One of the most abhorrent and prevalent social constructions is racial discrimination, which is a product of race, a social construction in itself. Racial discrimination is marked by the intersection of race, prejudices, and stereotypes. The two articles, “The Meaning of Serena Williams,” and “Jeremy Lin’s Model Minority Problem,” by Rankine and Leung, respectively, offer two different aspects and views on the many racial aspects that plague the sports world. Both provide the point that racial stereotyping and prejudice exist, especially when concerned with sports, but they differ on the ways that athletes, specifically Jeremy Lin and Serena Williams, challenge them. Whereas the Leung’s article on Lin focuses on how he has succeeded in demolishing stereotypes, and also challenging the classic example of a “model minority,” Rankine writes about the constant battle that Williams faces against racial discrimination and prejudice. …show more content…
In Serena Williams’ case, she has been “described [that she] and [her] sister [are] ‘brothers’ who are ‘scary’ to look at,” which Rankine ascribes to the stereotype that black women are “hypermasculine and unattractive” (2015). Williams has had to and still does deal with racial discrimination and institutionalized racism that Rankine suggests might have affected her ability to appear higher on the London School of Marketing’s ranked list of marketable sports stars. Leung also states that Lin was discriminated against through institutionalized racism, which prevented coaches that “couldn’t see ‘past’ his Asian features” (2013) because Asians were a very small minority in terms of NBA