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Opinion: Encouraging Minority Youth in the Wake of Donald Sterling

Published on Thursday, May 15, 2014 | 11:38 am
 

On April 15 ballplayers at Dodger Stadium and throughout Major League Baseball donned Jackie Robinson’s number 42 in remembrance of Robinson’s historic breaking of baseball’s color barrier nearly 70 years ago. Then, less than two weeks after that soaring celebration of racial unity, those horrid phone recordings of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling reminded us that racism lives on.

The Jackie and Mack Robinson memorial across from Pasadena City Hall is a breathtaking reminder of how far the nation has come since the Robinsons and others battled bigotry while making sports history in the pre-Civil Rights era. In those days — indeed throughout most of US history — racism was legally sanctioned, socially accepted and unashamedly mainstream. But for the last half-century or so, it’s been in serious retreat. Thanks to the sacrifices of our courageous ancestors, racial discrimination is no longer legal and racist words and behavior no longer enjoy societal acceptance. At least not in public. But in private, when they think that no one is paying attention, racists show their true colors.

Donald Sterling foul’s remarks underscore that some Americans still adhere to slavery-era attitudes toward black people. Attitudes that consider it okay to exploit blacks and other people of color for fun and profit, to discriminate against us and even to feign friendship while refusing to respect us as equals. And since many of the people who hold these racist attitudes also hold economic, social and political power it is crucial for people of color – especially African-Americans – to be at our very best.

When we reject the opportunity for education by acting a fool in class, ditching class or dropping out of school, when we embrace criminal culture, demean our women, or conduct ourselves in an undisciplined and reckless manner we not only set ourselves up for failure, we also play directly into the stereotypes that the Donald Sterlings of the world use to justify their mistreatment of us.

But on the flipside, when we embrace education, when we carry ourselves with dignity, discipline and professionalism, when we love one another and use our God-given intelligence and talents to build up ourselves, our families and our communities – when we do these things we move forward on the path to success. And our success will contribute to the Biblical effect (described by Solomon in the book of Proverbs) of heaping hot coals on our enemies’ heads!

The 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire stated that “the finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.” That’s the strategic goal of today’s racists — to persuade us that they do not exist. But their evil attitudes are very real, and those attitudes inevitably lead to evil actions.

But take heart! It’s true that the bad guys still exist, and they do exercise power. But racism no longer defines the national character as it did for most of American history. Evidence of that was the avalanche of condemnation that crashed down on Donald Sterling, culminating in the NBA commissioner’s lifetime ban and demands by owners’ group that Sterling sell the team. So, the United States is filled with people of goodwill from every racial and ethnic group who know that everyone deserves respect and equal opportunity. As President Obama stated, part of why Donald Sterling’s statements stood so much is that “there has been this shift in how we view ourselves.”

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

 

 

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