Sterling Family Selling But Magic Johnson Loses The Battle

Magic Johnson: Will he own the Clippers? 

As I reflect on the divine purpose of being black in America; I do this to remain humble in the face of things that would otherwise enrage, I often realize the value of those old Negro spirituals that anchored the souls of many who found themselves abused and mistreated.  In the face of oppression, their efforts and hearts remained prayerful for both the oppressor and the oppressed.

In the pursuit of divine purpose, you often realize that some battles are best fought in silence.  And the church said; "Victory, victory shall be mine.......victory, victory shall be mine.  If I hold my peace, let the Lord fight my battle(s).  Victory, victory shall be mine".

Somewhere in the melodic harmonies that ring in my head when I think on this battle cry, I wish my childhood hero had understood the importance of such a valuable song.  Magic Johnson was abused by the words of Donald Sterling who attempted his mistreatment of Magic through controlling and intimidating a "girlfriend". The outrage is beyond justified, and any response from Magic would be backed up and repeated by the masses who love and respect Earvin Magic Johnson for who he is, the good and the bad.......

........unless you plan to eventually buy the team yourself.

Suddenly, we of the Benghazi and Bridgegate influence, are instantly prone to assume the worse until the evidence says otherwise....and even  then we might just assume that you've done a really good job covering your tracks.  Will Magic be forced to conduct an independent investigation on himself as did Chris Christie in order to clear his name from any wrong doing?  How has that worked for Christie by the way?

I am not saying that Magic needed to go Mark Cuban on this one.  In essence, the message of Mark Cuban is let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.  In reality, Sterling began his exit from the NBA because Magic said "Enough".  Sometimes it takes a certain voice to force certain change.  In the beginning, that voice was Magic.  How dare this unknown curmudgeon insult a national treasure?  When we discovered that insiders called the man a lifelong racist, the weight of the most recent straw became peculiar to understand, but the camel has collapsed and fallen into the grave of his own creation. In the end it was the weight and the voice of the King that took this camel down.

Lebron James has instantly changed the spectrum of collective action as it relates to social morays.  The combined power of sheer economics; the Sterling's had to respond to the risk of lost value to their most treasured asset, and social pressure on the owners to ACT or face consequences themselves, forced this action by the NBA and the Sterling's, who recently waved the white flag by agreeing to sell the team.

Magic Johnson has instantly dampened his hopes of becoming an owner of an NBA franchise in the very town that he helped to build.  Currently, the cries for anyone, except Magic, as owner of this team are gaining momentum.  With the Sterling's moving to sell, the story instantly shifts into this realm of the conversation so we must quickly qualify the applicants, and Magic remains the most prominent of them all.

Will Magic get an opportunity to realize this impossible dream?  Had he remembered that spiritual we all grew up singing it would be a lock.  Everyone (and they mama) would line up to support the Magic Johnson ownership group and would eagerly watch as the war between the LA Clippers and the LA Lakers takes on new dimensions.  Magic Johnson as an owner of the Clippers would send Phil Jackson as head of the New York Knicks to the back page.

Despite all of the winning that Magic is notorious for; this man is the face of the ongoing war with AIDS/HIV, the victory of NBA ownership will be equally elusive. Whether he is guilty of anything more than expressing his anger is for those who think the worse of Magic to uncover. I, personally, will only accuse my hero of talking too damn much.

If he had only held his peace.......let the Lord (you know the rest).  For Magic sake, the Lord may have to work in mysterious ways.....again.

Donald Sterling and Mark Cuban Prove Racism Is A Rich Man Problem

Is Mark Cuban starting trouble or starting a conversation?

Last month I posed the question in an article that was titled "If Race Is Our #1 Issue Should It Be Our #1 Conversation"

Within days Donald Sterling happened.  Well, they say he's been happening for some time now, but I am talking about the Donald Sterling the masses have come to know.  You know, the one who confirmed our worst suspicions of him during the Anderson Cooper interview.

I haven't actually checked, but I may have rubbed my own momma wrong with my position on this issue. The fact that Sterling has proven himself to be "whatever" his opponents have accused him of only anchors the argument of many who flatly disagree with my stance on this matter, including mom.

Yet, I shall not be moved.

Stephen A. Smith, and others are calling for a public vote

When evidence of Sterling's malfeasance came to light, it was quickly a war between the right to speak your mind versus the right of the NBA and Adam Silver to disassociate themselves from such disgusting remarks.  In historic fashion, the NBA's best player decided to step to the forefront (Michael Jordan was notoriously quiet at times like this) as the NEW commissioner smelled the potential for league wide retribution from the NBA players with LeBron James in the front of the pack.

Silver was smart enough to realize that declaring whatever the players wanted to hear was hardly going to change the legal ramifications of their desired effort.  The effort to remove Sterling's team may not even prove to be Constitutionally possible. However, long before the Supreme Court get's a chance to hear Donald Sterling .v. The National Basketball Association, the NBA will have to gain the necessary votes to ouster the maligned owner.

Enter the world famous "slippery slope".  When first we crossed this bridge, NBA owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban, warned that there is simply too many biases and prejudices that we are all guilty of to avoid a slippery slope if we attempt to remove Sterling's team from him.

Cuban doubled down recently and added a Treyvon Martin comparison (black man in hoodie) along with a tattoo faced skin head image as people he is likely to cross the street to avoid if confronting on a dark street at night, admitting to his own prejudices while attempting to illustrate that we all have them.  Trust me. I realize that my eloquent depiction is both favorable to my position and that of Mark Cuban, but we are on the same side of this argument so I defend him honorably.

Cuban was said to have made his recent comments in a candid interview.  Do we know Cuban to be anything but candid?  When he could not continue to speak as he did when the Sterling news first broke, he did not speak at all.  Whatever description that is being tagged to the interview from Cuban is a description of his own making.  Mark Cuban, much like Adam Silver, is smelling the winds created by the voice of the NBA's best player.

While listening to Stephen A. Smith address the Donald Sterling fiasco and the news of a June 3rd vote from the team owners, Smith was adamant and direct in his expectation that the vote not only be unanimous, but that it be public for the purpose of determining dissent.  Stephen A. proceeded to declare that he, along with several black sports media types, and Magic Johnson, and LeBron James, were ALL insisting on that public vote. What would give Smith the gumption to speak on behalf of James and Johnson if not James and Johnson?

With the spotlight clearly on him, LeBron remains vocal.

My hunch is another article for another day, but Magic seems to be spear heading this effort and maybe the entire coup.

Magic is great and Stephen A. and his media brothers are loud voices for sure, but it will take the King to drive the ouster of Sterling, and so far he is happy to buy the gas for this journey.  If LeBron had the power to make Silver pound the organ and "Ban Sterling for Life", he certainly might make the owners own up to their votes.  Cuban recognizes this and needs to let LeBron and America understand why he will not vote in favor of Sterling's removal.

It's all about that slippery slope thing that will have the next homophobic owner losing his family treasure because his closest assistant for years turned out to be taping his disgusting homophobic remarks.  To all the voices out there saying "good, he would deserve the same thing Donald is getting", what is next?

Where would this type of social cleansing meet an end?  The courts will have to envision the Pandora's Box they open if professional sports team owners are under 24 hour speech surveillance.  A few owners (not just Cuban) might even be wondering right now what awful things they spoke in the quiet confidence of friends, and who might have captured a recording similar to the one Sterling is under attack for now.  The moment Sterling is voted out, every recorded nasty becomes blackmail gold.

Correction. Every recorded nasty from a professional sports team owner becomes blackmail gold.  Racism is really only a problem in America if someone can hold you accountable for being racist. Poor people with very little to be sued for can continue with your racism, bigotry and  prejudices intact.

Silver Not So Sterling In Ruling Against Donald.

My attempt to avoid finding myself in total disagreement with Magic Johnson has failed.

Magic is my hero.  I still consider him to be the greatest basketball player of all time.  Michael Jordan was never as fun for me to watch as Magic was.  What Magic could do on the court was simply....... magic.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson did not create this firestorm of controversy.  Magic was captured, by photo, in the presence of Donald Sterling's dime piece.  For some odd New Jersey Bridge scandal type reason, Sterling decided to record his love of Magic, but his disdain for black people and the mistress.  When Sterling no longer gave a dime to his dime, she dropped a dime on Donald.

That's the story.  We all know it and no one seems to dispute the nature of the details.  Whether you focus on the fact that we are all party to an extortion effort or the simple reality of the hate filled words, the facts are the facts. This was a recorded lover's quarrel, and black folks got dissed on it.

Black people: You ain't neva' said that same kinda stuff
about white people?......Ninja please....you too Magic .

Now, any person reading this post who has never said anything foul against another race or culture while in the confidence of people who do the same thing as well, raise your hand? Since the new Pope doesn't read my post yet, I assume that we have very few hands raised, but let's go deeper.

Any black person, Magic Johnson included, who hasn't spoken about white people in a racially bigoted manner, raise your hand?.  I am a ninja (my replacement for the N-word) from the projects, so don't make me give you the look. T.D. Jakes, I see you out there grinning, but your hand is not raised so that's cool.  Not one ninja in my entire family better raise their hands, that's for damn sure.

I got another one for you.  

Is it housing discrimination to not put a black family in the middle of a bunch of Korean people?....YES! Especially if they really need housing right away. Sterling paid a hefty price legally for behaving in this fashion, and the scuttlebutt in LA was that he is a discriminatory slum lord.

If that, which was legally decided upon in the court of law, was not enough grounds for removing Sterling, then what makes this latest incident more worthy?

MAGIC!

Hey baby...where's Donald?

Let's assume that the black person who Donald scolded his mistress over was not Magic Johnson.  Would we care so much about this story?  Would Magic? Magic was among the first to call for removing Sterling from the league, and it is hard to think that he did this for any reason other than the public embarrassment it represented to his mega-rich ass.  If the black guy she was seen with was ......ME, do you think they would have banned him for life ?


Magic is an LA rich man.  If anybody in the world knew about Donald Sterling, the slumlord embarrassment to the NBA, it was Magic Johnson.  What did Magic and everyone else who care to know about Sterling think of him before this video revelation?


Everybody thought Sterling was exactly who they have proof of him being now.  Yet, no player, former or current, can give you a story of Donald Sterling the racist owner.  His lawsuit against Elgin Baylor was an age discrimination lawsuit that was  handsomely settled out of court, even though the courts found in favor of Sterling. For many years, Elgin Baylor ran the very organization that other teams threatened to send you to if you did not perform for them.  Even Baylor couldn't claim being racially discriminated against when he considered a world where other black executives and coaches operated with a much shorter leash than he enjoyed for years.

Talks have begun about Magic Johnson organizing the group to purchase the team from Sterling.  Does the fact that Magic could not raise his hand to my earlier question disqualify him from ownership or does he have to get caught on tape before he can be disqualified.  If a homey from the barber shop from way back in the day comes out and reveals the things Magic might have said in quiet confidence, does that hold any weight?

While listening to Sacramento Mayor (and former NBA player) Kevin Johnson on the Dan Patrick show, I heard him close his remarks about Sterling by saying that "institutional racism" can not be allowed.  Sadly, we have done nothing against the institution of racism except slap a muzzle on it.  Sterling is the closest examination of honest racial dialogue that we have been given in a long time, however scathing it appears.
If we remove him from ownership just for being a bigot than who among us is truly qualified to replace him?

Not I, that's for sure.

Niggers and crackers have pissed me off equally over the years.  Took me a long time to understand why I shouldn't call Mexican's wetbacks, but I am certain I have said that before. My homophobia was sickening as a teenage boy, and maybe even a little bit after that.  I think it took chronic tendinitis to get over my fear of old people.  Now, half way through life expectancy I love me some elderly folk and can see clearly how age discrimination is a dangerous concern to our society. In my realm as a hiring manager, I could have been unknowingly guilty of it as well.

Mayor Johnson was in the presence of several other former NBA greats when NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the ruling against Sterling.  At the time, he said those in the room all applauded the ruling. Either they are happy that racism is being removed or that it is being silenced.  If racism is embarrassing, silencing it's voice will not fix the problem.  By removing Sterling the NBA might be less likely to find itself associated with a videotaped racist, but does the ruling against Sterling change the hearts of other owners who are like him?

I grew up in a house with a plaque on the wall that read:

                     -"You have not converted a man                                    because you have silenced him"

The more I live the more it makes sense.  We will not convert Sterling by silencing him, or improve America by pretending people like him do not exist, or don't deserve a prominent place in society.  The truth is that Sterling is just one of many prominent/rich bigots who we have most likely silenced, but not converted.

Not Magic Johnson of course.....just the other rich bigots.