Jeremy Lin Combats Racist Tweet With Love of Jesus
Jeremy Lin, 23-year-old New York Knicks starting point guard, has dealt with multiple racial slurs and comments since his rise to fame began in February. However, he is finally speaking out against a racial slur aimed at him on Twitter.
Lin, an Asian-American Harvard Graduate, was called a "Chink" on Twitter after the Knicks' 121-79 win against the Portland Trailblazers, where Lin only scored six points with six turnovers and six assists. Instead of ignoring the Tweet, Lin responded by re-tweeting the message and offering the love of Jesus to the person behind the racial slur.
"This is happening in 2012," Lin tweeted to the individual who wrote the slur. "Jesus loves you bro and I do too."
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Since leading the New York Knicks to a winning streak after a stint in the D-League and being dropped by multiple NBA teams, Lin has been no stranger to racial jabs at the expense of his Asian-American heritage. Two ESPN employees were publicly reprimanded after using the phrase "chink in the armor" to describe Lin's trouble with turning over the ball while running the Knicks offense last month.
Ben & Jerry's ice cream company was also accused of committing insensitive racial acts against Lin after producing a "Taste the Lin-Sanity" flavor that featured vanilla frozen yogurt, lychee honey swirls and fortune-cookie pieces that people complained reinforced Asian stereotypes last month. Last month, athletes also took part in highlighting the Knicks guard's ethnicity in an insensitive way that sparked outrage.
Floyd Mayweather, a polarizing undefeated boxer, tweeted about Lin being overrated because of his ethnicity.
"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian," Mayweather tweeted in February. "Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise."
However, Lin's fans backed him up on Twitter during the most recent racial slur being made against the Harvard graduate on Wednesday night. After Lin and fans spoke out against the offensive tweeter, the individual deleted their account.
"This man called Jeremy Lin a chink, then was getting violated so much he had to delete his account," one person tweeted. "#Linsanity."
Another respected the fact that Lin combated the offensive tweet with the love of Jesus.
"Jeremy Lin just hit somebody with the most peaceful ether ever for calling him a chink," the person tweeted.
It seemed others began to see the error in referring to the Asian-American guard's ethnicity in an insensitive way.
"After the Jeremy Lin thing, I don't think I will ever use 'chink in the armor' in a sentence naturally again," the person tweeted.
Lin is the first American player in the NBA to be of Chinese or of Taiwanese descent.
