I admit before Saturday I didn’t know who owned the LA Clippers, nor did I care. I’m not a sports fan. I have always been fascinated, however, with the passion sports fans have toward their favorite teams and the pride entire cities have in their franchises. When audio of the racist remarks allegedly made by LA Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling aired on TMZ over the weekend, the power of social media to disseminate and share news was obvious. Within minutes, Twitter tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram photos and videos and traditional media were engaged at a speed almost too swift to track. According to an LA Times article on the topic even the site Trendsmap, which is dedicated to tracking social media trends, had a hard time keeping up with the spread of the hash tags #DonaldSterling and #BoycottClippers.
Within minutes not only did I know who Donald Sterling is, but the nation knew V. Stiviano, his Black and Latina girlfriend and the woman at the center of the controversy who taped the conversations and whose Instagram photo with Magic Johnson sparked Sterling’s racist rant asking her to stop flaunting her relationships with Black men, “you can sleep with them…but don’t bring them to my games.” Within hours we learned Sterling’s estranged wife is suing the girlfriend for the return of expensive gifts he gave to her. Those of us who didn’t know already also learned of Sterling’s history of racist actions – employment discrimination claims against him and multi-million dollar settlements for housing discrimination lawsuits against his real estate companies for refusing to rent to Blacks and other minorities. Within days we saw everyone from President Obama to average American citizens lambaste Sterling for his intolerance and racial prejudice, players make silent protests during televised games, and companies pull their LA Clippers sponsorships to distance their brands from such racial hatred. We also witnessed just how quickly Magic Johnson can assemble a group of partners to buy almost anything.
Much like the response to Paula Deen’s similar sentiments last year, the speed with which information traveled – and continues to travel – is astonishing. While the National Basketball Association is still authenticating the tapes and deciding what to do with the league’s most hated owner, the nation has debated, responded, and condemned him…boycotted his team…and called for his ouster as owner or at least for the most severe sanctions under the NBA’s constitution and by-laws. Fans, and non-fans like me, have found his comments and actions reprehensible and unacceptable, even disgusting, and are demanding change. Now that’s what I consider team pride.