Jeremy Lin, Floyd Mayweather and Racism/White Supremacy.

by Staff February 23, 2012 29 Comments News Opinion Sports Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The first time I heard racism injected into the Jeremy Lin story was from a Charlotte based sports radio station where on-air personality Frank Garcia said he thought more people were into the Jeremy Lin story over Tim Tebow’s media hype due to racism. It is impossible for me to wrap my mind around Tim Tebow, a struggling NFL quarterback, devout Christian and a white male being held out as a victim of racism. Especially when black rookie quarterback Cam Newton was mostly ignored by the national media even though he was rewriting the NFL record books while having the most prolific rookie passing season to date when a lot of his white critics said he wasn’t smart enough nor did he possess the tools needed to be successful. I knew then that this incredible story of a 6’3” Chinese-American making an impact on the NBA was about to take a turn for the worst.

ESPN fired a sports commentator and editor for both using the phrase “Chink in the amour” following a performance where Lin committed nine turnovers leading to the team’s first loss since he was inserted into the starting line-up. Another controversy erupted over a tweet from black FOX Sports writer, Jason Whitlock who tweeted “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight” following a Knicks win. Writing about the firing of the two white ESPN employees, Mike Silva who is supposed to be some kind of sports media watchdog, claimed that ESPN overreacted but then went on in the same article to call for the firing of Jason Whitlock. Silva suggests that Jason Whitlock was not fired because he was “African-American”. However, he fails to note that Whitlock was not working in his capacity as a writer for FOX Sports when he tweeted from his private Twitter account while the two ESPN employee’s flaps occurred while carrying out in the course of doing their jobs. Besides, FOX Sports is a subsidiary of News Corp, which also is the parent company of FOX News where offense commentary playing up racial stereotypes is commonplace.

The biggest media blowup pertaining to commentary about Jeremy Lin seems to be what black boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. tweeted. Mayweather took to Twitter to weigh in on Lin and tweeted “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 Jr. is now being labeled a racist by UFC President Dana White. For those wondering, Dana White is a white guy with a woman’s name. Despite what White believes, there is some measure of truth to Mayweather’s comments. It is a fact that the hype surrounding Lin is due in part because he is of Chinese descent. How often does a player with his ethnic background come into the NBA and make the splash he has made? With the retirement of Yao Ming, the NBA is looking for the next marketing tool to pitch it’s product to 1.3 billion Chinese. Many black point guards produce the same kind of stats as Jeremy Lin but outside of their local media markets, are not getting the kind of national media attention or obsession with Jeremy Lin. How many people outside of NBA fans have heard of point guard Ty Lawson? Perhaps because Lawson is black or his team is not inNew York or he never had to work his way up through the NBA’s D-league, is the reason he is not garnering the same Lin-like attention of the national media.

Interestingly, Floyd Mayweather Jr’s comments are not even close to being in the same league as the comments solicited by two white sportscasters on San Francisco’s KNBR’s 1050, The hosts of the Nick and Artie show urged listeners to call in with their best racist jokes about Jeremy Lin and one threw out an example and said that Jeremy Lin should do the laundry of teammate Carmelo Anthony. The Nick and Artie show’s blatant display of racism has not garnered the national media attention or the lambasting that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has.

It seems a pattern is emerging which is a number of white men involved in sports have come out and defended, ignored or made excuses for other white men making suspected and outright racist comments about Lin but have no problem going after black men like Whitlock and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Perhaps Mike Silva and Dana White have not heard the recent comments by Erik Spoelstra who is the first Asian-American NBA head coach whose Miami Heat will soon face Jeremy Lin and the Knicks. Spoelstra’s comments seem to agree with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in that the coverage of Lin is due in part to his ethnicity when he said, “It’s a great rags-to-riches story, that’s the bigger story. And hopefully years from now it’ll be about that, not about the ethnicity.” Do not look for Spoelstra who is of Pilipino descent to be taken to task by the national media and called a racist by the likes of Dana White. Eric Holder is wrong, America does have the courage to discuss matters of race but do not expect it to be an honest discussion, especially from white men who are at the top of the food chain in a system of white supremacy.

Staff Writer; Scotty Reid

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Dan says:
March 7, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Dude,
How can you publish this garbage? Is it that difficult to use spell check? The fact that you don’t recognize your own bias gives you ZERO credibility. Way to cherry pick Floyd’s comments by the way. As for Spoelstra, he’s much more tactful than Floyd could ever imagine to be (not to mention free of felony convictions) which is why people aren’t calling him out.
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sankofa says:
March 6, 2012 at 9:02 am
Scotty Reid
You should send this article to your brethrens on this site who have reacted similarily to what you just chastised. But then, I see too many knee-grows seeking to curry favour by being the first to bash each other for the caucasian man’s pleasure.
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Dank says:
March 2, 2012 at 11:49 am
I call bs on this piece. There is a huge double standard in this country, but it is with black people not owning up to racist things that they say and do. Black people all want to play the victim role when ever anything racist is even implied, but black people can say the most racist things and always get away with it.
Are you forgetting the racist things maywether has said about pacquiao? Where were the black people condemning their own? Nowhere. Black people aren’t willing to own up to their own actions.
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myBrothersKeeper says:
March 2, 2012 at 10:17 am
To all my asian brothers on here getting defensive, check yourself. Black people have pioneered the civil rights movement that allowed other minorities like us to be accorded this way of life in this young nation still full of covertly superior-than-thou attitudes. Recognize, man.
From an asian man who’s tired of any negativity.
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LinAllTheWay says:
March 2, 2012 at 3:10 am
I agree with most of your article. As an Asian American sportsfan, I’ve known about Jeremy since he played with Harvard and pulled up a crazy half court shot to win the game at the buzzer. Watching Jeremy Lin play his butt off and turning around a bad Knicks team is our Tiger Woods moment. Now Lin is not the greatest basketball player in the way that Tiger Woods is arguably one of the best golfers of all time, but an Asian PG in the NBA is as insane to many asians as it was to blacks and whites. The only part where I disagree with you is your point about Mayweather. It’s not so much that his tweet was blatantly racist, like Jason Fatlock’s, but that he already has a history of making racist comments against Pacquiao. That’s why I was pissed at Mayweather, because it’s obvious that he has a serious problem with asian people. And Dana White, whom you childishly made fun of for his name (come on, you’re better than that) was 100% right. Mayweather is a racist.
Black people need to recognize several things. One, Asians did not enslave you, Europeans did. Two, we did not force Jim Crow laws on you, white Americans did. Three, blacks willingly participated in the genocide of two Asian nations, Korea and Vietnam, so you’ve done more to us than we’ve done to you. Asians HAVE been oppressed by blacks due to black participation in those genocide fests. Four, you steal from us, even a little candy bar, and we’ll kill you. Yes we will. and Five, blacks and asians are natural allies, since white people discriminate against us in the same way. And finally, Six, we are peaceful people who avoid trouble and generally just want to make enough money to support our families and send our kids to college. We can, and have, take racism, we can take the lousy puns, we can take being a perpetual foreigner, but Jeremy Lin is now protected, and if you mess with him, you’re going to mess with the entire global Asian community, and you’re going to find out why you lost in Vietnam and stalemated in Korea.
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William says:
February 25, 2012 at 7:39 pm
You forgot the comment that Stefon Diggs made about Jeremy Lin… Black players don’t get praise?!?! Really?!?! Does Lin have his own sneaker deal? Does he own some type of pent house? Does he make millions upon millions? Black player ALWAYS get praised when it comes to sports. How much money does Floyd make per fight compared to Jeremy Lin per season or even his whole career? Once the spotlight is off black athletes all hell breaks loose. Do you know of any black player that got cut from multiple NBA teams and was about to get kicked out of the current one he was playing for and then comes back to help the Knicks of all teams win 7 straight? In his last recent starts, he has scored more than any player since the NBA-ABA merger and Lin’s only a sophmore… Give credit where it is due. It’s not always about race.
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Lorenzo says:
February 25, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Renee: you lack comprehension skills if you think that Mayweather was “responding to racism”. The dude has come out twice now with racist comments against Asians, and what racism could he possibly be responding to? Or maybe you only lack clarity and your writing, and you are saying that the author was responding to racism. In all honesty Floyd’s comments, and the “chink in the armor” thing were pretty mild, if I were Lin I would have only really taken offense to the “two inches of pain” guy whose non-firing the author lamely defends by pointing out that he was wasn’t on the clock when he made the statements. Give me a break. He was a media figure using a public media forum to make his statement, and there are countless examples of people being fired for what they write on twitter. If it helps I doubt he wasn’t fired because he was black. He wasn’t fired because the only two groups who you can’t get away with racism toward are blacks and Jews. Asians, Latinos, pretty much all non-Jewish brown people you are taking a risk with but chances are you will come out unscathed.
The comparison with Rush Limbaugh was very unintentionally correct on your part, because like Rush, Floyd is a bigoted moron who deserves to be mocked for pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth.
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Defending the Negro says:
February 25, 2012 at 5:54 pm
1) The Nick and Artie show is a SHOW. It’s supposed to be entertaining, just like shock jocks. We give them room to be racist because it is supposed to be funny.
2) A white editor FREDERICO got fired.
3) A white writer BRETOS got suspended.
4) Whitlock is a bigot. Hopefully, he will reflect a little and try to be a slightly better example for his kids.
5) Mayweather is undoubtedly a racist. Please research his comments to about Pacquiao needing to make him some sushi and rice.
6) Stefon Diggs didn’t fail. His MOTHER and late FATHER failed. Rather than defending Diggs, perhaps black parents should have a 10-minute conversation with your kids on the need to be racially tolerant to all races.
7) “Dana White is a white guy with a woman’s name.” Is that supposed to be funny? How the fuck are you a writer? Oh, I forgot, this is for blacks and you are used to affirmative action standards …. never mind. I’ve wasted 5 minutes on you all.
Happy black history month! Keep on hating!
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lewis orr says:
February 25, 2012 at 1:36 am
No other country in the world is as polorized as the U.S. How can it last much longer pulling against it’s self? Such undying hatred and self-centeredness means it’s only a matter of time before this experiment is over!
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Renee says:
February 24, 2012 at 9:25 pm
It’s interesting reading the lack of comprehension skills from some people responding to this article. I have read everything from blacks being the most racist to other nonsense pertaining to the writer’s out of touch reality in the world of race and racism in mainstream media. Sighs. The article basically discussed insensitive and racially tinge comments from black and white individuals in the media. However, it appears so-called racist comments by black individuals are saturated more as an example of “black racism” while far more offensive comments by white individuals are virtually ignore.
People are seriously under some delusion of blacks bitching about racism everyday. It’s intriguing because the people who discuss race the most are whites. Simply look no further than cable news channels from CNN, MSNBC, and the grandfather of them all FOX News. Hear it no further than your top 20 ultra conservative radio hosts in the country who constantly find small news clippings pertaining to black people, twisting the story around, and present a highly edited stereotypical version of blacks. Simply look no further than white, international publications constantly making offensive remarks towards black people. Check out Huffington Post and other popular mainstream white blogs where black lives are ever so discussed in detail by nonblack individuals.
A black person do the unthinkable and responds to the racism and suddenly we are the racist. Instead of understanding the author’s perspective – even if you disagree with you – the majority of you launch into a tirade of demeaning bullshit in relation to blacks as a whole. A classic tactic to dismiss a black person’s perspective as the “same nonsense.” If you do this, you don’t have to understand a black person’s point of view without it being a black point of view. Simply dismiss, patronize, and demean a black person’s opinion as bullshit and all is solved. The author of this post gave an objective assessment of how the media seemingly ignore more offensive comments by whites to focus the negative attention on blacks. Floyd Mayweather did get the most attention and for what? A silly ass tweet expressing his opinion. Throughout Floyd’s career the man has made colorful remarks that made people turn their heads. No different than Rush Limbaugh saying remarks that are offensive to some people, but hey the media accepts it as Rush being Rush.
From this piece the responses are a thunderstorm of blacks hypocrisy and our “greediness” to have everything to ourselves. Hmm. I believe most of you have the entire black population mix with the nonsense from irate whites from the GOP and Tea Party movement. Lets look at the history of America and race relations before we launch into this imaginary world of blacks being a group of individuals with this self entitlement attitude. However, it is typical because there’s an easiness for most people to gloss over the obvious racism shown from whites everyday while berating and going apeshit over the smallest comment from 1 or 2 black people. It’s an interesting paranoia how such intense is focus on black people as a whole while the group who promotes the most racism – systemic and otherwise – are practically left alone.
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Hold up now... says:
February 24, 2012 at 8:17 am
Historically speaking, NO ONE has put up the numbers this kid has in his first couple of NBA starts. Ty Lawson hasn’t put these kind of numbers up EVER. Weak comparison bro.
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Gman says:
February 24, 2012 at 3:01 am
To say one race is more racist then another race or more morally superior is ridiculous and completely false. Yes over history there has been wrongs but as I have been reading on a lot of these websites certain groups or races talk themselves up as superior humans. I have also noticed they will support a person or sportsmen if you like of the same race no matter how wrong that person is, they will often find whatever twisted comment to back their argument up because as most racist they only see their own color. This is sad situation when people put race before wrong and right and I can see until people are honest with themselves nothing will ever improve and certain groups will be using the same blame game and saying the worlds against them in another two hundred years.
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eddoes says:
February 24, 2012 at 2:05 am
Furthermore Floyd never said anything bad or racist about Lin. All he said was black players deserve the same kind of praise and hype that Lin is recieving when he performs well. How did that get spun as racism by the media?
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eddoes says:
February 24, 2012 at 2:00 am
Heats just shut Lin down with ease in that game a little while ago. Want to bet the media NEVER hype up black players from the Heats that performed well?
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Roger Mayweather says:
February 24, 2012 at 1:14 am
Scoottie, u automatically defend Phloydie because he’s black.
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lolblkfolks says:
February 24, 2012 at 12:42 am
why cant asians have a superstar they can look up to, yall black folks are too greeddddy
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whitemansworld says:
February 24, 2012 at 12:39 am
black people bitch too much…go fix your problems at home before calling anyone out
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Juice says:
February 23, 2012 at 11:38 pm
Glad to have this convo myself. I am starting to look at it as business and not personal. As a black man I have been offended and upset about how like Floyd said black athletes are not appreciated as much as their lighter shaded counterparts. I’m starting to understand that these guys are “marketed” for their races. White people get excited over gifted white athletes just like Chinese people get excited over gifted Chinese athletes, just like I get excited when I see a young, black, gifted boxer like Floyd dominate the sport of boxing.I totally understand where Floyd is coming from. Floyd is completely disrespected by a majority of the media and has been for a really long time. Inspite of the fact that boxing has never really seen anything like Floyd in the history of the sport. I would even go so far as to say that if Floyd were any other race, he would be considered the greatest athlete in the world today. But in reality Floyd is black and he came from nothing…from the black ghetto, where young black men are taught from a young age that we have to be 10x as good as the other races in order to be successful. Instead of taking it personal I do see that Paquiao and Lin are good at their craft and are marketed for their people and appreciated more because they are less expected to be at the top, even if their success is slightly overblown in reality. In other words Pac is not on Floyd’s level but the media would never admit it to us.
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Defending the Negro says:
February 23, 2012 at 11:35 pm
I’ll bet Mayweather is going to call you up and say “My nigger.” In my experience, blacks are the first to yell “racism” but the last to defend another race. The hypocrisy in your article is ridiculous. Listen to Mayweather and tell me he is not a racist. I’m a huge fan of Dana White because he called out Mayweather.
http://www.therundown.tv/videos/wtf-files/floyd-mayweathers-racist-rants/
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Racist Negros says:
February 23, 2012 at 11:10 pm
You really can’t read can you? Spoelstra’s comments didn’t attribute his hype over Lin’s race. Read it again moron. Now admit it. Coons are the most racist people out there. “go make me some rice and sushi…” yeah…but apparently Coons CAN’T be racist. It’s impossible to you people. As for Whitlock…his comment was 10 times worse than the laundry comment. Fact. Now STFU coon.
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Bugzy Mugzy says:
February 23, 2012 at 10:59 pm
The reason jeremy lin is getting all this hype is becuase his story is so unexpected. Undrafted from Harvard, slept on his brother’s couch and to top it off he’s Asian. Sure some of this hype is because he is Asian, but that’s not racism, its a simply a part of the story that makes it more surprising. Though there is truth in Mayweather’s comments, but they are still sort of dumb because he might as well be saying lin is getting all this attention because he went undrafted, or slept on his brother’s couch, or came from Harvard.
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Studa Baker says:
February 23, 2012 at 10:08 pm
“This motherf***er name aint even Manny Pacquiao, this motherf***er name is Emmanuel. He got a fake name!”
– Floyd “The Ring Genius” Mayweather, Jr.
Despite his sometimes blunt commentary, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has followed his illustrious father in becoming one of the most profound commentators on politics, science, you name it. Oh wait every time he goes to work he gets hit in the head.
I love boxing and Floyd is the my favorite fighter to watch since de la Hoya, but honestly they can’t all be Muhammad Ali when it comes to societal significance.
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Reginald Williams says:
February 23, 2012 at 9:51 pm
I’m African-American, former D-1 player, and covered the NBA for six year. I know a thing or two about b-ball. I’m here to tell you there’s a bunch of brothers playing the point guard position who, with all their money, couldn’t buy a clue about how to play the position.
Sure Lin is getting hyped, but let’s not lose sight that this dude knows how to play basketball (and I’m making these comments after he had a horrible game against the Heat). I’d trade Lin for a bunch of brothers playing point-guard, especially John Wall, who I have the unfortunate task of watching living here in the DMV.
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tank says:
February 23, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Johnboy people do give a sh*t about race he is American but as already pointed out African American basketball players do not get the level of hype and attention that Lin does due to their race so it does matter. It was simply a social comment that has been blown out of proportion Lin being chinese and the Chinese having a lot of money means Lin is being over hyped with AA b’ballers not having the same kind of market they are ignored or not given as much attention. Mayweather is not dumb he knows what he feels is not afraid to exercise his freedom of speech in a respectful manner its idiots like you who go over the top – and for your information I am not Black so don’t use that race card BS on me I know Floyd is right so I back him AA don’t get respect end of.
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johnboy says:
February 23, 2012 at 9:05 pm
The guy is American who gives a shit about his heritage except from money mayweather. Where you are born is what matters, Mayweather is dumb why anybody with half a brain would care what this uneducated moron thinks is beyond me….
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Grizzly says:
February 23, 2012 at 8:59 pm
There IS some measure of truth to saying race plays a part. One thing that always bugs about Asians is how we are the biggest bandwagoners out there when it comes to one of our own making it in some non-stereotypical arena. But Floyd Mayweather was saying the Asian thing was pretty much THE reason, when it’s pretty evident that THE reason is that he was at the very end of the bench, completely unproven in the League, and all of the sudden he not only puts up those numbers but also leads his team to a complete turn around.
With that said, racist is a little strong as a description for Floyd’s comments. If he, say, told a Filipino to make him some sushi and tempura rolls in exchange for Floyd preparing him some of that patented Mayweather family recipe deep fried cat and dog….. well, that would be a bit racist. But since all we have to go is the Lin comments, there is no reason to infer a pattern of racism on Floyd’s part towards Asians.
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king david says:
February 23, 2012 at 8:14 pm
All black people do is sit around an whine about “racism” against them. Yet black people are the most racist towards every other race. waaaaa waaaa waaaa waaaa waaaa
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Scotty says:
February 23, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Dino, reading is fundemental but comprehension opens a world of wonders. I think you should read the article again, especially the part about Spoelstra. Where do I call him a racist? I said his comments are basically the same as Mayweathers but he will not be called a racists by the white owned and dominated sports media. But its open season on Mayweather….
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Dino says:
February 23, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Really? Come on now. While I agree with you that Ty Lawson doesn’t get a lot of attention playing in Denver, he was also a 1st round pick from a top-tier college (UNC). Him succeeding isn’t a big shocker. Lin is undrafted from Harvard, which is not a basketball powerhouse by any means. That’s what makes his success a surprise. It would be ignorant to say race has nothing to do with the story, because it does, but it’s also ignorant to say its the sole factor. Mayweather shouldn’t say he’s speaking for “other NBA players” because, last I checked, he’s not an NBA player. If you think Spoelstra’s comments are racist, you either didn’t read them right or just resigned to calling everyone else out as being a racist that isn’t black. Spoelstra was saying we should all just look beyond Lin’s race and appreciate his talent, which is really what we should be doing.
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