The Clippers are in the NBA playoffs and in response to the breaking news, the team turned their warm-ups inside out in order to hide the Clipper name, and in an act of small, but clear rebellion, they placed them on the ground at center court before the game. The team's head coach, former Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers (an African American) declined a request for a meeting with his boss and team owner Sterling. The Miami Heat, in a show of solidarity, also turned their warm-up gear inside out.
Sterling has been an NBA owner for thirty years and his track record is far from clean in terms of race and race relations. In addition to owning the Clippers, Sterling is also successful in the real estate market. He owns several tenement complexes and is widely known to prefer Koreans over blacks or Mexican tenants because he claims Koreans complain less.
Sterling has gone under the radar for a long time, however the release of these tapes may be too much for the league to put up with, and while he has not broken any law in expressing his anti-black views, he is an owner of a team in a league which is 85% black, his team is coached by black head coach, and his girlfriend is of mixed black-Mexican heritage.
Many are now openly criticizing former NBA Commissioner David Stern for never disciplining Sterling and hope new commissioner Adam Silver will force Sterling out of the league.
It is amazing that in 2014, in the United States of America, issues of race are still so prevalent... we still have much work to do to create a society truly devoted the proposition that, "all men are created equal."
Thoughts?