MLB's Soft Response to Racist Gesture Sets Precedent

Yu Darvish may come from a cultural background that is polite and courteous, but I grew up as an Asian American, and his response showed what a class act he is, but it doesn’t discount Yuli Gurriel’s COMPLETELY OFFENSIVE behavior on international television/online where millions of viewers and KIDS are watching. So yeah, its great to say lets focus on moving forward but I, like many other Asian Americans and other Asians ARE OFFENDED.

I grew up having that same squinty eye gesture being done towards me many a time, as well as being made fun of for my traditional Asian lunches I would bring to school (which in hindsight were amazing & homemade, i cant believe i wanted nasty kraft cheese and ham-thanks mom!). Being one of the few Asian kids in the entire school, I definitely got made fun of for what I looked like. So yeah, dont tell me what i can and cannot be offended by.

MLB’s soft admonishment sets a precedent that an Asian racial slur means less…could you imagine what would happen if someone dropped the N word? Oh, lets wait til next season to punish you? Imagine every time your kid misbehaves, oh i’ll wait ’til next year to punish you…Except that ‘kid’ is 33 and a professional baseball player who has played in Japan and should have known better. It sounds absolutely ridiculous to delay punishment & sets a precedent.

Gurriel chose his setting. And it is in that setting Gurriel should have served his penalty. The later the October, the bigger the game, the greater the responsibility. I think MLB handled the situation wrong, but why would they change anything if we don’t speak out? Just let this egregious behavior pass??

I work in baseball media, and that Asian stereotype of being the model minority or being passive just doesn’t fly with me. If we don’t speak up on what a double standard this is, who will?? We should cover it, write about it, talk to our kids about it, and continue the conversation…because if we don’t, no one else will. If you are still reading, thank you for reading this long diatribe, I hope you join me in continuing the conversation that racism should NEVER BE TOLERATED. #zerotolerance #notthisasian