The saga of Donald Sterling and realizes that he has had racist intentions for years. Recently it was revealed that he expressed them openly to those he thought he could trust and was proven wrong.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar addressed this very eloquently.
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.
It's the shiny object the next thing to be offended over
The next revelation in this is the fact that the LA NAACP planned on handing Sterling a "lifetime achievement award" for a nominal fee.
Fast forward to today....
LA NAACP Head Is A Former Judge Who Was Banned For Bribes
This article from Buzzfeed tells us a great deal about the state of black leadership in America. At the very least, it warns us about the pitfalls of having important organizations that are quick to accept money from anyone who offers it. The scariest thing about the Donald Sterling incident is that if Sterling had not been silly enough to be caught on tape admitting that he was a racist, he would have a) Gotten his Lifetime Achievement Award, and b) be receiving this award right next to Rev. Al Sharpton, who likely wouldn’t have said a word about Sterling’s long track record of racism. In fact, he’d likely be willing to receive a donation from Sterling too.
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Amid the firestorm surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments, little attention has been focused on the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose president, Leon Jenkins, is a defrocked judge who brought “dishonor” to the bench and has been banned from practicing law in two states.
There is no argument that Sterling made racist statements there also is no doubt his attitude was ignored as long as he "went along to get along".
I am a white man that grew up and lives in south Louisiana and trust me I know racism when I see it and I see it every day. I see it from all sides and whether they call you Kike, Gook, n%%%%r or cracker it's racist and should be confronted as such.
It's not about power it's about attitude and until we move past the finger pointing we all will suffer