Breaking stereotypes. But are we still color aroused?

When you hear about an Asian American Harvard graduate, the last thing you think about is some dude breaking legs and raining jumpers in the NBA. But that's exactly what Jeremy Lin is doing these days, and he is doing it in style. Dude has made the Knicks relevant again. Something Mello and Amare couldn't quite do. And now, Spike Lee, all five feet three inches of him, is jumping out of his court side seat once again.

They are calling it "Linsanity" in New York, and even for the hype capital of the world this is major.

I say this is a good thing. Anytime you get something out of the box and busting up stereotypes it's all good as far as I am concerned. Of course Asian dudes from Harvard don't usually go off in the NBA. So yes, dude is an anomaly, but he is an anomaly in a good way.

Floyd Mayweather is catching heat for these comments he made via a tweet:

"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise," Mayweather wrote on his Twitter account on Monday afternoon. [Source] 

Yes Floyd, all the hype is because he is Asian. And not just any Asian riding the pines on an NBA bench in Charlotte. He is starting for the Knicks! That makes what he is doing special.

Sorry Floyd, you don't always have to call out the elephant in the room.

Personally, I want more whites, Asians, and people of all of other races getting their shine on the NBA. And I want more African American neurosurgeons like Ben Carson getting their shine on in hospitals all over the country. That's progress.

Finally, more from the color arousal department: (Thanks Francis)

" A white grandfather says he wound up in cuffs after being accosted by police, all for walking home with his black granddaughter.

Scott Henson, a former journalist who now researches for and blogs about the criminal justice system, wrote about the experience on his popular blog, "Grits for Breakfast."

Henson, who describes himself as "an almost stereotypical looking white Texas redneck," said he was walking home from a roller skating rink with his 5-year-old granddaughter Ty, who is African-American, on Friday night.
On the blog, Henson explains the relationship. Ty's mother is his goddaughter, and Henson and his wife often find themselves "tasked with unplanned impromptu babysitting duties, like hundreds of other parents and grandparents around Austin."

That night, Henson opted to walk home from the rink instead of having his wife come pick up him and Ty.

"This was a terrible mistake on Grandpa's part," he said.
According to the blog post, which was published Saturday, Henson was stopped by a deputy constable, who told him that there were reports of a white man kidnapping a black girl. He was ordered to step away from Ty, and the officer began to question the girl.

"He's my Grandpa!" Ty said, according to the blog post.
Satisfied, the officer released Henson and Ty, who continued to walk home until they were stopped again -- this time, by five flashing police cars and a crowd of police.

"The officers got out with tasers drawn demanding I raise my hands and step away from the child," Henson said. "I complied, and they roughly cuffed me, jerking my arms up behind me needlessly."

"Meanwhile, Ty edged up the hill away from the officers, crying."
Henson said he provided officers with phone numbers they needed to verify that Ty was his granddaughter, "but for quite a while nobody seemed too interested in verifying my 'story.'"

Police again questioned Ty, and Henson was eventually released.
Corporal Anthony Hipolito of the Austin Police Department verified that Henson was stopped on Feb. 10, as police were searching for a kidnapper who'd allegedly snatched a young black girl nearby.

"Officers verified that the man was her grandfather through a phone call to her mother, and they were released," Hipolito said to the Daily News.
Still, Henson, who has written about a similar experience on his blog before, isn't satisfied.

"How hard would it have been to perform a safety check without running up on me like I'm John Dillinger and scaring the crap out of a five-year-old?"
He also noted that he was released without an apology.

"I hated for a five-year-old to be subjected to such an experience,” Henson said. “I'd like her to view police as people she can trust instead of threats to her and her family, but it's possible I live in the wrong neighborhood for that." [Source]

Hmmm, this story is deep on a lot of levels. The po po could have done a better job of handling this situation. But were they wrong? This is, after all, A-merry-ca, and we are all color aroused in this post- racial world that we live in.

Let me know what you think.