in a piece titled A Verdict on Comments, but the Conversation Isn’t Overand subtitled "Sterling’s Remarks Offer Chance to Examine Racism."
I am not going to offer a great deal of commentary of my own. The only purpose to this post is to get you to read what Rhoden, an African-American sportswriter, has to offer. I have seen him commenting on this story on television, and was impressed by his cogency, and thus when I read his column this morning decided if it were not featured in the pundit roundup I would take time to make it more visible.
So if you will, follow below the fold for some sample material and explanation of why I think you should read it.
After the appropriate introductory material, including noting that Silver had to do what he did, given the reaction of both sponsors and players, Rhoden transfers to the main thrust of his article, which can be seen in these two paragraphs:
On one level, the Sterling story is about athletes’ demanding respect from a team owner who does not necessarily want black people at his games or in his “culture.” But more than that, it is a continuing narrative about structural racism in professional sports and beyond. The problem is less about words used in a private conversation and more about institutionalized bigotry expressed in action.I think about this when I walk into press boxes across the country, with waves of newsWilliam Rhoden of NY Times writes on Donald Sterling: