“Open your eyes white America, it is so not over!” well put Bill Maher. Racism in America is still a deep-seeded issue. Don’t get me wrong, we have come a long way since the abolition of slavery and segregation in our society. There have been many accomplishments, but focusing on the narrative of progress makes it easy to omit the massive work and struggle it took for us to get here. It deludes us to think that with time, not fervent action, everything will get better. Without the constant reminder to keep progressing forward we may in fact regress.
We unfortunately still have those constant reminders, like this recording of Clippers owner Donald Sterling, that we have not reached racial parity. Sterling recently got into an argument with his bi-racial girlfriend, Stiviana, about “broadcasting” her interactions with African Americans. His candid thoughts about minorities was captured on tape and released by TMZ.
It was this photo that Stiviana posted to Instagram that Sterling became upset about:
The response to the leaked tape has been widespread. From fans colorfully demonstrating their distaste for Sterling’s comments:
To the entire Clippers’ team turning their shirts inside-out so that “Clippers” could not be seen across their chests:
Quite an ironic scenario Sterling finds himself in being heavily involved with the NBA, an organization that employs many African Americans and is steeped in African American culture. The NBA will be deeply concerned in resolving this.
“The United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race and slavery and segregation, that’s still there, the vestiges of discrimination,” Obama commented:
There is still much work to be done.
