MONEY

Ocean City marina sells 'White Lives Matter' T-shirts

Gino Fanelli
gfanelli@dmg.gannett.com
This shirt is being sold at the White Marlin Marina on Somerset Street near the Ocean City inlet.

In recent months, the phrases "Black Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter" have become increasingly prevalent as rallying cries in response to police shootings of African-Americans and shootings of police officers, respectively.

While the Ocean City Boardwalk is no stranger to custom T-shirts flaunting off-color humor, one local business has taken the effort to use these phrases for its causes.

The White Marlin Marina is selling shirts in promotion of billfish conservation adorned with the marlin flag, and reading simply "White Lives Matter" in promotion of white marlin and "Blue Lives Matter" in promotion of blue marlin.

The designer of the shirts, George Lamplugh, said he has no intention of spurring controversy with the shirts.

"The response has been mostly positive," Lamplugh said. "Any person who sees the shirt and sees that flag will know what it's for."

Lamplugh, who works at the marina, said marlin conservation is an important topic with the fishing community near the beaches.

"We're promoting people to use circle hooks, to bring them in safely and to release them back," Lamplugh said. "Marlin conservation has been going on for 100 years, and it's an important issue."

Captain Ted Deppe of Crownsville concurred with Lamplugh, and stated that anything has the potential to be offensive, but there have been no problems with the shirts as of yet.

"I wore mine down the boardwalk last night," Deppe said. "No one came up to me or said anything, so I don't see what's the big deal."

Deppe further illustrated his point by referring to other fishing shirts that take humor from racial politics, such as one from Swagger Fishing, which reads "Kill Whitey," in promotion of non-release white marlin fishing.

While Lamplugh and Deppe said there haven't been any issues, the marina's been selling them locally inside the fishing community. Word of mouth has been spread on social groups on Facebook. With the White Marlin Open coming to town in one week, these shirts have the potential to strike a nerve.

Worcester County NAACP president Ivory Smith said the shirts could be interpreted as a mockery of the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements.

"Let me be clear, all lives do matter, whether they're white or black, cop or civilian, fish or dog," Smith said. "However, we're living in a time where African-Americans are suffering from a disproportionate amount of violence, and we do need to address that."

RELATED: Worcester NAACP, police talk about racial issues

Smith said making light of or mocking topical charged social issues, or using them for a cause not related to the issue, has the potential to cause problems.

"It's just all around a bad idea," Smith said. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone wearing these shirts got punched in the face."

However, Lamplugh argued that the shirt's context removes it from the broader social problems far enough to not cause controversy.

"Any fisherman will know that the upside down marlin flag means we are catching and releasing," Lamplugh said. "That's what that symbol means, and I believe people know that. As soon as we bring in the first black marlin, we'll have a Black Lives Matter shirt."

Lamplugh said he believes controversy associated with the phrases is a fault of the media, and his only cause is marlin conservation. However, the two phrases used on the shirts have never been associated with marlin conservation prior to Lamplugh's shirts.

"At what point do we start getting offended? Where is the line?" Lamplugh said. "At the end of the day, people are way too sensitive today."

Lamplugh went on to state that, on the boardwalk, he's seen people wearing "black power" T-shirts, and was not offended, and thus sees no reason why anyone would be offended by his shirts.

However, Smith said there was no need to use this phrase.

"It just seems like they're trying to start a problem," Smith said. "That they want to spark a controversy."

Lamplugh agreed that he is using the charged phrasing as a means to sell the shirts, quoting Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been famously accused of attempting to cover up the 2014 fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, the Washington Post reported.

"Never let a good tragedy go to waste," Lamplugh said.

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