Racial Stereotyping

By Anthony Alford

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/linsanity-postgame-cold-open/n13399/

Saturday Night Live hit the nail on the head as to where this country is when it comes to racial stereotyping. The skit was a New York Sports Show with the host (white), and three analysts (two blacks and one white). Initially, all four personalities made jokes about Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity” by making stereotypical Asian jokes. Nobody on the set had a problem with any of the Asian jokes. However, the moment where the white analyst made a stereotypical black joke about fried chicken in an attempt to fit in with everyone else, the two black analysts became highly offended. The host who has to play straight-man eventually had to apologize to viewers for the white analyst’s offensive anti-black comments and the white analyst eventually was fired during the broadcast.

 

This skit was very entertaining, but also made viewers aware of a new phase of racial stereotyping. We have learned that it is never okay to make stereotypical African-American jokes on a professional sportscast, but we could go “all in” on stereotypical Asian-American jokes. We know this is not right but we do it anyway because there is simply not enough awareness of stereotyping against Asian-Americans. This was why the ESPN writer who wrote the C-word describing Lin felt free to do so before he was fired. This generation was raised on knowing that attacking an African-American because of the color of their skin is socially wrong; however, we were not raised to keeping stereotypical Asian jokes to yourself.

From a media perspective, Asian-Americans have little to no representation on sports television here in this country. This explains why people in this skit freely spit out Asian jokes as fast as shooting bullets but immediately shut down an African American joke. We need to move to a point where it is not okay for our society to racially stereotype against any race. This skit did a great job opening this issue up to all Americans.  

Linsanity

Linsanity…hmmm what is that?! We’ll start with who Jeremy Lin is, an Asian American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets who made a name for himself last year playing as a New York Knick. Lin played college ball at Harvard which already says a lot as it is. His first year in the league he bounced around a couple teams and didn’t actually get the opportunity to display his skills as well as he would have liked to. The next year he got the opportunity to grace Madison Square Garden as a Knick and showed out as I’m sure he wanted to. At the time the Knick’s star player, Carmelo Anthony was out with injuries; furthermore, this left the team wide open for someone to take control for the time being. The Knicks picked up Jeremy Lin and he immediately starting balling out. He came out of nowhere! He was scoring relentlessly at all angles, getting teammates involved, winning games consistently and even hitting game winning shots. He was making a name for himself. He turned a losing team into a winning team and he was definitely getting due credit for it. The term ‘Linsanity’ was adopted by the fans and media to address Jeremy Lin’s unusual coming forth. He was gracing magazine covers and was all over ESPN and Sportscenter. The media saturating the market with ‘Linsanity.’ Lin’s story was one for the headlines…playing college ball at Harvard, coming out of nowhere to help give the Knicks a push, going from living on his friends couch to being the most talked about athlete for a period of time. After the 2011-12 NBA season Lin was a free agent. He ended up signing with the Houston Rockets for whom he plays for now. Yao Ming, another Asian professional basketball player is a former member of the Houston Rockets. Yao Ming was a huge deal when he was coming into the NBA because he was coming from China, he was of huge height and he was the number one overall pick in the NBA draft. Houston was said to have been made the perfect market for Lin to be marketed for the fact that Ming had already garnered an Asian presence within the city of Houston. Maybe that’s why Houston was willing to give Lin so much money, because they knew he would generate much more revenue for the team in other aspects. For these reasons Jeremy Lin’s race has definitely been of privilege to him throughout his time in the NBA.

Written by: Janelle Campbell

Understand the history before making judgment (Crip Walk)

By Anthony Alford

After winning the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Serena Williams celebrated by performing the “Crip Walk.” The mainstream media (perhaps outside the Hip Hop Culture) have never seen the dance before judging by their reactions. Upon learning what the dance is and where it came from, various media members and conservative commentators blasted Williams for performing it on a grand stage as the Olympics. Those same people had no problem with Brent Barry performing it at the 2003 NBA All-Star Weekend because it was just perceived as fun and entertaining for a non-black person since their race was not associated with gangs. My initial response upon hearing what these various commentators had said was it was “shut up; they’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

But upon research, how dare do I make such an ignorant statement without knowing and understanding the history of the dance?

This 2003 film by CJ Mac and other popular stars like Snoop Dogg and Ice-T entertains and informs viewers the history of the “Crip Walk” from the people who started it. To understand the “Crip Walk,” one has to understand the gang lifestyle. This film does a great job pointing out what it is like to be involved with a gang. The lifestyle is real and while it builds bonds and relationships, lives (especially young lives) are being taken away.

Some people in this film believe this dance should not be used except for those in the Crips because the “Crip Walk” is a way of life. Others believe it is okay for people and mainstream stars like Bow Wow (now Serena) to be using it because the dance has grown to becoming a use of entertainment. There is certainly a fine line between the two opinions and I have grown to understand the viewpoints of both sides.

So my judgment after the research is that the “Crip Walk” was just a dance for Serena Williams, just like many youths (30 years old and younger) understand it to be. She did not throw up any gang signs and many of us do not throw the gang signs while performing the dance. The “Crip Walk” has evolved to this point to which I believe anyone could do it in a fun way. However, just do not go to South Central Los Angeles and perform the walk if you are not a member of the Crips. The bigger lesson is not to dismiss the history of the walk or blast African-Americans who perform the walk and just assume we do not know the history of it. Serena knew what she was doing (especially considering she is from Los Angeles) and I find it perfectly acceptable for her to celebrate in that manner.    

Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes

By: Matt Goryance

I’m glad our class was able to watch the clip of the blue eyes vs. brown eyes experiment by Jane Elliott. I had never even heard of this experiment before which was kind of shocking to me because of some of the classes I have taken dealing with racism and I think this is a genius experiment. Using young kids is a great idea too because they are less likely to see to the bottom of the experiment and they are going to behave just as they did, and it will teach them that they don’t like being discriminated against just because of something like color, whether it be eye color or skin color now they know that their words can hurt and that treatment is unfair.

When they were discussing back in the classroom why those two kids were fighting at recess and it was because the one kid called the other “brown eyes” that was enough to start a fight. It wouldn’t have started a fight the day before but just because the blue-eyed kids were getting all the benefits and felt they were better, being called “brown eyes” became an insult. The children didn’t have a problem talking openly about their behavior to their teacher either, which was a great look at why they did some of the things they did. I think it was good letting parents watch these results too because maybe even they will understand it more seeing their own kids being treated unfairly.

I think the kids learned some valuable lessons and hopefully the parents did too. Jane Elliott really had a good idea for an experiment here and it was a good way to show those kids the unfair treatment first hand because like that saying goes no one really knows how others feel unless they can walk a mile in their shoes. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG1v6g7TPX4

Back to Indian Wells?

 

A recent article was written by Bruce Jenkins on a situation involving Venus and Serena Williams a few years ago. The Williams sisters were subject to great deals of racism and scrutiny while playing in a tennis match at Indian Wells approximately twelve years back. Venus withdrew from the match just minutes before it was supposed to begin. The sisters were going up against one another, and Venus was suffering from an injury. She was not feeling up to par so it actually makes sense that she would withdraw from the match. To not be 100% going into a huge athletic performance is a great and completely understandable reason to not actually take part in the event. You want to be able to give it your all and if you can’t what is the point in even participating. When this whole event occurred the crowd began to shout inappropriate jargon and slander at the sister; furthermore, much of the words being screamed from the stands were racist as can be. That is a great reason for the Williams sisters to not want to go back to Indian Wells. If you aren’t being respected in a certain environment, why go back to that environment or continue to keep yourself in that environment. The sisters did not do anything disrespectful to the fans so why should they have to endure disrespect from the fans?!  I personally do not blame them for not wanting to go back.  Yes, it will hurt Serena on ranking points but they are standing for something in there life that they know was wrong.  I cannot blame them for that at all.  I would do the same thing.

 

Written by: Janelle Campbell

Imagaine College

By: Jessica Gatten

I have never been a big fan of LeBron James. Living in Michigan the small interest I had in basketball went to none other than “Detroitttt Basketballll” (when they were good) so naturally I disliked LeBron out of default. I am more of a college sport fan simply because I think there is more excitement and passion in the game then treating it like a business in the NBA. Being a college basketball fan I wonder what would have happened if LeBron would have gone to college. With the amount of publicity he received in high school I can’t imagine how many offers he received from colleges. I can’t help but think how much publicity that college would receive, with his history starting his career in his hometown of Cleveland he probably would have gone to a school in Ohio. LeBron’s high school gained a lot of free publicity from him just playing basketball there. Imagine if LeBron stayed local and went to the University of Akron, which would have helped the whole MAC conference. When Akron played Bowling Green people would come just to watch him play.

There is also the thought that he would have gone to a different team than Cleveland, which at this point I don’t know if Cavalier fans would be happy or mad about that. If he would have been drafted to a different team his possibility of more rings and fandom would be unimaginable. Most Cavalier fans are still mad about “The Decision” but; was it better to have had him and lose him or to never have him at all? Of course all of this is theoretical but it makes you think how one decision not to go to college can change so much.

The Chosen One?

Lebron James is a tremendous athlete for many reasons. He’s got a body like no other and plays with agility never seen before. His athleticism is so unique and on another level that it sets him apart from any other player in the game. Can Lebron ever become the greatest player to play the game of basketball?! That is a very frequently asked question, and my answer is NO. The fact that Lebron left his team to go play with two other all-star caliber players (D.Wade & Chris Bosh) shows that his competitiveness is not where it needs to be. When discussing the situation, Michael Jordan said he wanted to beat his opponents, not join their team. Although the Cleveland Cavaliers were not doing what they should have been to make the team better i.e. surrounding Lebron with better players to better equip the entire team, the fact that he joined a team to go and obtain a Championship when he still could have won with the team he was on at some point or another is bogus. He was considered the best player in the league and he still is; therefore, there is no reason that he could not have obtained a ‘ring’ …he made it to the Championship twice with the Cavs and just couldn’t finish. Now don’t get me wrong, the NBA has turned more into a business these days and I can respect that, I can actually respect his decision to want to play in Miami than Cleveland. Who wouldn’t, its Miami vs. Cleveland…now that’s an easy decision. But the fact that he joined up with two other all-stars in his own freewill vs. being traded was just absurd. Lebron has been with the Heat for a few years now and still only has one ring.    

To even stand a chance at become the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball he would at least have to win 7 championship rings because Michael Jordan won 6. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird both said that they would never have joined teams with one another, there was that competitive rivalry there (which  Lebron clearly doesn’t have). As far as the way that Lebron did announce his move to Miami, that was just uncalled for. On public television in front of millions of viewers, that was just disrespectful. Granted the fact that ESPN made it this huge ordeal which is something that the media does, it still wasn’t a good look for him. I don’t even think Cleveland fans can necessarily be mad he left the city, because it’s not his hometown, he’s from Akron people! At the same time though, the whole decision on national television was raising a huge amount of funds that were being donated to charity; furthermore, I do commend Lebron for that. All in all, I can understand his decision and the way he did it for the fact that the proceeds were being donated to charity (that’s an all-around good cause) but what he did definitely tainted his legacy and that WILL NOT allow him to be considered the greatest basketball player of all time.   

Written by: Janelle Campbell

Opinions About LeBron

     LeBron James! A number of emotions occur when I hear his name or see him play. LeBron James is the player of all times right now, in this new year. He has great talent and is very good at what he does. He keeps the crowd’s eyes on him whenever he is on the court. It is very hard to not watch him play on the court and watch him dominate. He is a great player with extreme tremendous talent. You can’t help to think that he is the greatest player that ever played the game. But then, you think about how he left Cleveland and made the decision to go to South Beach and it makes you have some type of animosity towards him. Ever since the decision was made, I have not been a LeBron fan. Every time I seen him dominate the courts and play with extreme talent, I couldn’t help but “hate”. At first I didn’t want him to win the ring that he desperately wanted. After he finally won his ring, I somewhat have respect for him. Somewhat. I still am not a LeBron fan but I don’t really talk negative about him. I watch him whenever he plays and actually enjoy it. Although whenever The Heat is playing, I always cheer for the opposing team.

     To debate whether LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan is a controversial topic. I feel as though Michael Jordan made the way for LeBron James.  Michael Jordan was the best during his time. Michael Jordan is a legend! Michael Jordan’s shoes still sell after years of him playing. I feel as though LeBron James is a great player now. He is one of the best players in this generation. His shoes sell, but not as much as Jordan’s do. I also think that if there wasn’t a Michael Jordan, then there wouldn’t be a LeBron James. Michael Jordan was one of the main people LeBron looked up to as a role model. Some people may have different opinions about this topic, but I firmly believe that LeBron James wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Michael Jordan. 

By: Angel Akinkuoye :)

LeBron on Oprah

By: Matt Goryance


I think the last class we had right before spring break when we were discussing LeBron raised some good points and is perfect for this blog post because as it says in the blog guidelines, I now think about something differently as a result of our class and discussion. I am a huge Cleveland fan, they are the only professional sports teams I really care about and I was pissed and hated LeBron for a while because he decided to leave Cleveland and because of how he chose to leave. I still feel like part of me will never like him again but after watching him talk about it on Oprah I feel like he seemed sincere and sorry for the things he did and the way he left Cleveland. I think LeBron has matured a lot since “The Decision” and maybe its time for everyone to bury the hatchet. I think LeBron has been through a lot since then with all the hatred he’s seen from Cleveland and the stain he’s put on his career. As we saw from our class discussion the words we put on the board to describe him weren’t exactly complementary and he’s never going to be the MJ who took the Bulls to the finals and never lost.

I’m sure LeBron and Dan Gilbert both wish they could take some of their actions back but LeBron was young and was just doing what he wanted to do without thinking of the best way to do it and Dan Gilbert was just upset and drunk and was only trying to keep the loyal fans of Cleveland on his side. Kyrie has helped Cleveland basketball a ton and I think we all enjoy watching him play very much. When it comes to the issue of LeBron coming back to Cleveland I think it would be the best thing for the Cavs in the way of winning a championship but at the same time the jerseys are already burned and I don’t know if you can heal those scars. It would be interesting to see how Lebron and Dan Gilbert would handle such a situation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db966OQFWS0