RACE, RAGE AND JUSTICE 

 

"Racism springs from the lie that certain human beings are less than fully human. It's a self-centred falsehood that corrupts our minds into believing we are right to treat others as we would not want to be treated."
-Alveda King, civil rights activist 

   

Donald Sterling has been a racist for a very long time.  His public comments were always there for us to see if we really wanted to look.  So why is it now that almost unanimous scorn is heaped upon him as if a great and terrible secret had been uncovered.  Despite his odious views he got awards and now forgiveness (that he has not asked for) from the LA branch of the NAACP.   What is that all about?  This man seems unrepentant, locked as he is in a legal battle with the latest young woman he cavorted with while still married to his wife of 50 years who is  the co-owner of the Clippers. 
 

Racism is the great American sickness.  Clearly it exists all over the world, but in America it takes on insidious dimensions that threaten the soul of the nation.  It is has always has been an existential danger to who we profess to be and what we profess to stand for.  People who see the world and their fellow men through a racial prism are quite simply, mentally and spiritually ill.


The question before us however in the Donald Sterling affair is not how to demonstrate our collective outrage about his not so secret racist views...that question has been settled.  Instead the question before us now is what is  appropriate, moral and legal with regard to his punishment.  The NBA may well say he has brought shame and dishonor upon the sport and the league, and they would be right.  They may further say that 80% of the players are young black men and it would be intolerable to make them play while this man still owns a valuable franchise.  They would be right about this also.  They may conclude that because of the above, that which Sterling owns must be ripped asunder from him because it is the righteous thing to do.  The problem is... is it the legal thing to do?


Punishing someone solely for his odious views or thoughts is  neither right or legal.  If society attempts to make it so... then what thoughts or views  down the road will become markers for criminal punishment or worse? 


Recently we have witnessed a spate of incidences involving so called speech and/or thought crimes which have ended with people losing their jobs, careers or being threatened  with such a loss.  Brendan Eich at Mozilla is one such case.  Paula Deen and Phil Robertson are others. 


In the majority of incidences that become big news, conservatives or those believed to be conservatives, are the bigots.  Ironically Sterling seems to be an exception to this since he has reportedly been a heavy contributor to the Democratic Party.  The point is that far more often, disgusting speech from the left is ignored or excused while that from the right is never forgotten and never forgiven. 


This ideological selectivity is part of the totalitarian impulse which permeates progressivism and the PC culture it has nourished.  Attempting to bypass the law because the case at hand is so vile has become  a leitmotif for the left.


Nevertheless if there is to be further punishment for Sterling than let it be decided in a court of law with his due process rights protected and let the court of public opinion be restrained to robust  market and social protest that denounces and reacts to his views with vigor but within a legal framework. 

We  should all remember that the Nazis were allowed to march in Skokie and as good people turned their backs on them, they ended up  in the dustbin of history.  Donald Sterling is a nasty, sick man and not worth the loss of one American right under the law but he has given us an occasion to come together in shared protest as decent people, united and not divided.  
 
ERLANDSSON