Clippers Owner makes racist comments

Interesting reading. As many have pointed out, Sterling has long been known to voice racist thoughts and behaviors. Elgin Baylor sued him for racially inspired termination. This isn't news. Sterling also has given millions to not only the NAACP (hence the "Lifetime Award") but to other charities including those focused on minorities/African Americans.

For me, it's pretty clear that everyone has a price for which they are willing to overlook things until the floodlight is turned on. Mrs. Sterling has enjoyed a certain lifestyle all the while knowing he was screwing every 2 bit (or $2M) whore he could find. V obviously had her price and has loved the fame and attention. The Clippers have all cashed their paychecks. Doc Rivers seems to have enjoyed his $7M salary. The NAACP took his money and gave him awards. Nobody said a damn thing until the tapes came out and then everyone screams like it's so shocking. Total bullshit.

Take this necrotizing demented old fool out of the picture and consider what has happened. A man was illegally taped in a private conversation without having broken the law and is now being forced to sell his ownership in a business franchise. That doesn't sit right with me. Remove him from the premises, take away his dealings with the team and the league, strip him from anything to do with the Clippers EXCEPT from forcing him to sell. It was his money that bought and built the Clippers to this point. At what point does a person have reasonable expectation of privacy in this country? Better watch what and to whom you say things.

 

You make a good point. As despicable as Sterling is, who among us hasn't said something in private that we would never want to be made public.

On the other hand, and maybe this should be a thread of its own, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was blasted by some for a pretty innocent (and true) remark he made in an interview with a reporter. He said that if he was walking down the street at night (like Mark Cuban would ever be walking down a dark street at night alone in a bad part of town) he said if he saw a black guy wearing a hoodie he would walk over to the other side of the street. After that he also said in an obvious reference to skinheads that if there was a bald white guy with tattoos all over his face he would walk back over to the other side.

How is that any different from what Jessie Jackson said a few years ago? Jackson said that if he was walking down the street at night in Washington DC and somebody was walking behind him that he would be relieved if he turned around and the guy behind him was white.

Its not racist to have built in filters that automatically profile other people in situations where there could be danger. Thats just common sense and self preservation

 

We all have natural reactions to certain situations. As a female I might have some fear walking ANYWHERE alone at night. If I saw a white guy covered in tats and a hoodie walking in my direction, I can't say I would be free of fear. Those thoughts are not illegal, awful, or necessarily wrong. At times, those thoughts and corresponding reactions could prevent a bad situation.

I guarantee that once the Sterling tapes got out, there were more than a few players in the league who called Sterling names that the JDL wouldn't approve of. But they did it in the privacy of their homes and with zero expectation of it being aired in public. Thoughts and actions are different things. Sterling has a history of both. But if we get in the business of punishing people for their thoughts, that is a slippery slope that is damn scary.

 

Reported saying....that's a bit of a spin considering it was an illegally obtained recording of a private conversation. How many franchise owners, of all businesses in this country, have upheld a "certain decorum"? And I'm not talking privately....even publicly most folks aren't perfect nor above the occasional lapses in political correctness. Did Sterling give money to charities benefiting minorities or not? Did he not repeatedly bang a minority and give her millions in return? That doesn't mean he doesn't tend toward racist thoughts but he's certainly not evil. I think he's batchit crazy and slightly demented.

Back in 1948, the universal thought about free speech included..."No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks". It can be argued as a basic human right.

Sterling is being held to a standard that the majority of the population could not abide. It has nothing to do with his money or his status as an NBA owner. If we were to "out" all franchise owners who harbored thoughts that were racist, sexist, ageist, anti-gay, I don't think many people would be left. Thoughts.....we are talking private thoughts. To support the notion that people should lose personal or business property because of their private thoughts is absurd.

 

He is a citizen before he's an NBA owner. His right to privacy trumps privilege. Careless enough to be taped? Seriously? It was within the confines of a personal relationship where one would expect privacy. In CA the law states that one has to give permission prior to being recorded. V broke the law and violated his rights.

What he said isn't close to the worst ever heard and guaranteed it's not the worst ever uttered in private. Look at Barkley...on TV and flat out calling SA women fat. He's insulting women straight up to the camera and everyone just laughs. I guess sexism is okay. The NBA wouldn't ruin the franchise that Sterling built.....it's too valuable. Money. They all had a price they were willing to get and look the other way.

 

Sometimes we confuse what rights are and how they are installed in the society. There are several different types of rights. There are legal as applied to law enforcement, the civil legal process and private interactions.

Yes he has a right to speak as he wants that doesn't cause harm to others...the oft used "shouting fire in a theater" saw. That is a protection from GOVERNMENT action and first amendment right...and yes that is public speech only. Yelling fire at your home would not be actionable.

However if someone slanders another no matter where or how private, the slanderer can be sued in court and lose. That is civil and the government only provides the forum (the court) for the action but takes no position in the argument.

Here the NBA like the NFL, MLBB, etc is a consortium or club of a sort that can decide who to admit or who can belong based on their own rules (as long as they are legal. MLBB has an anti trust exemption blessed by the supreme court. They can decide who can join or not (ask Mark Cuban if he was allowed to buy the Cubs, Pirates or Rangers). They can also force an owner out...ask Bud McCort why he sold the Dodgers. They can kick Sterling out if they decide keeping him will hurt the league. They CANNOT take his team without fair compensation. Sterling will get his billion plus just as McCort got his $$$$. However it happened, he hurt the league and keeping him would hurt it more. He has the right to say what he wants but that DOESN'T protect him from the consequences of his speech (other than going to jail).

Understand the rights enumerated in the "Bill of Rights" and further expanded in later amendments and court rulings are protection of people against the power of FEDERAL. STATE & LOCAL government. They do no protect people in private interactions.