Weather or not you are a basketball fan you have, by now- no doubt heard the name Donald Sterling this weekend. Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers was outed as a racist when disparaging remarks he made about Black people was leaked to the media. Sterling was caught on tape telling his girlfriend, V Stiviano that he doesn't want her to bring Black people to Clippers games- as if it reflects poorly on him. Who are his racist redneck friends that tell him when she brings Black People to basketball games?
He said this of her association with Black people "...why publicize it on the Instagram and why bring it to my games..." So in his mind you can date a black girl, but she can't have any black friends. He allegedly also has a history of being a slum lord and discriminating against blacks and Latinos, which is ironic since his "girlfriend", Stiviano is both Black and Latino (go figure).
In another strange twist, Sterling, who's real name is Donald Tokowitz, was on the brink of receiving a second image award from The NAACP. It seems The NAACP doesn't mind giving awards to racist old white men as long as he writes them a check. They knew of his history of racism and gave him an award anyway, and they were more than prepared to give him another one. They have since canceled their plans to award him a second time.
The NAACP was never founded to empower black people anyway. When Ida B. Wells wanted to put the lynching of Black men on The NAACP agenda in the late 1800s/ early 1900s, The NAACP refused to do it. In Fact Martin Luther King Jr. founded The Southern Christian Leadership Conference or SCLC because he thought The NAACP was too weak and no longer effective.
The Clippers team wore their jerseys inside out at last nights game as a show of solidarity. Some seem to think that was not enough, and that the players should have refused to play for such a racist owner. There should be an all out boycott of the L.A. Clippers by players and fans alike. If white people claim to be so appalled by Sterlings comments, they too should stage a boycott. White fans need to demonstrate some opposition to show solidarity with Blacks if they are so disgusted with racism.
We need to have a national conversation about what this means, and discuss how to do away with race based prejudice in America. The only person happy about the Sterling dust up is Cliven Bundy, because the spotlight is now off of him. J Smooth, founder of www.illdoctrine.com, and host of the longest running Hip-Hop radio show in New York City, The Underground Railroad, has much to say about the Sterling incident. He is very outspoken and his analysis is always very accurate. This is what he had to say.