Kim Ng: Asian-American women ‘whitewashed’ by US sports despite a long history of excellence, anthropologist says
- City College of New York academic Stan Thangaraj says Ng’s appointment as Miami Marlins’ GM cannot be understated in its significance
- He says it becomes even more important in an environment in which Donald Trump classifies the coronavirus as the ‘kung flu’
The San Francisco Mei Wahs were a crack all-Chinese, all-female basketball team out of 1930s Chinatown whose fast-paced, aggressive style of play shattered prevailing assumptions on the physical prowess of women in sport.
Helen Wong Lum, from the same Chinatown, was an outstanding junior tennis player in the late 40s who also excelled in basketball and volleyball but whose potential was unfulfilled because of who she was.
Kathleen S Yep wrote about their exploits in Outside the Paint: When Basketball Ruled at the Chinese Playground but their stories are largely consigned to footnotes when it comes to the history of women’s sport in the United States, according to anthropologist Stan Thangaraj, assistant professor of anthropology, gender studies and international studies at the City College of New York.
Which is why, he said, the recent appointment of Kim Ng as general manager of the Miami Marlins represents a significant cultural breakthrough that cannot be understated. At a time when Donald Trump supporters gladly accept his rhetoric on the coronavirus as made in China, Ng’s rise to the top may serve to finally afford recognition to the Asian-American women who have helped to shape US sports.
“Having a women GM and that too an Asian-American is important to jot down. There is a long history of Asians in the US being considered as foreign and never American enough,” said Thangaraj, who wrote the book Desi Hoop Dreams: pickup basketball and the making of Asian-American Masculinity.