'Don't Bring Blacks To Clipper Games!': Sterling

“We’ve known for decades that Donald Sterling shouldn’t own an NBA team,” says ColorOfChange.org staff members in a written statement. “Sterling should not be allowed to continue profiting from the achievements of some of the world’s most exceptional Black athletes.”

 

ColorOfChange is demanding that corporations end their sponsorship of the Clippers until Donald Sterling is no longer associated with the team.

 

Why don’t the players just protest Sterling’s remarks by not playing ball? The Globe and Mail answered that in a tweet Monday morning:

 

No black people at games? Clippers protest Sterling’s remarks, lose NBA playoff match http://tgam.ca/EBmx  inspic.twitter.com/u9byWhviDq

 

The Clippers chose a different way to protest their owners’ racism. They ran out of the tunnel wearing their usual warmups, huddled at centre court, and tossed the outer layer of their warmups to the ground, going through pregame routine with their red Clippers’ shirts on inside out to hide the team’s logo.

 

During the game, they also wore black wristbands or armbands during the game and black socks with their normal jerseys.

 

“It’s just us, only us. We’re all we got,” Clippers point guard Chris Paul could be heard shouting to teammates before they ran out, according to the Globe.

 

Players says they trust that the commissioner will meet their demands, including:

 

• Sterling not attend any NBA games for the rest of the playoffs;
• Full account of past allegations of discrimination by Sterling and why the league never sanctioned him;
• List of the range of options the league can penalize Sterling, including maximum penalty, that players want if the audio recording is validated;
• Assurance the NBA and union will partner in the investigation; and
• Immediate and decisive ruling, hopefully before the Clippers host the Warriors for Game 5 Tuesday night in Los Angeles

 

Corporate Sponsors Rely on Blacks To Line Pockets of Sterling, Who Does Not Want Blacks at Games

 

“Major companies that rely on business from Black folks shouldn’t be lining the pockets of an NBA owner who doesn’t want us at the games,” the black advocate group asserts. “Stripping the Clippers of their corporate sponsorships is an important first step towards removing Donald Sterling as their owner.”

 

Since acquiring the Clippers in 1981, Sterling has repeatedly demonstrated racial animosity inside the Clippers organization and out, as Color Of Change documents below:

 

· Former General Manager Elgin Baylor charged in a racial discrimination suit that Sterling ran the Clippers with the “vision of a Southern plantation–type structure” asking him to create a team of “poor black boys from the South and a white head coach.” 

 

· When interviewing one prospective white coach, Sterling reportedly asked “I wanna know why you think you can coach these n**gers.”

 

· Despite complaints from players, Sterling has made a disturbing habit of of bringing women into the locker room and saying things like “look at these beautiful Black bodies.”

 

· Sterling is a ruthless, bigoted slumlord. In 2009, he settled a case with the Department of Justice paying the largest settlement ever obtained in a government housing discrimination suit. He was accused of systematically denying rental opportunities to prospective Black and Hispanic tenants across his Southern California properties. In court documents, he stated that  ’Black tenants smell and attract vermin.’

 

The NBA is a league with a distinctly Black identity. 

 

“Someone with such vile views towards Black people and a wretched past of racial discrimination should not be allowed to profit in a league where more than 75% of the players are Black.” Color Of Change says.

 

The NBA has a larger share of Black viewers than any other major U.S. sport. The Clippers and the NBA share a number of crucial corporate sponsors which count on a Black NBA audience as customers.

 

“Assuming his investigation verifies the authenticity of the recording, new NBA commissioner Adam Silver should demonstrate that naked bigotry will not be tolerated and do everything in his power to remove Sterling as the Clippers owner — including an indefinite suspension,” says ColorOfChange.org, that is pressuring members tol encourage sponsors and the NBA to cut ties with and punish Donald Sterling. 

 

ColorOf Change is urging Americans to sign a petition to tell corporations: “Drop the Clippers and their racist owner. “

 

The Clippers are playing now, and people across the country are tweeting about it. 

 

“Help us make this campaign go viral by tweeting or sharing on Facebook,” the group says. “Make sure you also sign the petition.”