Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Donald Sterling: Fair Sentence or Shakedown


Donald Sterling: fair sentence or a shakedown

 

Hypocrisy reigns throughout the American landscape. Racism and sexism are the new tools to destroy careers, businesses and one’s personal circumstance. Paula Deen’s heart and soul were ripped from her when it was discovered she uttered a racial remark years before it came to light. Her punishment; she was banned from the human race, profound financial loss and collapse of her career. More recently Brenden Eich, CEO of Mozilla, was forced to step down because he made a $1,000  contribution in support of California’s Proposition 8, which was against same sex marriage. Years later this information surfaced forcing him out of the company he founded. Why? He believes in traditional marriage only. Octogenarian Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, is the newest victim of his own verbalizations. In the privacy of a phone conversation with his mistress she prompted him to discuss his bent on race relations. Unbeknownst to Sterling he was being recorded with the intent of discrediting him at some later date. Once made public his words provided a noose permitting the media crowd to perform a lynching of him openly. Accusations of prior infidelities along with his previous collisions with racism were hurtled in his direction. Banned for life from the NBA and fined 2.5 million has not satisfied those who want to see Sterling drawn and quartered. Those shouting the loudest have sordid histories of incongruous race relations themselves.


 

Oprah has no business throwing aspersions of racism towards Sterling. She has exploited race for personal gain over the last 30 years. Interviewed by the BBC in November of 2013 she noted the older generation of racists (whites) must die to preclude any more racism from occurring. http://whitegenocideproject.com/oprah-winfrey-racists-whites-must-die-for-racism-to-end/  Oprah’s racial rants are well known yet she was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama, for reasons still uncertain. President Obama chimed in noting the NBA did the right thing punishing this horrific person never considering many of Sterling’s rights were suppressed in the process. President Obama has used the race card himself whenever it would score points with the crowd which elected him. Al Sharpton, a racial connoisseur, had the audacity to throw mud at Sterling. Long known for his hatred of whites he had fed off the trough of racism for decades. A long line of people with questionable histories on race relations spoke horrifically of a man who held the Clippers together for 33 years. Sterling’s team players accepted multiple million dollar checks from this so-called racist every year. Apparently money negates racial considerations.

 

Many questions have arisen since this scandal broke. Can Sterling claim he was entrapped by the recorded nature of the phone call that exposed his hateful rhetoric? Is there a tertiary party behind the scenes that prompted Donald’s mistress to rat him out? Was a felony committed by Donald’s mistress by not revealing to him he was being recorded? Does the NBA Constitution allow for due process? Why was there a rush to Judgment? Should Sterling’s past factor into the sanctions levied against him? Dozens of questions arise concerning the dubious nature of the charges brought against him. How does the First Amendment factor into this complexity? Donald Sterling has been very quiescent in the last few days. Perhaps he is gathering his forces for a counterpunch against his accusers. One question that lingers is: Will the Clippers and the NBA be free of racism in the event Sterling moves on? From this writer’s perch the answer is a resounding no.

 

Mark Davis, MD Author, Journalist, Media Consultant and President of Healthnets Review Services. Dr. Davis’ Latest book is Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster. platomd@gmail.com  www.healthnetsreviewservices.com

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