The Los Angeles City Council could soon be taking a stand against racially insensitive comments attributed to Clippers owner Donald Sterling, it was announced April 28.
Councilman Bernard C. Parks stated on his blog Monday morning that his staff members are currently drafting a resolution to be presented to the Los Angeles City Council and urging the 15-member panel of elected officials to take an official position “on the racially-biased comments attributed to Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, over the weekend.”
It is anticipated the resolution will be introduced at the council’s April 29 meeting.
“Sterling’s actions are inconsistent with the United States Human Rights Laws, the long-standing positions of the L.A. City Council, the diversity of the community, the fan base of the Clippers and the very high percentage of minorities who worked for and are working for the NBA,” Parks stated. “Sterling’s actions and statements have no place in today’s society.”
Specifically, the resolution would ask council members to condemn the statements attributed to Sterling and demand he give a personal apology to the entire Los Angeles community and to Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
The resolution also seeks to take a page from what happened with Marge Schott in Cincinnati during the 1990s and “request National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner, Adam Silver, to make the appropriate sanctions, similar to the ones used by Major League Baseball against the late one-time owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, who routinely made insensitive racial and religious remarks.”
Parks also hopes his colleagues will support the position taken by NAACP of Los Angeles, whose president, Leon Jenkins, confirmed at an April 28 press conference in Culver City that the organization will withdraw a Lifetime Achievement Award it had planned to bestow to Sterling at its annual gala next month.
Finally, the resolution requests local newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, to “cease running Sterling’s weekly publicity ads that display his commercial real estate empire and his alleged civic activities.”
As of Monday afternoon, the resolution is still in draft form, according to Parks’ blog.
Parks’s blog post encouraged Clippers fans to contact the team’s office to “voice their displeasure” over the comments attributed to Sterling.
