Posted on 04/30/2014 7:01:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In November 2009, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling settled a lawsuit in which the Department of Justice alleged that Sterling had discriminated against Hispanics, blacks and families without children in his rental properties. The lawsuit contained testimony that Sterling had suggested Hispanics were poor tenants because they "smoke, drink, and just hang around the building," and that "black tenants smell and attract vermin." The settlement cost him and his insurers $2.73 million.
The NBA and the national media said virtually nothing. That same year, the NAACP gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2005, Sterling signed a check for more than $5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that he had attempted to prevent non-Koreans from renting in his facilities in Koreatown.
The NBA and the national media said virtually nothing.
This week, Sterling's 31-year-old girlfriend, V. Stiviano, released a tape of the 80-year-old racist being an 80-year-old racist. Sterling apparently told Stiviano he didn't want her posting pictures of black men on her Instagram account and didn't want her bringing black men to Clippers games.
The entire media establishment suddenly went insane. Colin Cowherd of ESPN idiotically called for the league to void all of Sterling's contracts with his players and agents -- a violation of basic contract law. Magic Johnson declared that the NBA should force Sterling to sell his team -- a violation of basic contract law. President Barack Obama, determined never to let an opportunity pass to label America racist, took to the microphones to declare Sterling's racism a symptom of America's "legacy of race and slavery and segregation."
This is, at the very least, hypocrisy. Last year, Sterling signed coach Doc Rivers, who is black, to a contract worth $7 million per year. Chris Paul, who is black, is slated to make nearly $19 million this season. Blake Griffin, who is black, is slated to make $16 million. DeAndre Jordan will make $11 million. The coach, these players and their agents surely knew about Sterling's legacy. So did Cowherd, Johnson and Obama. They all said nothing.
But the big problem here isn't hypocrisy. The big problem is that the market is turning on Sterling not over action, but over words. Sterling's a pig, and that's been no secret for decades. But what triggered America's response? Sterling's thoughts. American society now considers expression of thought to be significantly more important than action. Sterling got away with actual discrimination for years. But now he is caught on tape telling his gold-digging girlfriend he doesn't like blacks, and that's when the firestorm erupts?
This is the thought police at work. Feelings matter more than action. Words matter more than harming others. That sets a radically dangerous precedent for freedom of thought and speech, particularly for those whose thought and speech we hate. Freedom of speech and thought matters especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thoughtcrime becomes a reality.
Sterling's career should have been ended by public outrage based on his established patterns of discrimination years ago. To end it based not on such disreputable action but on private musings caught on tape demonstrates America's newfound disregard for the rights of those whose thought we find despicable.
Thoughtcrime? No. This is the way Magic Johnson is trying to “own” the Clippers.
If a fast food franchise owner was secretly recorded as telling his mistress that he didn’t want her to eat 80% of the product they sell in public, and a competitor started using it in an advertising campaign, what the heck is that company supposed to do? I ask because I don’t know, I can see the slippery slope and I can see the point of the business.
Freegards
Now that's if they can force him to sell.
No matter....this is so wrong....sets race relations back another 50 years.
It may not be right...but I hope these black gestapos get their just due.
Zimmerman....Paula Dean...the Duke Boys....and now this
To be fair it is time to ban white fans from NBA games. White fans should not be allowed to buy tickets, hotdogs, memorabilia or subscribe to sports cable/satellite. In fact to affect a total cure for all that white racism just ban all white money from all black dominated sports. That’ll teach the honkey white mofo’s. All the race baiting whores have played that race card so much they have worn the tits of the queen. They could take all white people and put them on ships to Africa to be slaves and that wouldn’t enough. Nothing is going to cure this except JESUS coming back.
Zimmerman, Paula Deen, the guy from Mozilla who gave money to Proposition 8, Chick Fill A, the Miss USA pageant girl who had the audacity to say she thought marriage was a man and a woman — what all have in common is that they were targeted for destruction because they violated political correctness. The campaigns against them had the full cooperation of the media, which is a factor here also.
If Sterling had made stark comments about gun rights people, or the tea party, or born again Christians, do you think the NBA commissioner would have swooped in so quickly and ban him from the NBA?????
I wonder how the commissioner decided on this penalty. In 3 short days, from the story hitting the news, to the announcement of the penalty, how detailed an investigation did he do? I mean, did he investigate all angles, such as the background of the girl involved, her ulterior motives? Did he investigate whether there is any legal liability for the NBA, or anyone, if these tapes were made illegally? Did he really have NBA attorneys research if he was administering a legal penalty? Did he really have NBA attorneys research whether he can force a sale of the Clippers if Sterling doesn’t want to sell?
As a side issue, it’s hard to believe that in only 3 days, a commissioner administered the death penalty, and wonder how he did a thorough investigation of all of the issues involved.
And what if the little chick came home to Sterling with HIV on her lips?
“.......girlfriend at nightclub, kissed they....... friend and then came home with they AIDS on they lips” Eddie Murphy-Delirious
Noble indeed you are Jim!
Today you joke eventually the spike lees will demand it. Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson will demand free tickets paid by white “folks”.
Then again, the homosexuals will demand player quotas.
I wouldn’t come down so hard on libs about their (deliberate?) ignorance of the law, except like always, they’re tremendous hypocrites concerning racism. Spike Lee, Jay-Z, and other well-known, rich black people can get away with racist statements (Lee) or wearing racist jewelry (Jay-Z), and none of the presently aggrieved over Sterling say a word. And of course, Obama and Clinton pal around with Al Sharpton. So when various people screamed racism about Sterling’s utterances after taking his money for years, it left me with a little lack of sympathy for their “plight.”
Jay-Z recently sold his interest in the Nets, but he’s now a sports agent dealing with the NBA and other sports leagues. I won’t hold my breath from all the people outraged about Sterling waiting for them to demand Jay-Z be barred from dealing with their league.
The NBA is through. Not next year. Maybe not this decade. But it's through. The billionaire white guys who like expensive toys mostly didn't get where they are by being stupid. Why would they in the future put themselves in a situation in which if someone wants to undermine them is all it takes is some poorly chosen out of context words? The advertisers?..if enough people are outraged, it might be to their benefit to reach the minority audience in other ways.
I'm a Cleveland near-resident by choice. I follow sports. NBA is hugely popular here, but the feelings about how LeBron treated Dan Gilbert when he up and left for Miami aren't totally gone. I wonder if there's a point where a lot of loyal fans and supporters will say "enough" and satisfy their love of basketball with March Madness insanity.
The NBA and the national media said virtually nothing. That same year, the NAACP gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2005, Sterling signed a check for more than $5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that he had attempted to prevent non-Koreans from renting in his facilities in Koreatown.
Sterling settled lawsuits, which many times is done for financial reasons. He wasn't found guilty of crimes.
While Shapiro is busy accusing others, he is also guilty of jumping to conclusions.
that will happen. “Joe Sixpack” can get “Sterlinged” at anytime now.
There is one simple way to stop this though.
Nailed it.
If you allow for inflation, he would be making maybe 20 times his original investment, but then the government would take a third of it in capital gains taxes.
The Sterling story is a test case of how to use extreme over reaction it will play well in the next two elections the MSM is on board and well armed.
Revolt is coming, this is going to simply be the seeds for a future revolt down the road.
Sterlings case is redistribution by mob rule.
You got that right.
The unexpected extreme success of the Republican War on Women™, which has not failed yet in any campaign using it, will now be ramped up and ramped up until we have full-blown Two Minute Hate, with us on the receiving end.
Racism is the replacement of IT’S FOR THE KIDS they have a few more scams they will release near 2016 elections.
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