Joe's Basketball Diaries Episode Three: The Model Minority

Anti-Asian and anti-Black racism. Tokenism, xenophobia and a lack of representation in sport. These are some of the topics host Joseph Wong, the University of Toronto’s vice-president, international, explores in episode three of Joe’s Basketball Diaries.

“I was called Yao Ming my whole life growing up, and I just wanted to be Jeremy Lin,” says basketball star Jeremy Lin.

Wong, who has written about the personal impact of  anti-Asian racism, is joined by athletes, scholars, actors, journalists and activists who share their experiences and insights and discuss their work to ensure sports are accessible to everyone – and why it’s important to have hope.

“For me for, you know, child of an immigrant family, I grew up feeling like I didn't quite belong as well… I'm very honored to be playing a part in that conversation now,” says actor Simu Liu. “And hopefully, you know, also in a way that holds the door open for, for others.”

The episode features:

• Wesley Cheng, content creator of On-Air, TSN (The Sports Network)

• Clement Chu, president and founder of the Chinese Canadian Youth Athletics Association

• Takashi Fujitani, director of the Dr. David Chu program in Asia-Pacific studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

• Janelle Joseph, assistant professor at U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, who focuses on critical studies of race & indigeneity;

• Jeremy Lin, player for the Guangzhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association 

• Simu Liu, Canadian actor