Another Racist Moron...

[Lord Jim]

LA Clippers Owner Donald Sterling's Racist Rant Caught On Tape: Report

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his girlfriend that he doesn't want her to bring black people to his games or post pictures with black people on Instagram, according to unverified audio obtained by TMZ.

The tape begins in the middle of an argument between Sterling and his girlfriend, V. Stiviano. Sterling appears to be upset that Stiviano, who is black and Mexican, [and also about 30 years younger than him] has been posting photos to Instagram of herself with black people -- in particular, with Magic Johnson.

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people," he is heard saying. "Do you have to?"

Stiviano says that all she did was take a picture with someone she admires. "I think the fact that you admire [Magic] -- I've known him well, and he should be admired," Sterling replies. "And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately. And during your ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE, your whole life, admire him -- bring him here, feed him, fuck him, I don't care. You can do anything. But don't put him on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games. OK?"

Sterling and the Clippers organization issued a statement to TMZ on Saturday evening in response to the recording. "We have heard the tape on TMZ. We do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered," the statement said. "We do know that the woman on the tape -- who we believe released it to TMZ -- is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family, alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would 'get even.'"

"Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings," they added. "It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life."[You'll notice what's missing from that statement. Any clear denial that it is him on the tape.]

Magic Johnson has heard Sterling's alleged comments, and he's not pleased. "It's a shame that Donald Sterling feels that way about African-Americans," he told TMZ. "He has a team full of amazing African-American basketball players that are working to bring a championship to Clippers fans. The Clippers also have a strong minority fan base."

Sterling has long had a reputation for racism. The Clippers owner and real estate mogul settled a lawsuit confidentially in 2005 that accused him of discriminating against black and Hispanic tenants at properties he owned. He paid $2.7 million in response to another housing discrimination lawsuit in 2009. Sterling and his wife denied wrongdoing and said the settlement was not an admission of guilt, according to the LA Times.

But one of Sterling's top property supervisors, Summer Davenport, gave some damning testimony about him in response to the first discrimination suit, according to depositions obtained by ESPN:

When Sterling first bought the Ardmore, he remarked on its odor to Davenport. "That's because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean," he said, according to Davenport's testimony. "And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day." He added: "So we have to get them out of here." Shortly after, construction work caused a serious leak at the complex. When Davenport surveyed the damage, she found an elderly woman, Kandynce Jones, wading through several inches of water in Apartment 121. Jones was paralyzed on the right side and legally blind. She took medication for high blood pressure and to thin a clot in her leg. Still, she was remarkably cheerful, showing Davenport pictures of her children, even as some of her belongings floated around her.

Jones had repeatedly walked to the apartment manager's office to plead for assistance, according to sworn testimony given by her daughter Ebony Jones in the Housing Rights Center case. Kandynce Jones' refrigerator dripped, her dishwasher was broken, and her apartment was always cold. Now it had flooded. Davenport reported what she saw to Sterling, and according to her testimony, he asked: "Is she one of those black people that stink?" When Davenport told Sterling that Jones wanted to be reimbursed for the water damage and compensated for her ruined property, he replied: "I am not going to do that. Just evict the bitch."

Sterling was also sued for racial and age discrimination by former Clippers manager Elgin Baylor in 2011, but Baylor's suit was rejected by an LA county jury.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/2 ... 18572.html

(You can listen to the whole tape at that link)

It's pretty obvious at this point that the tape is legitimate, between Sterling's "non-denial denial" and with the second part that came out it, runs over nine minutes; (somebody doing something fraudulent wouldn't go on that long.)

In one way this is less egregious than what Bundy did; at least this was a private conversation; he didn't call a press conference to expound on these views, (it's pretty obvious from the fact that there are only two people in the conversation, and since Sterling obviously didn't release the tape, that the girlfriend must have gotten pissed off and released it; possibly sold it.)

But in other ways it's much worse, and in still other ways it's just plain bizarre. One thing that makes it worse is that Sterling is not some obscure rancher out in the middle of nowhere; he's an ultra wealthy and very powerful guy...

And what makes it bizarre are things like the fact that his girl friend is of mixed race, the fact that he doesn't seem to care if she cheats on him, or who she cheats on him with, but by God whatever you do don't bring one of the greatest basketball players in the history of basketball to a basketball game...

And another thing that makes it bizarre is that this is a sport where over 70% of the players are African American, a large portion of the coaches are as well and so is a significant portion of the fan base. For a guy who makes a lot of money from African Americans to be expressing these attitudes seems weird to me...

If he had this kind of deep seated hatred towards black people, why the hell did he buy a basketball team? (Maybe he should have bought a hockey team...)

There's already a lot of pressure building for him to sell the team, but it's my understanding that it's going to be pretty tough for the league to force him to sell. However they have tools available through their contract agreements that could make owning the team not mean much...The league could essentially "Rob Ford" him, and remove a lot of his decision making power.

Plus so long as he owns the team it's financial value will probably tank; people will be staying away from the games in droves, he may even have trouble with his TV contract...

On the surface the timing looks really bad from Sterling's perspective, with the Clippers locked in a playoff struggle with Golden State; but actually it probably would have been worse for him if it had happened in the middle of the season, when he would have been facing boycotts and picket lines...

Win or lose the season will soon be over, and it will be months before another game is played. Maybe he thinks if he keeps his head down, does an apology tour and drops a lot of money into some community charities, he can ride it out...

And given the attention span of the public, if that's what he's thinking, he may be right.

[Gob]

LA Clippers? Celebrity hairdressers?

[Lord Jim]

In 1978, San Diego welcomed the relocation of the Buffalo Braves’ franchise because the city had lost their Rockets to Houston seven years earlier. San Diego team officials didn’t think Braves was a representative nickname for the club.

A contest decided on Clippers because the city was known for the great sailing ships that passed through San Diego Bay. When the Clippers moved to Los Angeles in 1984, they kept their nickname.

(Los Angeles also has another basketball team, The LA Lakers, who are called that because the team was originally located in Minneapolis; there aren't a whole lot of lakes in Los Angeles...)

[Lord Jim]

This idiot may even have known he was being taped:

Donald Sterling was AWARE he was being taped during the conversation that was posted on TMZ
Sports, in which the L.A. Clippers owner went on a racial rant ... so claims the woman who taped him.

A source connected with V. Stiviano tells TMZ Sports ... the full conversation lasted approximately 1 hour. We're told Stiviano insists it was clear to Sterling at the beginning of the conversation he was being recorded.
What's more ... our sources say Stiviano routinely recorded her conversations with Sterling as HIS "archivist." And what's more ... she would regularly play the tapes back to him because he would often forget what he had said.

Our sources say sometime after the tape was recorded on April 9 ... Stiviano and Sterling got in an argument because he wanted her to sign a confidentiality agreement ... which she would not. We're told he then denied ever making the racist statements on the tape, so she played the entire tape for back him ... before it was ever posted on TMZ Sports.

http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/27/donald-st ... -clippers/

[Joe Guy]

If he had this kind of deep seated hatred towards black people, why the hell did he buy a basketball team?

Maybe he likes the idea of owning black people.

I've been listening to a lot of radio commentary on this one. More than one person has said that according to team ownership rules, the league could force him to sell the team.

Al Sharpton has already spoken out against him. What a surprise! The ex girlfriend has a lawyer. (I wonder if it's Gloria Allred?)

Personally, I think it's a waste of media time, but I guess racism is the issue of the times, so let's see who comes up with the next one...

[Lord Jim]

Maybe he likes the idea of owning black people.

That's a possibility, but being an NBA team owner means having to spend a lot of time around "stinky black people" which is something I get the impression Mr. Sterling likes to avoid...

Here are some stinky black people he won't have to be around:

NAACP drops plan to honor Donald Sterling amid recording controversy

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People announced Sunday that Donald Sterling will not receive an honor amid controversy over a recording said to be of the Clippers team owner making racist remarks.

The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP had been scheduled to give Sterling the group's lifetime achievement award at its May 15 banquet.
"He is not receiving a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP," Lorraine Miller, NAACP interim vice president, told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Also, on Twitter, the NAACP announced Sterling "will not be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the LA Branch of the NAACP."

At the banquet, the NAACP chapter also planned to give its first "person of the year" awards to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to the organization's website.

Garcetti's spokesman had said Saturday that the mayor was going to talk to the NAACP about the honor.

"In light of recent events, we will be discussing this event with the Los Angeles NAACP," Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb had said.

The comments that TMZ attributed to Sterling prompted ire among civil rights activists.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, and a coalition of civil rights leaders demanded that Sterling apologize for “blatantly racist remarks he reportedly made about African Americans. "Sterling's racist digs at African Americans is no surprise."

Hutchinson added: "Black players have made his fortune with the Clippers and for him to disparage African Americans is beyond reprehensible. It demands a public apology, a Clipper fan protest and NBA official censure."

The Clippers have released a statement saying that the team does not know if the man recorded is Sterling but that the comments do not reflect Sterling's "views, beliefs or feelings."

Garcetti said through a spokesman Saturday that he condemns the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Sterling. L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents a portion of South Los Angeles, went further, saying the council should take a formal position denouncing the remarks and demanding action from the NBA.

The NBA said it is conducting an investigation.

Sterling is known for his various charity events that have benefited organizations that help the needy, including nonprofits serving the local Latino and African American communities.

But there have also been accusations against him. He has strongly denied he is biased toward anyone and has pointed to his charitable work.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury rejected NBA great Elgin Baylor's wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Clippers. Baylor claimed he was harassed and subjected to age discrimination leading to his 2008 departure after 22 years as a Clippers executive.

When Baylor filed the suit in February 2009, he alleged that a racist culture existed at the Clippers. Baylor called it a "plantation mentality" in a deposition and alleged that Sterling rejected a coaching candidate, Jim Brewer, because he was black. But Baylor in 2011 dropped the race allegations from his suit.

Sterling and his wife, Rochelle, agreed to pay a record settlement of more than $2.7 million regarding allegations that they discriminated against African Americans, Latinos and families with children at scores of apartment buildings they own in and around Los Angeles.

The settlement was the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case involving apartment rentals, officials said. Under the agreement, the Sterlings' insurers would pay $2.625 million to a fund for people who were allegedly harmed by their discriminatory practices, officials said. Sterling's attorney at the time said his client denied any wrongdoing and didn't discriminate.

latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-naacp-donald-sterling-award-racist-tape-controversy-20140427,0,2263229.story

It really astonished me that given his prior record, they were going to give him this award in the first place. Somebody needs to do a better job of vetting award recipients.



And the sponsors are bailing:

CarMax, Virgin America and State Farm are distancing themselves from the Los Angeles Clippers in response to racist remarks allegedly made by team owner Donald Sterling.

In a statement provided to The Huffington Post Monday, Carmax, a used car chain, confirmed it would cut ties with the team, ending a nine-year partnership. Virgin America also announced it would end its partnership with the Clippers Monday.

Insurance giant State Farm wrote in an email to CNBC that it would "pause" its relationship with the Clippers while the facts are sorted out. It's unclear exactly what that means, but State Farm did say it would continue to work with Clippers star Chris Paul.

"CarMax finds the statements attributed to the Clippers' owner completely unacceptable. These views directly conflict with CarMax's culture of respect for all individuals," a CarMax spokeswoman wrote in an email to HuffPost. "While we have been a proud Clippers sponsor for 9 years and support the team, fans and community, these statements necessitate that CarMax end its sponsorship."

The company's decision comes just hours after Steve Stoute, the CEO of marketing firm Transition, which represents State Farm, told ESPN radio that the insurance giant will be pulling its sponsorship as well.

"What I'm going to do and what I think is important from my side is I'm telling the brands immediately 'let's pull sponsorship' starting with State Farm," Stoute said. "When you have things like this taking place, somebody has to stand up."

When directly asked by ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd whether State Farm would be pulling its sponsorship, Stoute said yes and said he expects other brands to pull out in the next 48 hours. State Farm hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment asking about the company's status with the Clippers.

In a statement released to CNBC, State Farm said that the company will "pause" its relationship with the Clippers while "those involved sort out the facts." The company still plans to work with Paul.

"State Farm strongly supports and respects diversity and inclusion in its workforce and customers. The remarks attributed to the Clippers’ owner are offensive," the statement reads. "We are monitoring the situation and we’ll continually asses our options."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, an activist and MSNBC host, vowed Monday to pressure companies that work with the team and the NBA to cut ties until the league rids itself of Sterling.

NBA sponsor Anheuser-Busch wrote in an email statement that they "fully support the NBA’s efforts" to quickly investigate Sterling's remarks. The company's last sponsorship deal with the Clippers ended in 2009.

Prominent team sponsors including, AQUAHydrate, Kia and Amtrak, have yet to respond to a request for comment sent Sunday by HuffPost asking whether they planned to pull their sponsorship too.

TMZ released an audio recording surfaced late Friday of a man believed to be Sterling instructing his then-mistress not to bring black people to Clippers games. The recording, which went viral within a view hours, sparked outrage across the country, eliciting responses from NBA legend Michael Jordan, Miami Heat Star LeBron James, the Clippers themselves and even President Obama.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/2 ... 26620.html

[Lord Jim]

There seems to be disagreement about whether or not the league can compel him to sell the team:

Experts Disagree On Whether NBA Can Force Donald Sterling To Sell The Clippers

Magic Johnson reportedly wants to buy the Los Angeles Clippers from Donald Sterling, but at this point it's unclear if the NBA can force Sterling to sell the team.Even the experts can't seem to agree.

Jeffrey Kessler, a sports lawyer familiar with the NBA's constitutional bylaws, told the Wall Street Journal that the bylaws do give the commissioner power to force an owner to sell.

However, sports law expert Michael McCann writes that forcing Sterling out is "unlikely to happen." McCann notes that the language in the NBA's constitution does give the NBA power to oust an owner, but "only in very limited circumstances" dealing with team finances and whether or not the owner can pay the bills.

There are other options for the NBA short of directly forcing the sale of the team according to McCann.

The league could suspend Sterling indefinitely or take over operations of the team. Both moves could indirectly force Sterling to sell the team although the process may take longer.

During a press conference on Saturday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver would not say whether or not he or the other owners have the power to remove Sterling. However, Silver did say the constitution and bylaws give his office "broad powers" and allow for a "range of sanctions."

http://www.businessinsider.com/nba-dona ... ers-2014-4

[Joe Guy]

"State Farm strongly supports and respects diversity and inclusion in its workforce and customers. The remarks attributed to the Clippers’ owner are offensive," the statement reads. "We are monitoring the situation and we’ll continually asses our options."

Where's Meade?...

[Long Run]

He's long been considered one of the worst professional sports owners, as well as least likeable people. There is no way he can survive as the owner. Whether the NBA can force him to sell, directly or indirectly, he will soon see he has to sell it. The club still has goodwill and and the typical inflated value. However, that value can quickly sink if his club has no revenue because of a corporate and fan-based boycott, and his best athletes leaving (and no new ones signing). There are just so many ugly things about this guy, it is mind-boggling that the NAACP was going to give him any award (other than making him the dartboard target of the year).

[Gob]

I wonder what attracted her to him? Not his youthful good looks, nor his pleasant manner, obviously.

[Lord Jim]

I wonder what attracted her to him? Not his youthful good looks, nor his pleasant manner, obviously.

I think I may have the answer for that:

Donald Sterling’s wife of more than 50 years describes his alleged mistress as a gold digger who seduces older, wealthy men and persuades them to shower her with gifts, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 7.

The Clippers team owner and a woman identified as V. Stiviano allegedly began an affair after meeting at the 2010 Super Bowl game and were still in the relationship as of the filing date, according to the lawsuit filed by Rochelle H. Sterling, who is described in the suit as "a married woman seeking to protect and recover community property in her individual capacity."

Rochelle Sterling alleges that her husband used community property to buy Stiviano a 2012 Ferrari, two Bentleys and a 2013 Range Rover, worth a total of more than $500,0000.

Sterling also allegedly gave Stiviano $1.8 million to buy a duplex on West 4th Street near the Beverly Center last December, according to the suit, which claims that Sterling additionally provided her with $240,000 for upkeep and living expenses.

The property was supposed to be held in the Sterlings’ name, Rochelle Sterling contends, but Stiviano has title and has refused to relinquish it. Arguing that the gifts were all allegedly made without Rochelle Sterling’s knowledge or consent, the complaint seeks their return along with compensatory damages.

The suit, which includes as defendants unnamed agents and employees of Stiviano, alleges that before the complaint was filed, Donald Sterling asked her to return the property. The complaint also says that Stiviano goes by several other names, including Vanessa Maria Perez, Monica Gallegos and Maria Valdez.

[Updated at 8:15 p.m. PDT, April 26, 2014: In a court filing, Stiviano’s attorney, Mac Nehoray, argues that a gift cannot be revoked by the giver and that there is not “a peppercorn of a fact” that any fraud or undue influence was involved.

Nehoray further says that nowhere in the lawsuit does it say that “the feminine wiles of Ms. Stiviano overpowered the iron will of” Sterling, “who is well known as one of the most shrewd businessmen in the world.”]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... z30DG6rl2v

Like they say, the course of true love never runs smooth....

[Long Run]

This story has more slimey angles than a slug convention.

[TPFKA@W]

A different perspective:

It's easier to just repeat what someone else tells you than to listen, learn, and draw your own conclusions.

That's happening right now to the NBA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who's accused of racism after being heard on tape telling his girlfriend not to bring any of her black friends to his games. He and she were arguing, and she taped the argument without his knowlege. Now everybody is down on him, including Magic Johnson, whom Sterling had mentioned by name. It's blowing up into a huge storm, players on the Clippers are making sort of veiled threats about letting their playing show how they feel, and even the NBA is planning to "investigate", which we know means he's already declared guilty in the media.

I don't think a single person who's yelling racism actually listened to the whole tape, or if they did I doubt they listened to the actual meaning rather than just pulling out individual words (and no, the n-word is not used once). They are using sentences and words out of context!
They're repeating what they were told was said.
That royally pisses me off!

Isn't potentially ruining someone's life worth at least checking it out yourself?

Where I'm coming from in my understanding:
My maternal grandmother was born in the nineteenth century. She was a product of her time. She was not simply racist - she was xenophobic. You know, like "Those people are not like us". She would have had a stroke if I dated someone of another race, OR a white guy whose surname ended in a vowel other than "e". Or an Irishman. Or a Jew ("they murdered our Lord, you know"). I'm not kidding. Absolutely.

So if I were dating someone of a different race, you can be damn sure I would hide that fact from her and everyone else in the family of her generation. I just wouldn't want to hear anything they have to say. And I would ask the rest of my family and friends not to mention it either. Let's not inflame anyone.

So, now, would that make ME racist? Or am I simply avoiding having to deal with HER racism (which makes me a coward, but that's different)?

So, Sterling and the girlfriend. She is very young, beautiful, exotic. He's old and ugly (personal opinion - REALLY old and REALLY ugly!). It's possible that a lot of his friends are either jealous and wouldn't be unhappy if he were hurt by her, or see her as a gold digger and want to protect him from her, or some combination, but they are unlikely to be benevolent toward the relationship.

Oh, by the way, she is of mixed race, including at least Black and Hispanic.

He complains pretty explicitly on the tape that he's tired of his friends and people he has to deal with calling him or emailing him all the time to inform him that she's posing for photos with Black guys and posting the photos online. In the argument, he is telling her that he doesn't care who she's friends with (he never says anything that can be construed as racist, he even expresses admiration for Magic Johnson, the most recent guy she'd been photographed with) --- but he asks her to please please be a little less public about it, more discreet. He's tired of people poking at him about what she's up to now. He just doesn't want to deal with it.

It sounds to me like he has a bunch of racist friends, and like me with my grandmother, he just wants them off his back. He is forced to deal with these people. So "do what you want, but cool it with the publicity, and for God's sake don't bring Black guys to my games." Let's not inflame anyone, ok?

Folks without the patience to listen to the damn tape picked up on the "don't bring them to my games", and pounced on it without questioning what he meant and why.

And they are thoroughly pissing me off.

The woman who wrote this is white but loves her chocolate dark.

[Joe Guy]

After reading this -

(he never says anything that can be construed as racist, he even expresses admiration for Magic Johnson, the most recent guy she'd been photographed with)

-

it was easy to see that the author only heard what she wanted to hear.

As ignorant as she is, she definitely has a different perspective.

[Long Run]

And even taking everything @w's quoted has to say as mostly accurate -- poor Donald was just trying to get his expensive, conniving, gold-digging, on-the-side-girlfriend to stop publicly appearing with blacks so that Donald's racist friends and associates would stop bugging him -- that is damning in itself. A successful businessman in any field, let alone one who heads an organization that is made up mostly of African Americans and has a huge African American fan base, cannot associate with racists and bigots and surely cannot worry about what any of them say. And he can't accept a "culture" that holds such views.

The only thing in his slight defense is that he thought he was having a private conversation (though it is still an open question whether he knew it was being recorded) and he was egged on by his gold-digging girlfriend who he knows likes to argue. If this was a guy that everyone loved and this was a one-shot deal, then maybe he gets some benefit of the doubt (though when it comes to racists sentiments, event formerly liked people get run out of sports quickly for one-time statements that are less inflammatory). This is one of the most reviled people in sports, even before this incident; this puts him over the top. Bye bye, Donald.

[Econoline]

Will someone here please remind me why I should care about anything this rich, bigoted old asshole says any more than I care about whatever any other rich, bigoted old asshole says?

[Joe Guy]

You should care because you're an American, Econoline!! When someone... anyone says something racist about the majority of minority players in basketball, an important part of the very fiber of our society is torn from our bowels and flushed down the toilet of life.

It is wrong to not care.

Unless you're a moron. Then you're just stupid.

yours,

Josephato

[Econoline]

From Time magazine:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Welcome to the Finger-Wagging Olympics
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar @kaj33 April 28, 2014

Moral outrage is exhausting. And dangerous. The whole country has gotten a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome from the newest popular sport of Extreme Finger Wagging. Not to mention the neck strain from Olympic tryouts for Morally Superior Head Shaking. All over the latest in a long line of rich white celebrities to come out of the racist closet. (Was it only a couple days ago that Cliven Bundy said blacks would be better off picking cotton as slaves? And only last June Paula Deen admitted using the “N” word?)

Yes, I’m angry, too, but not just about the sins of Donald Sterling. I’ve got a list. But let’s start with Sterling. I used to work for him, back in 2000 when I coached for the Clippers for three months. He was congenial, even inviting me to his daughter’s wedding. Nothing happened or was said to indicate he suffered from IPMS (Irritable Plantation Master Syndrome). Since then, a lot has been revealed about Sterling’s business practices:

● 2006: U.S. Dept. of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination. Allegedly, he said, “Black tenants smell
...and attract vermin.”
● 2009: He reportedly paid $2.73 million in a Justice Dept. suit alleging he discriminated against blacks,
...Hispanics, and families with children in his rentals. (He also had to pay an additional nearly $5 million in
...attorneys fees and costs due to his counsel’s “sometimes outrageous conduct.”)
● 2009: Clippers executive (and one of the greatest NBA players in history) sued for employment discrimination
...based on age and race.

And now the poor guy’s girlfriend (undoubtedly ex-girlfriend now) is on tape cajoling him into revealing his racism. Man, what a winding road she led him down to get all of that out. She was like a sexy nanny playing “pin the fried chicken on the Sambo.” She blindfolded him and spun him around until he was just blathering all sorts of incoherent racist sound bites that had the news media peeing themselves with glee.

They caught big game on a slow news day, so they put his head on a pike, dubbed him Lord of the Flies, and danced around him whooping.

I don’t blame them. I’m doing some whooping right now. Racists deserve to be paraded around the modern town square of the television screen so that the rest of us who believe in the American ideals of equality can be reminded that racism is still a disease that we haven’t yet licked.

What bothers me about this whole Donald Sterling affair isn’t just his racism. I’m bothered that everyone acts as if it’s a huge surprise. Now there’s all this dramatic and very public rending of clothing about whether they should keep their expensive Clippers season tickets. Really? All this other stuff I listed above has been going on for years and this ridiculous conversation with his girlfriend is what puts you over the edge? That’s the smoking gun?

He was discriminating against black and Hispanic families for years, preventing them from getting housing. It was public record. We did nothing. Suddenly he says he doesn’t want his girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on Instagram and we bring out the torches and rope. Shouldn’t we have all called for his resignation back then?

Shouldn’t we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media? Didn’t we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen’s privacy in such an un-American way? Although the impact is similar to Mitt Romney’s comments that were secretly taped, the difference is that Romney was giving a public speech. The making and release of this tape is so sleazy that just listening to it makes me feel like an accomplice to the crime. We didn’t steal the cake but we’re all gorging ourselves on it.

Make no mistake: Donald Sterling is the villain of this story. But he’s just a handmaiden to the bigger evil. In our quest for social justice, we shouldn’t lose sight that racism is the true enemy. He’s just another jerk with more money than brains.

So, if we’re all going to be outraged, let’s be outraged that we weren’t more outraged when his racism was first evident. Let’s be outraged that private conversations between people in an intimate relationship are recorded and publicly played. Let’s be outraged that whoever did the betraying will probably get a book deal, a sitcom, trade recipes with Hoda and Kathie Lee, and soon appear on Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing with the Stars.

The big question is “What should be done next?” I hope Sterling loses his franchise. I hope whoever made this illegal tape is sent to prison. I hope the Clippers continue to be unconditionally supported by their fans. I hope the Clippers realize that the ramblings of an 80-year-old man jealous of his young girlfriend don’t define who they are as individual players or as a team. They aren’t playing for Sterling—they’re playing for themselves, for the fans, for showing the world that neither basketball, nor our American ideals, are defined by a few pathetic men or women.

Let’s use this tawdry incident to remind ourselves of the old saying: “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.” Instead of being content to punish Sterling and go back to sleep, we need to be inspired to vigilantly seek out, expose, and eliminate racism at its first signs.

---

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time National Basketball Association champion and league Most Valuable Player. Follow him on Twitter (@KAJ33) and Facebook (facebook.com/KAJ).[/size][/font]

And this reader's comment from The Dish sums it up quite well:

As the news about Sterling’s comments unfolded, I too was initially uncomfortable with the “witch hunt.” But then I realized this has nothing to do with the NBA passing judgment on Sterling’s racism – and everything to do with the NBA protecting its own brand.

As the past thirty years have shown, the NBA doesn’t care about Sterling’s racism. What it does care about is the money his racism was potentially going to cost the league. The NBA very quickly realized that if they left Sterling in place – say, if they suspended him for a year, or even “indefinitely” – this issue was going to fester, advertisers were going to continue to abandon ship, and the team’s revenues (if not the league’s) would be in jeopardy.

So the NBA kicked Donald Sterling out of the club. In effect, through their behavior over the last thirty years, the other NBA owners essentially told Sterling, “Everything would have been fine if you would have just kept your mouth shut. But now you’re messing with our money, and if there’s one thing rich, white guys don’t like, it’s other people messing with their money.”

[Guinevere]

So now the NBA is taking its victory lap, but no one cares, least of all the league, that Washington's NFL team is still the Redskins.

Welcome to the slippery slope.

When it is a financial boon to abhor racism, professional sports "steps up." When it is financially challenging, professional sports looks the other way.

[Big RR]

You expected any different? They are a business after all and the bottom line is the only thing they see, politics be damned. I remember seeing Jane Fonda along with Ted Turner doing the tomahawk chop in Atlanta; when you're part of the commercial interests, you look out for them.