To the current Donald Sterling lynch mob, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a message:
Shame on you.
It's not that the NBA's all-time leading scorer and Hall of Famer is defending the pariah that is the Los Angeles Clippers owner - although Abdul-Jabbar does appear to take pity. Instead, the former Laker is wondering where the outrage was before and where's the outrage about how Sterling's alleged racism became public?
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Abdul-Jabbar wrote an opinion piece Tuesday for Time magazine questioning the moral outrage and finger-pointing over Sterling when signs were evident long before the infamous TMZ audio suddenly became public over the weekend.
Sterling employed Abdul-Jabbar for three months as a coach, he writes, and he admits that no signs were present that Sterling was suffering from what Abdul-Jabbar called "IPMS" - "Irritable Plantation Master Syndrome."
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However, he said, plenty of evidence existed about Sterling character long before the TMZ report that his girlfriend, V. Stiviano exposed him for his alleged racist undertones. In 2006 the U.S. Dept. of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination. He allegedly said that "Black tenants smell and attract vermin."
In 2009, Sterling had to pay $2.73 million in a Justice Department lawsuit alleging he discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and families with children. That same year, Elgin Baylor sued him for employment discrimination based on age and race.
"What bothers me about this whole Donald Sterling affair isn't just his racism. I'm bothered that everyone acts as if it's a huge surprise. Now there's all this dramatic and very public rending of clothing about whether they should keep their expensive Clippers season tickets. Really? All this other stuff I listed above has been going on for years and this ridiculous conversation with his girlfriend is what puts you over the edge? That's the smoking gun?
"He was discriminating against black and Hispanic families for years, preventing them from getting housing. It was public record. We did nothing. Suddenly he says he doesn't want his girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on Instagram and we bring out the torches and rope. Shouldn't we have all called for his resignation back then?"
Kareem, however, also takes issue with the lack of outrage over Sterling's privacy being invade.
"Shouldn't we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media?," he asks. "Didn't we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen's privacy in such an un-American way? Although the impact is similar to Mitt Romney's comments that were secretly taped, the difference is that Romney was giving a public speech. The making and release of this tape is so sleazy that just listening to it makes me feel like an accomplice to the crime. We didn't steal the cake but we're all gorging ourselves on it.
"Make no mistake: Donald Sterling is the villain of this story. But he's just a handmaiden to the bigger evil. In our quest for social justice, we shouldn't lose sight that racism is the true enemy. He's just another jerk with more money than brains."
How no one has given him the opportunity to coach, albeit in a much different sense, is an injustice as well.
Do you agree with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sentiments on the Donald Sterling controversy? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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