Racism exists in all aspects of our world today, specifically in sports. According to Coakley, racism is defined as "attitudes, actions, and policies based on the belief that people in one racial category are inherently superior to people in one or more other categories." Many professional athletes today experience racism. In the link posted above, we observe a video of an African American Boxer, Floyd Mayweather, making racist remarks about Asian American NBA Player, Jeremy Lin.
"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise." -Floyd MayWeather
This is a prime example of how racism exists in sports. I agree with the commentators that Jeremy Lin is getting attention because he lead the New York Knicks to five straight wins. It was controversial for Mayweather to state ".. all the hype is because he's Asian." If Jeremy Lin was not talented, there would be no hype. It just so happened that Lin was of Asian decent, which is rare in the NBA league. I think the comment that Mayweather tweeted was ignorant, inappropriate, and insensitive You would think that Mayweather, being a minority, would want to support another talented minority athlete. Below is an excerpt from an ESPN New York article:
"Lin
is the first player in league history to have at least 20 points and seven
assists in each of his four career starts. The Harvard grad has scored 109
points in his first four career starts, which is the most by any player since
the NBA and ABA merged in 1976. In his last five games -- all Knicks wins --
the 23-year-old is averaging 26.8 points and 8 assists." -ESPN New York.
The cold hard facts show just how talented Lin is as an athlete. Regardless of what Lin's race is he would have gotten media attention. I have also read in other articles how Lin has faced many other racist remarks by athletes, sports columnists, and fans. It saddens me that racism still exists today. We need to realize that one's race should not interfere with their athletic talent and ability. We have this ideology built up in our head that sports should entertain us, and our sports teams should win. If a minority is playing well with a team and helping their team win- why judge them based on their race? Unfortunately, I don't think this will ever go away- but, hope we can work towards a feature where there is no more racism in the world.
Alyssa Salindong T/Th @ 2:00 pm
2 comments:
Historically, it seems as though sports has been a prime integrator of many races. It is nice to think that no matter what is going on in the world, sport is the one place you can still see different races and backgrounds working interdependently. While it is possible that Lin received a little extra attention because of his Asian decent, most of it was well deserved. His talent on the court sparked the interests of commentators and journalists in the first place.
It is good to point out that both Mayweather and Lin are minorities, so why should one put down the other. At times, it seems like the minorities are working against one another to be the dominant minority instead of working together as a united front. Even within races there are fights that are still being fought. If different minorities stood together more progress could be made toward social change.
Rachel M
KIN 332I
Previous comment was from Rachel M from KIN 332I-06 T/Th 2-315 pm
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