By Louis Chan
AsAmNews National Correspondent
You may have heard that Sacramento King’s all star DeMarcus Cousins objected to the Year of the Monkey t-shirts that were given away on the first day of Black History Month.
Underlying all this are the racist undertones of using monkeys in connection with Blacks in a league that is overwhelmingly African American.
The Kings saw the t-shirt giveaway and Chinese New Year celebration as a way to market the team to an important and large fan base in the Sacramento area.
The last thing on the team’s mind was insulting its African American players or anyone else.
The monkey is one of 12 zodiac signs on the Lunar New Year calendar. Blacks were the furthest from the minds of the astrologers who developed the zodiac thousands of years ago, but people of all stripes see the world through the lens in which they grew up.
No doubt some of the African American players, perhaps Cousins, has been called a monkey at some point in their lifetime.
The monkey represents a sensitive place in the recesses of their mind much like the slur “chink” is rightfully a soar point for many Asian Americans.
Remember the ESPN “chink in the armor” headline in reference to Jeremy Lin that ended with the firing of ESPN editor Anthony Federico?
Federico to this day says he did not intend the headline to be a racial slight in any way, nor was he trying to be funny with a pun.
I, along with many Asian Americans, saw it much differently.
Federico saw it through his lens. Asian Americans, with their unique experiences in the United States, saw it through their lens.
Even if we take Federico’s defense as truly reflective of his feelings, he could still use a little sensitivity and awareness about how others might see it differently.
Cross cultural communication is a tricky minefield to travel, but its one we all must navigate in this increasingly diverse society.
Some who view the world through a different lens than Cousins may have been dismissive of his concerns, but perhaps all of us must walk in someone else’s shoes to truly understand his concerns
JRE: DeMarcus Cousins Chinese New Year incident highlights tricky minefield: China is known as the LAND OF MONKEYS! Louis is incorrect in that Chink is increasingly no longer tolerated. Monkeys will ALWAYS be used. Are you going to tell me Black people should NEVER like Monkeys in any way shape or form? This should have been handled ahead of time. However when trying to cater to a larger commercial market then the consideration of the Chinese people should have been take into consideration too. This was not a mainstream average person doing this. This was an influential player who was in a position of power. That is what makes it much more insulting to Chinese people.