https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6bLKe9-Mto
The real meat of the interview starts at 3:41.
Although much has been said about Donald Sterling's racist comments, not much has been said about Sterling's history of refusing rent apartments he owned to African Americans, Latinos and people with children and though he denied the charges, agreed to a settlement of $2.765 million in 2009. A separate housing discrimination lawsuit dates back to 2003.
Why are Donald Sterling's racist comments getting so much more attention than his long history of discriminatory housing practices (which have real and detrimental socio-economic consequences for African American communities?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that it probably makes for a much more convenient news story to cover his racist comments: "high-powered white male makes racist comment about black americans to his mixed race mistress, gets booted from the NBA" is a much simpler narrative than a wealthy, powerful white man using his wealth to perpetuate systemic racial inequalities.
ReplyDeleteHis comments are now getting so much attention because of the media being able to perpetuate the incident, due to the popularity of the NBA.
ReplyDeleteThis article made me wonder how much Sterling might have used his charitable acts as ways to deflect media attention toward the more negative aspects of his character. The lawsuits and what he has given away and been recognized as is very incongruent to me. It also goes to show how the wealthy people really do not seem to face the real brunt of the law because they can just pay their way out of lawsuits.
ReplyDelete