(NNPA)—The NBA playoffs, the NFL draft, and elevator music with Jay Z and Beyonce are all distractions in the pursuit of occupying our attention. Among them, I found Donald Sterling’s rants to be the most intriguing. Many people want to dismiss him as a racist, disillusioned old man, but if you listened carefully a few of his points were valid. I’m always bothered by people who criticize our culture, but I think I am more bothered that there is room for criticism than I am about the person criticizing.
I assume Donald Sterling refused a PR team to script his message in his interview with Anderson Cooper or he lost focus and went off on a tangent about Magic Johnson and the Black community. Nevertheless, he seemingly dug a deeper hole for himself by referencing Johnson’s HIV status, questioning his influence in South L.A. and outright dismissing Magic’s role in helping the Black community. Sterling says, “What has he done, can you tell me, big Magic Johnson, what has he done?”
Now, I am sure we are very aware of Magic Johnson’s investments in communities of color and I don’t dispute Magic’s sincere commitment to do business in the urban neighborhoods around the country. But what I heard Donald Sterling say is Jewish people have a company for people that want to borrow money at no interest, they want to give their people a fishing pole, they want to help people, if people don’t have the money they will loan it to them and if they don’t have interest one day, they will give it back. Wow!
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