Jeremy Lin: Are We Seeing a New Wave of Racism?
Before Jeremy Lin, the last time we had someone of Asian descent making as many waves, creating as much of a cultural stir in the sports was...well...I don't know.
We have Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ichiro Suzuki, Kosuke Fukudome, Shin-Shoo Choo and others in the MLB.
Dat Nguyen, Hines Ward, Kailee Wong, Will Demps Jr. and a smattering of others in the NFL.
Arguably, none of these players outside of Ichiro has had an affect like the one we are seeing from Jeremy Lin. Lin is putting together an unbelievable run. Doing this on the heels of a truly unflattering, if not simply unnoticed start, makes it that much more remarkable.
Having found this success on one of the biggest stages, in one of the largest cities in the world hasn't left much room for anonymity or even a modicum of privacy in dealing with the new found popularity.
With this popularity it is impossible to ignore the headlines, the tweets, the comments.
Fox Columnist Jason Whitlock, never one to shy away from anything, tweeted, "Some lucky lady in NYC is going to feel a couple of inches of pain tonight."
ESPN.com's mobile website ran the headline "Chink in the Armor" after the Knicks loss to New Orleans.
The ever-eloquent Floyd Mayweather tweeted, "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."
(There are currently 19 boxers of Asian descent holding current world titles, including a certain Mr. Pacquiao.)
I enjoy much of what Whitlock writes. He writes from the heart, and you can tell. He also goes off on ridiculous rants. He's opinionated to the put of exhaustion. And egotistical to the point self-deification. Seen solely for these two attributes, Whitlock is a very bad combination of "never wrong" narcissism.
Do I think he should be fired? I'm not sure.
Whoever wrote that headline for ESPN.com's mobile website must be fired. There is no way around this. This person needs to be shown the door and their name circulated amongst all sports outlets to ensure that they never find a job in the sports world again.
Floyd Mayweather is undoubtedly one of the best, if not quickest, boxers we have seen in the last 25 years. He is also one of the most outspoken. I think the public is growing sick of him. His three charges of domestic battery—disgusting in its own right, coupled with his ducking of Manny Pacquiao leaves a very bad taste.
Add to this his tweeted pics of winning big at the casino, betting gross amounts of money while so much of America is financially reeling. The only reason he is still relevant is his participation in potentially one of the biggest fights of the last 10 years.
I understand there have been some apologies issued. There have been clarifying remarks. (Really? Clarifying remarks? What could they have possible meant to say?)
What I don't understand is why a mea culpa is satisfactory. These are disgusting displays of ignorance. This is not something we can sweep under the rug and allow to become simple anecdotes of bad judgment.
Not only does Jeremy Lin deserve better, but so do we.
