First submission. C&C welcomed. Very little explanation to offer.

-onomatopizza.

this is great...... Maybe put the name"Shame of a Nation" in the banner...... maybe

Abe....you could've called...

abe needs a trucker hat...

hilarious, but i would never, ever wear it.

is kitschy abraham lincoln the new panda?

i should have gone with my instincts and used james k. polk.

AAAAH MY EYES!

good idea dirthead

This should replace the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo.
In fact, thats what you should write in the banner.
"Pabst Blue Ribbon"
I'd never wear this either.
But it's fun to think about drinking out of a can with this on it.

I would wear this with pride.
Very nice
Very funny
No wonder he never calls me anymore.
Good Luck Abe.

U sick MOFO its great!

abe's a little off-centre.

ha ha ha,,, i love it,,, who make him pregnant? fill the banner (ribbon) please!,,,

OH YES PLEASE 5 and buy. A great portrait of a great President.

I gotta say this is pretty much perfect. I would love to wear it, and hope I get to. I do think that you should put the title 'shame of a nation' in the banner, it is what makes you stop and think. Tnen you realize that this shirt isn't just a funny graphic, but an interesting commentary on America's inner cities. Very thought provoking.

i agree about putting "shame of a nation" in the banner....it deffinitely needs to have something in there, and i think your title just happens to be the perfect statement to go there
totally rad, i will absolutely purchase this one
please print.

DOPE. I would wear it. very original and a cleand design

HOLY MOLY THIS IS GREAT!!!!!

In America I would've worn it...or perhaps not, the NRA might get onto me...

wow, this has to be printed, I love the weirdness that would make people tell you that your wearing a weird shirt, hah.

thats gross

dont need the gun...just hold his belly

The gun is what finishes the statement. I think it is necessary. otherwise it is just a pregnant abe lincoln... now THAT doesn't make sense.

Much like cancer on wheels only much much better. Definitly a great shirt.

Abe Lincoln the "shame of a nation?" Pinch me, this has got to be some sick-ass joke…

suckrpnch- what do you mean this design is "an interesting commentary on America's inner cities"?

Are you trying to make the ludicrous claim that all of the nation's "major problems," as you see them (gun use, urban crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and non-whites) stem from Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves almost 150 years ago? Seriously, what century are you living in, sucker?

This shirt is disgusting and fucked up on so many different levels it’s hard to put it to words.

Please don't give tell me you honestly are naive enough to buy into the 'Gone with the Wind' bullshit, that slavery put those “uppity” blacks in their place to give the whites more time to sip martinis, play polo, and fall in love with their own sick white supremacist delusions of grandeur.

onomatopizza- Why don't you quit borrowing from elitist power games and scapegoating the powerless and try to focus on the people who are really fucking us over in society, the bosses, the bible-thumpers, and the bureaucrats. That includes every arrogant fucker with authority that tries to run our lives, subjugate and exploit us, or manipulate our small-minded fears and prejudices in the pursuit of profit, piety, or politics.

And please don't cop out and tell me, the design is "just a joke" or that you had “no clue” what you meant when you made this cleverly racist shirt, it obviously took a lot of time to plan this elaborate design out. If you weren’t having second thoughts, why else would you have joked about putting the expansionist president James K. Polk under the "shame of the nation" title instead of Lincoln or how, in the end, you decided against putting this inflammatory title on the actual shirt blueprint?

I’m eagerly looking forward to your response... or should I say rationalization and blunt dismissal of my point of view?

jesus, corporate_puppet, reading too much into it? that said, this is funny but i wouldn't wear it. just... too weird.

anstidentprone,

I peeked your website and you seem to think critically about most things, you of all people should have your guard up against this kind of stereotypical bullshit. In order to learn anything, you have to measure people’s motives for why they do things.

Ever consider for a second that maybe you're being too credulous and not analyzing the piece enough? Sure the message is steeped in subtlety, but that's what makes it so powerful and dangerous.

In an age where racism is considered taboo, people with questionable agendas will highjack humor to put across bigoted ideas that will make us laugh by playing on unspoken prejudices.

Remember how suckrpnch responded: "stop and think. Then you realize that this shirt isn't just a funny graphic, but an interesting commentary on America's inner cities." The fact that anyone else is reading something into the shirt instead of dismissing it as 'silly fun' proves my point in spades.

Nothing could illustrate this better than a quote from everyone's favorite fascist and lively commentator on the world’s complicated “race problem.”

"How fortunate for leaders that men do not think." - Adolf Hitler

p.s.- people didn't take Hitler's dumbass theories seriously either and look what happened...

p.p.s- Here's an open call right now for either onomatopizza or suckrpnch, or anyone else to offer a seriously analytical interpretation of the "point" or "comment" this design is driving at. And to say "it's just a stupid design, who cares, it's funny, lighten up already" is nothing more than a cop-out act of surrender to mindless indifference, so piss off!

you should have written 'baberaham lincon' in the banner.

this shirt scares me a little. a little creepy, no? well, anyway...if you go around flauting this shirt, there's a big chance that some racial advocate is gonna make your day. and there's no doubt in my mind that people will stare endlessly...

Dear Corporate_Puppet:

Forgive the brevity of this response as keyboards in France are weird and cost too much to get into too much depth. (stupid french... (sub-parentheses: oh noes! am i in trouble again?))

I'm flattered that you looked so deeply into my "design" (aka: a couple bored hours at the computer). That said, MAYBE lighten up a bit? Okay, I know that's out of the question, but know that your paranoia frightens me in my tingly bits and i hope you have yet to get my address off the !!int3rnetz!!omglol!!!&!

I simply refuse to make a serious reply to your comment. Punk's dead you dick.

Yours!
onomatopizza

P.S. What the hell is "expansionist" and who the hell is "James K. Polk"? I don't listen to country...

Post-Script part deux:

I celebrate "mindless indifference" everyday of my life. Thank you for standing up and taking note, good citizen!

yay angry!
onomatopizza

onomatopizza-

Let me guess... You're two favorite classes in college had to be- Evading Critical Analysis 210 and Character Assassination 101? Am I right? Too bad these kinds of tactics do little but confirm the fact that you are pretty insecure about the passively prejudiced project you "knocked out in a couple of bored hours at your computer."

I'm glad you finally mustered the courage to respond to my posts. As for clarifying your intentions however, you're anti-intellectual rhetoric and categorical denials have done little but to add to my perception that this piece was done either but a very clever-minded closet-racist or someone with good intentions who is just too myopic to see what’s the fuck is in right in front of them.



Sorry if I came off as a bit harsh, but it infuriates me that so many people failed to connect the dots on this one.

Best of luck on your next submission, for your sake, I hope it's something completely apolitical so I don't have to use my "paranoid” intellect and deconstruct your supposedly neutral shirts.

p.s.- Who mentioned the 'country singer' James K. Polk? onomatopizza, at 8:54 pm on Jan 17, 2005 said "i should have gone with my instincts and used james k. polk.”

p.p.s.- It may sound strange but I completely agree with you about punk! The beauty of the genre it is that it's been dead ever since the first wave of wankers like the Clash and Sex Pistols smelled the cash and sold their fans down the line for posh swimming pools and lines of cocaine after shows. This initial act of signing with Majors to promote “revolution” and commodifying everything they once stood for in the process, made way for the talentless music puppets of today.

The only difference I can see is that before, the sell-out bands pretended to have something to say whereas today, mainstream corporate-controlled punk is often speedier versions of the whiney clichéd love songs and tripe almost every other “artist” on eMTyV is crooning about. In this way, it’s even less of a danger to the system than in the 1980's.

So to answer your question, yes I believe punk is categorically deceased, been so for about 25 years actually, the turning point being when all of the original “pioneer bands” became narcissistic c(r)ock stars, mere shams of what they once were and stood for. To quote the the underground punk legend Crass, sang in 1979, these commercial fuckers who were just out to make a buck became "just another cheap product for the consumer's head."

That's a wonderful, if unnecessary analysis of punk. If i came off as anti-intellectual, allow me to assure you it was only for your benefit. as for further analysis of my contribution, i don't feel that flogging this dead horse could possiby do anything productive. No offense, but you pretty much took it to a ridiculous level, which i appreciate, even if it's misguided.

as for mustering the courage to respond, it took approximately none. i rarely am intimidated on the internet. However, intercontinental flight makes internet access difficult. But it was glorious to read your responses , and gave my friends and i several minutes of enjoyment. then we realized we were laughing about an internet post or two, stopped, and became real people agin. Please continue, though... perhaps suckrpunch could put together a very in-depth response almost as creative as yours.

by the way, would it clarify the piece if you knew abe was pregnant with clint eastwood at its inception? chew on that guy and respond.

Oh the plight of the inner city abe. Yes. I do agree that this shirt is racist. this is the most racist thing i have never seen. It is obvious to me now. First off, what I had NOT noticed at first glance is the fact that Abe is carrying a little brown baby in her underwear. Which is obviously there to signify to signify his his dislike of midgets. OMG!

Also. What has not been disgussed is the obvious and imense anti feminist sexist messages in this shirt. The barbie doll figure for starters. and then the fact that the artist has gone and thrown a mans head on a female body, signifying that being a woman is not good enough.

I really think that the most disgusting aspect is the fact that punk rock died and nobody invited me to the funeral. You are all elitist bastards.

Will somebody PLEASE shave abe's armpits?! that is just plain gross.

Also. The gun. It has been made aware to me by the little people who mow my lawn that the use of the "gun" and it's precise placement is there to comment on the percieved idea of desire on the part of women today, particularly in america, to be equiped with the genitalia of a man. This is also known as "penis envy". Of course the main benefit of this genitalia is the ability to urinate whilst standing. I am now finding that this shirt could be about the plight of the woman in the workforces of the late 20th/21st century. Illustrating the subdoed to desire to be able to make in what is often refered to as "a man's world." Putting on a mask of masculinity while not being able to escape the trappings of being a woman.

Man we were all way off with that racists thing. What would i do without my illegal imigrants?

You know, I've been thinking this for awhile, and I'm honestly curious if anyone sees anything racist in the design itself, or is it simply the inclusion of Lincoln?

Perhaps my point behind this had to do with playing with the unexpected? Revusion and surprise were the main emotions that I was seeking to envoke in people.

So...I've been reading this banter for the last couple of minutes. Wow.

I think I have to applaud Onomatopizza for conjuring up something so controversial. I think art is pretty amazing when it can rile up someone's emotions as well as did in this string of comments.

As for Corporate_Puppet, I think you might be seeing what you want to see. But then, that's all opinion is, isn't it? What you think.
I think it's funny and stirring. I do not think it's racist in any way. Abe accomplished a lot more and STANDS for a lot more than just what the race issue has left him.
I don't think your thoughts are 'paranoid' or even invalid, but you seem very intense.
You are missing something here however. We still live in a land of choice. You can choose to get pregnant, you can choose to own a gun and you can choose how to live your life.
Onomatopizza chose this way to express himself and express a thought, as benign or malevolent as it may be.

Laugh it up, sucker... No amount of backpedaling or reactionary 'humor' will save you now.

It was funny to notice that whenever you weren't being directly criticized you were deadly serious about your dittohead-inspired claims... Now, you must feel threatened on some level so you've decided to use humor as a buffer to diffuse the situation, make yourself look like less of an asshole, and discredit the valid ideas of the critics at the same time without actually having to come up with your own. Works like a charm huh?

Too bad, you're still a ass-backwards joke to me...

As for you, 'toneisdead,' I checked out your website and I thought you’d like to know I'm really impressed... As for your post on threadless…well let’s just say, it must be hard to write 3 whole passages of text and say absolutely nothing at all at the same time. Then again you’re probably practiced at the fine art of neutrality with all the time you spend pimping out your energies to Circuit City and other money-hungry corporations bent on commodifying the latest “cool designer trend.” I hate to say it buddy, but you’re a prostitute to big business. Trust me, stick with designing cause reason and intellectual wordplay are definitely not your area of expertise.

You miss my point entirely when you say, Lincoln accomplished more than just the "race issue'. That may be true, but freeing the slaves remains one of the key events that he is remembered by. To refuse to accept that fact is a dishonest denial of history, my friend. As for your patriotic rant at the end of your post about America being a place where we are free to “get pregnant, own a gun, and live our lives,” I mean, who the fuck can argue with that logic? I suppose your right on some level, people here have "the right to choose" to be callous fucking jerks if they really want to be, they have the right to selfishly overpopulate this planet, let their kids shoot up the schools with their weapons, and best of all, Uncle Sam even gives you every right in the world to make shirts poking fun at the man who liberated those stupid "porch-monkeys”… It’s the goddamn AMERIKKKAN WAY!

But really the point of freedom (actual freedom, not the coke-or-pepsi americanized distortion) is to simultaneously expand the scope of human freedom to everyone while ensuring that it isn’t or used to denigrate, degrade or oppress groups or individuals in our society, especially those with less power to respond. For example, way back in what Suckerpunch might hypothetically consider the “good ol’ days,” slave-owners considered it their innate “freedom” to own, exploit, and abuse other human beings in the quest for never-ending profits, even though the merit of this “freedom” was questionable at best. You see, freedom is not the ability to wrap yourself in an ol’ glory blankey and shout “I’m free to shit on anyone I want to, this piece of cloth is my free pass to do so” while sucking on your thumb.

I guess what it allreally comes down to is where do you to draw the line? Should we allow racists a free podium to spew their poisonous vitriol, even under the guise of ‘art’ or ‘free-speech’, when they would deny that same basic right to others if they were ever in control? And what will it take before you quit straddling your lily-white picket fence and open your myopic star-spangled eyes to the bigger picture?

And last but not least, onomatopizza, I’m glad my posts have been a source of amusement for you and your friends. I'm also happy to know you've thrown a few more adjectives on the bonfire to dismiss me (let's see… there’s paranoid, misguided, and now ridiculous!) Do I smell something burning? Oh yeah, it’s your lack of intelligible argument... you might wanna put that out real quick.

It's much easier to cut a person down than to deal with their ideas, you know that... Why else would you throw out that call to see if anyone else thought your design was racist so late in the game? I appreciate you letting your guard down and having second thoughts about the piece, although it seems that while you gradually went from silly to serious in your posts, the one-two set-up you left for sucker has allowed him go from a calm and conservative advocate of your work to a guy who goes for the cliched "let's point and laugh at the oversensitive guy" routine that our Rush Limbaugh obsessed, Fox News culture seems to get such a kick out of.

As far as the title of this design, I still think that it is really what made me begin to question your motives on this. To understand my perspective, just imagine a shirt that had a picture of Lincoln with the title "Shame of a Nation" on it and try to picture the kind of visceral reaction you might have to it. Without the gun, the tattoo, and the full-bellied pregnant absurdities, I bet you could find something very similar to this at your nearest Civil War reenactment meeting or Klan gathering a way down yonder in mentally deficient dixieland...Just for this fact, I would take a step back and explore where you were really going with this... The absurdity is fine, but why the implied racism? That's the final nail in the coffin for me, that’s what made me speak up in the first place…

So now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, and responded to all three of you, I guess it’s time for me to step back to let you unleash the dogs!

oh i am a corporate_puppet. i know more than everyone else. i am soooooooo smart. acknowledge that i am smart. everyone bow down to how smart and REAL punk rock i am. i listen to bands that are REAL and you haven't heard of because i am better than you... i use words like vitriol to sound even smarter. don't i sound smart... don't i?...

What are you 12?

I was joking from square one dumbass.

let me be serious for a moment. Springtime the only pretty ring time. birds sing, "hey ding. ading. ading." sweet lovers love - the spring.

but seriously. the fact is that looking at the shirt "Without the gun, the tattoo, and the full-bellied pregnant absurdities" is futile. Because... i know that this might be hard for you orphaned ass to deal with, but they are there.

and to wrap up. The work that grand-dragon onomatopizza has developed here is a pile of rascist, sexist, anit-homosexual banter. this should clearly be censored as that is the american way.

ps. corporate_puppet, I think you are a comic genius. keep up the good work.

i dunno. i think that corprate puppet has some good points here.
DUDE! can you give me a link to your live journal blog?
i wanna read some more.

I’d like to apologize for my earlier comment, puppet. It’s really easy for one to be placed on the defensive by your writing style. It’s analogous to using a fire hose to water a plant, when just a watering can will do. And it seems that you decided to turn it on full force.

There is a writer named Susan Sontag who once said, " Camp is bad to the point of being laughable but not to the point of being enjoyable." I think that in this case your perspective maybe a little out of whack, and you seem to be using this post forum (which is intended to be used for the critic of t-shirt designs and has somehow transformed into the ground zero political ideology battle ground between you and others) to push your view upon a whole crew of people that, while I'm sure that all of them are at least semi-conscious of some of the indecencies that are occurring the rest of the world, don't feel particularly passionate about them at this time. And they sure as hell aren't going to be changed by something that they read on a GODDAMN THREADLESS POST FORUM!
I view this t-shirt design simply as an attempt at humor that will fade off into the gray field of the other thousands of submissions within the coming days.

so... this shirt isn't going to get printed is it? damnit. I want to wear it.

Oh, leave him alone you guys... i was angry and dumb and trying to prove i was smart to everybody when i was 17 too. Not to worry, puppet... it'll pass.

I guess I should thank C_P for the praise of my site, and yes I whore myself out at times to money-hungry corporations. But we all have to bow down every once and awhile, even you. The Amish didn't make that computer you've been feverishly typing on.
I am not a writer, nor claim to be...so if my words are too rudimentary and my point is too broad, hopefully I can chisel it down for you a little.

It's a t-shirt. Not even a t-shirt.....an idea for a t-shirt.

What it sounds like to me is that you are frustrated because you can write a little better than your english teacher and are constantly need ing to prove it.

Come back and see me when you're thirty aand we'll have this conversation again. In the meantime...I think I just heard last bell...you better get to class.

Corporate_puppet:

In truth, I think we’re all glad you took such a strong stance. I’ve never looked forward to reading a threadless post before in my life…I think we’re all looking to see “What is she/he going to say next? Will she/he respond to me in particular??” So in that respect, thank you. I think you’re a wonderful writer and it’s a pleasure to read comments from someone with command of the English language, proper grammar & spelling, and well-conceived responses. It’s not often that I can say that.

However, having said that, I think you may be wasting your time here…it seems like there’s pretty much a stand-still on both sides; this is turning into mud-slinging. It’s a shame, really; but you have to admit, your initial post was pretty provoking. I’ve known onomatopizza for several years, and he’s never been one to avoid speaking about such issues as racism and prejudice…i.e. if you had asked him nicely, I feel confident he would have been much more willing to give you some substantial feedback.

Come on, now…pre-supposing that Suckrpunch might consider slaving-owning the “good ol’ days” or that onomatopizza thinks “slavery put those ‘uppity’ blacks in their place to give the whites more time to sip martinis, play polo, and fall in love with their own sick white supremacist delusions of grandeur”—that’s pretty far-fetched, as well as prejudiced in a reverse fashion. It’s like you’re saying that they are potentially KKK members. Equating apparent prejudice in a tshirt with an underground conspiracy without prior knowledge of the person is going too far. I can understand how you can feel that it’s a prejudiced tshirt; I really can. Unfortunately, since I was present as the design’s inception I can’t really say what I might have thought about it if I had seen it in passing…I’ve always known it was something ridiculous about Abe Lincoln being pregnant with Clint Eastwood (figuring Clint Eastwood is that old) and that Abe is a very protective mother. It didn’t occur to me to think about the design more. Conversely, I don’t think it’s fair that it’s suddenly open war on your thoughts and opinions. That’s not right either.

It’s interesting what you said: “In an age where racism is considered taboo, people with questionable agendas will highjack humor to put across bigoted ideas that will make us laugh by playing on unspoken prejudices.” I think much of what is humorous employs that method: playing on unspoken prejudices. However, I don’t necessarily think that is wrong; in many cases I find it to be a good thing…it allows some kind of dialogue, even if only nonverbal, to occur: it gets this formerly taboo prejudice “out into the open”, simply because the humor makes it suddenly an acceptable topic of discussion. I think you may be confusing this tshirt with subliminal advertising, which is employed by companies to sell products and is generally trying to hide the fact that it’s there; this design is if anything, totally opposite; it’s putting Abe out there, with a gun, pregnant, for the world to see, and contemplate.


You also said: “Why don't you quit borrowing from elitist power games and scapegoating the powerless and try to focus on the people who are really fucking us over in society, the bosses, the bible-thumpers, and the bureaucrats. “That’s good advice, man…without meaning to be cruel, I suggest you follow it. This threadless site is all about individualism and people submitting their own work; it’s as anti-establishment as this sort of thing gets, I think. If you want to attack Starbucks or McDonalds or anything of that kind of nature, a company that really is fucking us all over, I’m behind you 150-fucking-percent. The sort of prejudice and discrimination (concerning African Americans) I really find intolerable is that kind of “ghetto thug crap” that you see all over movies, advertisements (I’m lovin’ it), and MTV. That’s the kind of thing that makes us all powerless because it’s perpetuating something perverse and disgusting that interferes with all of our abilities to be independent.

In sum, I agree with what some others have said about onomatopizza’s design. While I can see where it may be considered racist (since it has obviously been considered thus), I don’t personally find it offensive, and even if I did, I wouldn’t want it to be censored. Censoring an INDEPENDENT tshirt design contest is horrifying to me, and I don’t want to live in a country that would allow for that. Besides…when it comes to discrimination there are much bigger fish to fry.

Racist Bastard.

I'll keep this short, as I'm not feeling particularly long-winded. There was no, I repeat NO, racist intent behind my design. You can feel there was all you want, and that's fine; who am I to stomp all over what you perceive? However, I've simply been trying to help you see my side of this thing.

Absurdity is the key. Understanding that it's supposed to be ridiculous is the key. It's pure and simple random humor, throwing in the untouchable Mr. Lincoln to give it some more punch. That's all. Hell, that could be Tony Danza's head up there for all I care. But Lincoln's so sad and stern, I thought he'd be the perfect mother. Regardless...

At first I might have acted defensively, and for that I apologize. But I'm also aware of my beliefs on the issues you bring up, and have very little need to express them outright. Especially when confronted with hostility. That just made it difficult for me to take you seriously, at least in the beginning.

More to the point... if you have a problem with this, fine. That's cool with me. I can't say I care a lot, but I care enough to badger and prod you via html. I just think you're crusading against something that's completely benign. Suckrpunch actually has a point, buried deep in funny deliciousness, that the views this shirt has towards women is more worrisome than some slight against African Americans.

Classybabe and Uzeal, thanks for your comments. But so far, I think UberR might have said it best when he described this shirt as an "attempt at humor that will fade..." That's exactly what this is. If you fail to see the humor, believe me when I suggest that you're not alone, although your vehemence does set you apart.

You're more than welcome to continue to rage against this machine, though. I'll even answer direct questions if you have any. Although I somehow doubt you'll believe or like my answers. But fire away man... it's your time.

Sincerely,
onomatopizza

Well the one known as "the artist" as I recall did indeed welcome criticism to his design. They most certainly received it. There are those who feel this shirt design has a raciest undertone to it. Perhaps you have to related to the artist to understand how completely wrong every point he made was.

I find it humorous that corporate puppet seems to think his opinion is indisputably the truth. If you don't submit to his obvious superiority in the English language and grammar then your a racist or your not intelligent enough to understand that he knows exactly what was running through onomatopizza's head when he was formulating the design in question.

I do however love how you decided to focus on one aspect of the design. The Tattoo, the gun, and pregnant woman in the bikini have nothing to do with the real purpose of the design. Abe Lincolns head is the main thing here. The other 80% of the design is just filler right? "the gun, the tattoo, and the full-bellied pregnant absurdities," so since you decided to focus all your analyze on roughly 20% of the design the rest of it is absurd.

You seem in my honest opinion to have a problem judging things as a whole. I mean after all releasing the slaves is what Lincoln is most known for and since we all know that what the masses think is your main priority you make the decision that Abe Lincoln's head must refer to slaves. You say the title "Shame of a Nation" is what started you on this road of muddled thinking. Why do you automatically include African Americans, as the Shame portion. Is it because you were thinking as the artist was and assumed he thought that way or that you yourself do. Either way it's a fairly big jump in logic to come to the conclusion of racism.

I myself would be saddened if the shirt was not printed, as I actually see the humor of it. If it is not however I'm sure the artist wouldn't have a problem with me printing it for myself, or perhaps I could coax him into doing it for me. I hope close-mindedness like that of corporate puppet isn't used in judging these designs.

Nothing... jesus. No more spirited conversation? Either we got through to you, Mr. Puppet, or you're taking the high road... but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to your next response. Help a guy out, huh?

holy shit people wrote a lot in this
personally i dont care which presidents head is used...washington...rosevelt, jfk, carter, whatever...there's no way i was about to read everything that all of those people wrote, but something tells me this design isnt about slavery

Don't you people know a troll when you see one?