an Asian American perspective on Shaq's comments on Yao (Old but good)

SHAQ IS A RACIST
An AsianWeek Column by Irwin Tang:

"Tell Shaquille O'Neal, "Come down to Chinatown."

Call Shaquille O'Neal the Big Racist.

In his most recent racial taunt of Yao Ming, Shaquille O Neal told a reporter, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.'" No, the superstar center of the LA Lakers was not trying to speak Chinese. Shaq was, in a most derisive tone, aiming a racist barb at the rookie center for the Houston Rockets.

Ironically, just days before this racial taunt was aired nationally, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had honored O Neal with their Young Leaders Award. We can only hope that the NAACP had no knowledge of Shaq s previous racial taunt of Yao Ming and LA Clippers center Wang Zhi Zhi, broadcast on June 28 on Fox Television s Best Damn Sports Show Period. When Yao Ming was brought up, Shaquille O Neal spoke with a mock Chiniese accent and made mock kung fu moves.

Also in June, Shaq announced that he would test Yao's toughness by taking an elbow to Yaoss face. This comment, combined with Shaq s racist taunts are particularly disturbing, as Asian Americans often sufferracial taunts while being assaulted or physically intimidated.

But Shaquille O Neal is not a stupid brute. That is, he may be a brute, but he s not a stupid one. He knows the media is on his side. National and local news organizations have consciously ignored Shaq s racist comment. I know, because I called the LA Times, Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press, and other news organizations and offered them information about this story. They did not want to write about it.

The only reason anyone knows about Shaq s latest taunt is because Fox Sports Radio s Tony Bruno Morning Extravaganza played a recording of the taunt several times to its nationwide audience on December 16 and 17. On the latter day, Bruno commented that Shaq s comment was "not racist," and then invited liste ners and radio commentators to call in jokes
making racist fun of Chinese. For hours, people cracked jokes, such as offering free bike parking to increase Chinese attendance at basketball games.

On Christmas Day, while calling the Celtics-Nets game for ABC, veteran sportscaster Brent Musburger s lamented that "the hordes of China" might stuff the All-Star ballot box and vote Yao Ming in as the Western Conference s starting center, rather than Shaquille O Neal.

How Kafkaesque, and how familiar, it is that the interests of the
American media and those of Asian America are diametrically opposed. The media has betrayed their own dedication to controversy by making nothing out of something that deserves much ado. Rather than slam celebrity racism, as it has in the past, some media organizations obviously wish to reserve the right to revel in their own racism.

Will the NBA punish racist speech, as it has in the past? The
Association is too busy passing out ! fortune cookies. In "honor" of Yao's first game in Miami, the Miami Heat on December 16 passed out 8000 fortune cookies to spectators. Yao found the promotion amusing but pointed out that fortune cookies have nothing to do with him. He said that he was not angry because he was not familiar with American stereotypes of Chinese.

Let s not beat around the bush. If a white player had, for instance, made monkey sounds to taunt a black player, it would have been a national controversy. But Yao is Chinese. And Asians are fair game. For evidence, watch TV for a couple of hours.

Asian America cannot, or will not, demand as much respect as other minority groups. What do sports commentator Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, NBA Head Coach Dan Issell, and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Trent Lott have in common? They all lost their jobs due to comments offensive to blacks or Hispanics. Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller, baseball pitcher John Rocker, and basketball star Isaiah Thomas were all forced to apologize for racially insensitive comments.

Spit on me once, shame on you. Spit on me twice, shame on me. What will our Asian American leaders do about this potentially explosive issue? In the past, our national leaders have tended to shy away from the harsh lights of TV cameras, nicely fitting our stereotype as quiet, obedient people. As media-hound lawyer Johnny Cochran single-handedly forces the NFL to consider more black head coaches, what will our Asian American leaders do about Shaq s offensive taunt? Write a letter?

Forgive my bitterness. I grew up in Texas, facing those "ching-chong" taunts daily while teachers averted their ears. I love basketball, and when Yao was drafted by Houston, I had to suppress my excitement, lest he turn out a complete flop. I went to see the Rockets play the LA Clippers on December 12. Yao is a huge young man with huge skills. But he s also a kid in a foreign land. You can tell by the way he carries himself when the ball is not in play. My heart goes out to Yao Ming.

Yao Ming is our Asian Jackie Robinson, though he does not face the intensity of animosity Robinson faced. Unfortunately Shaquille O Neal is the modern-day Ty Cobb, the rough-playing baseball superstar who used the n-word on Robinson.

"I look forward to breaking down that mother------- s body," Shaq said of Yao Ming. "He said my name three times, two in Chinese and one in American. You don t ever call me out. I m from LSU." Yao has never "called" Shaq out.

But I am calling Shaq out. Come on down to Chinatown, Shaq. You
disrespect Asian America, and we will break you down. Perhaps when you and the Lakers come to Houston on January 17 to play Yao Ming and the Rockets, the Asian American community will have a press conference waiting for you. Perhaps there, before a national audience, you can apologize to Yao Ming, forfeit your NAACP award, and implore young people not to follow your example.

Or perhaps nothing will happen. Another racial slur will be left to sink slowly into the Asian American collective unconscious and ferment as self-loathing. And then we ll only have ourselves to call out.

 

here is the latest response from Tony Bruno. Pretty good I think.

Junwhang@aol.com wrote:
If what this article says is true, then you owe an apology to the Asian American community. Racism is not more benign because it is directed at one community as compared to another. And for you to condone and promote racial stereotyping of Asian Americans and Chinese Americans is despicable.

Tony Bruno wrote back:

I am glad someone finally forwarded me the comments I allegedly made about Chinese people or ANY Asian-Americans. I have received many nasty e-mails and wondered why. Mr. Tang's column is utterly innacurate! He points out how he called all of these different news agencies in Los Angeles and no one wanted to write about it.

That's because the LA media worships Shaq and is afraid to say anything about him..even when he's wrong! Mr. Tang didn't have to call me and ask me to do something. I heard the comments and played them ON MY OWN. I did play the Shaq comments and said.."how come no one thinks Shaq is a racist for doing something he thought was funny?" Is is racist to me? I don't know because I am not Asian..just like I don't know how to feel
when someone makes insensitive comments about blacks or others groups of which I am not a member." My intent was not
to ridicule Asians. I purposely wanted to illustrate how African-Americans(in particular) demand people be fired or punished
severly for making any type of insentive comment about black people, yet I saw or heard no outcry from the Asians about something I felt was insensitive. I went on to point out how the Miami Heat held a "Fortune Cookie" night when Yao Ming was playing in Miami and echoed further..isn't that insentive? This same Shaquille O'Neal sound bite was played all over LA by radio stations who thought it was funny. I was the ONLY person in Los Angeles with the guts to play it and point-out it's insensitivity. I NEVER invited callers to make insentive comments about Chinese people. I read a couple of stupid e-mails which contained typical comments about people eating chinese food and coming back an hour later for more. My intent was to point out how we accept certain stereotypes about the different people who make
America what it is as funny..yet some more vocal groups won't tolerate ANY comments - even if they are meant as humorous and not malicious.

If my mission to help make a point was offensive, I do apologize, but if Mr.Tang had called in to help me by confirming Shaq's was indeed wrong, he would have done more good than by totally mis-representing what I was trying to do on the national radio airwaves. thanks for taking the time to write in and not resort to threats or name calling as many others who never heard my show have done as the result of Mr. Tangs's column.
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Tony Bruno