The NBA and David Stern decided to keep around an owner who was not only more than a little handsy with the women, but was seemingly an unapologetic racist. As of this past weekend, notable players, coaches, and NBA executives decided to respond decisively and swiftly. Too bad they more people couldn't have applied that same urgency during the well-documented, oft-rumored, thirty-odd years of Sterling’s ownership.
Three remarkable moments in civil rights and race relations have recently made a stinging appearance. From a legal perspective it was the recent Supreme Court anti-affirmative action ruling in which Michigan citizens now have the right to ban racial preferences at state-run institutions. This was done while ignoring all the statistical data proving decreasing minority enrollment effects at almost every major collegiate institution throughout the country as a result of anti-affirmative action policies.
The second, involved a more mundane event regarding the colorful and despicable character, Cliven Bundy. The Mormon Nevada rancher allowed his cattle to graze on protected free land, while thinking he didn’t owe any money to anyone for his efforts. As a result, when the Feds came to hold him accountable (i.e. taxes) he insisted on notions of ‘freedom’ or ‘liberty,’ all the while prepared for armed conflict, stating that he “…wondered if black people were better off as slaves...” or they [black people] “…never learned how to pick cotton properly.” The final most ‘newsworthy’ incident, was the recent racist comments by NBA Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Tokowitz Sterling. Captured on tape by his latest mistress as they argued over her Instagram account that included black and brown fans, in which he showed his legendary disdain for said population.
By all accounts, one would think that the Supreme Court ruling would be the most troublesome, even urgent issue, thereby would cause the most outrage. However, outside of political pundits, civil rights’ advocates, and some policy wonks, the public outrage has been rather muted. This, in spite of schools like University of Michigan’s minority enrollment decreasing to 4.6 percent, down from 8.9 percent in 1995, or 7 percent in 2006. One would think national action against this ruling and the State of Michigan would ensue. But this has not been the case.
As for Cliven Bundy, the panicked back-tracking from various Conservative leaders and activists would’ve been somewhat humorous, if it wasn’t so disingenuous. They have illustrated time and time again their rampant racism, mostly regarding President Obama, have even based entire policies on undermining black and brown communities. They have encouraged a violent, weaponized culture by prohibiting safe, responsible gun ownership, while promoting the saturation of guns and weaponry for “protection,” in order to stand-your-ground. As a result, we’ve seen the rise of “white-powered” militias, Neo-Nazi groups, KKK enrollment drives, along with an increase in violent hate crimes. However one would think the nation would be keen to address gun control, and seditious, domestic terrorism, ensuring that the focus would remain on people like Cliven Bundy.
Instead, the loudest outrage has been focused on the repeated racist-offender, Donald Sterling. Of course a confluence of events have added fuel to this fire. It’s the NBA Play-Offs, the Clippers are one of the favorites to win it all, and two of the NBA’s fan-favorites – Blake Griffin and Chris Paul play for the Clippers. In addition, and astonishingly enough, the NAACP Los Angeles Chapter was slated to grant Mr. Sterling with a second Lifetime Achievement Award. And then there’s Donald Sterling, who has consistently shown his Calvin-Candie-like mentality throughout the years. In other words, Sterling loves having his stable filled with top black athletes, but that’s only as long as they stay in their place.
But this is not a surprise, not when he infamously settled one of the largest DOJ’s civil rights’ housing lawsuit in history. Plus his latest comments weren’t even his top thirty worst comments. The question becomes, how could Doc Rivers, who is intimately familiar with the inner-workings of the NBA, has played for many years in the league, probably knows all the insider stories regarding Sterling, is a highly sought-after and respected coach, and is an African-American male, decide to not only become the Clippers’ head coach, but also become Donald Sterling’s Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations?
The same could also be said for the highly-sought-after, President of the NBA Player’s Union Association, Chris Paul. Why would he re-sign with Donald Sterling’s Clippers? Rivers and Paul (and others) have to do better than that. There’s no doubt these are different times, this isn’t the segregated 1960s Civil Rights’ Era, and with the increase in interracial families, along with the influx of black and brown immigrants, finally, racial justice has moved beyond to simply black verses white. But our Supreme Court, or Cliven Bundy have shown us that we, including the brothers in the NBA, have to be more proactively conscious. Otherwise their millions eventually won’t protect them or their families from worse things than Donald Sterling.