Is Jeremy Lin a victim of racism?

Is Jeremy Lin a victim of racist stereotyping?

BY MICHAEL MCCARTHY Gannett News Service February 17, 2012 11:20AM

Updated: February 17, 2012 1:35PM
Asian stereotyping has begun appearing in coverage of New York Knicks star guard Jeremy Lin, the NBA’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell got it rolling Wednesday by questioning why MSG Network showed Lin’s face above a fortune cookie during coverage of the Knicks’ victory against the Sacramento Kings, with the words, “The Knicks good fortune.”

MSG put out a statement Thursday saying it had nothing to do with the image:

“What appeared briefly last night was not an MSG graphic, it was one of many fan signs in the arena.”

MSG declined to comment on why it telecast the image.

It’s a “tough call” whether MSG should, or could, be faulted for showing a fortune cookie sign created by a fan to TV viewers,” said Andrew Kang, senior staff attorney at the Asian-American Institute in Chicago.

“I would prefer maybe they didn’t show that — although I could imagine people finding it humorous. But I think it does go to what people think when they think of Asians. They think of food. Because that is really their only point of contact, or awareness, with the Asian-American community.”

The New York Post took criticism for using the headline, “Amasian,” after Lin drilled the game-clinching three-pointer for the win at the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.

During CBS’ The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday, Jon Stewart of Comedy Central mocked the headline, according to SportsBusiness Daily.

Stewart said: “It’d be like when Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game, you just wrote on there ‘JEWTIFUL!’ … I feel like it’s very ‘Lin-sensitive.’”

Boxer Floyd Mayweather caused headlines this week by saying Lin is only getting a lot of attention “because he’s Asian.”

Columnist Jason Whitlock embarrassed Fox Sports with a tweet about Lin playing off Asian stereotypes. On that, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) sent a letter to Whitlock that read, in part:

“The attempt at humor — and we hope that is all it was — fell flat. It also exposed how some media companies fail to adequately monitor the antics of their high-profile representatives. … The offensive tweet debased one of sports’ feel-good moments, not just among Asian Americans but for so many others who are part of your audience.”

Whitlock apologized.

“In some ways, I’m grateful that it is coming out so we can talk about it and people can really start to challenge what are their pre-conceived notions about the Asian-American community or Asian-American athletes,” Kang said.

But Kang also sees “soft” racism in media debates about why Lin went unnoticed for so long by the basketball establishment and why he’s setting the NBA on fire now.

“You hear endless debates about: ‘How can this be happening? How can he be doing so well?’” Kang says.

“The very simple answer is he’s very talented, he was overlooked by scouts or they missed that one. What they really mean is: ‘How can an Asian-American be doing so well in the NBA?’.”

Full article: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/10705736-419/is-jeremy-lin-a-victim-of-racist-stereotyping.html