Obama responds to racist comments attributed to Clippers' Don Sterling

Obama responds to racist comments attributed to Clippers' Don Sterling

CNN) -- The racism controversy embroiling Don Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, has reached half way around the world to Malaysia, where President Obama is on a diplomatic mission to Asia Pacific nations.

 

At a press conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Sunday, Obama was asked about racist comments Sterling allegedly made about African-Americans.

 

"When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk. That's what happened here," the President said.

Obama also said Sterling's alleged comments are an example of how "the United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race and slavery and segregation."

 

"That's still there, the vestiges of discrimination. We've made enormous strides, but you're going to continue to see this percolate up every so often," Obama said in Malaysia.

Sterling, who has owned the basketball franchise for nearly three decades, is now under investigation by the NBA over the alleged comments.

According to the website TMZ, Sterling made the alleged discriminatory remarks during a 10-minute argument he had with girlfriend V. Stiviano on April 9. TMZ posted a recording of the argument online Friday.

 

If authentic, the remarks seem to reflect Sterling's embarrassment and frustration with Stiviano over her associating with African-Americans at Clippers games and for posting such pictures on her Instagram account.

 

Clippers president Andy Roeser on Saturday questioned the recording and suggested a woman -- whom he doesn't mention by name -- was "getting even" with Sterling over a lawsuit.

According to a report from CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS last month, Rochelle Sterling, the wife of Donald Sterling, filed a lawsuit last month and is seeking damages and property.

Reaction: 'Disturbing and offensive'

 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that the league's investigation will seek to determine whether the tape is authentic and to figure out the context in which these "offensive and disturbing" comments were made.

But he cautioned that Sterling must be afforded due process, so he would not speculate on any possible punishment, if any -- but said that the investigation will move "extraordinarily quickly."

Speaking about the recording, Roeser said, "we do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered. We do know that the woman on the tape -- who we believe released it to TMZ -- is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would "get even."

TMZ has not said who made the recording or how the celebrity-centric website obtained it.

 

Attempts to reach Stiviano on Saturday were unsuccessful. She is part African-American, according to the recording.

The man alleged to be Sterling takes particular exception to a photo she posted to Instagram with NBA icon Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

"In your lousy f**ing Instagrams, you don't have to have yourself with -- walking with black people," the man says.

"If it's white people, it's OK?" she responds. "If it was Larry Bird, would it make a difference?"

Bird, the longtime Boston Celtics star, was Johnson's NBA rival.

"I've known [Magic] well and he should be admired .... I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately," the man on the recording says. "Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don't put [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games."

Johnson responded Saturday afternoon via his verified Twitter account.

 

"I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans" read a tweet from @MagicJohnson. "I will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner," read another.

"We also suggest that African Americans and Latinos should honor his (Sterling's) request and not attend the games," Alice Huffman, the President of the NAACP California State Conference said in a statement released Saturday.

 

It's the first suggestion of a boycott of the team after the racism allegations.

In a side bar, Sterling was expected to receive a lifetime achievement award at an event next month to mark the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles NAACP.

"If these allegations are proven true, we are extremely disappointed in Mr. Sterling," Huffman said.

She urged the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP to withdraw Sterling's name from the honoree list for the anniversary celebration.

 

Roeser said Sterling is upset and apologizes for sentiments attributed to him about Earvin Johnson. "[Sterling] has long considered Magic a friend and has only the utmost respect and admiration for him -- both in terms of who he is and what he has achieved."

Sterling is "emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings," Roeser said.

 

"I don't know if I'm surprised or not," Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said at the team's practice Saturday, adding that he "obviously" didn't like the comments.

Rivers, who is in his first year coaching the team, told reporters that he didn't want the controversy to distract from the playoffs. He said he would be the sole person speaking on behalf of the team.

Miami Heat forward LeBron James was one of several players and former players weighing in on the controversy. James spoke to reporters before the playoff game against the Charlottle Bobcats Saturday night.

 

"If the reports are true, it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable in our league. It doesn't matter if you're white, black, Hispanic, whatever, all across the races. It's unacceptable and as a commissioner in our league, they have to make a stand, and they have to be very aggressive with it."

 

"Should this guy continue to be an owner?" asked Shaquille O'Neal, who also called the comments "repugnant."

 

"We cannot have an NBA owner discriminating against the league," said Charles Barkley. "We're a black league."

 

The players union's response will be led by NBA player-turned-mayor of Sacramento Kevin Johnson. "The reported comments made by Clippers owner Donald Sterling are reprehensible and unacceptable," he said in a statement.

 

Meantime, Sterling will be conspicuously missing from his usual courtside seats. He's agreed not to attend the Clippers playoff  game Sunday in Oakland against the Warriors.

Will the NBA make Sterling the first owner to give up team?

 

 

 

 

Former El Pasoan recounts stories from days as an undercover cop in 'Black Klansman'

By Ramón Rentería / El Paso Times

 Former El Pasoan Ron Stallworth still carries an official
Ku Klux Klan membership card in his wallet.

Stallworth details how he infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in "Black Klansman," a new book describing his work as an undercover intelligence police officer in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Stallworth, 60, a 1971 graduate of Austin High School, became the youngest and first black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, 22 months after he signed up as a patrolman.
"I broke racial grounds in that department," he said during a recent visit to El Paso.

Policeandfirepublishing.com is releasing the retired veteran police officer's book on Tuesday. It may be ordered through blackklansman.com.


Stallworth, a decorated police officer, retired in 2005 after 32 years working undercover investigating narcotics, vice, criminal intelligence and organized crime in Colorado, Arizona and Utah.
Stallworth monitored subversive groups or individuals while working as an intelligence officer in Colorado in 1978.
One day, he spotted a newspaper classified ad posted by the local Ku Klux Klan chapter as part of its recruiting efforts.
Stallworth sent a note to a post office box saying that he was a white racist interested in learning more about the Klan. He mistakenly signed his own name and included an undercover telephone number.
"I thought they'd send me a leaflet or something like that," he said. "Six days later, I get a phone call on the undercover phone line. The guy identified himself as the local leader of the new Ku Klux Klan chapter in Colorado Springs. He wanted to know why I wanted to become a Klansman. Thus began my journey into becoming a black Klansman."
The two agreed to meet a week later, but "for obvious reasons, I couldn't meet with him," Stallworth said.

So Stallworth recruited a friend in the narcotics division to pose as him during face-to-face meetings with the Klan leaders. He continued to chat with the Klan leadership by phone.

"These idiots never figured out that they were talking to two different people," he said.
The book also describes Stallworth's relationship with David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. At one point, Stallworth was assigned to help provide security for Duke during a visit to Colorado.

Stallworth had other brushes with history. He once was assigned to undercover work monitoring Stokely Carmichael, a charismatic black activist in the civil rights movement.
He also has written and published books on the correlation between gangster rap music and street gang culture.

About his 32 years service in law enforcement, Stallworth said he always wanted to become an undercover police officer, partly because he hated wearing uniforms.

"I'm somewhat radical," he said. "I have very little decorum. If I want something I go get it."

Ramón Rentería may be reached at 915-546-6146.

Man raised in El Paso talks about undercover KKK operation

Courtesy of ABC 7 Kvia
Pilar Arias, pilar.arias@kvia.com

Man speaks about infiltrating the KKK

 



EL PASO, Texas - He was a police officer who went undercover as a Ku Klux Klan member in the late 1970s. Before his book about the operation is released next week, the man raised in El Paso told ABC-7 what it was like.
Sergeant Ron Stallworth is not a man you would expect to be a member of the KKK and before he talks to UTEP students about it on Tuesday, he gave ABC-7 a look inside the undercover operation.

"We prevented three cross burnings in Colorado Springs. How? Because I knew about them. I was invited to participate in them," Stallworth said.

Stallworth was as member of the KKK during a nine month long police investigation in the late 1970s. He joined by responding to a classified newspaper ad.

"David Duke processed my application fee, he processed my membership card, he put it in the mail to me," Stallworth described.

Stallworth was the first black detective and youngest in Colorado Springs Police Department Intelligence Unit.

"I carry that card in my wallet and I've carried it since 1979 when it was handed to me," Stallworth said.
   
His membership was successful by having a white colleague pose during face-to-face meetings. He met Duke, a former grand wizard of the Knights of KKK, face to face but was introduced simply as a detective assigned to be Duke's body guard while he visited Colorado.

"They're no different than you or I except they have a racial belief ... a belief in the superiority of themselves over anyone that doesn't look like them," Stallworth explained.

Now that Sgt. Stallworth is retired from a long career in law enforcement, he can talk about infiltrating the KKK and a lesson to younger generations about dealing with people who preach hate.

"Fight back, challenge them, stand up to them, do not cower in fear," Stallworth said passionately.

Stallworth's book, Black Klansman comes out April 15. It can be pre-ordered online. There were a couple times he feared for his safety or that he'd be recognized, but ended up working law enforcement in several different states for a total of 32 years.




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