Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments have reached everyone at Susquehannock through news, SportsCenter or social media. He has since been banned from the NBA for life and docked 2.5 million dollars.
However, this punishment was completely unprecedented, unwarranted and ridiculous. The owner of a business has to be free to run his business. However, due to this new lifetime ban, he will now become a “silent owner.” Therefore, he will have no say in team matters.
The NBA and new commissioner Adam Silver have overstepped their bounds. Attempting to overcompensate for what he considered hateful ideas, Silver has set an example for how to react if anyone ever says something the commissioner disagrees with.
Granted, I do not agree with Sterling’s comments, and find them ridiculous. But at the end of the day, he did not deny anyone a service. He did not keep anyone from an opportunity. He did not discriminate against the African American race, nor one specific person. By definition, discrimination is the unjust treatment of a specific group of people. All Sterling did was express extreme hatred of blacks to his girlfriend, who turned out to be setting him up for disaster.
Sterling had no reason to think he would be heard by the world. Nevertheless, he said what he said. But is this the example we want to set? An opinion can now get someone punished. It is just such a slippery slope. Now, it is unanimous that Sterling is wrong. Before anyone realizes it, America could backslide to a country where the top man has all the power.
Sterling should have been fined. To ban him from his business is an obstruction of the free market and of capitalism, especially because he is not guilty of discrimination. Everyone dislikes something; his dislike just turned out to be highly controversial.
I hope that Silver’s decision is overturned by the other owners. They must be able to set aside their feelings and see that Sterling is guilty of no crime; he employs blacks fairly and evenly in a sport that is made up of a high percentage of African American employees. He simply does not like them.
