The occasion of my posting this is a column by William Rhoden in today's New York Times about yet another racist owner in the NBA, this time the man with the controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks, Bruce Levenson. The column is titled Searching for a League’s True Scale of Bigotryand has the subtitle "Bruce Levenson's Email Reveals Depth of N.B.A.'s Racism Issues. You can read the column for the contents of the email, which Levenson self-reported to the NBA. An investigation was underway, when Levenson announced he was selling his interest in the team, which apparently ends the investigation. Rhoden posits things like this might have been why the NBA did not want the Sterling case to go to trial:
In light of this second embarrassing disclosure, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver should conduct an investigation to find out how many other Donald Sterlings and Bruce Levensons are among the league’s owners and top executives. Who are the racists, the sexists, the homophobes? Throughout the Sterling ordeal, I maintained that the best thing that could have happened to the N.B.A. — to all of us — was for the case to go to trial. To push Sterling — who was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers several months after an audio recording in which he was heard making racist comments was released in April, — to acknowledge what he knew about the deeds and misdeeds of other owners and top executives in the league.But of course it is more than the NBA.
Please keep reading.
Allow me to push fair use by offering several more snips from Rhoden's column:
Indeed, the vast majority of those who self-identify as white in the United States rarely find themselves continually in situations where they are outnumbered by blacks.Whether it is where they live, where they work, where they worship or where they play, “whiteness” is the norm.How do whites respond in a situation in which they are not the majority? Do they stayIn the NBA as well, "Racism in the United States is as virulent as ever":
The Courage of Their Convictions by teacherken
The Courage of Their Convictions: The Courage of Their ConvictionsbyteacherkenFollow 6 Comments / 6 Newis the title of this book by Peter Irons.One of those featured in the book was a woman who as a girl - along with her brother - refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They were both Jehovah's Witnesses. They were both expelled, and the Supreme Court, in 1940, upheld their expulsion in M
1 by mike simpson / 19h