Here’s evidence when it comes to coverage of Asian Americans in sports, we still have a ways to go.
Uproxx reports a story that appeared on NBA.com referred to fans of Jeremy Lin as oriental.
The article was promptly called out by NBA blogger Stephen Lebron who tweeted:
shouts to the nba having an article on their site with the term "oriental fans" https://t.co/cMcF5MQrip pic.twitter.com/dKv9YJxxgW
— alex (@steven_lebron) November 14, 2015
The offensive language was quickly amended after Lebron got the attention of the league office. The term oriental has been removed along with any reference to the racial composition of Lin’s fan base.
First, Lin’s following extends far beyond Asian Americans. While Asian Americans are indeed passionate about Lin, so are his legions of other fans who enjoy his social media posts and basketball highlights.
Even more importantly, the term oriental when referring to Asian Americans has become largely obsolete. Apparently the NBA, the league which can boast that its first player of color was actually Asian American (Wat Masaka, 1947), didn’t get the memo.
The term Asian American was coined in the late 1960s by historian Yuji Ichioka. Oriental may be appropriate to describe a rug. Asian Americans are not an object, it is a people. The term oriental has been historically used by those who look at East Asians through a stereotypical lens as exotic and mysterious. Oriental is a loaded term from the days of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Here’s something I had not heard before. The term oriental is actually banned by law in the state of New York. You can read about that in Uproxx.
NBA hasn’t heard the term ‘oriental’ is offensive: Can't imagine this is going to fly in a racially charged association like the NBA