Friday, May 16, 2014

Donald Sterling Is Not A Racist


          Let me start off by saying; it is not my place to defend or be an apologist for another human being I don’t really know. I have decided to address the Donald Sterling fiasco, because it is directly related to the subject matter of this blog – racism – especially when it is practiced by Black people. It should be noted that Civil Rights era Blacks have their own definition of what it means to be racist and they tend to stick to a party line that negates the possibility of Blacks being racist.
          Having said that, I do not believe that Donald Sterling is a racist in spite of everything he has said up till now. It’s not just my opinion, because according to Georgetown University professor, author, and radio host Michael Eric Dyson, Donald Sterling doesn’t fit the definition of a racist. The video is from a BET Networks show of him confronting the issue of Black people calling each other racist. I wanted you hear him define it in his own words. 



          So let’s take it step by step. He says,


“Racism presupposes the ability to control a significant segment of the population either economically, politically and socially by imposing law, convenants or restrictions on their lives.”

          Donald Sterling owns a basketball team that employs a significant number of predominantly Black men to play a game, for which he pays each of them millions of dollars. Too bad he doesn’t employ writers he’s supposed to hate. If anything, he could be accused of over-looking qualified Whites, Hispanics, Asians, or Native Americans, as could the entire NBA when it comes to equal opportunities and affirmative action for non Blacks. According to an article posted on the website Data Lab, by Mona Chalabi; in 2013, 76.3 percent of NBA players were African Americans. Source: The Institute For Diversity and Ethics In Sport.
          I have probably spoken to, and have had more interactions with racist during the course of my life then anyone else I’ve ever heard of, and I can tell you unequivocally that racist are not in the business of seeing Black people succeed at anything, let alone paying them money out of their own pockets.
          As far as Michael’s definition of racism goes, the only thing Donald Sterling controls is a single team, not a significant segment of the population. Ok, so he did suggest to his girlfriend certain covenants such as; TMZ.com released a tape 

It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” 

You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”

Don’t put him [Johnson] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.” 

          In my humble opinion, this sounds more like a very liberal guy who understands that he’s a married man, so he can’t tell his single girlfriend what not to do in her personal life; “You can sleep with them (Black people),” he says, which sounds pretty laid back to me. But when she brings her personal life into his domain, it gets personal for him – it makes him look like a punk – like she’s playing him for a fool. Further more, the reality of the situation is Magic Johnson did test positive for HIV. Everybody on planet earth knows this; even South Park did a hilarious spoof on his ability to survive as long as he has.
          With every Instagram photo and public appearance, how many phone calls do you think the Donald got after his friends and family members saw his girlfriend hanging out with a guy whom many believed (right or wrong) has AIDS? Having said that, his “Don’t bring him to my games,” seems like more of a plea associated with a guy who had a reputation for sleeping with thousands of women. The argument about his controlling a significant segment of the population – done!

        Let us continue with Dyson’s definition of racism.


           The notion that Black people do not have social, economic, or political power is absurd. Wealthy Black NBA players from Michael Jordon, to a 29-year old named Labron James, not to mention a host of Hollywood celebrity types, came down on this man like a ton of bricks spurring the media to join in the fray. After all, when the story broke it had been a great couple of days for the Liberal media. Ah… Cliven Bundy, the gift that kept on giving in the form of another old White guy, Donald Sterling.
          So with the threat of WW3 looming in Ukraine, radiation from Fukushima spreading death in our oceans, and global warming, our media bravely trudged through exposing yet another so-called racists in our midst. How heroic. The Clippers are now safe from the clutches of an evil rich White man, who in his own words;


“I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? … Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?” Donald Sterling

Donald’s problem is he doesn’t realize it’s not P.C. to just speak plain truths – to tell it like it is. You see, the last thing he wants to do is sound like an “Owner” of Black men, which is the legal essence of their true relationship. The ownership thing comes too close to sounding like slavery. And we all know how powerful White guilt is as a social force. It makes everyone feel bad for those poor NBA players suffering under the weight of such huge salaries, while they call each other niggas, niggers, and dogs. I overheard a 15 year old White girl speaking to her Black friend on the bus; “Weren’t you guys… like… slaves way back when? My mom saw Twelve Years a Slave… man that must have been terrible,” as if slavery had just ended last week. When White people or anyone who’s not Black, begin to forget, to be sure a Django Unchained or a movie about Negro servants will come along to whip up more White Guilt, because it is especially powerful when employed as a clever excuse to mobilize our brave media to do the dirty work of others. Please… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know Donald Sterling was set up – period the end! Yes, he had to walk into the honey trap, but honey has been the down-fall of many a great/lessor man, since men figured out what to do with that thing between their legs.
          That the mainstream media could be used in such a blatant maneuver to gain power, says everything you need to know about the way so-called news is reported in this country. “Hey everybody, we got us another genuine, died in the wool, white, rich guy spouting a bunch of nonsense we can frame as racist,” as if they really care. Every day, I’ll bet a lot worse is being said, in private, in many of those newsrooms that exploded with outrage. That takes care of the perceived lack of social power – done!
          Economic power is a no-brainer. Donald has it all right, but he’s also governed by a higher authority and must pay his players a comparable salary in line with their counterparts from others teams. But Black people have greater economic power then they can imagine. Businesses that sell fast food, fried chicken, fried anything, as well as donuts, pork, liquor, record, tapes, CDs, sneakers, (NBA), Jeans, drugs, cigarettes, hospital emergency rooms, gravediggers, morticians, bullet and gun manufacturers (whites buy because they’re afraid of blacks, blacks buy to kill each other) and anything hi-fat low fiber have made ga-zillions of dollar from the economic prowess of Black people. Everyone selling bad stuff to Black people becomes rich beyond their wildest dreams.
         Also, most city, state, and federal governmental offices wouldn’t operate for a split second, if all the Black people decided not to show up for work. Hell, the NBA would shut down if Black people didn’t show up for work to entertain a predominantly White audience who can afford the prices of tickets these days. Think about how much money the golf industry has made since Tiger Woods’ arrival? Viewership drops by half for any tournament the man isn’t playing in, which means half the viewers don’t even like golf unless a man they perceive as a Black man is playing. I say perceive, because Tiger does not refer to himself as a Black man, he prefers Multiracial. I’ve always found it ironic that Black people still support the ‘One drop of Nigger blood” idea from the 14th century, as if the discovery of genetics is the work of the devil.
          If you need to go back in history for perspective, there would not have been an industrial revolution or a railroad for that matter, without Negroes. No economic power? Please! The problem has always been poor leadership along with the failure to capitalize on the inherent power that comes with building the very foundation upon which America became a great country. Economic argument done!
          Political power - you gotta be kidding. Donald Sterling obviously has none what-so-ever! But the last time I checked, we had a Multiracial president in the White House. He, like every politician reacts to money. I’m not saying anything negative about him, (God forbid) all I’m saying is this; ninety-eight percent of the Black people who voted the first time around, voted for a man they perceived as being just like them. All I heard in the streets was a lot of crowing and affirmations that things were going to be different. Black people had finally climbed to the top of the mountain and were “Moving on Up politically!” Problem is, Messiahs always turn out to just be human beings who accomplish extraordinary things, but they are still human beings answering to a higher call. For most of the world, including America the bankers and the Military Industrial Complex are the highest powers. When we sit back and let others drive, we completely loose control of our own lives.
          Everyone knows the secret to gaining political power is about having something that is of value to a large demographic or country – politicians don’t care about the color of skin, only the color of money. With somewhere between 50 and 70 percent illiteracy rate among inner city Black youths, which severely lessens their employment opportunities, where is the value? What will the future be for these illiterate children who will grow into adults, without any hope of being gainfully employed? Who’s going to get the blame for this outrage? Society? The government? White people because of slavery? Who's fault is it that 60 percent of America's Black children refuse to learn how to read and write? When do the fingers begin to point in the right direction?
            For Michael to just to throw it out there and say, “We ain’t neva had that kind of power,” without pointing to the complete lack of a unified plan to achieve it, is what lies at the heart of Black ideology – it is the culture of can’t, and holding on to the past.
          Last thing about who really has the political power in this story – the rich Black men who play basketball have something in common with the guy in the Oval office – their love of the game. Of course he was going to make a statement. When the president spoke, the new NBA commissioner Adam Silver had to be saying to himself, “Why me?” What choice did he have but to react quickly and do something dramatic? And that, I believe is exactly what conniving minds, with designs on owning a basketball franchise were counting on. The political argument is done.
          All that leaves, according to the above definition Michael Eric Dyson and many other old-headed Black people have been hiding behind for the last fifty years, is that Donald is either bigoted or prejudiced against Magic Johnson. It is obvious Michael and his ilk don’t believe that being bigoted and prejudiced is equal to the sin of racism. So according to Black people’s definition of racism, Donald Sterling is not a racist!

By, Herman Williams III a.k.a., H. P. Stanly

Herman Williams