What To See When Looking at Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin is an Asian-American, we get it, but why must that be the point? Why must this Cinderella story incorporate racial issues into its unscripted plot?

What Lin is doing is great for any remaining worldly barriers in sports, but that’s it. He should not be the subject of racism, nor should he be deemed savior to anyone outside of the New York Knicks organization.

Is Lin an inspiration? Hell yes, but not necessarily for the reasons that are currently being emphasized. His story is an incredible, it’s improbable, but it doesn’t have to do solely with race.

Lin has exposed huge holes in the basketball scouting system. Somehow, Lin led his high school team to a state championship without receiving any scholarship offers to play college ball. Somehow, he went undrafted only to go on to dominate in the D-Leagues. And somehow, two less than mediocre teams in the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets deemed him unfit to even help warm their bench.

The end result? An unexpected claim to fame, as Lin has become the new face of the Knicks organization. Yet he is not the face of the organization because of his face, but rather for what he has accomplished.

Lin has endured more than his fair share of trials, tribulations and underestimations, and yes, has been the victim of racism, but that’s not who he is.

Was it Lin’s cultural background that got him through the uncertainty that was his NBA career? No. And is it his cultural background that has propelled the Knicks back to relevancy? No. It was, and is, his perseverance as an athlete, and his will has a person. That has nothing to do with race.

The enigma that is Lin is simply that. Searching for answers and attempting to draw conclusions at this point is all but pointless. No one, not even Lin, knew that he had this type of run in him, and consequently, no one is in a position to offer insight as to how exactly it happened, and where he will go from here.

And it seems that the general public is more than aware of this, as the central issue at hand has turned to cultural backgrounds instead of basketball.

Some look at Lin and see a poster-boy for something he’s not. While his story serves as an inspiration to the Asian-American community, it also serves as an inspiration to every type of community there is.

Lin is an underdog, rapidly playing his way toward becoming a favorite. That’s what we should see when we look at Lin. Not a billboard, not a defier of racism and not the exception to a biological rule.

No one knows what his legacy will become, but we sure as hell know where it began: On the basketball court.

And to judge him based on anything else is absolutely absurd.