Recently, the city of Los Angeles was shaken by scandal as Clippers owner Donald Sterling was implicated with racist remarks.
TMZ broke the news with a recording in which Sterling was heard berating his assistant and mistress, V. Stiviano, for associating with African Americans publicly, stating that he would prefer if she not bring them to his games.
These shocking remarks landed Sterling in the hot seat, as widespread outrage began to extend through the sports world, the public, and inevitably to new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
While Silver’s response to the news was somewhat controversial and will likely end up being contended in court, his decisiveness was a breath of fresh air.
After confirming that the voice in the tape did indeed belong to Sterling, Silver handed down his punishment: a lifetime ban from the NBA and a 2.5 million dollar fine.
Punishments may continue as the NBA has the right, with a three-fourths majority vote of the other 29 owners, to force Sterling to sell the team.
While support for Silver’s decision amomg NBA owners is widespread, it seems that barring a long legal battle with the league, Sterling may well have to sell his team and sever all of his ties with the NBA.
This would undoubtedly represent a much improved league, as the choice to ban Sterling for life was a clear message to the rest of the NBA, but has also set a precedent for all of professional sports that racism will no longer be tolerated.
It seems like just yesterday that we were reading headlines and listening to ESPN segments about the Philadelphia Eagle’s wide receiver Riley Cooper, as he shared his own racist remarks.
While Cooper received only a fine from the league, clearly the NBA is sending a message by dealing out the most deliberate and severe punishment they could.
There are some that argue his punishment may have been too harsh, considering the fact that these sentiments were said in private and leaked presumably by his ex-assistant who is currently in a legal battle of her own with the Sterling family.
No doubt the means by which the tapes were revealed were somewhat perfunctory.
