Racism is unfortunately alive and well in American, a tragic fact that Nets guard Jeremy Lin is all too familiar with throughout his NBA career.
Lin was born in American but is Chinese and Taiwanese, so his ethnicity has sadly caused him to be subjected to racist taunts and remarks. But according to Lin, when he played in college for Harvard, he heard more racist remarks then compared to now in the NBA.
Lin revealed this while talking to his Nets teammate Randy Foye, who has a podcast called “Outside Shot with Randy Foye.” Via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk:
Lin told Foye that one fan at Georgetown shouted negative Asian stereotypes at him, such as “chicken fried rice!” and “beef lo mein!” and “beef and broccoli,” throughout the entire game. And when Harvard visited Yale one time, Lin said fans heckled his appearance, specifically his eyes.
“They were like, ‘Hey! Can you even see the scoreboard with those eyes?'” Lin recalled.
“To this day in the NBA, there are still some times where there are still some fans that will say smaller stuff, and that is not a big deal,” Lin said. “But that motivates me in a different way.”
With the Adam Jones incident at Fenway Park still fresh on everyone’s minds, Lin’s comments aren’t too surprising. They are however, sad to hear about and yet another reminder of the racism that still exists in society.
