Yesterday, while Twitter-surfing, I saw something that I assumed was a hilarious Photoshop effort. It was a picture of Donald Sterling sitting in the front pew of LA’s Praises of Zion Missionary Baptist Church looking comfortably smug, while the Black church people around him were pleased as punch to have him in their presence. Insert confusion. Why would he be welcomed through the doors of such an important institution in the Black community, knowing all that he has done, recently and historically? But then I saw the news report, and befuddlement quickly escalated to absolute disgust.
After watching the clip, I quickly returned to Twitter to catch the discussion about Sterling’s actions, and my disgust quickly changed into disappointment. Just like the young lady in the video, many people stated that Sterling deserved forgiveness, that it’s a Christians job to turn the other cheek, and some people even invoked John 8:7 (he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone). Although I’m not an overly religious person myself, I do understand the principles of Christianity. But the ridiculousness of the Black people in that church exemplifies why our community will NEVER truly get the respect we want and deserve.
Forgiveness should be extended to someone who is truly sorry for what they have done. Donald Sterling says he is sorry for making comments that enraged our community, his players, his staff and basketball fans everywhere, yet he has NOT paid the $2.5 million fine levied against him by the NBA, and he just launched a $1 billion lawsuit against the league. Those are not the actions of a man who is truly sorry for causing Black folks pain – those are the actions of a litigious man attempting to circumvent punishment.
In 2009 – before Donald Sterling made the offensive comments which revealed all of his deep-seeded hate – the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP gave him a civil rights award for donating money to minority charities. Why? Because Sterling had just faced two major lawsuits alleging that he was practicing housing discrimination against Black and brown people in the apartments he owned. Also in 2009, Sterling was facing a major PR crisis because former L.A. Clippers General Manager, Elgin Baylor, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Sterling. Except for the Baylor suit – which was ultimately dismissed – Sterling settled these cases out of court, which requires NO admission of guilt or statement of apology. So why would a man who has enacted racist policies against Blacks all of a sudden start donating money to charities to get awards from the NAACP? Because he realized that we’ll sell our souls for sums that are nothing more than a speeding ticket to him.
When it comes to our values, Black folks are cheap. The NAACP got hand outs from Sterling and that was enough to celebrate him as if he’s some kind of hero. Now, it is the church who is acting as his discounted Public Relations firm, spreading “the good word” about his changed heart to other ignorant Black folks. I don’t know how much he put in their collection plate, but I can bet you it wasn’t just the sum of the contents in his pockets.
If you believe that being a Christian means that you should hold no hate in your heart for men like Donald Sterling, that’s fine, but that does not mean you are called on to be a willing participant in his insincere affinity for Black folks.
Photo credit: WSH
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Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.