Unless you are living under a rock you have probably heard about Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks. You don’t even have to be a sports fanatic (I’m surely not!) to know that Jeremy Lin is the new NBA sensation. But what can this rising NBA phenom teach us about diversity?
Since Lin made headlines there have been many racist, stereotypical and bias remarks made about him. I watched an interview with Jeremy Lin the other day where he even discussed some of the absurd comments, such as “I didn’t know he could run so fast”. Is that because Asians are supposed to be slow? Because they definitely aren’t supposed to be playing basketball, right? And then there was the ESPN reporter who was fired for his racist headline. Many are even surprised by his humble spirit, the fact that he always gives credit to the team when asked about his recent success.
So what does all of this teach us?
- We all have some degree of unconscious bias. We all carry around stereotypes of other cultures. Like, Asians can’t play basketball. So what do we do about it? Make a conscious decision to learn more about groups that you are not so familiar, especially those you tend to stereotype. Stimulate your curiosity about others with who you have had little interaction.
- Diversity and inclusion education is much needed. Should ESPN have fired that reporter for his racist headline? Does this response teach the employee what he did wrong so that he will not do it again? I am sure that the employee did not think he was being racist at the time. Perhaps ESPN should have used this incident as a teaching moment.
- Develop cultural competence. Cultural competence is the skill and ability to shift one’s perspective to adapt to different cultural contexts in a non-judgmental way. I find it interesting that people are so surprised by the fact that he credits his team for his success. But I guess I should not find that surprising since in the US we are very much an “I” culture, whereas Asian cultures are very much “we”. If we took the time to understand other cultures perhaps Jeremy Lin’s humble spirit would not be such a shock to us.
This post was written by Mareisha N. Winters, Vice President of The Winters Group, Inc.
Reblogged this on lesley-anne pittard and commented:
very true! i also think what makes this case for diversity so unique is that “we didn’t see it coming.” we needed some new energy & the opportunity to be reminded that although we envision a post racial America, we still have a lot of work to do.