As Lin captivates fans with basketball prowess, he also makes people confront their biases and reassess why Asian Americans have been publicly categorized in ways unacceptable for other minorities.
By Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times
February 20, 2012
Of all the drives, dunks and dazzling shots Jeremy Lin is forcing upon the stars of the NBA, none of it compares with the moves he's putting on a larger collection of everyday people.
Jeremy Lin has dribbled America into the previously quiet corner of its casual prejudice and lazy stereotypes of Asian Americans.
The true beauty of his story is in awareness of the ugliness that has been found there.
It's been barely two weeks since the beginning of a tale that rocked the sports world with great basketball and bad puns, but so much already has changed. When America now looks at Lin, it should see more than an Asian American kid from Harvard who overcame ignorance at every level to become a star guard for the New York Knicks.
America should see itself in the murky reflection of a society that has long considered it reasonable to publicly categorize Asian Americans in ways that would never be acceptable for other, more vocal minorities.
America should see the writer from Foxsports.com who began the barrage of ignorance last week by tweeting a tired joke about the assumed size of Lin's manhood. The guy apologized, but his company did not, which should not be surprising considering Fox Sports is also the outfit that last fall aired a segment in which a reporter ridiculed Asian Americans at USC for not understanding football.
Click here to read more about Jeremy's impact.
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