Beliefs and Behaviors
I'll be the first to defend the right of Donald Sterling to believe what he wants to believe, to espouse or not espouse those beliefs and all of the other rights he and every other U. S. citizen have. We can never outlaw racist beliefs. However, in a year that will mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, there needs to be some serious discussion about the beliefs AND the behaviors of all of the people involved.
Here's a quote from Donald Sterling: "That's because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean," he said, according to Davenport's testimony. "And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day." That's from a deposition in the 2003 lawsuit filed against Sterling, and to be fair, it is not a deposition of the racist himself. It is the deposition of Summer Davenport, one of Sterling's top property advisors.
He's been sued for sexual harassment and he settled. Here's a piece of testimony from his own mouth in the case of Alexandra Castro. "The woman wanted sex everywhere," Sterling said. "In the alley, in her car, in the elevator, in the upstairs seventh floor, in the bathroom." And he paid her for it. "Everytime (sic) she provided sex she got $500," he testified in 2003. "At the end of every week or at the end of two weeks, we would figure [it] out, and I would, perhaps, pay her then." While I'm a firm believer that prostitution should be legal, it wasn't legal at the time. As to what it says about the moral compass of a man who pays to be unfaithful to his wife, you can draw your own conclusions.
Some say Sterling should be given a pass on this because these are his private thoughts, and he was apparently blissfully unaware that he was being recorded. If his ex-girlfriend committed a violation of the California Penal Code, Section 632 is for the justice system to decide. I'm of the belief that since there was clearly a third party within earshot, he had no reasonable expectation of privacy, but I'm not an attorney and never played one on television. Frankly, the idea that these are his private thoughts isn't really germane to the discussion. His beliefs were well known before this conversation was recorded, it is merely the timing of the release of the recording that has caused this current level of outrage.
The behaviors of Donald Sterling need to be examined much more thoroughly than his beliefs. Twice he was sued for discrimination in renting to minorities. The NBA said little and did nothing. He was sued by an NBA Hall of Fame member for racial discrimination. That he won in court was probably nothing more than "rich people" justice. He makes bad things go away by throwing money or rapacious attorneys (or both) at those things. When the Justice Department worked out a settlement over the 2006 lawsuit, they commented afterwards about the "scorched earth" approach used by those who represented Sterling in the matter.
One of the reasons I think the majority of NBA owners will be reluctant to comment on, or propose action against Mr. Sterling is that they wouldn't want to be the next to be held up to public scrutiny for private beliefs. As long as their behaviors don't reflect beliefs that the vast majority of people find unacceptable, they have nothing to fear. No worries, owners, you have a commissioner to do your dirty work.
I think that Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, and every other member of the Clippers roster who signed a contract with the club after February of 2009 should be asked some questions. Did you know of the two lawsuits filed by the tenants of Sterling against him before you signed? Did you know that Elgin Baylor sued the Clippers and Sterling for racial discrimination? If the answer to either question is yes, the question becomes, why did you choose to work for this man? Don't misconstrue. I support the players. They probably did not know the depths of Sterling's depraved disgust for black and other minorities (although he seems to like some Asians). Sterling gets 99.99% of the blame for all of this. That 0.01% the players might need to own is miniscule, but finite.
If I were a Clippers season ticket holder, I'd have made my first phone call of Monday to their offices, to cancel and express my outrage. I will never spend a single dollar on anything related to the Clippers as long as Sterling remains the teams owner. I had been hoping to get a set of free playoff tickets. Now there isn't enough money in Sterling's bank vault to get me to attend a Clippers game.
Sell the team, Mr. Sterling. Now.
Here's a quote from Donald Sterling: "That's because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean," he said, according to Davenport's testimony. "And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day." That's from a deposition in the 2003 lawsuit filed against Sterling, and to be fair, it is not a deposition of the racist himself. It is the deposition of Summer Davenport, one of Sterling's top property advisors.
He's been sued for sexual harassment and he settled. Here's a piece of testimony from his own mouth in the case of Alexandra Castro. "The woman wanted sex everywhere," Sterling said. "In the alley, in her car, in the elevator, in the upstairs seventh floor, in the bathroom." And he paid her for it. "Everytime (sic) she provided sex she got $500," he testified in 2003. "At the end of every week or at the end of two weeks, we would figure [it] out, and I would, perhaps, pay her then." While I'm a firm believer that prostitution should be legal, it wasn't legal at the time. As to what it says about the moral compass of a man who pays to be unfaithful to his wife, you can draw your own conclusions.
Some say Sterling should be given a pass on this because these are his private thoughts, and he was apparently blissfully unaware that he was being recorded. If his ex-girlfriend committed a violation of the California Penal Code, Section 632 is for the justice system to decide. I'm of the belief that since there was clearly a third party within earshot, he had no reasonable expectation of privacy, but I'm not an attorney and never played one on television. Frankly, the idea that these are his private thoughts isn't really germane to the discussion. His beliefs were well known before this conversation was recorded, it is merely the timing of the release of the recording that has caused this current level of outrage.
The behaviors of Donald Sterling need to be examined much more thoroughly than his beliefs. Twice he was sued for discrimination in renting to minorities. The NBA said little and did nothing. He was sued by an NBA Hall of Fame member for racial discrimination. That he won in court was probably nothing more than "rich people" justice. He makes bad things go away by throwing money or rapacious attorneys (or both) at those things. When the Justice Department worked out a settlement over the 2006 lawsuit, they commented afterwards about the "scorched earth" approach used by those who represented Sterling in the matter.
One of the reasons I think the majority of NBA owners will be reluctant to comment on, or propose action against Mr. Sterling is that they wouldn't want to be the next to be held up to public scrutiny for private beliefs. As long as their behaviors don't reflect beliefs that the vast majority of people find unacceptable, they have nothing to fear. No worries, owners, you have a commissioner to do your dirty work.
I think that Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, and every other member of the Clippers roster who signed a contract with the club after February of 2009 should be asked some questions. Did you know of the two lawsuits filed by the tenants of Sterling against him before you signed? Did you know that Elgin Baylor sued the Clippers and Sterling for racial discrimination? If the answer to either question is yes, the question becomes, why did you choose to work for this man? Don't misconstrue. I support the players. They probably did not know the depths of Sterling's depraved disgust for black and other minorities (although he seems to like some Asians). Sterling gets 99.99% of the blame for all of this. That 0.01% the players might need to own is miniscule, but finite.
If I were a Clippers season ticket holder, I'd have made my first phone call of Monday to their offices, to cancel and express my outrage. I will never spend a single dollar on anything related to the Clippers as long as Sterling remains the teams owner. I had been hoping to get a set of free playoff tickets. Now there isn't enough money in Sterling's bank vault to get me to attend a Clippers game.
Sell the team, Mr. Sterling. Now.
posted by me at 10:46 AM
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