by guest blogger CFlores6
For those of you who do not follow professional sports, the hot new gossip in the NBA is Jeremy Lin, the all star rookie who is putting up amazing numbers for the New York Knicks. Unfortunately, along with his success, Lin has been faced with many racial comments and slurs directed towards him. Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American player in the league to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. Recently ESPN's website published a headline with the phrase "chink in the armor,“ and ESPN news anchor Max Bretos repeated the phase on air. Below I have posted an article from the LA Times that discuss the incident, and talks about Jeremy’s point of view. Jeremy simply explained to reporters that the comments were in the past and that he was not affected by them.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-jeremy-lin-espn-headline-20120220,0,3952849.story
ALSO, professional boxer Floyd Mayweather has received plenty of negative criticism for his tweet about Jeremy Lin stating, “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise.”
This news was truly upsetting to me. It is hard to believe that people can be so rude and ignorant. I feel that Jeremy Lin has received the recognition he has because he is a young, new phenomenal athlete, not because he his Asian. His race has nothing to do with his performance and people have no right to discuss it in a negative manner.
While I agree about the ignorant and insensitive comments about Jeremy Lin, I disagree that his race has nothing at all to do with the recognition he's receiving. I think it is a combination of his different identities: his age, his education (Harvard graduate), his race (Asian), his religion (Christian), and most definitely his basketball skills. You cannot say race has not played a part in the recognition he's received, because even many of the articles written about him mention his Asian ancestry. He's the first American- born NBA player of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, as you mentioned. Apparently, he's one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history. Race is many times a factor in recognition. Often times, we specially recognize "the first" people of certain races/ethnicities to achieve certain things. But, I agree in that race is not the only thing playing a part in his recognition (although it is very significant) and that the racist and insensitive comments about him are ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that all of the factors Purple listed probably played a role in his rise. He definitely has the Tebow effect though.I mean he came out of no where he wasn't even a draft pick and now he's a starter. The ignorant comments are a problem. Why would anyone feel using the term chink to describe someone is remotely appropriate!
DeletePurple, just to clarify I stated that his race has nothing to do with his performance. As far as his recognition, any rookie who puts up the numbers he has is going to get recognition no matter what race, and as Jess said he came out of nowhere. His race/decent/background etc. has definitly been disscused but as a bonus. If Jeremy were of another race reporters would still interview him and recognize him after every game, just like they do now, because of his performance. Race and background would just not be included in thier discussion.
ReplyDeleteCFlores6