By Anthony Alford
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.
Hey Anthony, I am glad that you posted about this topic. I totally agree that people are not as sensitive when they make stereotypical Asian racial jokes compared to making stereotypical African American jokes. To me, this somehow relates to the brown-eye, blue-eye experiment. I was actually a little worried about people being racist towards me when I first came to America but it turned out pretty well. People are treating me right and nice. Yes, the C-word is equivalent to the N-word. Asians do feel very much offended if the C-word is used towards them. I like how you brought up Asian Americans have little to no representation on sports television in this country. It is true but also because there are not that many Asian American athletes in America. In my perspective, Most American sports require physical strength and size, which in general an advantage to Caucasian or African American athletes.
ReplyDelete-Marcus Kok
I first wanted to say that this was a really well written blog. Anyways, I have to agree that our society has gone to a new level when it comes to racial stereotyping. The fact is that no one deserves to be made fun of based on the color of their skin. While the skit was funny, it goes to show that society in today's world doesn’t see Asians as equal’s in a sense because when the guys were coming up with jokes they were all laughing, but then when the white man made a joke about Amare Stoudamire dancing like Maury told him he is not the father that when the other members got really mad and asked why he had to bring race into it. I know for me, I never make jokes about anyone’s race and I think it is completely disrespectful and I defiantly know better. Not only do I not make jokes about other people’s race, but I have many other friends of different races and if they are ever getting picked on I always stand up for them and tell the bully to back off. I just feel that society as a whole needs to take a step back and pretend to be the other race and see what it feels like to be in the other race’s shoes. I know it is easier said than done, but as my parents used to always tell me treat others the way you want to be treated.
ReplyDelete-Josh Gibson
Very good blog entry Anthony! I personally thought that the skit on saturday night live was extremely comical, but at the same time it opens up peoples eyes to the new type of racial stereotyping like you mentioned before. Just like the white guy making the African American racist comment in the skit, we do not tolerate any sort of stereotyping or racist jokes toward them, but it was all fun and games and hilarious to them when making racist comments about the Asian culture and Jeremy Lin. I do feel that it was smart for ESPN to fire the writer who titled the column on ESPN.com "A Chink in the Armor." Had ESPN not fired that reported I think there would have been huge backlash from the Asian culture and would have made the entire ESPN brand look as if they were ok with racist comments like that. As Josh also said above, I also do not believe in making comments about someone based on their race. I feel that we are all created equal and should all have the same rights and the same opportunity to live a fair life. I feel that as long as Jeremy Lin is active in the NBA it is good for our nation and gives the Asian culture a true hero to look up to.
ReplyDeleteBy: Taylor Cook
DeleteThere are some very good points that are brought to light in this blog post. The first thing I want to point out is that there was not one Asian reporter on the NBA cast in the show Saturday Night Live, but there also is not one on the actual TNT NBA Live show. Therefore, having Asians be a minority in the NBA it is viewed as OK to judge them and make a HUGE deal when there is an Asian player who is good (ex: Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin). Also, I want to bring up the point in the show where as soon as a white person makes a racist comment towards a black person, he has to apologize and eventually gets fired. This is such a true statement about our society. People are very cautious about making white to black racism, but any other kind can easily be overlooked.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Redd
By: Taylor Brown
ReplyDeleteI think this was a very interesting blog post, as was the video that we got to watch in class. Though it was mean't to be funny as a Saturday Night Live skit, it does show us the type of stereotyping that we see on a day to day basis in our country. Like Taylor mentioned, when it comes to black to white racism or vice versa, people are very careful. However, like we saw in the video, people believe they can still get away with stereotyping other races in our country, I hope that even though this show was mean't as a joke, people realize that stereotyping is still something that is very prevelant in our nation and is something that needs to more and more erradicated from our personalities. Though some people may think that is funny, other people may not and it only goes to show that there is still racism and stereotyping out there and hopefully one day it can be erased.
Seeing this video clip was a bit surprising to me. I always knew that racist jokes were made and told about African Americans, Latin Americans and Mexicans. But I never really thought about offensive jokes being made towards Chinese people. You never really notice when racism and discrimination comments are made until its based on the color or ethnicity of your own. In the clip you notice a few black jokes were made and seen the two black males get offended. But if one of those males were Chinese, I'm pretty sure they would take offense, exactly how the black men did. Even though this clip of Saturday Night Live is supposed to be funny, some comments and jokes could really hurt another person who is "different". Racist jokes are always going to be around in this country. I don't think it will ever change because people are still going to have their own opinions, whether it be negative or positive.
ReplyDelete~Angel Akinkuoye~
I would have to also agree that this is a very good blog about racial stereotyping. In this blog and the short skit performed on Saturday night live about stereotyping. The show is able to exploit some issues surrounding the common stereotypes of our radicalized society today. That people always need to be cautious about what they say, when comments that are made to be seen as something good. There is a variety of other ways that good comments could be taken as racist comments. With living in a diverse country such as the U.S. it is always important to realize the different ethnicities that exist. When certain events happen between majorities and minorities in our country it is easy to how common stereotypes can be formed among society. That hopefully will not lead to any type of discrimination for a certain race within our country because of how easily misconceptions can be formed.
ReplyDeleteBy: Anthony Pape
I agree with you that the skit was entertaining; I thought it was funny watching it in class too but it does bring up a good point. I like how you mentioned that we have learned to not make African American jokes or racial comments but then when a new race comes into the limelight we seem to forget everything we have learned and go back to thinking its ok to make racial comments, even if they just do it because they think its clever or funny it can be offensive too. However I think stereotypes will always be an issue whether it be based on race, religion, sexuality, gender or anything people will always have these assumptions of others its just a matter of not saying hurtful things out loud especially in public.
ReplyDeleteBy: Matt Goryance
I agree although this skit is funny it does bring up a problem in sport broadcasting and in telling jokes in general. One reason I think it hasn’t been stopped or presented as a problem is because there isn’t a huge Asian influence in sports. History shows that people do things until enough people stand up and fight against it. People don’t make African American jokes because enough people started saying it wasn’t okay. It should be the broadcaster’s job to not only promote Asian jokes but to make sure people it’s not okay. The number of Asian athletes is rising in America and they provide great competitive nature to our sports and we should love their skill and competitiveness and not joke about their heritage or culture or them at all. Eventually this issue will be obsolete and sports media will simply cover sports and not race and gender.
ReplyDeleteBy: Jessica Gatten
It is interesting that there is a nationally recognized distaste for making stereotypical jokes about African Americans but not for Asian Americans. African Americans only make up about 12 percent of this country and Asian Americans make up a lot more. You would think that with such a high presence of Asian Americans there would be a distaste for making stereotypical jokes about them as well. However, like you said we were brought up this way so Jeremy Lin's sudden emergence into the national spotlight really made us have to confront the issues of Asian stereotypes, especially on the basketball court. If Lin ever blossoms into a Hall of Fame caliber player in the NBA, I think it would be a big step forward in showing respect toward Asian Americans in the media and in the general public.
ReplyDeleteBy David Shelmon
I agree, this skit was very funny and eye opening. On the surface the skit was just a bunch of racial remarks, but after a further look, it is obvious as to the point they are trying to make. Everyone was picking at asian americans, but the second a white man started ripping on african americans there was an outrage. America has taken a huge step when it comes to the treatment of african americans, only 40 or so years ago african americans were just gaining rights after the civil rights movement. The treatment of asian americans in America has long been cruel, and now with the issues with North Korea the treatment of asian americans may begin to get worse.
ReplyDeleteBy Derek Miller