MD Marina's 'White Lives Matter' T-Shirt Draws Cri
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A Maryland marina's cheeky campaign to spread awareness about the conservation of white and blue marlins has provoked the ire of a local NAACP chapter.
White Marlin Marina in Ocean City has been selling t-shirts with the phrases "White Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter" with pictures of the fish. It's partly a joke, but also intended as a way to inform people about the conservation effort.
The t-shirts' designer who works at the marina said he meant no offense, but billfish conservation is serious business. A portion of t-shirt sales will go to funding conservation.
"We're promoting people to use circle hooks, to bring them in safely and to release them back," George Lamplugh said. "Marlin conservation has been going on for 100 years, and it's an important issue."
He added: "As soon as we bring in the first black marlin, we'll have a Black Lives Matter shirt."
Meanwhile, the Worcester NAACP president Ivory Smith says the shirts could be seen as mocking the struggle of the of the Black Lives Matter movement.
"It's just all around a bad idea," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone wearing these shirts got punched in the face."