Are we no longer in the 21st century, where racism is looked down upon, where we all are treated as equal and judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, did we learn nothing from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King?
Clippers owner Donald Sterlin did not get the memo.
On Sunday April 27, to be exact a TMZ reported on obtaining audio of Sterling who appears to be talking to his girlfriend V. Stiviano were Sterling is making the racist declaration during a heated argument on April 9 with after she posted a photo on Instagram posing with LA Dodgers owner Magic Johnson.
Sterling rails on Stiviano (who is black and Mexican) for putting herself out in public with a black person (she has since taken the pic down), but that was just the icing on the cake as he went on to say comments like, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?”
“You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”
“…Don’t put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”
This comes as no surprise to some as Sterling has a documented history of allegedly racist behavior. He’s been sued twice by the federal government for allegedly refusing to rent apartments to Blacks and Latinos. Also sued by former Clippers exec Elgin Baylor for racial discrimination.
There many reaction to these comment from celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Shaq and comments from Magic Johnson “He’s Shameful.” Al Sharpton said, “Take Clippers away from Sterling” and Stephan A. Smith said, “Clippers should consider not playing.”
Stephan A. Smith said that the Clippers would go on to play and the Clippers would not speak publicly about owner Donald Sterling before they faced the Golden State Warriors for Game 4 of their first-round.
Instead, they made a silent protest. In response to Sterling’s comments, the Clippers let their uniforms become a show of solidarity.They ran out of the tunnel wearing their usual warm-up uniforms. Then they huddled at center court and tossed the outer layer of their warm-ups to the ground, going through their pre-game routine with their red Clippers’ shirts on inside out to hide the team’s logo also wore black wristbands or armbands during the game to show togetherness among the players.
They would go on to loose against Golden State 118-97, but for the whole game Clippers mind was elsewhere and you could tell by their performance.
The Clippers players lost more than the game it also lost trust form their organization and ownership. As the organization lost its sponsorships from various companies.
The NBA went on to suspend Sterling for life from the NBA and fined him $2.5 million.
