Karsceal Turner – I Got Next!
Just the same as any hoops fan worth their salt and as former baller myself, I sat by as long as I could and monitored the situation brought by TMZ’s widespread coverage and the public’s revelation of the racist remarks made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
My father reminded me this isn’t a dead horse. Here is where I begin my personal rant in the aftermath.
With 33 seasons of ownership (1981 to present), Sterling has been the longest-tenured owner in the NBA since the death of Los Angeles Lakers majority owner Jerry Buss in 2013. He rebuffed numerous offers from other cities to relocate the Clippers and has been steadfast in his refusal to move the team out of Los Angeles, let alone sell the team.
On April 25, 2014, TMZ Sports released a recording of a conversation between Sterling and a female friend, V. Stiviano. In the recording from September 2013, a man confirmed to be Sterling was irritated over a photo Stiviano had posted on Instagram, in which she posed with Basketball Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson.[31][33] Sterling told Stiviano: “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people”, and, “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want”, but “the little I ask you is … not to bring them to my games.”
The following day, Clippers president Andy Roesen issued a statement, indicating that Stiviano was being sued by the Sterling family and had “told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even” with him.
Also on April 26, 2014, the team held a meeting to discuss the incident. Both coaches and players expressed anger toward the comments, and they briefly raised the possibility of boycotting Game 4 of their series against the Golden State Warriors on April 27, 2014, before deciding against it. Instead, players protested Sterling’s remarks by wearing their shirts inside-out in order “to obscure any team logo” during their pre-game huddle.
On April 28, 2014, players of the Miami Heat wore their uniform tops inside-out to show solidarity with the Clippers. LeBron James said, “There’s no room for Donald Sterling in the NBA.” The owner of the Miami Heat, Micky Arison, called the allegations “appalling, offensive and very sad”.
NBA greats Kevin Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant also condemned Sterling’s remarks.
The fact, once again, eluded everyone that this behavior isn’t anything new to Sterling and those like him. A month earlier in March, Sterling’s wife had sued Stiviano for the return of a $1.8-million Los Angeles duplex as well as a Ferrari, two Bentleys, and a Range Rover she said her husband bought for Stiviano.
On April 29, 2014, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that Sterling had been banned from the league for life and fined $2.5 million, the maximum fine allowed by the NBA constitution. The ban prohibits Sterling from attending any NBA games, entering any Clippers facility, or participating in any business decisions for the Clippers or the NBA. The punishment was one of the most severe ever imposed on a professional sports owner.
Sterling had been widely criticized for his frugal operation of the Clippers, due in part to a consistent history of losing seasons. It seems Clipper fans won’t have to be concerned with anything racist in the near future with regards to the owner of their beloved team.
The following are accounts of discriminatory actions taken by Sterling and monies he paid out, yet was allowed by the NBA to continue his ownership and racist values.
For the loss of Money
- In 1982 Sterling was fined $10,000 by the NBA after he commented that he would accept the Clippers finishing in last place in order to draft an impact player like Ralph Sampson.
- In 1984, Sterling moved the Clippers from San Diego to Los Angeles. but the move was not approved by the NBA, which fined him $25 million. He sued the league for $100 million, but dropped the suit when the league agreed to decrease the fine to $6 million.
- In August 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination in using race as a factor in filling some of his apartment buildings. The suit charged that Sterling refused to rent to non-Koreans in the Korea town neighborhood and to African Americans in Beverly Hills. The suit alleges Sterling once said he did not like to rent to Hispanics because they “smoke, drink and just hang around the building”, and that “Black tenants smell and attract vermin.”
- In November 2009, ESPN reported that Sterling agreed to pay a fine of $2.7 million to settle claims brought by the Justice Department that he engaged in discriminatory rental practices against Hispanics, blacks, and families with children.
- In 2005, Sterling was also ordered to pay attorneys’ fees and costs of $4.9 million.
- In February 2009, Sterling was sued by former longtime Clippers executive Elgin Baylor for employment discrimination on the basis of age and race. The lawsuit alleges Sterling told Baylor that he wanted to fill his team with “poor black boys from the South and a white head coach”. It also alleges that during negotiations for Danny Manning, Sterling said “I’m offering a lot of money for a poor black kid.”
- It has been reported Sterling had a relationship with a woman named Alexandra Castro. Seeking the return of a house she was living in, Sterling sued her in 2003 after their relationship ended. Castro stated that Sterling consulted her on Clippers personnel decisions.[25] The parties reached a confidential settlement out of court in 2004.
These are only seven of the allegations, suits, and settlements of this “Good Ole Boy”. You’re looking at decades of disregard of people who made/make this guy millions of dollars. I’ll be damned if that doesn’t sound familiar. Let this serve as a reminder that even in 2014, a new millennium in the Age of Aquarius. Sterling is over $12.6 million dollars in the hole simply from information within this column.
In addition, Chumash Casino, the Clippers’ most visible sponsor during the prior four seasons, ended its relationship with the team, as did sponsors CarMax and Virgin America. Other sponsors and advertisers suspended their relationships with the Clippers while continuing to monitor the situation.
You’ll notice that I mentioned the NBA has known about these shenanigins for decades while you rock the fresh snap-back hat you just purchased as if this organization ever gave a damn about you…only your dollars, which you freely surrender.
Stephen A. Smith speaks on it
“I wasn’t too surprised,” Smith said. “When an organization such as the Clippers hands over basketball operations to Doc Rivers, and invested so heavily in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and then to have this sort of rhetoric is appalling. The players are livid and rightfully so. They considered not playing and then decided it was about the team, not its owner.”
Smith said there may be more tapes to come out. “The league needs to come down on an owner the same way they would come down on players. This is a perfect opportunity for NBA commissioner Adam Silver to step up and show he is capable of handling the task at hand. We know how Stern would have handled it.
“If it was a gay slur there would be more pressure on this. The players are emotionally hostile, it’s embarrassing uncomfortable, and highly offensive.”
L.A. NAACP..what the hell?
Speaking of embarrassing and offensive, let us shine the spotlight on the Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP. The president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP resigned, following outrage over a decision he later reversed to give Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling an award for promoting civil rights. .. Like, really?
Even before the recording, the decision to give Sterling a “lifetime achievement award” May 15 at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles chapter had been questioned by some civil rights activists, who cited allegations of discrimination in Sterling’s past.
Also in 2009, the year after Jenkins was first elected president in Los Angeles, the chapter first honored Sterling with a similar achievement award. Jenkins said that Sterling had been selected owing to his history of donating to minority charities and giving game tickets to inner-city children. The Donald T. Sterling Charitable Foundation gave $5,000 to the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter in 2010, according to tax records. There were no further NAACP contributions in subsequent years for which records were available.
Like really, really, what the hell?
You, the reader, are by now looking for the sum of this entire piece. Basically, it is a call to awaken to the types of shenanigans that have been going down before a tape leaked out. Blacks speak of ownership opportunities but actually make up a very miniscule percentage of ownership in any sports organization, let alone the National Basketball Association. If you think this stuff is new, you and your throw-back jersey wearing, snap-back hat, tilted to the side having butt is part of the bigger problem of cognitive dissonance amongst Black people.
The NBA chunked Black people a bone although they knew this stuff has been ongoing. Sterling was simply the one caught. Enjoy your bone folks.
End of rant.
