Big Brother Is Watching And The NBA Is Listening

Photo: Ludovic Bertron

We live in a society where everyone and everything is watched, shared, and chronicled. Our moments of happiness and our most vulnerable moments are captured, stored, and passed along to both friends and strangers. Sometimes we willingly share those moments and sometimes we are not aware of how a snapshot in time can be perceived or taken out of context. Big Brother is always watching/baby sitting us, and his gaze is as infinite as it is indiscriminate. He is in our workplace, on our corners, and even in our pockets. In the right hands Big Brother can absolve and exonerate us, but in the wrong hands Big Brother can be our judge, jury and executioner. At 82, Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers has found himself at the mercy of the forever present Big Brother. Sterling’s racist manifesto was captured and recorded on a cellphone and his tirade has been placed in earshot for all the world to hear. Although we have made great strides in American history in terms of racism, American history also shows that Sterling’s comments were far from shocking. The context of Sterling’s comments cannot be questioned. However, what is questionable is how far we will go to condemn a man who is guilty of making comments (albeit racist comments) in the privacy of his own home.

“Why do you need to be around Black people in public”? “How do these people benefit you”? “Don’t bring them to my games.” These are excerpts from NBA Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling’s recorded conversation. Ironically, the conversation was part of a lover’s quarrel between he and his well-kept 30-year-old mistress,Vivian Stiviano who is half Mexican and half African-American. The conversation was recorded by Stiviano at Sterling’s home and sent to TMZ. The language, rationale, and reasoning behind Sterling’s comments speak to a southern plantation owner mindset and philosophy of the likes of Willie Lynch. As disgusting and disturbing as the comments were, they are not surprising because they are part of the complex American ideology. America was figuratively built on the premise of freedom of speech and religion, but literally forged from the sweat and back-breaking efforts of slave labor. What’s more damning than Sterling’s comments is how the NBA, its contemporaries, and the public at large have allowed Sterling to be in a position of ownership after he has had a public history of being a racist. Donald Sterling’s track record gets pretty murky when it comes to racism and discrimination. Rightfully so, new Commissioner Adam Silver has imposed a lifetime ban on Donald Sterling from the NBA and a 2.5 million dollar fine  shortly after his comments were released to the public. Silver has made it known that the NBA and the other 29 of its owners plan to vote Donald Sterling out of the fraternity that is the NBA and force Sterling sell the Los Angeles Clippers at its current value. The glaring questions that should be on everyone’s collective lips should be: “Why does an illegally taped recording of an argument between Sterling and his mistress warrant action from the NBA, its contemporaries, and the public at large? Why do the racist comments (made in the privacy of Sterling’s home) hold more weight than what is and has been public knowledge (particularly by the NBA)? Do we have to monitor/censor our words, or remain politically correct in the sanctuary of our own homes? What kind of precedent will this set for us all?

What the NBA was probably thinking after they heard the recording

Every day our privacy is slowly being taken away from us. There are stop and frisk laws, “random” searches, and hundreds of thousands of video cameras tracking our every move. Not to mention the privacy that we willingly give away via our cellphones, and social media like: you tube, instagram and twitter. In a sense we are policing ourselves without realizing how that information could come back to haunt us; as is the case with Donald Sterling. Anonymity and privacy are virtually a thing of the past in our current technological age. If we are not careful, all our homes will turn into proverbial glass houses for our neighbors to peer through, judge, and in some cases take legal action against. We will no longer be able to walk around naked in those glass houses, or say what we feel without fear of reprisal. Fear of how our most intimate conversations, regardless of the context could used against us. Just imagine if someone with whom you are comfortable enough to share a bed with recorded one or more intimate conversation without your knowledge. What would that conversation sound like? Would it be lewd? Would advocates for the politically correct be able to comb thorough those conversations without getting a single tangle in its teeth? Ultimately, would that private conversation cause you to lose your job, or your company for that matter? It’s definitely food for thought…no matter the outcome of Donald Sterling’s racial musings, he is a billionaire with a billion resources at his disposal. If we go down a path where legal action is the result of a what was said in a heated private conversation, where does the line get drawn? If a billionaire with a billion resources cannot elude lady justice in that regard, then what would the fate of the average Joe and his right to privacy be? If Donald Sterling had been judged based on his public track record of discrimination years ago, then his private rants with a love interest would be nothing more than the rants of a crotchety old man. His comments would have melted away in the wind without consequence except for the direction of where the needle of his moral compass pointed.

There have been some questions and accusations swirling around in the news and social media about why African-Americans, particularly the Los Angeles Clipper players and coach Doc Rivers signed contracts to play for a well-known racist owner. The answers go back to the great and complex American ideology. America has been long seen as the land of fresh start and opportunity for immigrants since it’s break off from Great Britain. The Statue of Liberty (a gift from France to celebrate freedom and democracy) and Ellis Island were landmarks that represented freedom and prosperity for immigrants of seeking a better quality of life for their families. After a long arduous trip those landmarks were sites that uplifted the hopes and dreams of immigrants from all over the world. The landmarks were a concrete sign that signified that those immigrants’ hopes and dreams were finally within reach. Immigrants imported from Africa had a slightly different vantage point than most immigrants entering this country. While other immigrants saw America as a land of opportunity, Africans were forcibly corralled and brought to America as captives and were stripped of their rights as men. African immigrants view of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island was severely obstructed by tangled bodies located in the bowels of slave ships. Although virtually every group of immigrants were discriminated against by the ones who arrived here before them, those immigrants still came here on their own volition. In an effort to blend in, avoid detection, and discrimination, immigrants often adopted American culture and even changed their names to conceal their true identities. However, Africans (who have evolved into African-Americans) had little or no rights at all, nor did they have the luxury of physically blending into American society. The perception of Africans or anyone with dark enough features to be confused as such was one of servitude. That perception was passed on and spread throughout every immigrant group that has arrived before and after the slave trade. Meanwhile the physical features of Irish, German, Jewish, or Italian immigrants assisted in assimilation for those groups. There was nowhere for Africans to hide from discrimination nor the perception of servitude as is the case today.

Photo: superde1uxe

Employment issues have plagued the African-American community for as long as the Bureau of Labor has kept track of the work force. African-American unemployment is consistently twice that of their White counterparts according to the Bureau of Labor. Finding employment is twice as hard as it is for their competitors is not the only problem. African-Americans are not represented in positions of power as is the case with the NBA. Although the NBA has received stellar marks in diversity overall, out of the 30 teams that comprise the NBA, there is only one team represented by African-American ownership, and four African-American chief executive officers and presidents.

“While that number may sound low, Lapchick said ” there isn’t another president of color in any of the other professional sports and baseball has only had one for less than one season. In more than 20 years the NFL has never had one. So for the NBA to have four, even if that number is down one, is still a significant statement about the NBA.”

Combined, the three major sports leagues: the NBA, NFL, and MLB  have a grand total of 1 African-American majority owner, Michael Jordan of (the Charlotte Hornets).  However in the NBA, African-Americans represent 76.3% of the players and 18% of office league staff. The NFL, comes in at a distant second with 66% of the players being African-Americans, 0% in ownership and 9% in office league staff. Bringing up the rear is the MLB with 8% of African-American players, 0% in ownership and are represented by 10% of office league staff.  Using the three leagues as a microcosm of the complex idealogy of American culture, to date there has only been 1 African-American president compared to 43 White presidents.

Although African-Americans are the primary driving force on the courts, gridiron, astro turf, of the NBA, NFL, and to a much smaller degree MLB, African-American athletes represent the labor force and have no representation in ownership or in the decision-making processes that take place in the front offices of those leagues. In essence, those players are at the mercy of the complex American ideology and also those ideologies of the racist owners of the Donald Sterling variety. Seeking employment in a company that may or may not have racist views is cold reality that African-Americans have faced ever since they started receiving compensation for their labor. Signing a million dollar contract, or just filling out an application for a job has always come at a heavy price for African-Americans. That price is that there may or may not be discriminatory practices in that company’s history and or by its employees. Unfortunately this is more of the norm than the exception. African-American athletes and average Joe’s put their collective “X’s” on the dotted line to provide for their families and march on, despite discrimination. If it weren’t for long practices of discrimination in sports, athletes like Jackie Robinson, and Muhammad Ali, would probably not have been as monumental to the progression of the intended American ideal of equality. Neither those prominent athletes nor the average African-American have been able to hide from discrimination. More importantly, as Donald Sterling is being forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers and is ousted out of the NBA, two things are very clear. The times for blending in and hiding from discrimination are over. Fewer people change their names to hide their ethnicity these days. These days, the unblinking Big Brother sees us all and doesn’t see color when he stares at us. Big Brother has now fixed his indiscriminate gaze on what is said in the privacy of our own homes. Those lines used by detectives in countless television shows may soon be amended: “What you say can, and will be held against you in the court of law and also in the privacy of your own home”. If that happens, how long will it be before we are judged on what we think, how we feel, or what’s in our hearts? Fortunately for us, the technology doesn’t exist to detect such things. An interesting question is, what will happen when it does?