Jeremy Lin: His Impact On Changing The Perception Of The Asian American Male

A great column about the cultural impact of Jeremy Lin on the stereotypes of Asian-American males. This is one point that I had thought about myself:

"Most Asian male athletes of significance are either from Asia -- Yao Ming, Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, Manny Pacquiao -- or those not primarily identified as being Asian -- Tiger Woods, Hines Ward, Apolo Ohno, Johnny Damon."

If you factor in South Asians, there are Brandon Chillar of the Green Bay Packers and Manny Malhotra of the Vancouver Canucks, both of whom have South Asian fathers but Caucasian mothers. That's the impact of a Jeremy Lin. He's doing it without giving someone the opportunity to say his non-Asian genes are what's really responsible for his athletic success. And that is why as Asian-American males of all shades and stripes, we can be thankful for the progress Jeremy Lin has provided, even if he doesn't look exactly like all of us.

It would be bittersweet when one day non-Taiwanese people of Asian descent look at Lin and think he's not one of us. On one hand, it would show progress that we are no longer lumped into the same 'Asian or Pacific Islander' category. However, a bit of the unity in our diversity will be lost with it.