Jeremy Lin–genuine, “real” human being
Linsanity days headed to L.A.
Jeremy Lin press conference with Lakers: Lin Excited for New Beginning
Asian American
Bullying and Harassment–Efforts by the Presidential AAPI to Protect Asian Americans–an often overlooked group
http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/aapi/bullying-and-harassment/
The Presidential AAPI Initiative has been very effective in reducing bullying of Asian Americans, the most bullied ethnic group in America, but only in those schools who have a genuine interest in choosing to complying with Federal and State statutes and regulations over hurt feelings of mommy coaches and friends who, without impunity, follow the long-held unwritten rules of cronyism–believing their threats to parents who raise legitimate, will destroy their children’s chances of being placed in AP courses or, for those few minorities in these (mostly schools with no minorities employed for any positions) a reduction in playing time or a smear campaign if complaints of racism do not stop (without ever investigating these complaints, of course). If you have bought into the “Asians as model minority myth”, please recognize that The term “Asian” covers an incredibly large number of people, whose only connection with other Asians is simply that their ancestors at some point lived on the same, extremely large continent. Please treat all Asians or Asian Americans as separate ethnic groups with their own, often very different, cultures and heritage. My Asian American daughter is from Central Asia and her ancestors did not use chopsticks (though she has since become quit adroit at using them). She also excels at the highest levels of amateur basketball, playing on one of only a handful of Nike-sponsored teams and a member of Nike’s EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League), yet was taunted by her own teammates at her FORMER school with racial slurs and up through the last day was told “Asians can’t play basketball.” Typical comments raised as complaints up through the all-white schoolboard and white School District Superintendent. After the high school varsity coach declared that my daughter had the best skill set on the varsity team, I raised a number of complaints of Title VI yet again (though now that she has thankfully transferred to a school that celebrates her diversity, I question why I continued to make complaint after complaint, when most rational people would have stopped when the entire coaching staff ratcheted up their harassment of my daughter. Most significantly, though, after proclaiming my daughter the best player on the varsity team, posting her name as the only middle school player on the varsity team in the community’s largest newspaper and having her dress with the varsity the first 4 or 5 teams, summoned my daughter into her office and said, “Don’t take this personally, but you ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY VARSITY, and then calling a fellow 8th grader (who did not make the all conference team as my daughter) and a 7th grader who rarely even played in 8th grade games) to proclaim they would be on the varsity team. In fact, the two newest varsity members were not even made to play on the freshman team, as was my daughter–though she was the only middle school player who played JV the previous year, but at that point relegated to a little used player on the JV team. It should be pointed out that this schools girls basketball program was very lightly regarded. Two months after the season thankfully came to an end, my daughter’s AAU team won the State’s AAU Division I championship and earned a number 15 seed in the AAU National tournament. Despite transferring to a new school where she is treated with respect and dignity, the U.S. Department of Education and our State’s Commission on Human Rights is continuing to investigate the school’s athletic program–complaints filed by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) who filed the complaints in their own name against my daughter’s former school system–after the school district treated a NYC civil rights group in the same manner as they treated my daughter and our family WITH COMPLETE DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE.
Posted with BlogsyJeremy Lin excited about being traded to @Lakers
Jeremy Lin excited about being traded to @Lakers.
I hope Jeremy’s incredible basketball talent is appreciated by the Lakers. I KNOW his humanitarian and charity work will be appreciated!
Is Diversity Important in Washington, D.C.?
Lost For Words — Jeremy Lin
A very touching video in which Jeremy spends hours of his own time to help a bullied Asian American student overcome his fears of even speaking in his school.
I personally know this video is not simply some public relations attempt to portray Jeremy Lin as a super Christian willing to help bullied minorities.
Once Jeremy Lin learned from his mother of the unmitigated mistreatment and bullying of my Asian American daughter by her fellow students and basketball teammates (who continuously hurled racial slurs at her without intervention by responsible adults) as reported in the national media, he arranged a 30 minute video chat with my daughter. His encouragement and words of wisdom greatly helped my daughter adjust to the new school where she transferred, as she began to excel academically and socially and renewed her love of basketball-and worked constantly to improve her game, eventually receiving an invitation to join a Nike EYBL basketball travel team on which she starts. During her freshman school year, she received letters from coaches at high D-1 universities.
My daughter described him as a “regular guy” and incredibly humble (which shocked her since she had held him on such a high pedestal) who offered her techniques to deal with the racial slurs and use them as incentive to improve her basketball game. He told her he has had to deal with racial hatred his whole life and refused to let racial slurs or other stereotypes define who he is as a person.
RIP IVY. — American Doll’s lone Asian doll discontinued
Reading the article in the link below brought back some bittersweet memories, and even greater disappointment. When my daughter was 8, my wife daughter and I took a trip from our Kentucky home (though our house is old, having been built in 1840, I am refusing to make any reference here to Stephen Foster or my Commonwealth’s state song) to Chicago to meet up wIth friends. The highlight of the trip was planned well in advance of our departure–a trip to the huge, beyond belief, American Girl Store and Salon. I remember well the smile on my daughter’s face when, after looking at rooms and rooms crammed full of (very expensive) dolls, all with European features, when we finally stumbled upon “Ivy”, the only Asian American doll among the thousands of dolls for sale. My wallet was nearly emptied as my daughter not only bought Ivy, but also matching outfits for her new doll and herself. She continuously stared at Ivy the rest of the trip and smiled up at me, asking, “Papa, She looks just like me, doesn’t she?” And indeed she did. Though, to be honest, the trip through that huge building crammed full of both dolls and little girls was not my favorite experience of the trip, my daughter’s smile made it not only bearable, but in some inexplicable way enjoyable.
For the foreseeable future, there will be no more Ivy’s or other Asian American dolls for sale at the AMERICAN DOLL store for all those little Asian girls like my daughter so accustomed at such a young age to feeling like an outsider in their own country.
Though, I have not seen any evidence of Ivy’s presence in our house in years, and my daughter is well past the doll phase and deeply into sports now, the story of Ivy’s demise did sadden me in an unexpected way.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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