EURWeb reshared this column Earl Ofari Hutchinson’s column demanding the L.A. NAACP chapter not honor Donald Sterling in 2009. Clearly they heeded calls for the delay and yet five years later find them at the same situation. Giving away tickets to kids is really nice, but does lightening really strike the same tree?
If it looks and walks like a duck – perhaps the LA NAACP chapter should recognize — it’s a racist duck — put distance between themselves and Donald Sterling once and for all. Unfortunately this chapter will likely come under a challenging spotlight because let’s be honest – is it not common place for most organizations of this nature to bestow such honors not only on companies and individuals doing things in the community — but also those writing checks to them. If not, in light of the last situation, why were they even considering honoring Sterling?
The first page of the Constitution of the nation’s oldest, most venerable and respected civil right’s organization boldly states that it will wage a relentless fight to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens. During much of its century of existence, the NAACP has proudly and unambiguously done just that. It waged breath taking battles against economic and housing discrimination, racial slurs and defamation, and against poverty.
Now we come to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling; or rather Donald T. Sterling and the NAACP’s cornerstone issues of economic and housing discrimination, racial slurs and defamation, and poverty. The much maligned Sterling has been sued, verbally lambasted, reprimanded, hit with reams of bad press, and threatened with pickets for these racial wrongs. Yet, the Los Angeles NAACP Chapter will give Sterling its highest honor, a lifetime achievement award. The shame, absurdity, and contradiction of the award to a man who in word, deed, and symbol is the diametric opposite of everything the nation’s premier civil rights group stands for and has fought for is enough to draw a gag.
A Google search with the name Donald Sterling and racial discrimination found nearly 12,000 results. Not one of them even remotely had Sterling doing anything to further racial goodwill. The checklist of reported Sterling racial escapades include a Justice Department housing discrimination lawsuit and forced settlement, slurs and gaffes against Hispanics and African-Americans, and that includes two high profile Clipper players, the shooing of minorities away from his pricey Beverly Hills condos and rentals, and an overblown and failed promise to build a Homeless shelter on L.A.s skid row. Then there’s the allegations and lawsuit by former Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor that Sterling runs his operations like a Southern plantation.
Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2014/04/flashback-2009-hutchinson-report-put-donald-t-sterlings-naacp-award-on-hold/#h1Dqvlm4m7TQ4UB8.99
