Donald Sterling

@panzade,

Thx for that.

@BillRM,

But when our African American president said, "Trayvon Martin could have been my son," and later added, "I was Trayvon Martin 35 years ago," and he pointed out the continuing influence of our country's racist past, based on his own experiences and perceptions as a black male, you became livid and called him a "race baiter".

Why? Why was that your reaction?

Because we have done away with institutionalized racism, hardly means racism and racists no longer exist, there's a good deal of casual racism that goes unmentioned, and it continues to affect and offend "the black population"--including the black men who play for the NBA.
And non-blacks find it offensive as well, and don't want to be associated with those who hold such views. That's why Paula Deen (who you also staunchly defended) saw her contractual partners dump her, and the Commissioner, and the other NBA owners, don't want a racist associated with their group or reflective of their sport. Sterling's leaked phone conversation just seems to have been the last straw.

This has nothing to do with being "PC"--which implies phoniness or pretense or simply being "impolite" --it has to do with people actually being insulted, offended, denigrated, hurt, and disgusted, by expressions of racist thinking and attitudes. And, one way of combating that is through ostracizing those who hold and express racist views, and that's what's going on with Sterling, and the move to push him out.

And, in addition to his fine credentials to be the Clippers new CEO, the fact that Richard Parsons also happens to be black doesn't hurt right now.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

I'm a little slow on the despond (not re my understanding but regarding gin) - but will just say that silver and tonto make up a metaphor... of weird fifties.

1 Reply

@firefly,

Quote:

-it has to do with people actually being insulted, offended, denigrated, hurt, and disgusted, by expressions of racist thinking and attitudes. And, one way of combating that is through ostracizing those who hold and express racist views, and that's what's going on with Sterling, and the move to push him out.

another way to deal with it is to choose to not be insulted, offended, denigrated, hurt, and disgusted. I am over letting the queasiest person in the room decide what I say and do.

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@hawkeye10,

So easy to do when you are six.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

another way to deal with it is to choose to not be insulted, offended, denigrated, hurt, and disgusted.

That allows it to continue to be "acceptable". If you want to effect change, you don't ignore something, you react, and take corrective action. That's what the NBA is doing.

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@firefly,

Quote:

That allows it to continue to be "acceptable".

At some point we are going to have to accept that humans are flawed beings, because the costs of not doing this are extreme.

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@hawkeye10,

The NBA can accept that Sterling is a flawed human being, but that doesn't mean they have to continue to accept him as a member of their particular group, if he represents attitudes and views they feel are injurious to their sport or organization.

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@ossobuco,

That sounds like I was drinking gin, but no, I hate it. I was riffing on the word sloe.

I still think the silver tonto thing is apt here.

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@firefly,

firefly wrote:

The NBA can accept that Sterling is a flawed human being, but that doesn't mean they have to continue to accept him as a member of their particular group, if he represents attitudes and views they feel are injurious to their sport or organization.

that would be any attitude or view that the mob decides to get into a snit about, which given human nature we can expect that it will always be something, and the bar of what is acceptable will continue to be moved up as necessary in order to trip up someone. "if your views hurt the NBA then you gotta go" sounds good at first blush, but it is the road to ruin, it leads to mob rule because it empowers the mob.

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@hawkeye10,

As a business owner I know that I cant please everyone, and I know that my brand will lose focus and my costs will drive me into bankruptcy if I were stupid enough to try. Maybe the NBA should focus on providing a good game on the court, and let moral litmus tests for the stakeholders mostly go by the boards?

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

that would be any attitude or view that the mob decides to get into a snit about, which given human nature we can expect that it will always be something, and the bar of what is acceptable will continue to be moved up as necessary in order to trip up someone. "if your views hurt the NBA then you gotta go" sounds good at first blush, but it is the road to ruin, it leads to mob rule because it empowers the mob.

What "mob rule"? What "mob"? You and your usual catastrophic doomsday forecasts. The sky is falling, the sky is falling...

In this instance, it's the NBA--particularly the players and other owners--who are the interested parties, the others who are most affected by Sterling's racist attitudes and views. They certainly should be able to say, "if your views hurt the NBA then you gotta go".

You'd rather not see the NBA empowered to act in its own self-interest, and to enforce its own rules? Tough. They feel otherwise.

1 Reply

@firefly,

Quote:

You'd rather not see the NBA empowered to act in its own self-interest

dont pretend to be stupid, my argument is that what happened here is not in the NBA's self interest.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

dont pretend to be stupid, my argument is that what happened here is not in the NBA's self interest.

Of course it's in the NBA's best interests.

Otherwise, you can have players refusing to play for him, sponsors cancelling endorsements, etc. and all sorts of repercussions and ramifications if his racist attitudes just continued to be ignored or accepted. And Sterling's comments on that leaked tape, finally made it impossible to continue to ignore these things.

Instead, the Clippers have a new interim CEO, and the team, and the sport, is moving forward, without Sterling's presence, and his disruptive influence.

That's all in the NBA's best self-interest.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

you undermine the claim that Sterling is a menacing racist who needed to be removed from the NBA when you give quotes from blacks who worked closely with him for 22 years, never got treated poorly because of his race, and only now has come to the conclusion that Sterling is a racist.

It would help the discussion if you would read my source.

1) Baylor says he always knew Sterling was a racist
2) Baylor says he got fired for his skin color.
3) I never claimed that Sterling was a menacing racist, I've always claimed here on A2K that the most damaging racists are those that hide and perpetuate racism and don't speak out against it.

1 Reply

@panzade,

My own take is, of course they knew, Baylor and everyone. Or so I think -I think that around his time is when any of that started to be wrong.

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@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

My own take is, of course they knew, Baylor and everyone. Or so I think -I think that around his time is when any of that started to be wrong.

Baylor was fine with working for a racist. He was not fine with working for a cheap racist, and he was not fine with getting fired by this cheap racist because he wanted to continue to work for this cheap racist.

At this point anyone who worked for this cheap racist contently for 22 years might attempt to hold on to some dignity by continuing the practice of keeping their mouth shut.

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@BillRM,

My grandparents and the rest of my extended family has nothing to do with my previous response to you, the fact that you even have the audacity to mention the marital foundation of the black community without addressing what I previously said is pure deflection on your part.

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@BillRM,

"Your group is the only group in the history of the world that have ancestors that was slaves!!!!!!!!!"

See what I mean? What the **** is "my group?" My group are people who go to college and work for a living, that is my group. Again you keep using deflection and not even addressing my comments. Man your racial prejudices are so transparent.

1 Reply

@BillRM,

If you're going to quote someone, maybe quote the entire thing:

Foofie said:

"I am not sure that the white culture is 100% correct in its paradigms. The older I get, the less smug I get about many things. Perhaps, I am getting humble?"

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Donald Sterling

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