Year in Review - 2002 (Feature) No Exit: Another Act in American Immigration Policy, Post-Sept. 11 (in National News) Upcoming Welfare Cut to Hurt APA Families (in Bay Area News) Ultimate Diversions: 2002 Gamer's Gift Guide (11/29/02) (in Consumer) APA Community Should Tell Shaquille O’Neal to ‘Come down to Chinatown.’ (in Sports) Hot ‘n’ Sour: Primal Scream (in A&E) INS Roundups Put Nation’s Growing Ethnic Media in Bind (in Opinion)

APA Community Should Tell Shaquille O’Neal to ‘Come down to Chinatown.

Shaq’s ethnic slurs deeply offend one Yao fan

By Irwin Tang | Special to AsianWeek

In his most recent racial taunt of Yao Ming, Shaquille O’Neal told a reporter, “Tell Yao Ming, ‘ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.’” No, the superstar center of the L.A. Lakers was not trying to speak Chinese. Shaq was, in a most derisive tone, aiming a racist barb at the rookie center for the Houston Rockets.

Ironically, just days before this racial taunt was aired nationally, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had honored O’Neal with their Young Leaders Award. We can only hope that the NAACP had no knowledge of Shaq’s earlier racial taunt of Yao Ming and L.A. Clippers center Wang Zhizhi, broadcast on June 28 on Fox Television’s Best Damn Sports Show Period. When Yao Ming was brought up, Shaquille O’Neal spoke with a mock Chinese accent and made mock “kung fu” moves.

Also in June, Shaq announced that he would test Yao’s toughness by taking an elbow to Yao’s face. This comment, combined with Shaq’s racist taunts are particularly disturbing, as Asian Pacific Americans often suffer racial taunts while being assaulted or physically intimidated.

But Shaquille O’Neal is not a stupid brute. That is, he may be a brute, but he’s not a stupid one. He knows the media is on his side. National and local news organizations have consciously ignored Shaq’s racist comments. I know, because I called the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press and other news organizations and offered them information about this story. They did not want to write about it.

The only reason anyone knows about Shaq’s latest taunt is because Fox Sports Radio’s Tony Bruno Morning Extravaganza played a recording of the taunt several times to its nationwide audience on Dec. 16 and 17. On the latter day, Bruno commented that Shaq’s comment was “not racist,” and then invited listeners and radio commentators to call in jokes making racist fun of Chinese. For hours, people cracked jokes, such as offering free bike parking to increase Chinese attendance at basketball games.

On Christmas Day, while calling the Celtics-Nets game for ABC, veteran sportscaster Brent Musburger lamented that “the hordes of China” might stuff the All-Star ballot box and vote Yao Ming in as the Western Conference’s starting center, rather than Shaquille O’Neal.

How Kafkaesque, and how familiar, it is that the interests of the American media and those of Asian Pacific America are diametrically opposed. The media has betrayed their own dedication to controversy by making nothing out of something that deserves much ado. Rather than slam celebrity racism, as they have in the past, some media organizations obviously wish to reserve the right to revel in their own racism.

Will the NBA punish racist speech, as it has in the past? The Association is too busy passing out fortune cookies. In “honor” of Yao’s first game in Miami, the Miami Heat on Dec. 16 passed out 8,000 fortune cookies to spectators. Yao found the promotion amusing but pointed out that fortune cookies have nothing to do with him. He said that he was not angry because he was not familiar with American stereotypes of Chinese.

Let’s not beat around the bush. If a white player had, for instance, made monkey sounds to taunt a black player, it would have been a national controversy. But Yao is Chinese and Asians are fair game. For evidence, watch TV for a couple of hours.

Asian Pacific America cannot, or will not, demand as much respect as other minority groups. What do sports commentator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, NBA Head Coach Dan Issell and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Trent Lott have in common? They all lost their jobs due to comments offensive to blacks or Hispanics. Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller, baseball pitcher John Rocker and basketball star Isaiah Thomas were all forced to apologize for racially insensitive comments.

Spit on me once, shame on you. Spit on me twice, shame on me. What will our APA leaders do about this potentially explosive issue? In the past, our national leaders have tended to shy away from the harsh lights of TV cameras, nicely fitting our stereotype as quiet, obedient people. As media-hound lawyer Johnnie Cochrane single-handedly forces the NFL to consider more black head coaches, what will our APA leaders do about Shaq’s offensive taunt? Write a letter?

Forgive my bitterness. I grew up in Texas, facing those “ching-chong” taunts daily while teachers averted their ears. I love basketball, and when Yao was drafted by Houston, I had to suppress my excitement, lest he turn out a complete flop. I went to see the Rockets play the L.A. Clippers on Dec. 12. Yao is a huge young man with huge skills. But he’s also a kid in a foreign land. You can tell by the way he carries himself when the ball is not in play. My heart goes out to Yao Ming.

Yao Ming is our Asian Jackie Robinson, though he does not face the intensity of animosity Robinson faced. Unfortunately Shaquille O’Neal is the modern-day Ty Cobb, the rough-playing baseball superstar who used the n-word about Robinson.

“I look forward to breaking down that mother f—’s body,” Shaq said of Yao Ming. “He said my name three times, two in Chinese and one in American. You don’t ever call me out. I’m from LSU.” Yao has never “called” Shaq out.

But I am calling Shaq out. Come on down to Chinatown, Shaq. You disrespect Asian Pacific America, and we will break you down. Perhaps when you and the Lakers come to Houston on Jan. 17 to play Yao Ming and the Rockets, the APA community will have a press conference waiting for you. Perhaps there, before a national audience, you can apologize to Yao Ming, forfeit your NAACP award, and implore young people not to follow your example.

Or perhaps nothing will happen. Another racial slur will be left to sink slowly into the APA collective unconscious and ferment as self-loathing. And then we’ll only have ourselves to call out.