Recently, an ESPN news reporter was suspended for using a racial slur that reefers to Chinese people while
referring to Basketball’s newest phenomenon, Jeremy Lin. It seems pretty straight forward, but
here’s the catch, he used the slur in the following way. “Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin's 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-Snapping Loss to Hornets.”
While you could certainly argue otherwise, let’s assume for
the purpose argument that the use of the slur was in fact a total, subconscious
accident. My question is was his
punishment justified, and if not is it to harsh or maybe to forgiving?
On one hand, the phrase he used is a commonly used
expression. Let’s not forget that
the word “chink” is in fact a word that is defined in the Oxford English
Dictionary as “to crack” so given the context, its other meaning as a
racial slur is completely unrelated.
Thus his use of it was perfectly justified and no punishment should be
necessary.
On the other hand, as a person with such a strong voice in
society, it is imperative that you watch what you say. Obviously the word he used is
incredibly offensive in certain contexts, so it could be argued that his
punishment was necessary to teach him to watch more carefully what he says.
I think this whole incident really speaks to American
Society. What does it say about
our society that one can’t even use a common expression without offending an
entire race of Americans? This is
to the point that as soon as this announcer said the phrase, people immediately
accused him of being a racist. I
think Americans tend to be so racially sensitive that they are actually adding
to racism.
I have to say that I completely and totally disagree with you here. Although the phrase "chink in the armor" is not racist, there is absolutely no way that this reporter did not realize what he was doing when he posted this article. Given all the to-do over Jeremy Lin's race, he would have to be really stupid not to notice it. If there were tons of Asian-Americans in the NBA, then maybe, just maybe I could excuse it as accidental, but I think there is just no way this was accidental, or that he didn't realize. And I think what this incident says about our society is that there are still racist people, not that we are somehow adding to racism by being overly sensitive. I don't think we are, in most cases, too sensitive.
ReplyDeleteI also object to the idea that "one can't even use a common expression without offending an entire race of Americans." It's not that you can't use the phrase "chink in the armor," it's that you cannot use the phrase when referring to the one Asian player on a team when so much fuss has been made about his race.
P.S. I recommend Yo, Is This Racist?, I think the guy addresses a couple of things like this in a funny, but generally not school appropriate, way.
Hayley, just so you know, I never voiced an opinion on whether or not the use of the phrase was accidental or not. If you look back at the post you'll find that what I said was "While you could certainly argue otherwise, let’s assume for the purpose argument that the use of the slur was in fact a total, subconscious accident." So yes I agree that it is suspect that the use of the phrase was in fact an accident, but there is no way to be certain. So for the sake of clarity I asked my readers to make an assumption.
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