Asian NBA player accused of appropriating black culture fires back against hypocrisy â TheBlaze
Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin  is an Asian-American NBA player for the Brooklyn Nets  and he has dreadlocks. Most people simply found that eye-catching  but one former player took it a step further.
Former Nets forward Kenyon Martin tore into  Lin  in an Instagram video Wednesday for the dreadlocks  but  Lin âs response showed class and the composure of someone who has been judged for being an Asian in a predominantly black league for years.
âDo I need to remind this damn boy that his last name Lin?â Martin said. âLike  come on  man. Letâs stop with these people. There is no way possible he wouldâve made it on one of our teams with that bulls**t on his head. âCome on man  somebody need to tell him  like  âalright bro  we get it. You wanna be black.â Like  we get it. But your last name is  Lin  â Martin continued.
 Lin âs response
 Lin  avoided taking any direct shots at Martin in  his  reply  but did point out one glaring bit of hypocrisy in Martinâs cultural appropriation accusation.
 Lin  posted this in an Instagram comment (emphasis added):
Martin  a black man  was accusing  Lin  of trying to be black because of his hair  while Martin himself has tattoos of Chinese lettering on his forearm.
 Lin  explained  his  reasons for  his  unique hairstyle choice in a column on The Playersâ Tribune.
âBut I liked how the process of changing my look actually made me feel more like  myself  again. I realized that in the years since Linsanity  I had spent a lot of time in a box  worrying about other peopleâs opinions on what I should and shouldnât be doing. I wanted to stop basing my decisions so much on what strangers or critics might say about  me . It was cool how something as simple as how I wore my hair could pull me out of my comfort zone and make me feel more free.â
 Lin   a Harvard graduate who made it to the NBA despite being undrafted  enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame with the New York Knicks  followed by an injury-ridden fall from grace.
 [TGT] is an Asian-American NBA player for the Brooklyn Nets  and  [TGT]  has dreadlocks. Most people simply found that eye-catching  but one former player took it a step further.
Former Nets forward Kenyon Martin tore into  Lin  in an Instagram video Wednesday for the dreadlocks  but   [TGT]  âs response showed class and the composure of someone who has been judged for being an Asian in a predominantly black league for years.
âDo I need to remind this damn boy that his last name Lin?â Martin said. âLike  come on  man. Letâs stop with these people. There is no way possible he wouldâve made it on one of our teams with that bulls**t on his head. âCome on man  somebody need to tell him  like  âalright bro  we get it. You wanna be black.â Like  we get it. But your last name is  Lin  â Martin continued.
  [TGT]  âs response
 Lin  avoided taking any direct shots at Martin in  his  reply  but did point out one glaring bit of hypocrisy in Martinâs cultural appropriation accusation.
 Lin  posted this in an Instagram comment (emphasis added):
Martin  a black man  was accusing  Lin  of trying to be black because of his hair  while Martin himself has tattoos of Chinese lettering on his forearm.
 Lin  explained  his  reasons for  his  unique hairstyle choice in a column on The Playersâ Tribune.
âBut I liked how the process of changing my look actually made me feel more like  myself  again. I realized that in the years since Linsanity  I had spent a lot of time in a box  worrying about other peopleâs opinions on what I should and shouldnât be doing. I wanted to stop basing my decisions so much on what strangers or critics might say about  me . It was cool how something as simple as how I wore my hair could pull me out of my comfort zone and make me feel more free.â
 Lin   a Harvard graduate who made it to the NBA despite being undrafted  enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame with the New York Knicks  followed by an injury-ridden fall from grace.