NBA Commissioner Adam Silver moved quickly today to impose a lifetime ban on Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling and fined him $2.5 million (pictured with wife, Shelly).
The action comes just days after an audio tape came out in which Sterling is heard telling his girlfriend not to publicize her association with African Americans on Instagram and not to bring them to Clipper games.
One has to wonder if Silver would have moved so quickly if Sterling had told girlfriend V. Stiviano not to publicize her association with Asian Americans on Instagram and not bring Asians to Clipper games.
Granted, Asian Americans don’t make up the overwhelming majority of players on the court, although I’d like to think we could count on Jeremy Lin to speak up along with maybe even Yao Ming and definitely Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive.
I seriously doubt Sterling would have felt the urgency to move as quickly as he did and I doubt the NBA Player’s Association would have talked about boycotting a game or two as they reportedly did prior to knowing what action Silver would take.
The comments from Sterling likely would have been given a brief mention in your local sports page, and maybe a few blog sites such as BuzzFeed might have given the story a mention.
Just look at how it took ABC two weeks to give its initial response to the Jimmy Kimmel “kill everyone in China sketch. ” That’s just one example that Asian Americans don’t have enough political clout just yet on the national scene.
Does that mean Asian Americans need to speak with a louder voice or is it just a matter of our numbers? Asian Americans make up less than 6 percent of the US population despite being the fastest growing ethnic group in the country.
That’s our take. What’s yours?
