NBA phenom Jeremy Lin shows the lengths we still have to go to combat stereotyping
By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
There are two kinds of insensitivity in this world. There's the innocent kind created from ignorance and stupidity and the not so innocent kind born out of disdain.
Unfortunately they both cause problems. More on that point in a moment.
Take the case of Jeremy Lin. Until recently the undrafted 2010 Harvard grad floated around the benches of the National Basketball Association, usually ending up on D-League rosters.
The New York Knicks claimed him off waivers Dec. 27, 2011 to be the backup, to the backup, to the backup for injured starting guard Iman Shumpert. Little used, on Jan 17 Lin was assigned to the D-League Erie BayHawks. Three days later he posted a triple-double.
The Knicks recalled him and after their other guard Baron Davis suffered a setback in his injury rehabilitation, Lin hit the hardwood late in a Feb. 3 loss to Boston. The next night, he tossed in 25 points in leading the Knicks to a win over the New Jersey Nets.
That earned him a start against Utah where he had 28 points and eight assists in a 99-88 Knicks win. More starts came and on Feb. 10 he scored a career-high 38 points in a 92-85 win over the vaunted Kobe Bryant-led L.A. Lakers, outscoring the future Hall-of-Famer by four points.
“Lin-sanity” was born. Or Lin-mania, whatever, the NBA's first American player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent had become a national sensation.
Or “Lin-sation.” Whatever.
Sports apparel shops in New York can't keep his jersey on the racks for longer than a few seconds. He's made the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time and appeared in articles in Forbes, Bloomberg News and other national journals.
There's a stock term called a derivative, which is essentially a bet on when something does something you get paid something and I've heard you can write a derivative for just about anything. Likely someone, somewhere is laughing because the derivative they wrote that pays out every time Lin's name is used in the media has just bought them a small island in the Caribbean.
But all of this reveling in the NBA's version of Tim Tebow turned serious last week when ESPN used a Chinese racial slur in a headline on its website after Lin came back to Earth a bit in a recent game.
I won't repeat it.
ESPN apologized for its bad judgment, and Lin graciously accepted it. The term isn't used as much as it used to be and it's likely the person writing the headline is young enough to be thinking more of the metaphorical meaning than the ethnic slur.
At least let's hope so. Nevertheless, that person is now unemployed.
Hopefully then, it's an innocent insensitivity.
In Lin's case, as with many, many others in the past, it doesn't stop there.
On Feb. 15, the Knicks' broadcast network showed a fan during a game holding a sign with Lin's face above a fortune cookie and the phrase “The Knicks Good Fortune.” Naturally that didn't sit well with some folks.
It's an innocent insensitivity, but stupid.
While playing in college, Lin heard such jeers from the crowd as “Wonton Soup,” “Sweet and sour pork” and “Open your eyes.”
Not so innocent or ignorant. In fact, the hate resides in such a fashion that the speaker probably doesn't even realize it's there.
Lin isn't the first to face racial or ethnic slurs. People of Japanese, German, Italian and Irish descent as well as people of color all have had derogatory labels affixed to them. Despite our best intentions, some still exist.
But labels can also be what individuals and groups use to define themselves based on their views. It's what they see when they look in the mirror, and as such, it's what the rest of us should be using.
I'm sure there are readers thinking, oh great, another politically correct liberal. Maybe, but ask yourself this question: Why do I feel personally affronted when asked to call somebody what he or she wish to be called rather than what I wish to call them?
Being sensitive to labels isn't being politically correct. It's about having respect for others so they have respect for you. It's about understanding the damage words can cause if used improperly. In that sense, political correctness and sensitivity go back thousands of years.
Being sensitive towards how people wish to be identified isn't a weakness. It's strength of character reflected by the understanding that our world is becoming more mixed together and that we are not threatened by it, but embracing of it.
Being insensitive just reveals our inner Archie Bunker.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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