Schools

Three Montclair High Students Win OCA Scholarships

Read the winning essay on Jeremy Lin.

 

Montclair High School seniors Axel Hellman, Hannah Liu, and Rong Ren were honored by the OCA New Jersey on Saturday, June 9 at the OCA NJ annual Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Luncheon.

OCA NJ is a state chapter of OCA, a national civil rights advocacy and educational organization dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Americans of Chinese and Asian/Pacific Islander descent.

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The scholarships were awarded for successful participation in the OCA essay contest, with consideration also given to community service and extracurricular activity participation.

This year’s essay topic asked students to respond to Jeremy Lin as an influential force for Asian Americans, as well as discuss the role and treatment of Asian Americans in the media. Axel Hellman and Rong Ren both won Honorable Mention, $300 scholarships. Hannah Liu earned first prize, the Robert E. Wone Memorial Scholarship, totaling $1,000.

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Below is the winning essay by Hannah Liu, who will be attending Brown University:

When Jeremy Lin started playing in the NBA, he brought to light much of the prejudices still held against Asians and Asian Americans.  Jeremy provided an impetus for the media to start becoming more mindful of comments geared toward Asian Americans.

He also started to unite the Asian American community in an effort to break stereotypes and work together to improve the media-propagated attitudes toward Asians in America. I personally have had a similar upbringing and family history as Jeremy Lin, and I see him as an inspiration to continue to defy expectations of me as an Asian American woman. Much of what Jeremy was subjected to is now common knowledge.

“The Knicks’ Good Fortune,” “Me love you Lin time,” “A Chink in the Armor,” and many other slurs resulted in the Asian American Journalists Association releasing guidelines like “Jeremy Lin is Asian American, not Asian,” “eye shape…is irrelevant” and “resist the temptation to refer to an ‘Asian who knows how to drive.’” Phrases like “a chink in the armor” are used in sports, but used to describe Jeremy Lin they demonstrate the insensitivity toward Asians in the media. No author, editor, or publisher stopped to consider whether a phrase that uses a word that is offensive to Asians Americans is appropriate to title an article about an Asian American.

Less obvious, but perhaps more insidious were the comments that were made about Lin’s skills as a basketball player. He was called “deceptively quick,” or “deceptively athletic.” These comments seem complimentary, but again nobody had stopped to think. What is it about Lin that makes his skills “deceptive?” He was recruited to Harvard University for his basketball skills. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall, and he had demonstrated his superior abilities in the past.

The journalists who called Lin’s abilities “deceptive” were probably referring to his heritage. This marks a very real misunderstanding of Asians in America. Many Asian Americans, including myself, see Lin’s success in the NBA as another crack in the racial barrier against Asians in America. Lin himself even noted, “Asians in general don’t get the respect we deserve when it comes to sports, basketball, or whatever it may be.” He hopes to break the trend.

There are few Asian Americans in my high school, and many people, without forethought, assume that Asian Americans do not need help “closing racial gaps” because of an irrelevant academic stereotype. During the height of the ‘Linsanity,’ I was often asked about Jeremy Lin. Even my friends assumed that because I am Asian American, I would have an opinion. While I do have an opinion, this still shows a lack of cultural awareness. Many Asian Americans do not know very much about Jeremy Lin, and many Caucasian Americans know much more about Lin than I.

I am Taiwanese American, just like Jeremy Lin, and I find his rational outlook in the face of frenzied success and media attention admirable. He has said that he is proud to be Asian American, and I also reflect that sentiment. Just like my father, Jeremy’s parents came to the United States to gain an education, and a chance at a better life. Though academics were important to Jeremy’s parents, Jeremy’s mother also made sure that Jeremy could pursue his passion of basketball without negatively impacting his studies.

My parents have worked to make sure that I can live comfortably, and still pursue my passions for languages and public rhetoric. The media consistently depicts women of Asian descent as submissive, but I will defy that stereotype in order to pursue my educational and professional interests. Jeremy Lin overcame very public racial prejudice while remaining both levelheaded and proud of his heritage. I will take his example, and work hard to bring more awareness of the intentional and unintentional discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans to light with poise and pride.


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