Posted on 05/03/2014 10:10:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
This morning I awoke with an uneasy feeling about the Donald Sterling matter.
Not necessarily because I think Sterling got a raw deal here. Sterling is an 80-year old slumlord who just a few years ago settled a housing discrimination lawsuit with the federal government originally filed by the George W. Bush Administration. He promised the city of Los Angeles a homeless shelter in 2006 that has still never been built. He married the mother of his three children in 1955 and then left her for his 29-year old girlfriend. Over the course of four decades he’s overseen perhaps the worst and most embarrassing franchise in all of professional sports.
But as Ben Shapiro points out over at Breitbart News, Sterling is hardly the NBA’s lone villain. Shapiro details NBA figures who have killed people, strangled people, attacked NBA customers in the stands during games, pressured their girlfriends to murder their own children, and pointed a gun at their fellow player—yet none of them received lifetime bans from the NBA. Heck, according to Shapiro it appears Sterling isn’t even the NBA’s lone racist owner.
Now, I know why the NBA did what it did here. It’s a business, and its brand was being tarred and feathered ever since these controversial recordings of Sterling were released by TMZ. Not to mention I believe a private business has a right to decide who it wants to do business with and associate with
Yet herein lies why I am uneasy about all of this.
I have been working and interacting in national media for several years now, including many places considered “mainstream” or “liberal” media. So I have a pretty good idea how these things work, who these people are, and what they think. And that’s exactly what has me concerned.
Sterling was a slumlord and there was no external pressure brought to bear on the NBA to get rid of him. That’s something that truly ruins people’s lives, especially people far less fortunate than either Sterling or any active member of the NBA, yet nobody said anything.
Zip. Zilch. Nada.
In fact, most of us didn’t even know about this until the current controversy surfaced.
But the minute Sterling says some stupid and offensive stuff (to his fellow adulterer no less), suddenly now words of discrimination stings more than actual discrimination does. Maybe it’s just me, and I just can’t possibly understand as a suburban white guy that typically votes Republican, but I kind of think there’s something wrong with that.
Shouldn’t actions speak louder than words? Whatever happened to “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?”
I understand the black players on the Clippers being gravely offended by what this guy had to say in the context of the edited portions most people heard, but the day before the recordings came out did any of them protest working for a guy that settled a racial/ethnic discrimination lawsuit with the Feds? Did any of them protest the guy not following through on a promise to provide a homeless shelter? And since we’re talking about Los Angeles, it’s sadly a safe bet a good deal of those homeless Sterling didn’t follow through on assisting would’ve been minorities.
Those are things that actually change/ruin real people’s lives. Yet nobody of any skin color had a problem taking a seven-figure paycheck from Sterling until his racist pillow talk to his mistress was illegally taped.
Almost 95% of the public school kids in Detroit in black, yet only 8% of them are reading proficient. Where is the outrage for them? Where is the media vigil demanding justice on their behalf? Are any of those black kids better off today because we now have Sterling’s head on a platter? Will getting rid of Sterling do anything to reduce the almost 70% of black kids born out-of-wedlock, reduce a black unemployment rate that is twice the rate of whites, or stop even one of the 1800 black mothers from killing their unborn child today?
These are true injustices, yet the victims of these injustices have no voice. But when multi-millionaire Magic Johnson is offended by multi-millionaire Sterling, he is given a voice to air his grievances. Many of the same NBA players speaking out about Sterling have said nothing about these injustices.
I don’t care what color you are or where you came from. I believe we’re all made in the image of God, and that’s why I believe there’s something seriously wrong with that.
I also know several of those pursuing the Sterling prosecution to its culmination this week will use this precedent to go after Christians who disagree with homosexuality. For the same people who say it’s ok for the NBA to not want to do business with a racist believe it’s not okay for a Christian to refuse to take part in a ceremony honoring immorality. Now I don’t believe there’s a moral equivalence, and neither do many black Christians I know, but that’s not the point.
See, several of those currently driving the Sterling train do.
We already have a case of former ESPN broadcaster Craig James suing Fox because he believes he lost his sports casting job for saying homosexuality was immoral during a Texas U.S. Senate primary. Then there was CBS Sports’ hatchet job on Pastor Robert Jeffress in Dallas last year, which resulted in Tim Tebow canceling a speaking engagement at his church. How about those that wanted ESPN to fire Chris Broussard, who is black, for his on-air comments last year repeating what the Bible says about homosexuality?
Know this: for some here the Sterling matter isn’t about racism—it’s about “tolerance.” They are using this matter to purge those they deem lack the “tolerance” to have a public platform, without really defining what “tolerance” means. Based on how they apply their standard we can only assume being a slumlord isn’t intolerant, but sounding like a Neanderthal nitwit to your mistress is. Ever noticed that every time we turn onto “Tolerance Boulevard” it’s a one-way street?
The Bible says I am supposed to feel good when justice is done, but since I know several of those who pursued Sterling’s public execution here know almost nothing about true justice, I’m feeling uneasy instead.
Unfortunately, I’m anticipating the day several of these same people will lump me in with Sterling because I believe the Bible is true.
” He married the mother of his three children in 1955 and then left her for his 29-year old girlfriend. “
we have more class on the east coast than you guys on the west coast. when our local 80 year old billionare, sports team owner, bob kraft wanted to get some nooky, he waited until his wife died of cancer before he took up with a 20 year old blonde porn star.
What he said was hurtful and is hard to defend.
But there are so many issues not being addressed.
Being compelled to sell the team is like the death penalty, for what is not a violation of law, but a violation of political correctness.
Among the issues I wish would be addressed as the media dig into this further:
1. who is this Stiviano girl?
2. Where did she come from?
3. What does she do for a lving?
4. who is paying her bills?
5. What is her true relationship to Sterling?
6. What is her relationship to Magic Johnson?
7. why was she making tapes?
8. Did making these tapes violate any disclosure laws?
9. Why did she legally change her name?
10. She said she didn’t leak the tapes to TMZ. Some friend of hers did. What did this person have to gain by making this public?
11. Were the tapes part of an extortion or blackmail scheme? Were the tapes released because they wanted to destroy Sterling when he didn’t give in to blackmail?
The liberals and the media have gone into hyperventilation/meltdown mode over what Sterling said, and how shameful and all that, but are NOT addressing any of what I just mentioned. The irony is that what Sterling said, while disturbing, did not violate any laws. Yet issues of what was going on with those tapes may well lead us into legal violations by someone.
The media and the liberals and the NBA apparently don’t care about the legal issues, as much as they are concerned with being offended, and carrying political correctness to a new high, or new low, depending on how you look at that.
The liberal establishment always just goes after the low-hanging fruit. Can't be bothered with the big picture -- that's just a lot of "blah blah blah" and "Easter bunny."
What’s interesting is Oprah offered to buy the team and nobody said anything even though she’s racist as well. According to her a President should not be criticized if he is black.
They already do friend, you just haven't got a dose of their wrath yet. Persevere, the wrath of almighty God is coming and it won't be directed at those who belive on Him.
To me, what this all points to is that nobody with an IQ over room temperature should give a hoot about the NBA ... the players, the teams, the owners, the image of the brand, etc. I have a hard time finding any tears for an octogenarian leftist who is getting hung out to dry by other leftists.
It is believed that Sterling supports her. It is believed that she turned on Sterling and tape recorded him to catch him making racial comments despite his having a girlfriend of color. If you listen to the tapes, its obvious she’s leading him to get him to say the racist comments. It is elieved that she conspired with Magic Johnson to get him ousted so Johnson would be able to buy the Clippers at a substantially reduced price due to all the controversy. To bolster this theory there are photographs all over the Internet showing her and him in each others company. As soon as the tapes were released to TMZ it went viral nd all the usual kneejerk-reaction racebaiter suspects came out of the closet. Now why do you think Ms. Stiviano would release something like that to TMZ knwing it would be broadcast to all other media outlets? Now she’s wearing a stupid look cap with a visor that covers her face? Now everyone knows who this is. I havea theory. Its because she doesn’t want people to see the glee in her eyes from getting a huge payoff from whoever orchestrated this mess.
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Re: “reading proficient”. I think it’s education-speak. You can be reading proficient, spelling proficient, math proficient, basketball proficient, and so on. Grammatically, “reading” is modifying the adjective “proficient”, hence is an adverb.
Scoot over Mr.Deace, I’ll row for a while...
Democrat Donald Sterling (D-Los Angeles) registered as a Republican as a typical Democrat dirty trick. We all know racists have abided in the Democrat Party for over 200 years.
Time to expose all of them and have a feeding frenzy.
I have reserved www.exposingNBAowners.com if anyone wants to work on it.
If someone can find a certain photo, I would appreciate it —— a photo of Carmelo Anthony wearing a black supremacist medallion like the one Jay-Z wears. The new commissioner needs to address this.
Was it a 3rd party(s) that told Sterling that V should publicly associate less with black men?
Is this what you’re looking for?
http://hiphollywood.com/2014/01/jay-z-carmelo-anthony-seen-wearing-same-five-percenter-chain/
yep....thanks
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