Dealing with the Donald – Direct Action to Remove Sterling as LA Clippers Owner
By Peter Olney
The media is all-abuzz with the Sterling Scandal. The 80 year old attorney and real estate baron from Los Angeles, Donald Sterling appears to have been captured on tape telling a girl friend that he doesn’t want her hanging out with black people or bringing them to his basketball team’s games. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who for first time in their history may make the second round of the NBA playoffs. He has even explicitly said that he doesn’t want the revered Earvin “Magic: Johnson at his arena with her. Nor does he want her posting images with Blacks.
What to do?
The league as Charles Barkley has said is a “Black League”. 80% of the players are African American. Kobe Bryant says he wouldn’t play for an owner with those racist views. Talk is swirling about the Clipper players boycotting their games with the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. But unfortunately it looks like “cooler” heads are prevailing. The crisis reveals the innate conservatism of the leaders of most of the sports unions who have been seduced by the myth of attorneys as the best choice for union leader. Too often the sports unions and more broadly many of the entertainment unions choose “smart” attorneys to represent them because the producers or the owners have smart attorneys. What they need instead are organizers and union leaders not attorneys. They need to break out of the innate conservatism of legal training and be willing to take the risks necessary to win. The great Marvin Miller who led the Major baseball players out of servitude in the early 70’s was formerly a leader with the United Steelworkers union.
In the case of the Sterling scandal we have the NBA Players Association seeking counsel and guidance from the Mayor of Sacramento and former NBA and Cal guard Kevin Johnson. KJ is a corporate Democrat. But there is another course of action to be taken rather than playing for the good of the league as Doc Rivers and his LA Clippers have decided to do at this juncture.
Here we go with a daisy chain boycott strategy
The Clippers refuse to play in the next game, Game 5 of the playoffs against the Warriors. What does the league do? Default the game to the Warriors? Default the series to the Warriors? Then the Warriors refuse to play in the next series and you get the idea. The other owners would quickly see to it that the daffy and racist Donald is removed by the league as an owner. This is peak season for their TV revenues and earnings. Instead we will see a “thorough” investigation and maybe fines for Sterling, but he will be allowed to continue as an owner.
This is an industry where the players are the game, and this is a moment where the crisis and public opinion would support such a daisy chain direct action approach to removing Sterling. James Earl Jones said it in the great political baseball movie. “Bingo Long and his Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings, “ WEB Dubois says we have to seize the means of production.” This is one of those situations where strategic workers through their actions can force dramatic change.
Time for action, not civility and docility!
After Commissioner Silver’s announcement the grumbling of the defenders of pure free enterprise will escalate as the League moves to force an owner to give up an asset, albeit at a huge personal profit. It all goes to show that political and economic forces trump free enterprise at special moments in history.
Dave Zirin was on Amy Goodman this AM advocating that Los Angeles City seize the “means of production” and make the Clippers a publicly owned team. Nice to see sports generating political profundity on class and race. Let’s see what action the Clips take tonite in Game 5 with the Warriors.
Sterling wants his girlfriend to stop consorting with blacks. Alright. Give him what he wants. The team(s) should all declare “A Day without Blacks”. Instead of playing for the owners, borrow/rent/occupy another venue and play a free game for the fans. Maybe current against retired players.
Brother Olney:
A few comments on your NBA Clippers and LA’s own “Donald” (not NYC’s Trump):
1. You know, of course, that I am in complete agreement that US unions, and particularly sports unions (or “associations” as they prefer to call themselves to better distinguish themselves from real unions) need to take collective action to confront their bosses rather than simply and primarily relying on a legal approach.
2. However, before taking action -including in this case- the workers need a “demand;” what is they want done viz a viz Sterling – suspend him? fine him? free agency for all Clippers? (my preferred solution, although I don’t live in LA anymore and would prefer an LA alternative to Jerry Buss’ LA Fakers).
3. Tactically, rather than your proposed variation of a “rolling strike” by the Clippers and Warriors (and again what is it that they are demanding), I would instead propose they act jointly – if they decide to do a “sit down strike” as you (and some others) suggest do it jointly.
4. Most importantly, the Union and the players need to connect with the fans – a failure of sports unions and, indeed, a failure of most unions -(e.g., take a look at SEIU 790’s new BART demands!) After all, Sterling’s racism undoubtedly can be found within many of the white fans -especially the corporate and financial luxury and courtside fatcats- but more importantly the anti-racism position needs to be more than just anti-Sterling (a la the anti-racism campaign of European futbol). In addition, fans who have already paid for their seats or who have rooted for Griffin or Chris Paul need to support the players as well as join with them. At a minimum, players should make a collective statement to the fans, and tv audience before the start of the Tuesday game (again from both teams).
5. What should have been done -and still could be- is the Union demand that NBA Comissar Silver (who represents the owners, of course) announce by noon Tuesday what he is going to do, and after he does, at a union meeting (which would include union reps from all the teams in the league) respond as to whether it is good enough, and if not, then issue their demand and give him a few hours to respond or both the Clippers and Warriors refuse to play that night in the scheduled playoff game in LA.
6. Union needs to reach out to its ex-members like Magic Johnson and Kareem (who has just written a Time magazine piece on this) and coordinate responses with these retired Union members.
7. Finally, this goes beyond Silver. The LA NAACP is the most culpable. Several times they have previously given him “man of the year” award (let alone about to do it again) even though they knew about his prior discrimination settlement, the Elgin Baylor case, etc. They -and lots of non-profits- accept the big bucks from Sterling, Walmart, etc and let them publicize their “contributions” to the communities of color and society while ripping off workers of all races and colors. It wouldn’t do any harm for the Players Union to chide the NAACP for its endorsement of Sterling and others like him.
8. No one loves Bingo Long more than I, as you know; James Earl Jones solution of “seizing the means of production” was to set up a collective team without owners in which the players would “share and share alike.” Without bosses. So a comparable solution here could be to not just get Sterling out, but have the team turned over to the fans (like the Green Bay Packers), AND with players and the Union on the Board of Directors – co-determination, workers councils, community ownership.
Better idea: all the teams should refuse to play until Sterling’s ownership is revoked. I wouldn’t ask the Clippers to initially bear all the burden by themselves; too much to ask.
Worth noting: Donald Sterling is not a good enough human being to qualify as a servant to, let alone a detractor of, Earvin Johnson. He has been a miserable steward of the Clippers franchise, which is only prospering now because the quality of the talent assembled is great enough to countervail his pinchpenny, dehumanizing tendencies. Long before his vile racism and sexism made the papers, his vile attitude suppressed the Clippers’ chances for decades. Fans have known for many years that the only way the Clippers would be great would be if they could fire the owner. Now they have the opportunity.
It also has to be noted that many athletes possess a kind of innate conservatism, in the sense of a desire for a world of level playing fields and uniformly-enforced laws and equal chances to build and display ability. Coaches and players on the Clippers squad are undoubtedly extremely conflicted right now. Whatever their choices become in response to this ugly flap, they deserve much compassion.
A side-note: Highly ironic that Kevin Johnson is “advising” the NBAPA (actually he is auditioning as one of the finalists for their executive director position) while married to notorious buster of teacher unions Michelle Rhee, whose union-busting school “reform” efforts and teaching-to-the-test mania (to the point of cheating) have been well documented and debunked by Diane Ravitch in her blog: see
http://dianeravitch.net/category/michelle-rhee/
Peter, your daisy chain boycott idea is great! And as you point out, the genius Marvin Miller was an economist for the Steelworkers and not (shudder) an attorney.
Sarah Lawton who follows sports and politics carefully points out that Kevin Johnson is married to Michele Rhee not Wei. Wei is a pro golfer and a very good one at that!
Many thanks for catching this error, now corrected.