SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — The American Jewish Committee’s executive director, David Harris, said he was “dismayed” by racist comments attributed to Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, and said the NBA should take action against the basketball team owner.
While the Jewish organization did not say so in its press release, it’s important to note that AJC did not let Sterling’s remarks go unchallenged, nor did it rally to his defense, simply because he is Jewish.
“Donald Sterling’s callous remarks regarding African Americans are a painful reminder that, 60 years after the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, and 50 years after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, there is still work to be done,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “And that someone so deeply involved in the NBA, which exemplifies the racial tapestry of our country, would think this way is all the more striking.”
The organization also applauded NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who also is Jewish, for ordering an immediate investigation into the remarks.
Meanwhile a spokesman for Sterling has questioned whether the tape, first aired on TMZ, is authentic, or whether it could have been “doctored” in an act of revenge against Sterling. For his part, Sterling said that the tape — in which a man tells one-time Sterling girlfriend not to bring Magic Johnson, or other Black people, to Clippers games–is not reflective of his true beliefs.
U.S. President Barack Obama, asked at a press conference in Malaysia, about the controversy said such sentiments are “ignorant” and part of the legacy of racism and slavery. Johnson meanwhile has said he will never attend a Clippers game again so long as Sterling is owner, and other famous current and former NBA players have denounced Sterling’s remarks.
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Preceding culled form new reports and press releases