EDITORIAL: NBA banning Sterling harsh, but right call

Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at 6:35 p.m.

In recent years, the penalty for unwise remarks and wisecracks has often been too harsh. People have been pilloried for off-the-cuff comments meant in jest. Theyve had their reputations ruined, sometimes for speaking what amounts to unflattering or politically incorrect truth.

That is not the case with Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees, among other things, that people in this country have freedom of speech. That means the U.S. government cannot prevent people from expressing opinions.

It does not, however, guarantee that there are never consequences for what people say.

People involved in private business also have rights. And, if they feel that associating with a person is damaging to their business, they are free, within the bounds of their contractual agreement, to end that relationship.

National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver said that the NBA is ending its relationship with Sterling over racist remarks that Sterling made to his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, a woman who is not only 50 years his junior, but of black and Hispanic heritage.

The incident is rich with irony. Sterling owns a team whose success simply wouldnt be possible without black players. Eighty percent of the players who make up the NBA are black. The players talent is responsible for his teams lofty $575 million value.

The incident that set off Sterlings rant involves a former black player, Earvin Magic Johnson, whose on-court brilliance is among the reasons the NBA franchises are so valuable today. If Johnson isnt welcome in an owners box at an NBA game, who on earth should be?

Sterling doesnt want black people sitting in his owners box, or inside his basketball arena for that matter, but he wants to date a woman who is biracial? He doesnt want to associate with black people, but he doesnt mind if they win an NBA championship for his team?

Read more here:
EDITORIAL: NBA banning Sterling harsh, but right call