Jeremy Lin: Ben and Jerry's Gambles on Lin-Sanity Being Delicious and Not Racist
Jeremy Lin's rise to NBA superstar has been intriguing, exhilarating and can now be defined as delicious. All thanks to the good people at Ben & Jerry's, who are not the least bit scared of racist allegations.
We are getting quite good at tip-toeing around when it comes to Jeremy Lin. This is a player whose story was so magnificent it boiled over a few too many times into the realm of overt racism.
Matt Rocheleau of Boston.com reports ice cream super company Ben & Jerry's has been selling a special concoction entitled Lin-Sanity at their Harvard Square shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The ice cream celebrates the biggest and best story to hit the NBA this season. That would be former Harvard student Jeremy Lin, and his special ice cream consists of vanilla frozen yogurt, lychee honey swirls and waffle cookie pieces.
This story might be swept under the rug as a quaint part of a national sensation. That just wouldn't be Linsanity, now would it?
This is a story that has caused great turmoil around high-profile people and organizations. Jason Whitlock was called out for being racist after a certain tweet. Then ESPN was villified for their use of a popular sports cliche that was taken as racist in the context of this Asian-American basketball player.
And now this.
Barry Petchesky first reported the story for sports site Deadspin and had some reservations on whether this was another racist turn in a remarkable story. Petchesky asks, "racist, or racistly delicious." He then writes.
""Taste The Lin-Sanity" features lychee, which is a fruit native to Southeast Asia, which is not the part of Asia that Jeremy Lin comes from. (The part of Asia that Jeremy Lin comes from is Northern California.)
"
Nice.
We continue to forget that Lin is American, but we would never in a million years see a dedicated ice cream flavor have apple pie involved.
The reason is that we continue to see color first, and that means Lin is Asian by default, not a person born in Los Angeles, California who spent his high school days in Palo Alto and went to college at Harvard.
My gut reaction to this was, "Come on, not everything is racist." The fact is, this is most definitely racially based.
Unless Jeremy Lin comes out and says he can't get enough of lychee and fortune cookies, Ben & Jerry's erred on the side of race to make their ice cream.
The Deadspin article cites the Asian American Journalists Association's clear warning that there's no "compelling reason to draw a connection between Lin and fortune cookies, takeout boxes or similar imagery."
Well, the ice cream company that has given me so much pleasure in their Cherries Garcia made that connection.
This is something where millions will roll their eyes and say that there is nothing to see here.
I beg to differ. Lin continues to get pigeon-holed as solely Asian and it threatens to humble how American he really is.
How about we just stay clear from all racially-charged products for a hot minute, shall we?
