Harold Mitchell
Dr. Steph Brown
Protest Rhetoric, Performance, and Identity
Los Angeles Protest Owner Donald Sterling
The
photo above is a representation of an N.B.A wide protest against the Los
Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. The Clippers were at the center of this
incident since it was their owner who was in the hot seat for his raciest
remarks he had said only days earlier. The team would ultimately decide to
appeal to sport fans by wearing black colored socks and wristbands during the games.
By wearing the color black, it allowed the identity of the protest to be
associated with African Americans.
Donald Sterling was the longest running owner in the N.B.A, a total of
33 years of owning the Los Angeles Clippers (Wikipedia). Sterling was accused
of being a racist when a video recording of him and a Ms. Stiviano surfaced on
April 24, 2014. In the recording Sterling says, “It bothers me a lot that you
want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to” (TMZ,
2014). Sterling would go on to say, “
You can sleep with (black people). You can bring them in, you can do whatever
you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on your instagram and not
to bring them (black people) to my games” (TMZ, 2014).
This
incident was not Sterling’s first time he was accused of being a racist. In
2009 Elgin Baylor the then acting General Manger for the Clippers accused
Sterling of having a “plantation mentality”, Baylor said that sterling told him
that he would much rather have a Southern White coach coaching poor black
players than hire a black coach (Manfred 2014). Sterling has had a record of
degrading the African American public. He has shown a tendency to put himself
above others. And when the video recording surfaced in April of 2014 the Clippers,
as a team would aim to bring attention to this by the wearing of black colored wristbands
and socks.
In
the first round of the 2014 N.B.A playoffs the Clippers team met at half court
before the start of the game and took off their team issued warm up gear.
Underneath the gear they wore plain red t-shirts. But it wasn’t the t-shirts
that appealed to the pathos of the fans; it was the black colored wristbands
and socks. The identity they were relating to was clear cut it was black
people. Since the remarks that the owner Sterling made was towards blacks, the
color of the socks couldn’t be more profound. When you see the socks and
wristbands an emotion inside of people is stirred up, people can relate the significant
of the color of the socks. The color black is recognized as not just socks but
a group of people that have had to endure the painful remarks and sluggish
attitude of a selfish owner.
The
black wristbands and socks was a significant strategy of the protest because
the other N.B.A teams couldn’t turn their warm up gear inside out because it
was only Donald Sterling accused of being a racist not the N.B.A owners as a
whole. The socks allowed however the other players to show support to the cause
by wearing black wristbands and socks during the games. It started out with
just the Clippers and soon grew to the other teams. And it came at the biggest
time of the year for the N.B.A, during the N.B.A Playoffs.
The
collectiveness of the players wearing black wristbands and socks was a strategy
of logos. It showed that Sterling’s comments were not only offensive to blacks
but were offensive to every human who stood for equality. It showed no matter
what color your skin that nobody had the right to talk down to you or to reject
you just because you were a different skin color.
Through
the protest of the Players of the N.B.A and the Players Association and the
governing board of the N.B.A, the Commissioner off the N.B.A Adam Silver banned
Donald Sterling for life in April 2014. Sterling would also be fined 2.5
million. The Los Angeles Clippers would be sold to Steve Ballmer on May 29,
2014 for 2 Billion Dollars (Wikipedia).
Although
Sterling’s comments shook the N.B.A it didn’t bring it down. Sterling’s views
were not that of the owners as a whole. The N.B.A players showed that although
they play on different team they are a close net group. Nothing will be
stronger in a protest, a successful protest than that of a unity of advocates.
In this case it was the players of the National Basketball Association.
Works Cited
"Clippers
Owner Donald Sterling to GF -- Don't Bring Black People to My Games ...
Including Magic Johnson." Http://www.tmz.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07
Mar. 2016.
Manfred,
Tony. "Here Are All The Shockingly Awful Donald Sterling Stories That The
NBA Ignored For Years." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 28
Apr. 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.
Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.
Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment