America’s long and tireless race problem, an open bruise that hardly has a chance of healing, often resurfaces in the media. Although the nation has twice elected Barack Obama as president, the race problem persists. It’s evident in the disproportionate number of African Americans arrested and incarcerated in the criminal justice system–despite the similar proportion of members of all races who are likely to, and in fact do, commit crimes. The racial disparity is also present in the lopsided number of whites who hold managerial and professional jobs compared to African Americans who hold the same level of education and/or start out with the same level of experience.
But rather than highlight these issues, the American media turns to race not to villainize institutions, corporations, or long-standing systemic practices, but to attack individuals, the latest of whom is L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
An 80-year old billionaire, Sterling came under fire after his negative, albeit candid, comments about black people were leaked in a recording of a very private conversation with a close female companion, 31-year-old V. Stiviano.
Among other things, Sterling told V. Stiviano he did not want her to publicly associate with black people on social media–befriend them on Twitter or post photographs with them on Instagram. He also didn’t want her to bring black people to his basketball games. He said: “Why are you taking pictures with minorities? Why?…It bothers me a lot you want to broadcast you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?”
Most noted in the media are these racist remarks. After Donald Sterling spoke publicly about the recording with CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper, the public response was about the same. People focused on Sterling’s denial of being a racist, and how his settlement of a racial discrimination housing lawsuit, his court case with Elgin Baylor who accused him of race and age discrimination, and his recorded remarks painted a more truthful story than his half-hearted apology.
However, less media discussion focused on the substance of Sterling’s other comments, not those concerning who V. Stiviano hangs out with, but those that critique African Americans–in particular their inaction to foster a more productive culture and opportunities for their group.
This three-part essay on Donald Sterling’s remarks, rather than disparaging Sterling, focuses on what, besides racism, can be gleaned from his remarks, the NBA’s response, and the broader discussion of race in mainstream media.
I. Donald Sterling’s Qualm
Outside of his offensive statements, several of Sterling’s comments point to the lack of an African American culture, a critique that has floated around since early writings about race in America, including Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s 1965 report on the troubling state and consequences of large numbers of single-headed families in African American communities.
Similar critiques of the African American community are vehemently shot down by black academics and paternalistic liberals, labeling any critique as a racist accusation and stifling any productive conversations about African American improvement.
Aside from his racist comments, Sterling resurrects this critique of African Americans lacking a productive community and culture. For the most part, singled out Magic Johnson:
“What has he done? Can you tell me? Big Magic Johnson, what has he done?” “Did he do any business? Did he help anybody in South L.A.?” “Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so.” “What has he done for any hospital? What has he done for any group? I don’t know. Maybe he’s done a lot. I know he’s successful in business. But I’m not interested in business any more at all. I’m interested in helping people.”
“You know, [Magic Johnson] was a great player, great player. But what—I would like to know exactly what he’s—what does he do?… Do you know what I do? I spend millions on giving away and helping minorities. Does he do that? That’s one problem I have. Jews, when they get successful, they will help their people. And some of the African Americans—maybe I will get in trouble again—they don’t want to help anybody.”
In all his circuitous rambling, an notable point from Sterling’s comments is often missed. This point is ineffectively articulated by singling out Magic Johnson’s fiscal and philanthropic history.
The point is not that Magic Johnson does nothing. His Magic Johnson Foundation, started in 1991, has raised millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS awareness, treatment, and testing. His foundation also doles out scholarships and mentoring to high-achieving minority students. Johnson has further helped bring business franchises like Starbucks and theaters to inner-city communities in order to increase low wage labor employment opportunties in large corporate chains.
Rather than levying the onus of black uplift squarely on Magic Johnson’s shoulders, the larger question to be drawn from Sterling’s line of questioning is: does the influx of billions of dollars into the hands of black people, in particular though the NBA and even the NFL, change the black community for the better?
This is the question that blacks and liberals who purportedly advocate for racial progress should ask themselves. It places a mirror before them and offers them to take a painful look at themselves and evaluate what is their contribution to the progress, or lack thereof, in the black community.
From Sterling’s vantage point, the billions of dollars thrown into the black sports players’ laps has not sufficiently served the black community. That is his qualm. Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and others’ riches haven’t changed blacks’ situation in L.A. Not in the least. What good is the success of the likes of Spike Lee and Tyler Perry and countless black filmmakers if not a single black film school does not emerge from that success?
Sterling believes that if there is such a thing as a community, one person having money in the community will benefit the entire group. In the case of black Americans, individuals having money has done a lot of the individual and little for blacks as a whole, who are still on the bottom rungs of the American socioeconomic ladder, even below many immigrant groups.
For their position lagging behind other groups, Sterling and others argue that African Americans can no longer blame whites and slavery. As a group, they have earned billions and failed to convert those billions to progress for black people.
Even an African American in the White House has led to more progress for gay and lesbian communities and none for blacks, perhaps additional evidence of the lack of a black community.
A community has grievances, goals it works towards collectively. It helps other members of the community out. Sure some facets of African American life lend themselves to a collective experience–the language, dances, and dress–but these aspects of culture, without a larger meaning, are quite useless.
Although Sterling may not sufficiently articulate what he means by a lack of culture and community in African American society, he does clearly define what he feels his fellow members of Jewish society do that defines their membership in a particular culture.
Sterling: “The Jewish people—the Jewish people have a company, and it’s for people who want to borrow money and no interest. They want to give them a fish pole—a fishing pole. We want to help people. If they don’t have money, we will loan it to you. You don’t have interest. One day, you will pay us back.”
Cooper: “So you’re saying that African Americans don’t contribute to their—to African American communities, as much as Jewish people do?”
Sterling: “There’s no African American—never mind. I’m sorry. You know, I—they all want to play golf with me. They—everybody wants to be with me.”
Sterling’s critique is that there is little to no effort for blacks to help other blacks toward greater progress for all black people. Blacks feed the hungry, but rarely give the hungry the tools they need to feed themselves.
Sterling believes blacks in America strive to join white organizations and activities. As he stated, they desire to play golf with him, to partake in his riches, or become wealthy–to be a member of an elite American club. But there is less effort to use their wealth to increase the status of all blacks, little action to create work opportunities for other African Americans, and in particular to use their money to form businesses that will uplift other African Americans from abject poverty.
The billions that athletes earn yearly are not enough to gain them approbation. It is what they do with those billions and how those billions are used to erect formidable black communities, schools, and businesses that will be remembered.
More on the NBA Players Association’s response to Donald Sterling’s remarks in Part II.
