October 12, 2003

Fighting words

MyInKy: Golf. How do you think African Americans would feel if I said, "there are too many blacks in basketball, there should be a quota of black Americans as opposed to others?" That's some seriously racist comment isn't it? Well, Jan Stephenson of the LPGA essentially shot herself in the foot with a very similar comment about Asians in the LPGA. A few things strike me as odd. She calls for a bias towards more American players in the tour, as opposed to international players. Hmmm. Stephenson is Australian. Moreover, the players of Asian descent in the LPGA are just that, of Asian descent -- some happen to be American also, like Christina Kim. Please don't automatically assume that the slanty eyes and dark hair means Asians can't be Americans also. Secondly, all this hoopla over Asians dominating the tour. Let's look at the numbers. Of the top 40 money winners on the Tour, just six are Asian-born, but it is true that 4 of the top 9 are of Asian descent. I'm glad Jan apologized for her comments. And at least it came out in the open, rather than buried beneath and staying there as an dark undertone in the Tour.

Posted by johnvu at October 12, 2003 12:23 PM
Comments
Post a comment