Most unfortunately, here we go again.
Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson will sell his share of the team after self-reporting a racially charged email he sent in 2012.
Here’s NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s statement on the matter:
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released the following statement regarding Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson: pic.twitter.com/H91NSEqf6t
— NBA (@NBA) September 7, 2014
Although the self-reported part of this mess has been played up, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports refutes those findings:
High-ranking league official w/ direct knowledge of Bruce Levenson probe disputes to Yahoo the fact that owner self-reported email to NBA.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 7, 2014
There’s also this to consider:
There was meeting in NYC including NBA owners late last week discussing issue, sources told Yahoo. Levenson agreed to sell, Silver says.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 7, 2014
Furthering the weird cloud enshrouding this entire situation is Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reporting the sale of Levenson’s controlling interests has been a long time coming:
Even before Sterling situation erupted, there was some talk that Bruce Levenson would explore selling his controlling interest of Hawks.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) September 7, 2014
All of which means little at the moment. The nature of the reveal doesn’t matter as much as the reveal itself. That this email was sent at all is the main issue.
The entire message has been provided by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but here’s an excerpt to gander at:
My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don’t know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.
I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while i don’t care what the color of the artist is, i want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that’s our season tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black. I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.
This, to be clear, is but a taste. Read the entire thing. It’s absurd and unacceptable and, frankly, all-too-freaking familiar.
It was only months ago Donald Sterling, then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was being lampooned for the racist shit he said on a recording. Now there’s this, the bigotry-charged, years-old musings from a controlling owner. It’s just sad.
And there is no other word for this. Sad encapsulates everything here. This shouldn’t have happened, just like Sterling never should have said what he said or even owned the Clippers as long as he did, considering he’s been a racist slumlord for what feels like decades.
But Sterling happened. So, too, did Levenson. Removing both from their teams’ respective pictures is the right call. It hopefully sets a much-needed precedent while putting everything in perspective. Racism cannot be tolerated in the NBA; it cannot be tolerated anywhere. Period. And while news of Levenson’s email—the release of which, by no coincidence, was perfectly timed—will get lost in the aftermath of the NFL season and Derek Jeter Day and the fact that he wasn’t caught on tape spewing racist garbage, this cannot be glossed over or dismissed.
This needs to be something the NBA and its owners and fans—and the general population—learn from.
This nonsense, in all its narrow-minded injustice, cannot be depicted as a symptom of imperfection.
It just has to stop.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
