Posted on 04/30/2014 12:34:31 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver won near-universal plaudits for delivering “death penalty” sanctions on LA Clippers owner (for now) Donald Sterling with a lifetime ban and a recommendation to the owners that they force a franchise sale. The NAACP, however, isn’t satisfied. They want Silver and the owners to guarantee that this won’t happen in the future, too:
The National Urban League, the National Action Network, the NAACP and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation issued a joint statement cheering Silver’s announcement that he banned Sterling for life and that the league would attempt to force him to sell the Clippers.
That decision, the statement said, was “a bold, courageous and resolute message that the views expressed by Sterling do not represent the National Basketball Association as an organization today or the kind of organization that it seeks to be in the future.”
But Sterling’s suspension isn’t enough, the groups said, calling for Silver to meet with them to ensure Sterling “remains an anomaly among the owners and executives in the league.”
“Sterling’s long-established pattern of bigotry and racist comments have not been a secret in the NBA,” the statement said. “Yet until now, they have been tolerated and met with a gentle hand and a blind eye.”
That’s true. Sterling’s biases have been pretty well known, if not widely discussed, and his discriminatory practices in real estate have brought legal sanctions. The NAACP in particular has long fought Sterling over his control of the Clippers, and … er, what? They gave him a lifetime achievement award despite their knowledge of his biases and practices?
Maybe these groups should look to clean their own house first, as CBS News explains:
Talk about chutzpah, at least with the NAACP. In this case, all sides acted shamelessly. Sterling bought their approval, and they willingly sold it. The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP was about to bestow another lifetime achievement award on Sterling in a couple of weeks, which they hastily canceled when this tape went public and viral. They have little standing in this case to demand that the NBA offer them guarantees after years of willingly cleansing Sterling of his sins through his cash infusions.
Life doesn’t provide guarantees — only the need for vigilance. If they want integrity moving forward, though, these groups should start by implementing it in their own organizations first.
The NBA may have better news coming. Entertainment mogul David Geffen wants to bid for ownership of the Clippers, according to Reuters:
Billionaire media executive David Geffen is interested in buying the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, according to a person with knowledge of Geffen’s thinking, following a decision by National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver to ban Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life. …
Geffen, who started two record labels and the Dreamworks film studio with Jeffrey Katzenberg and director Steven Spielberg, had expressed interest in the past in buying the Clippers but never made an offer.
He has a net worth of an estimated $6.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Geffen could probably act quickly if the NBA can force Sterling to sell, but that may end up taking years if Sterling fights them in court. If the league constitution allows owners to determine eligibility for a franchise ownership, though, Sterling may not have much of a case, and may decide to save his money and make a fortune on the sale instead. Magic Johnson and his Guggenheim Partners would probably be interested in buying the franchise and it would be better public relations to have Johnson end up as managing partner for the club, but Geffen’s wealth gives him a big edge, especially if the league acts quickly. Geffen could always combine forces with Johnson and his partners, too.
Overplaying their hand.
I’d be, “Sure. Next time we here the word ‘nigger’ in any context, from any person, that person is banned for life. We will fine him or her $2.5M. We will demand email and social media account passwords such that we can determine whether there has been any bigotry in the past.
Furthermore, any utterance that can be construed by any person to be offensive on the basis of creed, color, orientation, or handicap, and you are banned for life, and fined $2.5M.
For example, ‘cracker’, ‘hymietown’, ‘fag’, or ‘kike’ would be grounds for immediate ban and $2.5M - no appeal. That. Is. It.
One black man calling another ‘nigger’, and the other doesn’t turn the first one in, and someone else witnesses it and turns them both in? Both are banned. One for saying it, and the other for condoning it.
We ‘down with that’, or you want to take a moment of pause and consider we just took a half billion dollars of someone’s personal holdings, and $2.5M cash, not for committing a crime, but as a result of using the proceeds of a crime to document his bigotry in public?”
You want color-blind, this is it.
RE: Players can say and think anything they want but owners have to be controlled,
Legendary coach Bobby Knight once asked a referee, “Can you give me a technical for what I think?”
When the ref responded “No”,
Coach Knight said, “Well I think you suck”.....
( I don’t remember if he got a technical :)
RE: What a witch hunt. If they burn him at the stake it still won’t make the witch hunters happy. The accusation is worse than the thought crime which, as private speech, is still a first ammendment right - so far.
__________________________________________
Legendary coach Bobby Knight once asked a referee, “Can you give me a technical for what I think?”
When the ref responded “No”,
Coach Knight said, “Well I think you suck”.....
( I don’t remember if he got a technical :)
All the leftist race baiting whores have played the race card so much they have worn the tits off the queen. They could take all white people and put them on ships to Africa to be slaves and that wouldn’t even be enough to shut these people up.
Perhaps a military court martial sentence might appease the NAACP:
Forfeiture of all pay and allowances for 8 months, and to be hung by the neck until dead at Ft. Leavenworth Kansas, on Christmas Eve 2014. -Tom
Is the NAACP still willing to cash his checks?
(They’d be willing to cash David Duke’s checks.)
For starters.
So what about the racist Jay-Z, a part owner of the Nets?
I am sure you did. In reference to your other statement. It WILL end alright. It just won't end well.
Yes, I think you’re right about that.
I'm all for purging the thugs out of sports.
Let me see if I understand this. Latrell (Latrine) Sprewell tried to choke his coach to death and he’s suspended for 68 games. Ron Artest (now ironically named Metta World Peace) starts a fight with fans in the stands that becomes a major, all-encompassing brawl (The Malice at the Palace) and he gets 73 games plus playoffs. Donald Sterling says some offensive things and he’s banned for life from “any association” with his team (the Clippers) or the NBA. (Can he still watch the game on TV? Wear the team sweatshirt?) Are these screwed-up priorities or what?
The Donald Sterling situation is a distraction by the partisan “mainstream” media to try to rile up minorities and further divide the country for the political benefit of Democrats, who know that as of now, they would most likely lose the Senate. The irony is that Sterling has made just about all of his political contributions to Democrats.
The other side is not content to let us live in peace. They will continue to push, until it is Lexington/Concord all over again. I hope it does not happen, but once that Pandora's box is open, it will take on a life all it's own. I don't look forward to that, and I REALLY hope it does not happen, but I see it coming.
Let me guess , they want him dragged threw the streets by a gang of NBA player(Black Only)
I think a lot of men don't, but a lot of them do. I always thought it was the sexual desire thing, but I don't know what most of them think. I never thought it was a fear of death, but I just don't know for sure.
Burn the non-PC witch!
Good grief, this stuff is out of control.
I wasn’t aware he was still married.
Sounds like a bad guy just based on that. There’s the real scandal.
I don’t think that’s an unreasonable assumption.
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