The occasion of my posting this is a column by William Rhoden in today's New York Times about yet another racist owner in the NBA, this time the man with the controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks, Bruce Levenson. The column is titled Searching for a League’s True Scale of Bigotry and has the subtitle "Bruce Levenson's Email Reveals Depth of N.B.A.'s Racism Issues. You can read the column for the contents of the email, which Levenson self-reported to the NBA. An investigation was underway, when Levenson announced he was selling his interest in the team, which apparently ends the investigation. Rhoden posits things like this might have been why the NBA did not want the Sterling case to go to trial:
In light of this second embarrassing disclosure, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver should conduct an investigation to find out how many other Donald Sterlings and Bruce Levensons are among the league’s owners and top executives. Who are the racists, the sexists, the homophobes? Throughout the Sterling ordeal, I maintained that the best thing that could have happened to the N.B.A. — to all of us — was for the case to go to trial. To push Sterling — who was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers several months after an audio recording in which he was heard making racist comments was released in April, — to acknowledge what he knew about the deeds and misdeeds of other owners and top executives in the league.
But of course it is more than the NBA.
Please keep reading.
Allow me to push fair use by offering several more snips from Rhoden's column:
Indeed, the vast majority of those who self-identify as white in the United States rarely find themselves continually in situations where they are outnumbered by blacks.
Whether it is where they live, where they work, where they worship or where they play, “whiteness” is the norm.
How do whites respond in a situation in which they are not the majority? Do they stay away from that situation, and not attend a certain event — say, a Hawks game, as Levenson suggested in his email?
In a delusional environment some define as postracial, latter-day night riders ride by day. They might wear business suits, support great charities and advocate worthy causes. Yet they might also maintain staffs with few or no black employees. They can hide behind the veil of diversity to circumvent hiring blacks or putting blacks in positions of power and authority.
... Perhaps the most distressing aspect of Levenson’s comments is that they reflect a deep-seated bias toward blacks that has nothing to do with content of character, but rather their existence and proximity to whites.
And then the conclusion, from which I derived my title:
Racism in the United States is as virulent as ever.
Or didn’t you get the memo?
Read the column.
And perhaps you will agree with Rhoden on the need for the NBA to thoroughly investigate all of its owners and managers.