Jeremy Lin

In everything there is a positive side and a dark side.  Even Superman has his Kryptonite and Bizarro. -Andrew Szeto

When was the last time the New York Knicks won the NBA Championships? 1973.  When was the last time the Knicks won it's highest consecutive games, back in the 70's with 18 consecutive wins, about 40 years ago?  Jeremy Lin didn't do it himself but Lin-sanity definitely brought morale, teamwork and a boost for new and old fans by bringing the Knicks into the Playoffs (even though the Knicks lost in the early rounds of the Playoffs - I wrote this in February 2012 and just finishing off now in June, I'm now rooting for Oklahoma City Thunder).  The Knicks lost to the Hornets to not make eight consecutive wins during this season's win streak. With Stoudemire back from injuries and Carmelo Anthony coming back from his injury, the temperature of Lin-sanity fever might temper down a little. But the question is all this attention toward Jeremy Lin: racial hype or worthy praise?

An article from the Chicago Tribune by Jae-Ha Kim aided in adding viewpoints to this blog
http://www.jaehakim.com/lifestyles/issue-lifestyles/jeremy-lin-matters-to-kyle/

But before that article existed, Lin-anity was already scorching because of what that young talented Chinese rooted, Taiwanese, Asian point guard has done for the Knicks.  His less than one month career with the Knicks has elevated his status to a worthy level by scoring and bringing the Knicks out of the shadows as a losing team.  That ability to get those consecutive wins gave fans hope, he brought back the Knicks and their fans; not only did he bring hope back to the Knicks and their fans, his ethnicity added Asian fans (more so Chinese, but not only Asian fans, he made every ethnicity notice: potential).  All races were cheering, rooting and commenting on his talent.  But as someone who has his similar ethnicity would be even more proud, like a Black person seeing the first Barack Obama, but in a lower pinnacle of success. For those screaming this is on the lines of racism or stereotype, you should go back to the cabin in the woods and knit a sweater for me.  When one minority has reached success in an area dominated by a majority, there will always be fanfare.  There have been few Asian basketball players in the NBA getting such attention since Yao Ming. I'm not saying he is an inspiration and a role model to a New Yorker and Asian only, but especially so. There is a reason to be excited as both a New Yorker and Asian-American.

The first answer is yes he is hyped for being Asian, if you watch him play, he only scores slightly above 60%, he misses a good 40% of his field goals.  Though he is above average, there are many other players that play equally to his performance, yet they do not get as much attention. Comparing him to legends makes him a worthy statistic, it's still too early to tell if he's really that good. But then again, with those statistics and skill comparison, no he is not hyped.  He is a very good basketball player that came out of Harvard.

It is the combination of both hype and actual talent: the rarity of an Asian-American basketball player doing so well in a non-Asian-American field and he's doing it well for a team known to fail in the reflection of the Yankees and Giants.

The Etymology:

If you research his career, his performance was unseen until he was accepted by a coach that honed his skills.  He was undrafted after college and was cut from two teams for supposedly better, more expensive, players.  The metaphoric laugh is with Lin.  After he was traded from the Warriors, the Knicks and all the fans, Asian and even non-Asian alike, benefited from what was dormant.  In the stands you have Taiwanese flags waving and non-Asians wearing the number seventeen.  He's in all the newspapers. Well he was, before he got injured.  He is now living in one of Trump Towers high rise apartments.  I loved the way he and Carmelo Anthony got along.  Can't wait to see what he does next season, but for now it's team: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in the spotlight.


The Darker Side:

I don't care if people start labeling this topic as having a racial or stereotypical mentality. Facts are facts, history is history, and without them, lessons are not learned and changes not made.  Yes, Black people, no not just African-Americans, all people with black or darker skin are at the top of the list for racism.  Yes it's a bad thing and a topic people rather not touch on because it creates a metaphoric storm.  But for me I am always an open ear and open experience, my experience and anyone else, actually I thrive on culture.  Everyone has heard of racism toward Black people, it is not just America's top history lesson.  But have you considered racism toward all types of people?  Have you heard a White person or a person of Latin decent racially insult a Black person?  Have you ever heard of a Black person or Latin person racially insult a White person?  Have you ever heard a Black person or a Latin person racially mock an Asian person?  I have seen this, mostly growing up and less now.  I'm sure my father saw even worst.  Ironically when a race that has been through so much racial hardship, you would think that there would be no racism, but people remain uneducated.  Would you believe where I grew up, I had more African-Americans and Latins playing the racist card rather than from Caucasians.  Do you know how many times I have seen an uneducated young or even adult African-American say something racist?  I am not pointing fingers, there are racist Asians as well but I'm speaking of what's more widespread.  I don't think that was the idea of what Martin Luther King Jr had in mind when he was fighting for racial freedom or was it equality, not to fight through years of hate to have freedom to hate back but equality.  That's the importance of educating history: teaching that many took whips to the back, water from fire hoses beamed at them, having to sit in a classroom as the only minority being strong against being different, beatings ending up in the hospital or death and the segregation of not being allowed to drink from the same water fountain.

If you read the article I linked above: Jeremy Lin matters to Kyle, in it Jae-Ha Kim mentions a little about how she grew up in a more unaccustomed to race differences part and time of America.  She describes the lack of Asians in the media, how she was treated racially different and had to deal with racism.  She then also goes on to describe her son in a different, more open to the racial divide.  "What a difference a few decades make."  I have a total empathy for the short column because it goes similar for myself and many "Asians" growing up prior to the late 90s.  In the column, the response field only allowed a certain amount of characters and this is in part what I had in mind and responded with:

"In New York where I grew up, I rarely ever got called “chink” but was often taunted with a similar: “ching chong” then people would pull their eyes to the side slanted. I had similar taunts growing up also and it got stuck on my mind a little bit but I believe I arose out of it. I never felt emotional pain from it, just thought the insulters were idiots, but never liked it regardless. These “bullies” I think were more so in the ’80s or prior. They grouped all Asians the same thinking “we all ate cat or dogs”, I mean please, you have tourist seeing a small group of say 1000 or so out of a billion Asians who have done that and they think we all do. Your article is so right, in the 70s & 80s people didn’t see the good, just the poor “dirty” side of the population, never seeing the positive/potential side, so I guess they insult based on the “dirty” side they see. Times have changed in the past decades, there is less prejudice, let me emphasize: less. As Asians continue to adapt & expand more into media the future looks brighter..."

The last thing she wrote in that column is "I suspect he rose above it, which is what I hope my son will do, too, should the need arise."  I arose out of it, as well.  For those that can do this and become Jeremy Lin or Barak Obama or even just a role model without such potential gives the next generation a better hope, not just Asians, all races alike.