moment, absolutely made my day!

Resolution

As I was walked between my classes the next day, my little inside joke was turned on it's head when I saw a Caucasian, female freshman wearing the SAME SHIRT! I crossed heavy pedestrian-traffic to interrogate her. She politely informed me that instead of a "black out" for this year's rivalry game, BYU had decided to invite all the BYU fans to wear royal blue. This shirt was on sale at the bookstore for $25. Oh well; it was fun while it lasted!

p.s. Happy International Talk-like-a-Pirate Day!

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