Live Your T-Shirt

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Scottie Barnes, Raptors player, the 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year, being congratulated
 by Masai Ujiri, Raptors President and Vice Chairman. Love the T-Shirt message.

A T-shirt is a piece of clothing. I don’t have to believe in the Black Lives Matter or Charles Not My King sentiment. It’s just a message on a T-shirt.

It depends on where you are. You can get killed for wearing the wrong message, in some countries. Message on a T-Shirt describes me. That’s why I must understand the language. The message is like a tattoo. How do I have a tattoo in Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Korean or Hindi, when I don’t speak these languages?

Sports is safe I guess. Fans wear their team’s colors. Yes and no. If I’m wearing a Lakers T-shirt you might assume I’m a LeBron James fan, not realizing I only support his silent projects outside the basketball court, that fight the power. What he called the Rich Paul Rule, was from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) powerhouse. The rule was reversed.

But. What if I was forced to wear the T-shirt? Valid question. Political parties for example. Canada has four main parties, Bloc Quebecois, Liberal Party, New Democratic Party (NDP) and Conservative Party. During elections, their volunteers wear T-shirts on the campaign trail to attract photographers and video crews. The more T-shirts on bodies, the more dramatic the photo op, but I will be alone in the voting booth and might not vote for the party that gave me a T-shirt. Have you ever seen people scrambling on top of each other for a free T-Shirt? Ugly.

Those are exceptional circumstances. Wearing a T-Shirt with a message remains an individual choice, but the wearer must understand the message.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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