By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
LOS ANGELES, California —Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, just hours before a playoff game victory, banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling (pictured) from the NBA for life and fined him $2.5 million following alleged racist remarks by the married billionaire that were recorded by a girlfriend and made public last week. The punishment, which the NBA hopes will quell slated protests by some NBA players, is the harshest in NBA history.
"The world will think certain things if you're seen with black people, so you should not be seen with them in public, and under no circumstances should you bring them to Clippers' games," Sterling tells his alleged mistress, the now infamous 10 min audio recording reveals in part. He also made racially insensitive remarks about retired former LA Lakers ball player Magic Johnson.
In spite of the unprecedented ban against Sterling the Clippers pulled off a 113-103 victory over the Golden State Warriors in game 5 at Staples Center Stadium in LA to open a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The purported racist comments that Sterling admits he made, have unnerved people across America from President Obama and Oprah nationally, to NBA ball players and team owners, including Miami Heat power forward LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.
"There's no room in the NBA for Donald Sterling, there's no room for him," said James, who played for the Cavaliers for seven years before joining the Miami Heat in 2010 and subsequently leading the team to two NBA championships, the first in 2012, and for a second time in 2013.
“I don’t have any advice but all I have to say is we’re off the plantation," Oprah responded to reporters yesterday when asked her opinion on the racially hostile controversy.
Obama's comments were even more deeply rooted.
"The United States continues to wrestle with a legacy of race, slavery and segregation," the president said shortly before the punishment came down.
"That’s still there, the vestiges of discrimination," said Obama " I suspect the NBA is going to be deeply concerned in resolving this."
Gilbert, whose Cavaliers' team did not make the playoffs this year, told reporters yesterday that he is shocked aT Sterling's behavior on the matter and urged zero tolerance by the NBA on racial bigotry.
Sterling, 80, is the longest tenured owner of any of the 30 NBA teams and bought the Clippers in 1981 for a reported $12.5 million. And though under pressure to sale the team in the midst of the fallout that has Blacks and many Whites and others simply upset, Sterling has said that he will not sale.
The suspension bans him from ever sitting court-side at an NBA game or attending any Clippers' practices. And he cannot set foot in any Clippers' facilities.
The 29 other team owners have the power to force a sell of the team, which requires a 75 percent vote, and sources say most, if not all of them, want the team sold as quickly as possible.
The L.A. Clippers had issued a unified team response to Sterling’s alleged racist comments .(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
