Donald Sterling doesn't seem like a very nice guy. Let's get that out of the way. Also, it's hard to sympathize with a person who makes prejudiced comments--and even more so when that person is filthy rich. He's basically your classic villain we are taught to hate, and honestly I have very little desire to fight against that perception. But what I want to do is give a little perspective on the lessons that can be learned from this situation. [If you don't know what I mean by "this situation" read here before going any further]
So, Donald Sterling said some rather stupid things about race in a private conversation that happened to be taped. There's no excuse for that. But I have to tell you: I've heard worse. I've heard it on the internet, but I've also heard it from people I know. I've heard racist jokes and comments that are terribly insensitive and naive. I've heard many stupid things said in my life. Admittedly, none of them from a person as rich as Sterling but I've heard them, and I'm sure I'll hear them again.
This doesn't mean it's OK. Actually, it means it's much worse.
I think Sterling got the message he needed to hear. There are very few ways to get to somebody rich and powerful, but stripping his right to be a part of something like the NBA is one of them. This was hopefully a much needed wake-up call for a person used to controlling everything. Maybe, just maybe, he will learn not just to not say things like this but to actually change his way of thinking altogether. If that happens it would all be worth it.
But this isn't only about Sterling. I worry about the vilification of one man, because this is something that is absolutely rampant in our culture. It's normal for white suburban and rural kids to make racist jokes on the playgrounds, and this stuff is frighteningly commonplace in high school athletics. As much as Sterling may be a warning to those who casually throw around epithets he may also be a scapegoat on which to throw our own prejudices.
I don't throw around racial slurs and I try not to live in a way that even implicitly biases based on skin color, but that doesn't mean I'm off the hook. Until such a time when opportunities are equal for people of all skin pigmentations, those of us who have that advantage (that we didn't ask for but is nonetheless very real) are obligated to err on the side of going too far the other way: we're obligated to fight against prejudice that we didn't start and would rather did not exist.
Prejudice is a sign of a little formed idea; a thing that we are testing out in the company of those who we hope will not judge us negatively. This is why racial remarks happen in school yards and buses, in bars and in the basements of people we trust: places where it's hard to be called out and where the social strata are evolving. When somebody who has power and wealth, like Sterling, makes a racially idiotic comment we are rightly appalled, but we need to be equally enraged that this is happening behind the scenes in our lives. The reason this is so insidious is because that little formed idea can become engrained with positive feedback. Every racist joke I heard on the school bus growing up became more and more offensive every time it got a laugh, and, worse still, it led to those who had less power--the very people who should have been especially offended--saying the same kinds of jokes back. Some people see this as a sign of respect, but it's not--it's a disease of poor thinking that proliferates, reinforcing ideas that are still half-formed.
Donald Sterling didn't do anything illegal--even stupid speech is protected by the law--but that's not at issue here. The issue is the repercussions of living in a society where this kind of poor thinking is still prevalent. The NBA is no paragon of virtue--it's an organization that is out to keep its image--but calling out racist ideas is still a worthy endeavor even if there are ulterior motives. The goal here is to think better, which will help us to see the humanity in one another better, which will in turn hopefully make us better people. Sterling has every opportunity to learn from this; being kicked out of the NBA is hardly a prison sentence. What matters more is where we go from here. Can we help one another to see the effects of inequality? Can we nip prejudice in the bud before it becomes a public issue? Can we begin to see in one another the God who has created us in his image--skin pigmentations and all?
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