Fetters

(This article appeared in the 3/31/03 joke issue)

Note from the Editor: The letter that follows is an actual letter we received in January. No joke. We promise. This is a real letter, and it has not been changed in any way or edited in any fashion.

To the Editor:

Back in December, as basketball fans know, Shaq made a racial slur toward the rival center Yao Ming. When he was contacted by NBA, he gave an apology saying that it was a joke. But what's more disturbing than his first slander was his rebuttal to his apology, saying that it's okay to deride Asians with stereotypes since it's rampant in our society. How different would the situation have been if it was Yao Ming who mocked Shaq using stereotypes of Blacks? A disaster. Now that is disturbing.

This issue is old and media already has chosen to hush this incident with Shaq's half-baked apology. But we all should remember that there is an important message here. A message that says "not all stereotypes are equal". As a matter of fact, we encounter racial stereotypes through media everyday. But we never see any mocking of blacks, do we? Why is that? It's because they've worked for it. They've earned it through countless marches and protests, and they've battled it for more than a century. For Asians? The battle is just starting. That is how Shaq can get away with this racially-sensitive issue.

This is not a protesting letter bickering about inequality of stereotypes. It's not about Blacks vs. Asians, Shaq vs. Yao, or anything vs. anything for that matter. The point of this letter is in hopes of waking up those who aren't already active in abolishment of stereotypes and racial discrimination. I hope it serves as a wake up call, as it was for me to write this letter.

I really hope Shaq has made that comment out of an innocent humor. It's truly sad to think that people who've suffered so much because of stereotypes and racism would mock another race so easily.

Anonymous

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