Yuli Gurriel
One recent example of the outcome that is yielded when cultures, customs, and idiosyncratic practices are clashed together is seen in the case of Cuban player Yulieski Gurriel. In the 2016-2017 season, Gurriel played his rookie year with the Houston Astros after recently defecting from the Cuban league and establishing his eligibility to play in the MLB. Contributing to the team’s success and demonstrating his skills during an impressive first year, Yuli and his team dominated playoffs and eventually reached the World Series, when the major controversial incident occurred. After a review by the league, Yuli was declared to be suspended for the first 5 games of next season due to racist gestures enacted towards an opposing team member during game 3 of the series. His claim was that this form of derogatory terms and gestures (‘chinito’ and eye slanting) is commonplace in Cuba and differs in degree of significance when taken out of context. In literal terms, “chinito” translates to “little Chinese boy,” and is often used in Latin American countries, particularly in the Caribbean, to refer to someone associated with or a member of an ethnic group in Asia.
Still, he apologized and acknowledges the offensive nature of his actions. Speaking through an interpreter after the incident, Gurriel said he made the gesture because he hasn't had success in the past playing against Japanese pitchers. “In Cuba and in various places, you don’t say Japanese, you call all Asians ‘chinitos,’” Gurriel said. “But I was in Japan, and I know they are offended by that. I would particularly like to apologize to Yu Darvish, a pitcher that I admire and respect.” He admits that it is not ignorance that leads him to perform these actions; so rather than simply having racist, demeaning intentions, it is more likely that in the moment he had reverted to instincts instilled in him in Cuba where social norms did not consider his gesture to be anything more than a common, acceptable, unregulated joke. In the moment he was gloating in response to his major hit, and in turn ended up mocking not only the person that his celebrations were directed towards, but also mocking something bigger than the player. Yuli struggled to see the significance of the stage that he was playing on and the adjustments necessary to fit in. Ultimately, the idea is that coming from Gurriel’s position, the action is offensive and derogatory, yet there are cultural complexities that must be examined. A contact reporter expands on this idea by stating, “I’m not naive to think there isn’t racism in Latin America, particularly toward indigenous people. But it would be misguided to view anything race-related from another culture through an American perspective. This country’s history of race relations is particularly ugly.”
Yu Darvish, the pitcher that Gurriel was mocking, responded to the gesture in a post-game interview saying that his goal moving forward is to use this incident as a lesson to help make the world a more inclusive place one step at a time. He also acknowledged that he understands the chirps and comments that occur amongst teammates, but regrets that the fans had to witness the offensive actions. Univision deportes, a prominent Latinx media source, also commented on the backlash that Gurriel was receiving. Their report stated: “El motivo: un pequeño, pero ofensivo gesto de Gurriel tras el tercer partido, en el que derrotaron a Darvish, a quien llamó "chinito", una palabra común en países latinoamericanos para referirse a los asiáticos en general. Darvish es japonés y para ellos la confusión les resulta hiriente.” This translates to something along the lines of: “The motive: a small, yet offensive gesture made by Gurriel during the third game, where they defeated Darvish, who he called ‘little Chinese boy”, a word commonly used in Latin American countries to refer to Asians in general. Darvish is Japanese and for them the misnomer is hurtful.” This report confirms that a prominent portion of the Latinx population is unfamiliar with the degree of disrespect that mixing up races has on this group of people, largely because of the lack of multicultural interaction between the populations and the homogeneity within their own societies. This all changes when these baseball players are placed on an American team where the culture is different. The expectations change while the players struggle to change with them.
