Fox 5 Anchor Makes Racist Statement About Jeremy Lin

By Lexington | Wednesday, February 22, 2012 | 21 Comments

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Once again, the Jeremy Lin phenomenon has unearthed a massive trove of anti Asian American racism. Unlike the unfortunate ESPN headline, this racist remark is far more blatant. One anchor is talking about the physical attributes that help Jeremy Lin become such a great basketball player, when Greg Kelly interjects by asking, “What about his eyes?” The other anchor laughs, although it’s not clear whether it’s because she thinks Kelly is funny or if she is uncomfortable with how offensive the question is. You can imagine how Kelly would defend his remarks.

“I didn’t mean for it to be hurtful/I was just trying to be funny/It was a serious question!!”

It’s probably a good time to explain why many of us don’t care about intent when it comes to racism. Just because you didn’t meant to be racist doesn’t mean you didn’t say something racist.

Why? Well first, because racist statements reflect racist attitudes that emerge even in the absence of intent. It’s socially unacceptable (at least in the media) to use overt, mean-spirited racial attacks—so overtly racist remarks are never made. It’s NOT because racist attitudes are gone. Racism deals with implicit attitudes and assumptions.

It’s why an old, grandmotherly lady could say something as good-natured as “I love how you Asians are all so good at math.” That would still be a racist statement. It’s why your non-Asian buddy can say something like, “Damn you’re pretty athletic … for an Asian” and that would still be a racist statement. Of course, we don’t end up hating on everyone who says something racist—context, reputation of the speaker, and other factors matter. Which one of us has never uttered a racist statement before? (By the way, people aren’t judged in a vacuum; some folks are able to get away with racist remarks.)

But that doesn’t change whether a statement was racist or not.

Second, intent doesn’t matter because despite how the speaker explains himself, it’s nearly impossible to figure out what he really meant to say. That’s why we often look to the surrounding factors to infer intent. For example, the ESPN editor said he didn’t mean to be racist when he used the term “Chink in the Armor” to describe Jeremy Lin.

We could take his word that he was just using a term ESPN always uses. But we have circumstantial evidence that racist attitudes are at play.

The editor could have avoided controversy by coming up with an alternative headline/saying. According to Jeff Yang, these include: “Knicks got stung!” “N.O. says NO to JLin” and “Oh, bee-hive!” Using “Chink in the Armor” would be more understandable if Lin was a defensive mastermind and Kobe scored 53 points on him. Armor implies defense, and Lin is an offense machine so it would have been more accurate to say “Chink in the Sword.” That, of course, makes absolutely no sense. So it appears that the editor used a cliche that didn’t fit. All we’re left is the inference that when they saw Jeremy Lin, they thought “Chink” so to the editor (and to ESPN) the “Chink in the Armor” term was particularly apt.

As for the Greg Kelly video, take a look at his facial expression after he asks about Jeremy’s eyes. You be the judge of what he meant when he asked that question. It’ll be interesting to see if Kelly is going to defend his statement. If he does, we should ignore anything he says that has to do with his intent.

[H/T shimizuball for the video]

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DiscriminationEntertainmentSportsTV

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Facebook Comments (Beta)

raymonst

jeremy lin really brings the racists out of the woodworks
brazybear

Well, he brings the racism against Asians that have been lying dormant in certain media for a long, long time. It’s funny that this is a Fox affiliate as well. Fox News was the only channel I noticed that didn’t have a problem with saying the C word (the one we’re all talking about that’s offensive to Chinese people, don’t pretend you think I’m talking about the word “cunt” or something). All the other news organizations (CNN, MSNBC, local news, etc) seemed to know it’s just as offensive as the N word to African Americans and simply described the incident as “something printed that was offensive to Chinese Americans”.

I completely agree with Lexington that intent doesn’t matter and is not an excuse. The other routes that racists usually take are pretty funny as well. If they’re not apologetic in some way they’ll either say “you shouldn’t be offended by it / you’re too sensitive” or will take a sarcastic approach such as “oh I guess I can’t say the sky is blue anymore or I might offend the sky” or something else that’s just ridiculous. It’s like I’m taking away their freedom of speech if I get offended by their favorite racial slur and they’ll do whatever it takes to defend their right to continue using it.
http://thylacine.livejournal.com/ ErikaHarada

Not surprised that he is a *racist* shitstain on top of just being a shitstain — he got away with rape ffs.
http://djchuang.com/ djchuang

Well, would you believe this: the other day when we used a digital camera for a group shot, on the review screen popped up a notification, “Did someone blink?” Yes, the group was all Chinese. Racist?!
http://www.erniehsiung.com/ Ernie H.

@djchuang That’s so four years ago.

http://www.8asians.com/2009/05/13/racist-camera-no-i-did-not-blink-im-just-asian/
kurlykolly

why? what is wrong with people?
Biffer

This fat ass should be in jail for rape!
Danny_Ahmed

I’m trying to figure out the joke behind the eyes. Like, assuming we take so and so’s word that there isn’t any racial element, what is it about the eyes that is suppose to be that funny?
epik161

Devil’s advocate. Perhaps we are seeing something we are looking for. Let’s for a moment pretend this woman is describing an athlete of european descent.

“He has a nice build, long arms…”, she says as she goes on and on about Jeremy’s physical characteristics and the male anchor cracks a joke, “what about his eyes?”, since she’s gushing about the guy. “Oh, dreamy…”, and then comes back into basketball by saying “great court vision”.

Now, if we come back and put an athlete of asian descent in there, if you’ve been insulted about your eyes before then this piece might trigger a reaction that makes it seem like Greg Kelly is making an incredibly snide racist remark. But it’s such an odd thing to say in that situation.

I believe that none of these anchors were being racist and even considering that it would be taken offensively and were in fact simply making a harmless joke on how the female anchor was going on and on about Jeremy’s “dreamy” athletic characteristics.
mwei

@epik161 “we are looking for?” you’re Asian?

the phrase “grasping for straws” comes to mind too.
Krantzstone

@epik161

I think that even if it were truly an innocent comment (which I sincerely doubt), it would still be insensitive to the historicity of Western depictions of Asiatic eyes in order to label Asian immigrants in North America as being the perpetual alien and foreigner. as inscrutable people to be alternately loathed and feared for their differences. To deny that such exists, or to ignore it, or to be ignorant of it, is the kind of racial privilege being discussed here. Clearly, making a comment about an non-Asian athlete’s eyes would elicit neither comment nor comedy, but the fact that the other anchor’s first, most immediate reaction to the comment is (hopefully nervous) laughter, and not, to use your example, an instant and honest response of “[he's got] great court vision”, is rather telling.

Actually, having just reviewed the clip now, she didn’t sound nervous or anxious in her laughter as a response so she probably has no clue how offensive the implication of the anchor’s “joke” was. Either that, or she’s so good at covering for on-air gaffes that she just took it in stride… but I suspect it’s the former.
Krantzstone

@ErikaHarada Do tell. Who is this guy? I’m not really a spectator sports aficionado.
Kimiye

Thanks for the clear explanation of why the “Chink in the Armor” headline was so wrong, and so racist. It’s harder to tell with the “eyes” question, but it just feels bad. I guess since I’ve been asked a number of times how I can see out of such tiny eyes, a certain prickliness is difficult to avoid.
ellebee11

@Krantzstone He’s the son of Ray Kelly, the police commissioner of NYC. Greg Kelly just got back to work recently after taking a leave of absence b/c some chick accused him of rape back in Oct. But the investigation didn’t amount to anything since they have evidence of her and him texting back and forth flirtatiously after the alleged rape occurred, which btw, happened in her boss’s office. Meanwhile, this chick was with Greg Kelly while she had a boyfriend. White people do some crazy stupid shit.
David06

@ellebee11 @Krantzstone “White people do some crazy stupid shit.” As opposed to who?
http://www.thelexingtonavenueblog.com/ Lexington

@epik161 I don’t know where you’re getting the “oh dreamy” angle from. The female anchor spends the first ten seconds talking about how Lin is shorter than other Knicks players, then goes on to say that he has long arms. She’s not saying that Lin is attractive (despite the quick mention about “nice build”). She just walks through his physical attributes. I’d understand the “oh dreamy” angle it if she said he has muscular arms, ripped abs, or something like that. I’d also understand it if Kelly said “what about his dreamy eyes?” But that’s not what he said, and I’m not convinced that’s what he meant.
mwei

@Lexington some people have already compared the NBA to a slave auction, but what you described makes it sound like inspecting a race horse.
moye

@David06 @ellebee11 As opposed to the crazy stupid shit non white people do.

Also, did you know that if you are sexually assaulted in your boss’ office, it doesn’t count?
ellebee11

@moye @David06 it doesn’t count if you were sexually assaulted by a prominent white man. If he was any other race, it would count.
David06

@ellebee11 i wouldn’t necessarily say that because he was white he got away with sexual assault. i’d say that that would be sexism and corruption. i’d hesitate to make broad statements.
http://mrcab666.livejournal.com/ MRCAB

Must have watched this video over a dozen times and I still think he’s only teasing her for seemingly fawning over Lin.