I was just reading an article on yahoo about the headline on ESPN's website that caused an ESPN writer to lose his job ESPN Fires Writer. Does Chink in Armor ring any bells? What bothers me the most, is not the article itself, not even the incidents themselves, but the reaction of the people. Take a minute to scroll down the page to the comments. First of all, people cannot understand why this is an offensive term. The word chink, in reference to Asian people, particularly to Chinese people, is derogatory. It's a term that says that we are not equals, that we are beneath white people.
Yet, some people are actually outraged. They aren't outraged at the term used, but rather upset that a writer has been fired and an anchor has been suspended for 30 days for writing and using the term respectively. To say that the term was not meant to be offensive is ridiculous. With all the "Linsanity", are you trying to tell me that the writer and anchor did not realize that Jeremy Lin was Chinese ? You would think that if they were aware of his ethnicity then maybe they would have realized that Chink in the armor could only be construed as a racial term. This term was not funny, I don't care whether or not the anchor's wife is Asian, it's still an inappropriate term when used in reference to Jeremy Lin or any other Asian person. I refuse to believe that this was an innocent comment. An unhappy coincidence? Please. If they had used the N word, no one would be arguing over its inappropriateness. Perhaps we can remember that Asians are people too?
