Final Word: Good riddance, Donald Sterling
May 1, 2014, 1:56 PM | Updated: 1:56 pm
OK, so Donald Sterling is banned for life. Is it enough?
Not according to the NAACP.
The NAACP wants a meeting with Adam Silver, the new NBA commissioner (who, by the way, hit it out of the park at his Sterling press conference) to ensure that “Sterling remains an anomaly among the owners and executives in the league.”
Well, of course he is.
I mean, he is, RIGHT?
There were whispers for a long time about Sterling, but let’s face it, being “rumored” to be a racist may be unsavory, but it’s tough to act on.
As Silver said Tuesday, once the nauseating recordings of Sterling were made public, it was obvious that the NBA had to act, and it did. To virtually take the the owner’s building keys away is a powerful statement.
By banning Sterling for life from practices, games and all official team activities, the NBA takes away not only Sterling’s product that he has grown and cultivated, but a good bit of his identity, too. And his swagger.
It remains to be seen if Sterling cares.
For a lot of sports owners, running the show is paramount, making money is secondary but remember, this owner made most of his money in real estate.
If people of color are truly so unsavory to Donald Sterling, why would he get into a business that is predominantly made up of black athletes?
Who knows? Perhaps the fact that the league was whiter in 1981 when Sterling bought the Clips for $12.5 million was part of the reason. No matter.
The NBA decided, rightly so, that it won’t deal with racists.
Sports teams don’t grow on trees, and they’re not free.
Owners of such teams are also not likely to be primarily humanitarian but we should also expect that in public AND in private, owners know that there’s no place for comments or feelings like Sterling’s.
He is an anomaly, and if you think for a minute, any NBA owner will be caught making statements like his, you don’t know much about this club.
The NAACP, by the way, might not be the best at sniffing out such discrimination. The group has given Mr. Sterling numerous awards.
Yep. He was named its Humanitarian of the Year in 2008 and received the President’s Award in 2009. Why? Because he wrote the organization a check, of course.
If the NAACP is looking for more racists, the members might want to start at their annual awards dinner.
