Former L.A. clippers owner Donald Sterling, whose privately-recorded foolish and idiotic, not to mention racist and bigoted, comments to his gold-digging girlfriend in which he tells her that he doesnt want her bring black guys to his games and doesnt want her to take pics with black guys and post them on Instagram, has been the massive subject of debate on racism, bigotry, prejudice, and cultural and governmental politics that have swept up the nation. Many celebrities, most of them African-American, espoused their anger on social media, including Twitter and YouTube, condemning Sterlings comments and called for everyone at large not to buy Clipper tickets because of his incendiary comments which even instigated Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Doggy Dog) to attack him verbally in public. Yes, what Donald Sterling said was racist and not to mention downright wrong. And, yes, he should pay a high price for his own stupidity which cost him the ownership of his team and his lengthy sports career. My left-libertarian side begs me to say that what he said was racist - no ifs, buts, or whats. Period. End of story. The market should respond by stripping him of his ownership because the Clipper fans are enraged over this ordeal that he set off in the first place. Its pathetic that he went that way, and its going to take a long, long time for people of all colors, including African-Americans (like Magic Johnson), to forgive him - that is, if they do forgive him at all. That being said, are we really surprised with what Sterling said? Most sports owners, by and large (not all though), do carry stereotypical, bigoted views on ethnicities and races in general. This has been going on for years. Its just that Sterling was the one who was caught with his proverbial hand in the cookie jar per se. Sterling has a notorious record of making racially-inflammatory comments about African-Americans and other groups for years. His rap sheet is quite long and extensive on that. Yes, what he said was outrageous, but its *NOT* that outrageous, when you know that hes not the only individual who has made racial tirades in both private and public. How about the fact that many African-American professional athletes have made racist remarks on Caucasians in the past? For example, former NBA player Charles Barkley, who apparently was annoyed at reporters post-game questions, said publicly, Thats what I hate about white people. And yet former NBA commissioner David Stern did nothing, not even the thought of levying fines against Barkley for making racist comments like that. Another example is former Detroit Piston players Isiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman made a racial comment about their former teammate Larry Bird (a white player), saying that the only reason Bird was receiving praise primarily because he is white. Nothing from the NBA and David Stern as usual. And professional athletes dont make racist statements themselves? Talk about blatant hypocrisy and a wide double standard here! And yes, these are incidents worth noting because they indeed did happen. Robert Wenzel of the Economic Policy thinks that what Sterling said wasnt racist. I cant disagree more. It is racist and repugnant. Wenzel even states that athletes make moves on women. Be that as it may, thats not the point. So what if they make moves on women? I dont see anything wrong with it. Even professional African-American athletes have dated Caucasian women and other women of different color. Theres nothing wrong with it in my book. The NBA has banned Sterling for life, forcing him to either sell his team or take it away from him. While the banning is a good move in of itself, the act of forcing him to sell his team or confiscating it is both wrong. He should voluntarily give up his team and put it on sale at a price of his choosing. Since the NBA is a private organization and its well-within its rights to not freely associate with anyone, including Sterling, it reserves the right to enforce a ban on him for life as well as fine him heavily for the damage hes done to that industry. Theres another thing that needs to be looked at. While Sterlings gold-digging girlfriend was morally right to come out and leak her recorded audio to the press including TMZ, legally speaking, if Sterling has not consented to be recorded, he is well-within his rights to sue her for defamation of character. He can bring a civil case against her and take her to the cleaners for all shes worth. Hes a multi-billionaire, so he can do it. And theres also the matter that the State might press criminal charges against her for breaking Californias no-consent,no-recording law as well. The way I see it, she could be in legal hot water long after the NBA dust is settled. As for anyones claim that what Sterling said falls into the guidelines of free speech, sorry, but that doesnt apply here. Free speech only applies to the State, not to private individuals and private employers. Anyone freely wanting to disagree with me here, please read a copy of the Bill of Rights. It merely buttresses my argument. For what its worth, I despise what Sterling said. That is outrageous enough. Whats more outrageous is the Left and professional sports industrys lack of consistency and hypocrisy over the matter of racism.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 22:06:44 +0000