A lot of ink and media time has been taken up covering,
debating, condemning and trying to make sense of Donald Sterling’s tape
recorded message in which he made clearly racially disparaging remarks. Despite the questionable nature of the
anonymous taping of a private conversation, Donald Sterling’s racist antics
were well known long before this incident. He was the defendant into cases of
housing discrimination which were settled out of court, and former players such
as Baron Davis reported similar kinds of statements from Donald Sterling from
court side when Davis was playing a game. Thus, the censure and find issued to
Sterling by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was not so much a reaction to racism
as it was an action to mitigate what could have been a public relations
nightmare for the league. Put plainly, Silver’s concern was not about black and
white, but green, the color of the cash that the NBA would have been lost had Silver not taken decisive action.
In a league that is overwhelmingly populated by African-
American players, and yet where there are only a handful of coaches or general
managers of color, should we be surprised? In a professional sports system
where human beings are regarded as property to be bought and sold, and then
discarded when they are no longer useful, should we be surprised? In a
professional sports system where extremely talented young men forgo family,
health and education at a shot at the big leagues, and where increasingly
players are being encouraged and enticed to forgo the long term gains of
education for the short term fix of a multi-million dollar contract, should we
be surprised?
Now, let me be clear:
I love playing (when my ageing knees let me!) and watching basketball. During
March Madness I faithfully fill out my bracket and follow the path to the NCAA
championship. Now during the NBA Finals I am following each team as the field
gets whittled down from 16 teams to the final one crowned champion. For me there is nothing quite like a Blake
Griffin dunk, a Tony Parker teardrop, a Stephan Curry three pointer, or a Miami
Heat fast break. The men who play the game at this highest level are incredible
athletes, and most in spite some bad press focused on a few, are decent role
models for young people.
So it pains me to agree with New York Times sportswriter, William Rhoden, when he refers to
these athletes as “forty million dollar slaves.” In his book by that title Rhoden compares the system of professional sports to a modern day plantation
where big, strong, talented men of color do work that makes a few wealthy (mostly
white and mostly male) owners very wealthy. In Rhoden’s words these talented
athletes of color have “inclusion without power” while whites are “owning teams, owning networks, owning the
means of communication and owning the collective image” of the league. While
the athletes’ remuneration is excessive for a brief time, when they are no
longer able to perform they are disposed of, and for the most part forgotten. Until recently
(prompted by the recent lawsuits in the NFL over concussion injuries and their
implications) the professional sports leagues did not take responsibility for
the long term physical health effects of players sacrificing their bodies night
after night. Their concern was the bottom line and when a young man no longer
served his purpose, he was gone.
Now one might say “Well, this is the way the economic system
works. This is capitalism.” Perhaps so,
but given this system, where Donald Sterling not only owns but controls the
lives of so many players, is it any wonder he would regard them as sub-human,
people not worthy of being in his presence? While the commentators talk ad
nauseum about what Sterling did or did not say, what he did or did not mean,
and whether he is a racist or not, what is overlooked is the white supremacist,
plantation-style system in which he operates. This system treats people, a
majority of whom are people of color, as commodities not human beings.
Furthermore, every fan (including me) supports and facilitates that system by
our unquestioning acceptance of professional sports as it is.
What the Donald Sterling incident teaches us is not that a
wealthy white man holds racist attitudes and worldviews; most whites raised in
the United States share Sterling’s perspective to a degree because it part of
the culture in which whites are raised. Rather it should remind us that we blindly and
willingly accept a system that dehumanizes people by treating them as
expendable parts in a huge machine, and that sports fans like me and many
others don’t notice or question that system when we buy our ticket to the game
or turn on our TV to watch.
Perhaps we ought to. While removing Donald Sterling from NBA
ownership will heal the wound and embarrassment he created, much deeper
analysis needs to be done and eventual surgery must be performed, so that the sports teams we
love to watch do not merely perpetuate the racial caste system many suffered and
died to eliminate.
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