via hiphophollywood.com
Yes, that means he already has one.
As of this writing, we’re one day away from the Los Angeles Clippers taking on the Golden State Warriors in a pivotal game 5 of the Western Conference’s competitive first round of playoffs. However, that seems to be the last thing on people’s minds at this point. That’s because the Clippers owner, Donald Sterling has himself grabbed the spotlight when a racist rant became headline news over the weekend.
In said rant, Sterling goes off on his girlfriend for wanting to “associate with black people.” Particularly the fight seemed to be around a picture from the 31 year old woman’s instagram account. A picture she had taken with none other than L.A. basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
“You can sleep with [Black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.“
And with that blessing of permission, Sterling added-
“The little I ask you is not to promote it… and not to bring them to my games.”
As you can imagine, not many people were behind this sentiment. Endorsements have already begun topull awayfrom the organization, Clippers players removed theirwarm-up jerseysbefore their game in Golden State, the teams’ head coachrefusing to talk to him, and sports personalities likeMagic Johnsonare calling for Sterling to step down as owner of the team. The path ahead is clear, Donald Sterling has to go.
And then there’s the Los Angeles NAACP.
Leon Jenkins, the President of the L.A. NAACP would call Sterling’s statements “Jim Crowish” but would also argue a need to forgive, as the organization was in talks with Sterling to invest in more funds for black students at UCLA.
“God teaches us to forgive, and the way I look at it, after a sustained period of proof to the African American community that those words don’t reflect his heart, I think there’s room for forgiveness”
An interesting and important insight, especially considering how important it is to support black students at UCLA, a college with deplorable enrollment numbers for black students (and also a school where affirmative action is banned, though I’m sure there’s no correlation there). So I must admit that I would agree with the NAACP’s sentiment-
If Sterling hadn’t pulled this kind of mess before.
The NBA team owner is also a real estate mogul, and has been sued for refusing to rent out housing to Latino and guess…black prospective tenants. He had regarded them as lazy, and drunkards. Donald Sterling would pay overtwo millionto settle the lawsuit, but would acknowledge no wrong doing.
On top of that he also had a lawsuit from another basketball legend, Elgin Baylor. Baylor who worked as a General Manager for the team took Sterling to court over wages that were poor in comparison to all the GM’s in the NBA. He also claimed that Sterling ran the team like a plantation, with a rich white coach overseeing poor black players. Sterling would beat this case in court, but it could not be disputed that he had made a reputation on underpaying talent and, in some cases,not paying them at all.
The NAACP were set to honor Sterling with a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the black community. It was in 2009 that the owner of the Clippers was set to first receive the award; only one year after he had been accused of running a slave plantation in Los Angeles. However, the NAACP cannot overlook this, and has chosen to withdraw the reward, as well as return Sterling’s donation to the organization.
“There is a personal, economic, and social price that Mr. Sterling must pay for his attempt to turn back the clock on race relations.”
One of these things is not like the other…via deadspin.com
If President Jenkins truly meant what he said in that quote, then he wouldn’t be extending the possibility of working with Sterling in the future. Generous donor or not, the man has made clear that he has a very disparaging view towards the black race a view that cannot be tolerated within an organization dedicated to uplifting black people. I understand that organizations like the NAACP are run through volunteering and benefaction, but that only makes the solution more clear. We need more leaders, of all races to support racial uplift groups like the NAACP, we need to have more volunteers give their time to the cause, and more media outlets drive attention to the needs of the community.
Because the black race has advanced too far to depend on a racist’s “charity”.
