In yesterday’s post I made light mention of NBA Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s (now extended) racist rant. I wanted to wait until I understood the facts before offering a response. Team Sterling’s response and that of Doc Rivers tells me everything I need to know about the situation.
The tape was originally released by V. Stiviano AKA Vanessa Perez, a mixed-race gold digger who, if we are to believe anyone from team Sterling (which I do in this regard because it makes a lot of sense) released the tape in a revenge move after seeing her relationship with Sterling end. It is clear that she or someone close to her recorded the supposedly private conversation between boyfriend and girlfriend.
Team Sterling cast a weak attempt to cast dispersions on the tape by offering, “We have heard the tape on TMZ. We do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered.” Note the legal footwork there: we do not know if it is legitimate. See, this is intended to cast that shadow of a doubt but doesn’t come right out and say ‘hey, this isn’t Sterling on the tape. He didn’t say that crap.’ He apparently did say that crap and those statements appear to reflect the core of his understanding of race and the modern world. As I said yesterday, this is not new. I reflected on the racism of that age group a few days ago when I discussed the Nevada rancher situation. Now I’m waiting to see if the same angry group of disaffected Americans come to the aid of the embattled billionaire.
Here is what I think: Sterling has been a racist for a long time and has used his financial leverage to invest in and create environments where his racism can flower. At one point in the tape he points out that Stiviano is supposed to be a ‘delicate Asian or delicate Latina’ further indicating his world view. As pointed out in this report by The Nation, Sterling was accused of racist practices in his real estate business. He tried to recruit Asians–specifically Koreans–because he felt they wouldn’t complain about the slum conditions and tried to get rid of African-Americans who he saw as lazy people who spent all their time on the stoop lowering his property values. Sterling masks and justifies his racism as merely an understanding of how the world works and an acceptance of how to behave properly in that world. In reality what he is doing it reinforcing a world view that is dated and counterproductive to the ever-shifting ethnography of the modern world.
Still, this is America and we are all entitled to think what we want to think. On the other hand, the market is entitled to act as a result of any individual acting on their thoughts. In other words, we don’t have to support Sterling. Once that starts to happen, the power of capitalism is going to kick in. The NBA is a business, and like any good business the NBA is going to do what it can to remove any and all threats to profit.
Believe what you want, Mr. Sterling, but realize that your beliefs represent one hell of a threat to NBA profit.