The thing that ticks me off the most about the Donald Sterling debacle

[Brian Tams]

Yes, here comes another Donald Sterling topic. I'm assuming that most people know by now who this racist dirtbag is and what he's done. If you don't, google "sterling" and you'll get pages and pages and pages of lovely articles on the subject. So, moving on.

I've had a hard time pin pointing what has been the source of my anger about the situation, and shockingly, its not about what Sterling said. Now, I'm not condoning what Sterling said; I can't wait for him to be forced out of the league. No, what I'm mad about is people's reaction. Again, I'm not talking about people being angry here.

No, what I'm angry about is that it took something Sterling said to drive people to outrage, for him to be banned.

Here's a fact about Sterling; he has been in court rooms for the past few years denying minorities housing. Denying people roofs to put over their heads because of their skin color. Its been a known (but not well known) fact that Sterling parades people through the locker rooms and ogles his players like they're race horses. Or, rather, like they're not human beings.

So, why is he just now being banned and forced to sell? Why are people across the US just now pissed off? I've known Sterling was a racist piece of trash for about a year before the scandal broke. Yet now people are concerned?

I've always been taught that actions are stronger than words, but is that no longer true? People clearly just told me that they care more about what you say rather than what you do. It took a racist comment to oust Sterling, and yet he'd been committing racist actions for years.

Also, fun little fact; Sterling, despite denying minorities housing and all manner of other racist actions, had been set to receive an award of recognition from the NAACP. The award has since been cancelled. Because of a comment, not an action.

 

[tippy2k2]

I've been (trying at least) to follow this story (Here's my "totally not self-serving/self-promoting" link [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.848695-Racism-David-Sterling-the-racist-owner-and-the-NBA] to the thread I made) and according to the info I found in my little research it was this:

Most people seemed to have agreed that he's a giant pile of not-such-a-nice-word. The problem is that being a not-nice-word is not something they can prosecute you for. The cases against him (like the housing one) were all settled out of court.

Basically it was a combination of no "smoking gun" (which the comments give you) and the NBA not having the courage to go after Sterling before without said smoking gun. Sterling is a lawyer by trade and it looks like the NBA was afraid to fight him. The comments spurred the public outrage, forcing the NBA's hand.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

Just a tip, maybe say the guys first name atleast once. If you say sterling on here, I assume most people will think you mean Jim Sterling. If you type in "sterling" on google, you get money.

 

[IceForce]

Yes, here comes another Sterling topic. I'm assuming that most people know by now who this racist dirtbag is

Wait, Jim Sterling is a racist dirtbag? What?
Oh, you mean the other Sterling guy.

Just a tip, maybe say the guys first name atleast once. If you say sterling on here, I assume most people will think you mean Jim Sterling. If you type in "sterling" on google, you get money.

Yeah. This.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

You're surprised he didn't get banned earlier for his actions, I'm surprises he didn't get banned earlier for previous comments. That guy has been spewing racist banter for years, I don't understand why the latest particular line of dialogue is "more racist" than the previous.

Apparently he was banned for telling his lover

It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people (...) You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want [but] the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games.

And yet in 2006 he said

Hispanics "smoke, drink and just hang around the building", and that "Black tenants smell and attract vermin".

Why did the world decide now that he's a racist?

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

You're surprised he didn't get banned earlier for his actions, I'm surprises he didn't get banned earlier for previous comments. That guy has been spewing racist banter for years, I don't understand why the latest particular line of dialogue is "more racist" than the previous.

Apparently he was banned for telling his lover

It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people (...) You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want [but] the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games.

And yet in 2006 he said

Hispanics "smoke, drink and just hang around the building", and that "Black tenants smell and attract vermin".

Why did the world decide now that he's a racist?

I can tell you that I've never heard of this guy until now.

 

[Random Argument Man]

At first, when I saw "Sterling", I thought this was a video game debate started by Jim. It didn't popped in my head we were talking about NBA Sterling. I googled though and the first thing that popped was "Sterling restaurant Steakhouse".

OT: The media and the Internet tend to blow up on one thing and never pick up on the rest of the things or they never analyze the entirety of the situation. (Excluding those who actually do).

When it comes to the NBA, they probably didn't want to be the ones to rock the boat in the first place until the right time.

 

[TheJesus89]

Here's the thing: his comments turned the athletes who worked for him from coworkers to slaves.
His comments clearly put them at a subservient level, and while it's true he made more money than his players, he also has no right to make that distinction.
He viewed them as a means to an end, not as individual people.
So while he did employ these people, he saw them less as people and more as objects with which to make money.

And also a lot more people care about the NBA than a specific housing development. Is it right? No. But such is life.

Plus this actually relates to the NBA. He clearly degraded an incredibly respected member of the NBA (Magic Johnson) and then did it to an entire race in the name of the NBA.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

You're surprised he didn't get banned earlier for his actions, I'm surprises he didn't get banned earlier for previous comments. That guy has been spewing racist banter for years, I don't understand why the latest particular line of dialogue is "more racist" than the previous.

Apparently he was banned for telling his lover

It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people (...) You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want [but] the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games.

And yet in 2006 he said

Hispanics "smoke, drink and just hang around the building", and that "Black tenants smell and attract vermin".

Why did the world decide now that he's a racist?

I can tell you that I've never heard of this guy until now.

Me neither! I just wiki'd him and found earlier and arguably worse quotes that apparently went over everybody's heads.

 

[EternallyBored]

You're surprised he didn't get banned earlier for his actions, I'm surprises he didn't get banned earlier for previous comments. That guy has been spewing racist banter for years, I don't understand why the latest particular line of dialogue is "more racist" than the previous.

Apparently he was banned for telling his lover

It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people (...) You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want [but] the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games.

And yet in 2006 he said

Hispanics "smoke, drink and just hang around the building", and that "Black tenants smell and attract vermin".

Why did the world decide now that he's a racist?

I can tell you that I've never heard of this guy until now.

Me neither! I just wiki'd him and found earlier and arguably worse quotes that apparently went over everybody's heads.

The difference between now and then is that the newest quotes are him talking about the NBA and his team, and the story is gaining traction with sports networks and fans. The NBA has mostly tried to ignore him in the past because they likely didn't want to bring attention to his antics, now they no longer have that option. Basically, these comments are getting him in more trouble because actual NBA fans have gotten involved. The housing thing was much worse, but it didn't have any connection to the NBA, so most sports fans never heard of it.

 

[JimB]

So, why is he just now being banned and forced to sell?

It just now became big news that he's a d-bag.

Why are people across the US just now pissed off?

We just now heard about it.

I've known Sterling was a racist piece of trash for about a year before the scandal broke.

Okay, but I know nothing to suggest most or even many Americans other than yourself did.

Also, fun little fact; Sterling, despite denying minorities housing and all manner of other racist actions, had been set to receive an award of recognition from the NAACP. The award has since been cancelled. Because of a comment, not an action.

Because of perception. You can award things to a guy that no one knows has done anything wrong. If people know he's a racist, though, you can't really give him a medal for being an ally to black people.

 

[Lilani]

So, why is he just now being banned and forced to sell? Why are people across the US just now pissed off? I've known Sterling was a racist piece of trash for about a year before the scandal broke. Yet now people are concerned?

I've always been taught that actions are stronger than words, but is that no longer true? People clearly just told me that they care more about what you say rather than what you do. It took a racist comment to oust Sterling, and yet he'd been committing racist actions for years.

Also, fun little fact; Sterling, despite denying minorities housing and all manner of other racist actions, had been set to receive an award of recognition from the NAACP. The award has since been cancelled. Because of a comment, not an action.

The real truth of it is, even though in the past he did those horrible things, for whatever reason they never became huge press issues for the NBA. Now, however, all of his misdeeds are all over the news, and if the NBA didn't do something the negativity would be thrown back on them. They didn't have a reason to throw him under the bus until the rest of the world gave them a reason to notice the bus. The NBA is an organization out to make money. I'm sure Sterling isn't the worst guy who was working for the NBA, hell sports in general are known to harbor sex abusers and drug sellers and all sorts of criminals as long as they keep making them money and the nation doesn't know about it.

I wouldn't blame just the NBA for this, though. Any company or organization out to make money likes to keep its skeletons in its closet as lot as it can, until somebody forces the door open and makes them deal with it. While it would be very gallant of the NBA to take this opportunity to turn its organization inside-out and search for other such horrible people, investors and sponsors would not appreciate the sudden firing of many higher-ups and the violent shift of power that would create. Or, if nothing else, they would not appreciate a witch hunt which could come back around and hurt them as well. They'd pull their support just to make sure the NBA justice squad doesn't find someone in their employ who is selling drugs on the side or beating hookers to death with a baseball bat.