By Pauline Dong, APIASF/GMS Scholar

I must admit that I am not the most up-to-date with what’s happening in the world of sports and have never really been. However, due to extensive coverage on Jeremy Lin and an Asian American Studies class that I took last quarter and am taking this quarter, I’ve only just begun to look more closely into the history of Asian American presence in sports.

I’m pretty sure that everyone would agree that we don’t see many Asian Americans participating in sports on a national level or at least, being recognized on a national level. So when Asian American athletes pop up and seem to have the potential to make it big, the media swarms around that person to make a hype. So why and how did “Linsanity” happen? To be perfectly honest, the first thing is how he is Chinese American. The only other Asian American athlete that I’ve heard of who was a part of the NBA was Yao Ming. Again, you don’t see very many AANHPIs in sports like basketball. Additionally, the kinds of stereotypes I’ve heard regarding why AANHPIs can’t become athletes include these: (1) Asian Americans are physically inferior to all other races, and (2) the model minority myth generalizes Asian Americans and causes the general public to think that Asian Americans aren’t athletic and can never be. These two stereotypes (though not at all limited to these two) are some factors on why “Linsanity” even exists. That being said, these are definite obstacles that AANHPI athletes will inevitably encounter in this generation and for generations to come. On a brighter note though, I do believe that increasing AANHPI presence in national sports is a good thing because it will definitely contribute to breaking down racial boundaries and present more opportunities for representation of the AANHPI community.

Pauline Dong is currently a 1st year History major at the University of California, Irvine. She is part of the Gates Millennium Scholars Class of 2011 and come fall, will serve as High School Outreach Chair of UCI’s Asian Pacific Student Association (APSA).