Jeremy Lin as a Santa Cruz Warrior on a Teacher Salary

Not saying anything that hasn’t been said already, but the entire handling of the “coronavirus” incident has been handled somewhat poorly, in my opinion.

This was an opportunity to educate the broader public on the subject of the discrimination faces by Asians and Asian-Americans. Instead it all feels a bit swept under the rug.

The player should have been identified. The player should apologize. And then he can hopefully get the education he needs to be less ignorant in the future.

 

Why would identifying the player prevent educating the broader public? Doesn't the investigation confirming that it did in fact happen do enough to provide a foundation for discussion? Certainly Lin has been included/spotlighted in many extended mainstream news reports on the violence against Asian-Americans, so the conversation (and education) is happening. Does a specific young player need to be outed, shamed, and have his career and life impacted because of it? I don't think so. The player has been identified by the NBA (just not made public), the player has met with Lin and apologized, as well as having Lin speak with him about the impact it had. And some reports say the player had to go to some sensitivity training.

I do suggest that you watch the video I posted from NBC where Lin talks about his history of dealing with racism in basketball and maybe you will understand why he took the route he did.

 

You are 100% correct
The non Rockets fan is 0% correct

 

I guess you haven't been paying attention to the news coverage around violence against Asian-Americans. Lin has been one of the main go-to interviews by the news media (along with Daniel Dae Kim, Olivia Munn, Andrew Yang, and Amanda Nguyen) in their coverage of the subject.

 

and? if the same thing happened to Daniel Dae Kim, Olivia Munn, Andrew Yang, or Amanda Nguyen, are you sure that after exposing it publicly, all they would want is a personal apology that's it?

 

The comment I am responding to is the one that said they wished Lin would use this incident as an opportunity and a platform to draw attention to the issues of violence and harassment against Asian-Americans. My point is that Lin absolutely is doing so regardless of whether he named the person who called him "Coronavirus". And specifically, Lin has said that the name-calling he faced was peanuts compared to the physical violence and murder being faced by others in the community, so he is much more interested in drawing attention to those acts of violence.

If you listen to what all of these community leaders are saying about the violence and harassment against Asian-Americans, ALL of them have cited examples of being name-called and discriminated against in their professional and personal careers...and none of them have named names, choosing instead to take an approach that is less about shaming and more about awareness and education. In Lin's case, if the name-caller was a black player, identifying that player publicly would go some ways in dividing Asian and Black people, so why go down that route? We need unity among people of color in order for the attacks to stop.

Right now the focus is on providing protection and safety to the Asian-American community. You can hate on Lin all you want, but there are many in the Asian-American community who believe he is taking the right approach to this.

 

so you're saying if Daniel Dae Kim, Olivia Munn, Andrew Yang, Amanda Nguyen, or any prominent/leading Asian American was called "corona virus" by a black person, they publicize what happened but will only ask for a private personal apology from the name caller in the name of unity and that's the end of that correct?

 

No...I'm saying that those leaders have chosen to not name specific individuals that have harassed them in the past regardless of race. Not sure if you are Asian or not, but I can tell you as an Asian-American that I've seen tons of pushback by Democrats and liberal media regarding the idea of accusing blacks (which represent 80+% of crimes against Asian victims) because it promotes division between Asians and Blacks. If you are truly interested, I can share with you tons of articles talking about this stuff. It goes way back to the whole "Model Minority" thing that has already created division between Asians and Blacks. DDK, Olivia Munn, Andrew Yang, etc have all been very careful about balancing on that line...Jeremy Lin is in an even tougher circumstance because he works in an environment/league that is majority Black players, so saying/doing anything that could be perceived as an anti-black sentiment puts him in a much tougher spot.

Here's a brief recent article about the subject...I can share more if you are truly interested:

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/advocates-fear-anti-black-sentiment-over-attacks-on-asians

 

I finally had a chance to look at the NBC video you were referring to. And while illuminating, I still would have handled the incident differently. It doesn’t matter though, because I am neither Jeremy Lin nor do I have the platform that he does—and what he does with said platform is none of my business.

You don’t need to defend Lin on this, because the only thing I wanted to do was to state my opinion. Look, if you’re related to Jeremy Lin or are his friend or whatever that’s cool and all, but he’s no longer (and will most likely never again be) a Rocket. So while he claws his way back to basketball relevance from the G-league and we tank our way into oblivion, perhaps it’s a good time to take a step back and realize that ultimately his place in Rockets’ history is pretty minimal and we’ve had too many pages of discussion on him already.

 

Thank you for taking the time to watch the NBC video. As I’ve said before, this issue is far too important to not pay attention to, so your willingness to listen and learn about it makes me happy.

I agree with you in that I probably would have handled it differently than Lin did as well and have said so in this thread a few times. I’m not defending him, per se...but am simply trying to illuminate that there are many in the Asian-American community who believe in the approach he is taking (which is one of the reasons I brought up DDK et al), and that it might be worth it to at least consider that the approach is a valid one rather than dismissing it simply because you don’t like Lin.

As far as basketball discussion of Lin here...of course it is all for fun. Yes, he was only a Rocket for 2 years...it’s amazing how much he gets talked here about even when I’m not around. I’ve already said weeks ago in this thread that I think Lin’s NBA chances are pretty much zero at this point. I’m not sure if I’m related to him or not (we share the same last name, so maybe!), but my being a fan of his has more to do with his being Asian American as well as an Ivy Leaguer than anything else. I doubt there will be anymore to talk about Lin from a basketball perspective. For now, I’m happy to participate in the Harden as a Net threads because my Nets are kicking ass.

 

Btw - did you watch the whole video? Or just the Lin segment?

 

I was able to watch the entire thing, but I really zeroed in on the Lin segment. If anything it motivated me to be more vocal in speaking out against racism; not just anti-Asian racism but racism in all forms.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I was hit with some of the same **** growing up, especially on the court. And for most of my life, it was my black friends that protected and shielded me against discrimination, and seeing so many people trying to pit us against each other is crazy.

Well anyhow, that's about as serious as I'd like to get on this topic, and I think I've got very little else to contribute to this discussion. Go Rockets!

 

What courts you be playin at, lol. Me personally, when I'm ballin, it usually wit my group of friends or if I do play at the rec or whatever I don't usually hear people talkin while playing. They too busy runnin up and down the court to be saying anything or a slur. This was circa 2000, I don't know how the courts are nowadays cause I'm 40, lmao

 

I was fortunate to not get hit with racism that much when I was growing up in a NJ suburb...some, but not a ton. I credit that to Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon, which came out when I was 8 years old...and suddenly no one wanted to mess with the Asian kid (no matter how scrawny!). Definitely experienced more in college, and then even more as an adult when I moved to NYC. I'm a little surprised that given how your black friends were the ones that protected and shield you from discrimination on the court that you so strongly disagree with how Lin has approached this. I would have thought that given that background you would be more inclined to not want to point the finger at the name-caller in support of unity/solidarity. Of course, I'm assuming that the name-caller was black...am doing so purely from a statistical perspective.

 

This was a looong time ago for me too, at the Elmhurst Y (and the outdoor courts). I'm from New York, so there were a lot of Asian people around but even so I was hypersensitive to EVERYTHING back then. Anytime someone said something that could be construed as racist (sometimes probably even a misunderstanding on my part) I would remember. I haven't heard anything racial on the basketball court in years and years, though. I think the thought doesn't even cross most ballers' mind. As you said, too busy being tired from all the running

 

Where did you get the 80 percent number? Its not that I don't believe it, it's just that I've never seen the data.

 

Nah man, I feel like it's not a race thing. I understand that if Lin had called him out by name that certain people would use it as ammunition, but the way that I was taught growing up was that if you **** up then you need to be punished. And while I'm sure the name-caller has been punished already I don't know if it's enough. Again, just my opinion. Anyhow, I'm ready to just talk about Rockets basketball again.

 

I remember seeing a chart on it from 2018 data, but can't remember where. I am looking for the source. The chart basically showed that all ethnicities have crimes being committed them by their own ethnicities at the highest rate (eg. black on black, white on white) EXCEPT Asians, who had crimes committed against them the highest by blacks. If I can find it again, I'll share it. I do remember that it was a general crime stat, not necessarily "hate crimes".

 

I'm on the conservative side of the spectrum when it comes to the concept of hate crimes. I don't think murder and assault should be treated any different if racism is involved. I'm also annoyed by the anger I see that the Georgia killings haven't been classified as a hate crimes. There has been no evidence showing the killer was racist other than the fact that 6 out of the 8 victims were Asian. Maybe it has to the fact that a large percentage of massage parlors that supply happy endings are owned by Asians.

 

Damn man, New York be wildin. Ya'll crazy up there bro. lol States like Cali and New York, even though they blue man it be some crime goin on. Not saying Houston is crime free or anything but I'm familiar with my surroundings. Be safe out there bro.