Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Bruce Levenson Isn’t a Racist, He’s a Businessman

TIME ^ | 09/08/2014 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[SeekAndFind]

Sure, there are assumptions he makes that are cringe-worthy—but the questions about how to attract more white fans were entirely reasonable.

Well, the pitchforks are already sharpened and the torches lit anyway, so rather than let them go to waste why not drag another so-called racist before the Court of Public Opinion and see how much ratings-grabbing, head-shaking, race-shaming we can squeeze out of it. After all, the media got so much gleeful, hand-wringing mileage out of Don Sterling and Michael Brown.

The only problem is that Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson is no Donald Sterling. Nor is his email racist. In fact, his worst crime is misguided white guilt.

I read Levenson’s email. Here’s what I concluded: Levenson is a businessman asking reasonable questions about how to put customers in seats. In the email, addressed to Hawks President Danny Ferry, Levenson wonders whether (according to his observations) the emphasis on hip-hop and gospel music, the fact that the cheerleaders are black, the bars are filled with 90 percent blacks, kiss-cams focus on black fans, and timeout contestants are always black has an effect on keeping away white fans.

[onedoug]

He did really well when he recently co-hosted some films for TCM. Very articulate with a genuine love for American cinema.

I’d be very interested in hearing him expound on islam and the quran.

Seems a strange dichotomy. Almost an antithesis.

If it’s taqiyya, he’s got it down.