President Obama was asked about Donald Sterling in his press conference in Malaysia. Obama replied: I don’t think I have to interpret those statements for you -- they kind of speak for themselves. When people – when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance you don’t really have to do anything you just let them talk. And that’s what happened here. I have confidence that the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, a good man, will address this. Obviously the NBA is a league that is beloved by fans all across the country. It’s got an awful lot of African American players, it’s steeped in African American culture, and I suspect that the NBA is going to be deeply concerned in resolving this. I will make just one larger comment about this. You know we – the US 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 know you’re going to continue to see this percolate up every so often and I think we just have to be clear and steady in denouncing it, teaching our children differently, but also remaining hopeful that part of why some statements like this stand out so much is because there have been a shift – there has been this shift in how we view ourselves. And like Malaysia, we constantly have to be on guard against racial attitudes that divide us rather than embracing our diversity as a strength. And I know that people of Malaysia are committed to wrestling with those issues as well. We have to make sure that we stay on top of it. And we will.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 15:55:00 +0000
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