It's been a while. The following is by no means the most significant thing in my life at the moment, but the one I feel has to be written down.
So, let's talk about Sterling. Donald Sterling, to be precise.
In the past week our media has been flooded by this guy's remarks, saying that he told a woman identified as his mistress that he did not want her to be seen with black people. He even went so far as to say that she could sleep with them, but not appear in public with them. This recording blew way the hell up. Everyone is pissed, players publicly protest, and NBA Commissioner Silver gets on the horn to announce that justice is here, and that they have banned Sterling from the NBA and are going to push for him to sell the team. Also they fined him ~$2M! Good job. We all did good. We can go home. America isn't racist! This was a victory for us all!
In the middle of the lovefest, I see a post by one of my favorite rappers, Killer Mike, on Twitter getting some heat. It said this (copying verbatim):
"If u think banning an 80 yr old man for life is in some way a WIN for black people, 1. don't speak on my behalf 2. kill ya self."
(Don't kill yourselves, guys.)
This got me thinking, something I am well versed in doing for unnecessary periods of time. I decided to REALLY go look at what had just happened. So I dug around for a while.
First off, as the old police tv shows would say, our Mr Sterling has a rap sheet as long as my arm. This is not the first time he has been a very public dick to people with more melanin than him. Hell, he's basically a slum lord, on record as driving out Latinos and basically anyone of colour from his buildings, well before he took over the team. The old Clippers GM sued him for racial discrimination. This is all since 09 I'm talking about.
Rather significant is this:
When N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern fined him $25 million, Sterling sued the league for $100 million. Stern cut the fine to $6 million, taking it out of Sterling’s cut from expansion fees.
"I have more money than you. I dare you to try me." This is his mentality. Speaking of money, let's talk about money. It seems bizarre to me that so many people were happy about this guy being fined 2.5 million dollars. What short memories we have. Way back when Jay Z got fined $50,000 for showing up in the locker room after that Nets game, he got fined $50,000. Jay Z promptly got on a track with Kanye and said this (I'm not going to censor it, btw)
"So I ball so hard muhfuckas wanna fine me
first niggas gotta find me
What’s 50 grand to a muhfucka like me
Can you please remind me?
Ball so hard, this shit crazy
Y’all don’t know that don’t shit phase me
The Nets could go 0-82 and I look at you like this shit gravy"
Everyone hooted and hollered. "Ooh, Jay ballin, that boy said 50 G's aint nothin!" "Sick bars, dog."
Jay Z's net worth is $520 million, according to Forbes. He can say that. $50k really means nothing at that level. Now, our Mr. Sterling. I'm not going to bore you with listings of his properties etc. Let's get to the point, I have food on the stove. This asshole is worth roughly Two Billion Dollars. 2 million dollars? What is that? Chris Rock on being rich vs being wealthy, once said, "Shaq is rich. The person that signs his checks? That guy is WEALTHY." There is a clear difference.
Also, it was mentioned that this guy is going to be banned for life from the NBA. Well, what is "for life"?
This guy is already 80 years old. The numbers show that he's already past his expiry date. It confuses me how some people argue that giving multiple life sentences to murderers etc is pointless but are on board with saying that banning this guy, NOW, after all these dozens of years enforcing his particular brand of hate in life and milking the NBA and the LA area in general for millions upon millions, is a reasonable punishment. I don't understand.
Also, this is not exactly a move that can only be construed as coming out of the goodness of Commissioner Silver's heart. The man just took over from Stern pretty recently. Fresh into the office, he gets handed a scandal on a silver (no pun intended) platter. The logical thing to do is the jail approach. Much as one is supposed to go into a jail and hit the biggest person to assert dominance, Silver hit Sterling as hard as he could to show he meant business. The NBA, now HIS NBA, was in the limelight. Sponsors were pulling out right and left. Nobody wants a bigot in public. That's not how racism works these days. So out he goes, everyone breathes easy, the money comes back in, and Silver looks the part of the golden boy. Tell yourself whatever you want, but don't tell me that this situation wasn't used for status gain by Silver.
Oh yes, almost forgot. So we have the "lifetime ban". The dreaded 2.5 million dollar fine. In addition, Silver is supposed to be encouraging everyone to help him force Sterling to sell the team.
So, uh, doesn't the owner usually sell things? For...a profit? That goes to the person selling?
Now, let's take a peek at the Clippers' net worth, as a property. Interesting....very interesting...... And we just fined this guy 2 million, right? Yeah.
So by now a lot of people are asking the question that I still am asking myself.
"Well, what more do you want?"
It's not a matter of what I want, but rather what I can get. If this is it, then there is a definite taste of dissatisfaction in the air. This is telling people that it's okay to be an asshole to other people because of the colour of their skin (btw, Sterling also had mistresses of latina origin before this...the old forbidden fruit angle) and only make it a big deal when it suits your opponents politically and when you are far too rich and old to care about any punishments that can be levied against you.
All day today I've been annoyed at myself because I felt like I have been approaching this all wrong mentally. If someone else can sway me from this line of thinking, please do so. I put a lot of work and sources in to tell you the same thing Mike did. Sorry to be a downer. And now, dinner.
So, let's talk about Sterling. Donald Sterling, to be precise.
In the past week our media has been flooded by this guy's remarks, saying that he told a woman identified as his mistress that he did not want her to be seen with black people. He even went so far as to say that she could sleep with them, but not appear in public with them. This recording blew way the hell up. Everyone is pissed, players publicly protest, and NBA Commissioner Silver gets on the horn to announce that justice is here, and that they have banned Sterling from the NBA and are going to push for him to sell the team. Also they fined him ~$2M! Good job. We all did good. We can go home. America isn't racist! This was a victory for us all!
In the middle of the lovefest, I see a post by one of my favorite rappers, Killer Mike, on Twitter getting some heat. It said this (copying verbatim):
"If u think banning an 80 yr old man for life is in some way a WIN for black people, 1. don't speak on my behalf 2. kill ya self."
(Don't kill yourselves, guys.)
This got me thinking, something I am well versed in doing for unnecessary periods of time. I decided to REALLY go look at what had just happened. So I dug around for a while.
First off, as the old police tv shows would say, our Mr Sterling has a rap sheet as long as my arm. This is not the first time he has been a very public dick to people with more melanin than him. Hell, he's basically a slum lord, on record as driving out Latinos and basically anyone of colour from his buildings, well before he took over the team. The old Clippers GM sued him for racial discrimination. This is all since 09 I'm talking about.
Rather significant is this:
When N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern fined him $25 million, Sterling sued the league for $100 million. Stern cut the fine to $6 million, taking it out of Sterling’s cut from expansion fees.
"I have more money than you. I dare you to try me." This is his mentality. Speaking of money, let's talk about money. It seems bizarre to me that so many people were happy about this guy being fined 2.5 million dollars. What short memories we have. Way back when Jay Z got fined $50,000 for showing up in the locker room after that Nets game, he got fined $50,000. Jay Z promptly got on a track with Kanye and said this (I'm not going to censor it, btw)
"So I ball so hard muhfuckas wanna fine me
first niggas gotta find me
What’s 50 grand to a muhfucka like me
Can you please remind me?
Ball so hard, this shit crazy
Y’all don’t know that don’t shit phase me
The Nets could go 0-82 and I look at you like this shit gravy"
Everyone hooted and hollered. "Ooh, Jay ballin, that boy said 50 G's aint nothin!" "Sick bars, dog."
Jay Z's net worth is $520 million, according to Forbes. He can say that. $50k really means nothing at that level. Now, our Mr. Sterling. I'm not going to bore you with listings of his properties etc. Let's get to the point, I have food on the stove. This asshole is worth roughly Two Billion Dollars. 2 million dollars? What is that? Chris Rock on being rich vs being wealthy, once said, "Shaq is rich. The person that signs his checks? That guy is WEALTHY." There is a clear difference.
Also, it was mentioned that this guy is going to be banned for life from the NBA. Well, what is "for life"?
This guy is already 80 years old. The numbers show that he's already past his expiry date. It confuses me how some people argue that giving multiple life sentences to murderers etc is pointless but are on board with saying that banning this guy, NOW, after all these dozens of years enforcing his particular brand of hate in life and milking the NBA and the LA area in general for millions upon millions, is a reasonable punishment. I don't understand.
Also, this is not exactly a move that can only be construed as coming out of the goodness of Commissioner Silver's heart. The man just took over from Stern pretty recently. Fresh into the office, he gets handed a scandal on a silver (no pun intended) platter. The logical thing to do is the jail approach. Much as one is supposed to go into a jail and hit the biggest person to assert dominance, Silver hit Sterling as hard as he could to show he meant business. The NBA, now HIS NBA, was in the limelight. Sponsors were pulling out right and left. Nobody wants a bigot in public. That's not how racism works these days. So out he goes, everyone breathes easy, the money comes back in, and Silver looks the part of the golden boy. Tell yourself whatever you want, but don't tell me that this situation wasn't used for status gain by Silver.
Oh yes, almost forgot. So we have the "lifetime ban". The dreaded 2.5 million dollar fine. In addition, Silver is supposed to be encouraging everyone to help him force Sterling to sell the team.
So, uh, doesn't the owner usually sell things? For...a profit? That goes to the person selling?
Now, let's take a peek at the Clippers' net worth, as a property. Interesting....very interesting...... And we just fined this guy 2 million, right? Yeah.
So by now a lot of people are asking the question that I still am asking myself.
"Well, what more do you want?"
It's not a matter of what I want, but rather what I can get. If this is it, then there is a definite taste of dissatisfaction in the air. This is telling people that it's okay to be an asshole to other people because of the colour of their skin (btw, Sterling also had mistresses of latina origin before this...the old forbidden fruit angle) and only make it a big deal when it suits your opponents politically and when you are far too rich and old to care about any punishments that can be levied against you.
All day today I've been annoyed at myself because I felt like I have been approaching this all wrong mentally. If someone else can sway me from this line of thinking, please do so. I put a lot of work and sources in to tell you the same thing Mike did. Sorry to be a downer. And now, dinner.
I concur wholeheartedly. Add into the mix the little known fact4 that Stiviano is actually secretly battling litigation against Sterling's family under accusations fraudulent activity and embezzling. As it pertains to the slap on the wrist that is the couple of million dollars, pssh. You've hit the nail on the head. The NBA ban was a slightly better move but what the hell is the point of a lifetime ban on a man who's one piece of steak gristle away from punching the Life timeclock anyway?!?
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