Comments on: Jeremy Lin & Racism: 3 Ways to Stop Dangerous Stereotypes

By: Kevin Joubert

Kevin Joubert — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:35:24 +0000

I think that the newspaper headline is entirely inappropriate. Often times, racist, angry and intolerant comments are pointers to a reluctance to change. People fear change. I’ve reflected on times that I’ve been resistant to change and I have learned a valuable life lesson….
Thanks,
Kevin

By: J. Newman

J. Newman — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:26:33 +0000

How can calling someone a c—k be okay? What is wrong with our society? People need to think about names that hurt within their ethnic group. If its not okay with you, why would you call other ethnic groups hurtful names? Think before you speak…

By: C James

C James — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:09:27 +0000

Once upon a time, the NBA (and now defunct ABA) were primarily dominated by Caucasian players. It would be interesting to check history to see if the same reactions to African-American players as they began playing in the professional leagues were made then as they are being made now to an Asian-American player. If the reactions are the same, then we haven’t gone too far as a country, and we should be concerned when people make the kinds of remarks they have been making. However, if the reactions are different, and especially if the reactions are less hostile than they were in the earlier days, then maybe we have progressed, and maybe we should not be too sensitized to the “not politically correct” ramblings of the ignorant.

By: Brenda J-Yazd

Brenda J-Yazd — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:40:40 +0000

How incredibly sad that Lin cannot be considered a phenominal player and a tremendous asset to his team instead of a good asian player.

By: Karen Hernandez

Karen Hernandez — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:32:15 +0000

I agree with Luke. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and think before you speak. Carefully-chose words can be tools for celebrating diversity— unthinking words can be weapons to attack it. Put down your weapons and use your tools.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

By: Franklin E Rutledge

Franklin E Rutledge — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:59:38 +0000

Wow! Just kidding.
I love sports. I love every discipline and venue of it. Every sport has its majority ethnic group. For me, I don’t care about an athlete’s ethnicity, gender or color. I am thankful that J Lin can play to excite me to watch pro basketball again. I left being excited about pro basketball after Michael Jordan finally retired. I would watch it occasionally. But now, I can’t wait to see high lights of the NY Knicks. Of course, I am not watching the Knicks, I’m watching Lin. Today I have another Pro Basketball Player that excites me. His name is Jeremy Lin. Notice the small letters for pro basketball after Michael Jordan, and the capital letters after Jeremy Lin. Pro Basketball for me is now alive, and I am Black.
It is very stupid for Mayweather to make statements like he made. Some people just don’t think; Michael, Tiger, Lebron, Rondo, Koby and the king of all Ali. White people, Black people and people around the world stopped to watch these guys do their thing. The William Sisters bring the highest rating when they place. Everybody in college sports awed Mia Moore. What is Mayweather talking about? Nothing, a bunch of nothing. God bless Jeremy Lin.

By: Luke Visconti

Luke Visconti — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:44:53 +0000

What you may think is “innocuous” or “overreaction” is gravely important to other people. If the goal is workgroup cohesiveness (or, in a larger sense, societal cohesiveness), then your dictatorial decision on what passes for offensive language is counterproductive to accomplishing the goal. Another way of thinking about this is that, if using a “chink” or “spade” is going to cause discomfort and workplace or societal disruption, then use another word. Unless, of course, your goal is to cause disruption. Your IP address is from an area that is 37% Asian. Why don’t you try a local tavern that caters to that 37%, wait until about midnight and yell “chink in the armor” and see what kind of disruption happens to you? Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc

By: Rosella

Rosella — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:23:28 +0000

I agree with your comments. When Jeremy said he was use to it. I thought how do you ever get use to it. As an Africcan American we need to speak out against such intolerance. It doesn’t matter if the person is Asian, Hispanic, American Indian etc. Commentators do not have to get caught up in the hype. Intergration is one thing however what I see is a disrespect beginning to come out of the African American community. It wasn’t that long ago maybe a few days. We would have been angry if those remarks were addressed to us. We don’t have to do or say everything just to get along. Remember it is Jeremy today, it may very well be you tommorrow.

By: Brian Stuart

Brian Stuart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:02:52 +0000

Bluntly, the relatively few comments about Jeremy Lin’s ethnicity have been more positive than negative. With the exception of the Mayweather comments, no one has publicly disparaged Lin because he’s Asian. To the contrary, most people celebrate his ability in a field that has relatively few Asian players.

As to the headline “Chink in the Armor,” this is the typical overreaction to a innocuous phrase that has nothing to do with race. The phrase clearly has to do with a flaw in armor rather than Lin’s race. According to one report, most younger Asians were unaware of the offense until ESPN called attention to it. However, much like using the word “niggardly” or the phrase “calling a spade a spade,” people overreacted and a person got fired over an offense that could have been handled through an apology.

We need to emphasize that Jeremy Lin is an American and a success rather than focus on silliness.

By: Angela Calhoun

Angela Calhoun — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:04:20 +0000

My question is this, why does the media (commentators and jounrnalists), and the fans thinks it’s ok to make funny jokes or derrogative statements about any atheletes cultural background, especially in the sports industry?