More Racism - the subtler, gentler, kind

[drawkcabi]

See the problem here is as Americans we've had 100 + years to fine tune our racial codes against african americans (even though we really didn't get seriously started until after the civil rights movents of the 1960's) but we haven't focused as much on Asians. I mean of course you still get the ignorant redneck in your face racism and the "I want to be controversial as long as I'm safe and anoymous on the internet" jerks, but the high profile media people have really put the time and work in to learn ways to make racist comments towards african americans sound not racist (and still they fuck up from time to time). In time they'll get better at it towards Asians as well.

Too bad people can't just, you know, think of Jermey Lin as an individual person, and base comments on him that relate directly to his own personal athleticism and history and not the stereotypes ascribed to an entire group of people, but I guess that would be too difficult.

I'm sorry and my sympathy to anyone hurt, angered, or just generally annoyed by these people who are either racist or stupid or both.

[Jaime L]

I'm kinda torn. This is undoubtedly a factor. He came out of Harvard and not North Carolina. That said, how did he slip under everyone's radar to this degree? Or, was he by chance a late bloomer who has just finally put it all together at this stage of his career? That would be a little unusual, but it wouldn't be impossible.

I mean, Tom Brady and Kurt Warner slipped under everyone's radar and those guys went to major programs. I think certain guys get pigeon holed a certain way by scouts when they don't jump off the page in terms of tangibles and then never get a second look.

Someone somewhere in the last couple of weeks pointed out a comparison to Flip Murray (who happens to be black). This guy busted out in somewhat similar basketball circumstances years ago. No one had heard of him and all of the sudden he was scoring 25 points every night. He ended up coming back to Earth, but still sticking as a pro for many years. This guy was a story in the sports world, but he was an utter non-story outside of it. If you watched ESPN daily, you'd certainly heard of the guy. If you never watched ESPN, you've probably still never heard of the guy. Lin is practically movie star famous now.

Flip Murray is a good counter example to the Lin hype in terms of highlighting how the racial aspect is almost certainly driving the bus on this one. Though there are other factors (i.e.: it takes place in NY, the win streak saved the coach's job, Lin went to Harvard etc.) agree that being Asian-American is the headlining aspect that catapulted this story out of the sports world into the mainstream.

Of course the mainstream was equally fascinated with a QB whose two defining characteristics were that he couldn't throw the ball and he liked Jesus a lot so what the fuck do they know? Must be nothing good on this season.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I think another thing you have to consider regarding Lin going "undiscovered" so long is D'Antoni's system. You're not going to find too many coaches who are going to feature an unknown player to be the focus of a pick and roll offense. It was pretty much a perfect storm of a situation for Lin methinks.

[Minaku]

I can't believe people are even defending the dudes who are making racist remarks. Instead of asking us if we're being oversensitive, why can't everyone else be under-sensitive, bullheaded, or ignorant?

The eyes comment is downright lobotomy-stupid. What about his eyes? If he were really talking about Lin's eyes on the court, he'd say court vision. No one says oh man, Drew Brees has fabulous eyes to see his receivers for them Hail Marys. They say he has great vision on the field.

I've quit reading Tweets about Jeremy Lin because half of them are insensitive or downright racist in some way.

As for Lin vs. Yao Ming, let's face it: Yao Ming was already fulfilling a few racial stereotypes that Americans hold. First, he's actually Chinese so his English isn't the best. He's a foreigner so he'll fall into our expected roles of what a foreigner is. The racism against Lin is much more veiled and insidious. It's the same kind of racism that makes people say to us. "Wow, your English is so good!" Lin is experiencing the stigma of the perpetual foreigner despite being an American citizen.

Let's also clarify, here: Lin is Taiwanese-American, and we're happy to have him.

[BLU-RAY]

Yeah, a huge part of the story is that it's happening in NYC.

There have been some interesting pieces on Grantland recently about Lin; I'll link to two of them here:

"A Question of Identity" by Jay Kang

http://www.grantland...ance-jeremy-lin

"Leave Jeremy Lin Alone" by Charles Pierce

http://www.grantland...om-internet-age

"Linsanity: There Goes the Neighborhood" by Rembert Browne

http://www.grantland...ters-jeremy-lin

Note: the first and third are about the racial aspect; the second is kind of a meta piece about the whole story.

ETA: And by two, clearly I mean three. Whoo.

ETA2: Warning if you click on the story of PFC Danny Chen in the first article: it'll make you want to puke.

[Eponine]

"Leave Jeremy Lin Alone" by Charles Pierce

http://www.grantland...om-internet-age

Read this a day or two ago, and actually, these few sentences pissed me off more than just about anything else in this whole silly thing.

In this discussion, I specifically exempt what Lin has come to symbolize to the Asian American community in the United States, for reasons that should be obvious to any fair-minded person. To that community, this is a genuine event and should be celebrated as such — which is why the various racial stupidities that elsewhere have attended Lin's rise rankle as deeply as they do. For the love of god, people, it's 2012.

I'll tell you what's racial stupidity, and that's defining "genuine" for a community. I can't fucking imagine pointing to the Asian American community (which certainly isn't a uniform group of people who consider themselves one community) and being like - hey, this is a genuine event for you people. Jesus.

[Sci-2]

The racism against Lin is much more veiled and insidious. It's the same kind of racism that makes people say to us. "Wow, your English is so good!" Lin is experiencing the stigma of the perpetual foreigner despite being an American citizen

I think there's a truth to this. He's not just Asian, he's a stereotype breaking Asian-American. He breaks the narrative of prejudiced expectations and so people want to get their snide remarks in.

What confuses me is the weird resentment people have against him. Because he's Harvard-educated and athletic? Because he's not black or white?

Strangely enough, this reminds me of how Jin (Gin?) would

b/c he knew people would come at him with Chinese/Asian stereotypes.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I'll tell you what's racial stupidity, and that's defining "genuine" for a community. I can't fucking imagine pointing to the Asian American community (which certainly isn't a uniform group of people who consider themselves one community) and being like - hey, this is a genuine event for you people. Jesus.

I don't know. I think you might be underestimating the popularity of the NBA with the Asian American community. I'm already seeing Lin Knicks jerseys and I live in No. California.

[Shryke]

Ahh sweet racism.

#1 just makes me laugh though. Because somewhere, someone whether editor or writer or whatever, either thought that was clever and not-at-all-racist, thought they could get away with it, or somehow didn't notice it. Like seriously, wtf people?

The fact that everyone seemed to pretty quickly realise it was a big fuck-up and it was corrected and the idiots responsible slapped about is good news.

Retiring the phrase "chink in the armor", as suggested by that Salon quote, is just dumb though.

[Eponine]

I don't know. I think you might be underestimating the popularity of the NBA with the Asian American community. I'm already seeing Lin Knicks jerseys and I live in No. California.

It's not that Asians don't or shouldn't admire Lin, or even be interested that he's a minority in the NBA, or that he breaks stereotypes. It's the idea of saying that the response is "genuine" coming from Asian Americans and... what? contrived or voyeuristic or less than sincere for non-Asian Americans?

[Verboten]

Well there's also a big problem in American mainstream media with regards to the portrayal Asian men in that they're always effeminate, not muscular or sports oriented but good in maths and science because they are unthreatening to white guys. Sort of the polar opposite of Black guys being portrayed as these hypersexualized beasts who will ravish white women because they are uncontrollable and physically superior. It's sort of like people have this view of Asian guys being physically undesirable, as the 'asian men have small penises' jokes illustrate. So Lin is big news because he subverts these stereotypes in a very public manner, and maybe because he allows asian kids the ability to imagine themselves being part of the NBA one day without racial stereotypes slapping them in the face. As a kid I never thought of being a hockey player because I never saw women playing hockey, just men. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's the same with regards to race.

[Commodore]

Absolutely the right thing to do for ESPN to fire the writer. Not because he deserved to be (he doesn't), but because there is no upside to keeping him. There is a legitimate risk in fact. It would be a disservice to shareholders not to fire him.

The biggest reason Jeremy Lin is a story is because he's doing it in New York. Only a couple other teams he could have done this on and had the same impact. No one would care if he were still on the Warriors/Rockets doing this.

[MercenaryChef]

Well there's also a big problem in American mainstream media with regards to the portrayal Asian men in that they're always effeminate, not muscular or sports oriented but good in maths and science because they are unthreatening to white guys. Sort of the polar opposite of Black guys being portrayed as these hypersexualized beasts who will ravish white women because they are uncontrollable and physically superior. It's sort of like people have this view of Asian guys being physically undesirable, as the 'asian men have small penises' jokes illustrate. So Lin is big news because he subverts these stereotypes in a very public manner, and maybe because he allows asian kids the ability to imagine themselves being part of the NBA one day without racial stereotypes slapping them in the face. As a kid I never thought of being a hockey player because I never saw women playing hockey, just men. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's the same with regards to race.

no. it is not at all the same as race. there is not a large structure of hockey playing for females. it is changing but it is not at all what it is for males. nothing at all about race.

and jeremy lin is a big deal because the media is making him a big deal. sure, he has played well as a relative unknown, but it is the media latching onto him and making him into a huge story. why are they doing this? because he is asian. if he was black or white he would get a mention here or there on espn but not be such a potential media superstar. his being asian is the subtle and hidden real story of it all. it is not that he went to harvard. it is not that he was undrafted. it is that he is asian.

i have to say i find your understanding of how american mainstream media regards asian and black men as wrong. i am curiously where in mainstream media black males have been portrayed as

hypersexualized beasts who will ravish white women because they are uncontrollable and physically superior

i watch a lot of sports and never see this on sportscenter.

your view on this whole thing comes across as heavy-handed and a bit overdone on the stereotyping front.

but, on the topic of it all, the comments made by the commentators regarding lin were in fact out of bounds.

[Sci-2]

I think Verboten's talking about the general narratives that distort American lenses rather than specifically sports. It's those narratives that influence how we see Asians - same thing with Jin on the rap battle circuit.

I think there's this idea that Asian's being assertive/atheltic as upsetting the cultural narrative and a resentment for them stepping out of line.

It would explain all the underhanded comments, and possibly why we didn't see Yao Ming facing the same.

[Greywolf2375]

i have to say i find your understanding of how american mainstream media regards asian and black men as wrong. i am curiously where in mainstream media black males have been portrayed as

i watch a lot of sports and never see this on sportscenter.

your view on this whole thing comes across as heavy-handed and a bit overdone on the stereotyping front.

THe most recent case of it that I remember was the Heidi Klum - Lebron James Vogue cover. She in the pristine white dress, he in the "King Kong pose". The exception doesn't make the rule, but there was a decent coverage of that whole situation.

[IheartTesla]

I agree with TNC (Atlantic) who says that the Lin's story is interesting because he is Asian and playing in the NBA....just like Neil Degrassi is interesting because he is a nerdy blacj astrophysicist. If Lin werent Asian or Degrassi werent who they were they wouldn't get as much attention. But underlying all of it is that Lin is a great athlete and Degrassi knows his stuff and is a great communicator. If they werent their stories wouldn't get much traction.

The attention they receive tends to fall in the Good, Bad and Ugly categories of course. Good being more Asians interested in the NBA or African Americans in science and math or dispelling some stereotypes. The Bad being the casual racism of people who are surprised and a little taken aback by any of this, as if Asians couldn't throw a round ball into a circular hole as well as others. The Ugly...well, this is where we get into the blatant racism somehow polluting the airwaves.

The thing that gets annoying is how this is touted as either proving or disproving anyone's pet racial theories. Nonsense, he's just one person FFS.

[Minaku]

I don't see the media reporting on Jeremy Lin because he's Taiwanese-American as a bad thing. He is a barrier-breaker for Asian-Americans and, to put it bluntly, our next weapon in the fight against racism. He is not a musician, scientist, mathematician, or gymnast. He is a basketball player and a talented one and, lest we all forget it, helped lead the Knicks to a 7-game winning streak... and, not to mention, put up 38 points against the Lakers.

If the media made a big stink out of him because he was Asian but playing in a mediocre fashion, that'd smell more. I'll say it again: Jeremy Lin's meteoric rise is good. Because he is Taiwanese-American.

What is not good is the backlash, if you want to call it that, against Jeremy Lin that's taking form as racism and stereotypes. I said it years ago on EZBoard and I'll reiterate that Asians are the only ethnicities that one can be racist against, unless you count white people (next time ESPN runs a headline that says, "Crackerjack Prize is Drew Brees" I will give the first person who asks 100 bucks). Plenty of people still draw slanty eyes or pull at the corners of their eyes, make ching-chong jokes, and tell Asian-Americans to go back to their countries. And somehow, because of the socioeconomic status that many Asian-Americans hold, this is okay. It's as if to say that having money, intelligence, a good work ethic, and a good job (but not too good, bamboo ceilings suck) neutralize racism, and therefore it's totally fine to crack on Asians/Asian-Americans.

There was a story on Angry Asian Man about a Starbucks employee in Marietta, Georgia who, in an effort to be funny while describing customers, drew slanty eyes on two Asian-Americans' cups. When the customers complained, the manager just shrugged it off. What if that same kid had drawn a corn cob or a watermelon? Or a Golliwog? A pair of big lips with a big nose? None of these would pass muster with anyone and that employee would be fired on the spot. But when confronted with real examples of racism, the people who are racist or their direct superiors refuse to acknowledge the racism simply because the target is Asian or Asian-American.

Racism doesn't stop being racism when it's directed at Asians and Asian-Americans. Now, I am not going to say hey America, please rise up and defend the poor Asians, they're too meek to defend themselves. No, I have to look to my community to be vocal and tell everyone this is not okay. I'm thankful for the people who do say hold on, wait a minute, that comment was inappropriate. I'd rather stand shoulder-to-shoulder with non-Asians in the fight than stand behind them, though.

Okay, to close this rambly and digressive post, I will say a few things:

1. Jeremy Lin is precisely what Asian-Americans love to see because he's showing everyone that Asians don't have to be pigeonholed. We can do without the snarky and mean-spirited comments about his facial features, and commentary using derogatory language, however coincidental.

2. Jeremy Lin is ESPECIALLY good for the image of the Asian-American male. As a Taiwanese-American female I am ecstatic to see such a positive image. He can't even Tebow me with his Christianity. I will stan for him, and stan hard (to take a term from ONTD).

3. I keep using Drew Brees as an example because I have a crush on Drew Brees. I'd rather use Drew Brees than Ben Roethlisberger and I will die before I admit to having any other feeling than contempt for Tom Brady.

[Verboten]

no. it is not at all the same as race. there is not a large structure of hockey playing for females. it is changing but it is not at all what it is for males. nothing at all about race.

and jeremy lin is a big deal because the media is making him a big deal. sure, he has played well as a relative unknown, but it is the media latching onto him and making him into a huge story. why are they doing this? because he is asian. if he was black or white he would get a mention here or there on espn but not be such a potential media superstar. his being asian is the subtle and hidden real story of it all. it is not that he went to harvard. it is not that he was undrafted. it is that he is asian.

i have to say i find your understanding of how american mainstream media regards asian and black men as wrong. i am curiously where in mainstream media black males have been portrayed as

i watch a lot of sports and never see this on sportscenter.

your view on this whole thing comes across as heavy-handed and a bit overdone on the stereotyping front.

but, on the topic of it all, the comments made by the commentators regarding lin were in fact out of bounds.

When I say American media I am not talking about American sports. I'm talking about everything under the sun, especially fictional narratives.

THe most recent case of it that I remember was the Heidi Klum - Lebron James Vogue cover. She in the pristine white dress, he in the "King Kong pose". The exception doesn't make the rule, but there was a decent coverage of that whole situation.

This stuff is quite common.

I agree with TNC (Atlantic) who says that the Lin's story is interesting because he is Asian and playing in the NBA....just like Neil Degrassi is interesting because he is a nerdy blacj astrophysicist. If Lin werent Asian or Degrassi werent who they were they wouldn't get as much attention. But underlying all of it is that Lin is a great athlete and Degrassi knows his stuff and is a great communicator. If they werent their stories wouldn't get much traction.

The attention they receive tends to fall in the Good, Bad and Ugly categories of course. Good being more Asians interested in the NBA or African Americans in science and math or dispelling some stereotypes. The Bad being the casual racism of people who are surprised and a little taken aback by any of this, as if Asians couldn't throw a round ball into a circular hole as well as others. The Ugly...well, this is where we get into the blatant racism somehow polluting the airwaves.

The thing that gets annoying is how this is touted as either proving or disproving anyone's pet racial theories. Nonsense, he's just one person FFS.

What?

[IheartTesla]

I am not sure what the source of confusion is. One person is only one data point.

[Sonic The Hedgehog]

Honestly - I really don't see the racist quality to the eyes comment. I can see how, if you want to, you could jump to the conclusion he was implying teh whole "slanty" eyed thing...but, it sound more to me like the male anchor was playing on the "great build" and heading in a "sounds like you think he's attractive" kinda thing.

This was my impression as well for the 3rd clip. The way she was going on about how Lin looked sounded like she was describing some guy she thought was cute, so the male anchor mentioned eyes like "and do you just get lost in his cute eyes?" Hence why immediately afterwards both women laugh and say "They're dreammmyyy," before continuing about athleticism.