Knick Knacks: Jeremy Lin's Race To The Top

Article first published as Knick Knacks: Jeremy Lin's Race To The Top on Blogcritics.



After Jeremy Lin and his Knicks (is there any disputing that they are his team right now?) defeated the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden 104-97, with Lin having a great game (28 points, 14 assists, 5 steals), that brought the Knicks back to .500 (16-16), but they and their fans are still up in the stratosphere. Defeating the defending champs only confirms the general mood in New York that this team has not only playoffs in its future but perhaps even its own championship, and much of the credit is being heaped on Lin's six foot- three inch shoulders.

The unfortunate byproduct of all this is that Jeremy Lin, being a Chinese-American, has been the target of some inappropriate comments and headlines (a while back the New York Post  had the headline "Amasian" to describe Lin's performance). ESPN editor Anthony Federico was fired for using "chink in the armor" in a headline, and anchor Max Bretos was suspended for using the same slur when talking to Knicks' icon Walt Frazier on the air, asking Clyde, "If there is a chink in the armor, where can he (Lin) improve his game?" What the heck is going on at ESPN?

In general the - and I hate to do this but I have succumbed too - LINsanity of all this is a combination of hysteria and happiness of Knicks fans (many in the media including the fired Federico) and the fact that many people do not see race as an issue. However, the sensitivity to race should always be a factor in the way we handle all matters, especially for people who are in the public domain. To use the word "chink" while referring to a person of Chinese descent is appallingly offensive to say the least, and if both Federico and Bretos did so innocently as they claim, then they are still guilty of being incredibly ignorant.

Sadly, race still matters in this country no matter how much we wish it did not. Yes, it is 2012 and we have an African-American president, but that has in many ways magnified the issue as still pertinent. Has any sitting president been under fire more than Barack Obama for a plethora of things that have nothing to do with him being president? People have questioned where he was born, his parentage, his upbringing, his background, his education, his religion, and his marriage more than any other president in history. All of this only exacerbates the need for a continuing discourse on race in this country, not only for our own citizenry but because the world is watching, and no doubt are taking note of how poorly this president has been treated.

Some people have compared Jeremy Lin and Jackie Robinson, but even that can have offensive connotations. Certainly the impact of Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 had an extraordinary social impact that went far beyond the baseball field, and Mr. Robinson had to suffer the slings and arrows of his good fortune, putting up with denigration and intolerance and threats. To his credit, Mr. Robinson held to his principals and beliefs and was a damn fine baseball player, cutting a path for others who would follow him in all sports and all walks of life. To compare him to a modern player, no matter what race, may seem to diminish all that Robinson had to overcome, whether intentional or not.

The impact of Jeremy Lin on his sport and society will never be the same magnitude as Robinson's, but it does open the door hopefully for more Asian athletes who wish to play in the NBA, and it has started a dialogue (no matter how uncomfortable at times) about the perception of Asian athletes and Asian people in general. The ESPN case (and even the lampooning of it on this week's Saturday Night Live broadcast) shows that (apologies to Robert Frost) we have miles to go before we can sleep in regards to race relations in this country, whether it is about Asian people or any other race for that matter.

As for now, Jeremy Lin is King of New York (as per today's cover of the New York Daily News).  His success has been most welcome by Knicks fans and most New Yorkers. Wouldn't it be nice to one day have the conversation be about how great a ballplayer Jeremy Lin is and not how he is a great Asian-American ballplayer? As I said, miles to go before we can sleep.

Photo Credit - Daily News

Blizzard of December 2010: Mayor's 'Sorry' A Tertiary Response

Article first published as Blizzard of December 2010: Mayor's 'Sorry' A Tertiary Response on Blogcritics.

By now you (five days after the storm first hit) would think that New York City's Mayor Bloomberg would get it right, but he is still fumbling the ball. He says he is "Sorry" about the poor response to the blizzard, but then he defends Sanitation Department Chief James Doherty and says that he is the best head of sanitation that New York City ever had. Doesn't this sound something like George W. Bush defending FEMA head Michael Brown after the debacle of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans?

To add insult to injury we get a report in today's NY Post that the sanitation bosses in the outer boroughs ordered a work slowdown as a protest of the mayor's budget cuts for the department. Now, if this is true, it is disturbing on many levels, but it also can be seen as a criminal in light of the deaths in Brooklyn and Queens because streets remained unplowed.

As for Bloomberg, either he is in complete denial of how poor the response was, or he is still basing it on looking out his window in his mansion and seeing clear Manhattan streets. At yesterday's news conference Bloomberg assured everyone that Doherty vowed that all city streets would be cleared by 7 AM today (Thursday, December 30). Well, that didn't happen, at least not here in Queens, and I am not sure about the other boroughs, but I'm kind of thinking they're going to need more time. Maybe lots more time.

Bloomberg also defended the rationale of clearing "major" roadways first. Apparently, this means all the streets in Manhattan before the ones in the other boroughs. He also noted that "tertiary" roads would remain as the last ones to get plowed. Well, again lost in his la-la land of Manhattan, Bloomberg doesn't realize that most New Yorkers (those who live in the outer boroughs) actually live on those tertiary (or third class) streets, not like him in the palaces along Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Central Park.

Some people in other areas of the country are no doubt laughing at us and our response to the storm. Blogger dharma55 called New Yorkers "blizzard wimps" in her article on Blogcritics. The truth is we are blizzard wimps, but why is that? Why are New Yorkers not conditioned to handle such major weather events?

The answer, dear readers, is because of our city government. This storm is a perfect example. It was downplayed from the beginning, and then after it was clear that forecasters were wrong and it was going to be a major weather event, even then there was no declaration of emergency. By the time the storm hit with all its fury, the city was stuck in a no-win situation, and the populace was lost in the blizzard.

Other cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, and Buffalo handle much worse weather much better than this. Why? Because the local government has prepared for it, and thus the citizens are prepared too. Bloomberg and company are more concerned with people getting to Broadway shows during a blizzard than getting to a hospital. It is the obvious truth, and people died during this storm because of it. Wishing that big storms go away and come back again another day does not work, not in New York City or anywhere else.


So yes, we "blizzard wimps" here in New York are stuck in our little houses on clogged tertiary roads, waiting for the plows to unclog our streets. We are not making excuses either. Many New Yorkers (and I know because I am one of them) have taken shovels in hands, lots of them, and many have dug out their cars, houses, and businesses, only to have nowhere to go or no customers because the streets are not passable, the buses and trains are not running, and people are caught in this winter miasma and getting angrier by the minute. This is horrific for everyone, but especially those in poor health who can't get to hospitals or those homebound persons who can't get assistance or meals that they need.

At this point many people have wasted a week of their lives battling something that should have been handled differently. Whether it was a sanitation slowdown, a clueless administration, or a Mayor who is behind a curtain and working meaningless switches like the Wizard of Oz, the bottom line is the Yellow Brick Road was only plowed in certain places. You can bet that tomorrow night in Times Square, when the Mayor watches the ball drop on New Year's Eve, that many New Yorkers are going to be thinking how appropriate that is because the ball was indeed dropped, and as of yet no one accepts responsibility for the fumble.