So let me get this straight, waffling in the bowels of just how much of a racist one can admit to being has become the new, money-making hustle among already astronomically affluent NBA owners?
Consider mere months after Donald Sterling was outed and forced to sell his L.A. Clippers to one-time Microsoft exec Steve Ballmer to the tune of a cool $2 billion, Atlanta Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson simply couldn’t live with himself any longer spooked by the ghosts of the similarly charged self-truths he has subscribed to over the trek of his trajectory.
And so, the humanely, though clearly minority proportioned side of his being somehow having taken complete control of him, Levenson insists he felt compelled to turn himself in to league officials this week and face the music for rumblings he voiced as far back as 2012. He now readily admits the NBA should force him into auctioning off his struggling franchise, much in the same way Sterling had to in that aforementioned transaction that netted him the ungodly $2 billion.
Can you say greed paging Microsoft, Steve Ballmer or anyone else blessed or crooked enough to have anywhere remotely in the neighborhood of that largesse stashed away and ready to invest in a fledging, attendance floundering NBA franchise?
The harsh reality and bitter irony is even when the likes of Bruce Levesnon are cornered about their blinded views, they always seem to emerge upright and in the black, just as Donald Sterling did in finally releasing the Clips from his crippling stranglehold. Just when you thought the depths of bigotry couldn’t breed any more evils than they do by their very existence, the vilest of businessmen –who in this instance just so happen to also be NBA owners — are cashing in like nobody’s business largely based on reveling in just how repugnant they have truly been.
But now, just weeks after Sterling netted his plentiful windfall, let Bruce Levenson tell it he simply can’t live with the uncivilized truth of being Bruce Levenson, laughably claiming all his actions are motivated by a drive “to bridge Atlanta’s racial sports divide.”
Perhaps I’m mindlessly missing something here, but how does one truly expect to improve overall race relations by inflaming the very passions of those most concerned with such recklessly biased assertions as “white fans might be afraid of black fans,” and “black crowds scared away the whites?”
Levenson seemingly had all his repugnance down to a science, fundamentally complaining to subordinates about how at roughly 70 percent Hawks crowds were too black, and if the organization was truly to begin the process of cleansing itself of such damnation it would also need to rid itself of at least some of its all black cheerleaders as well as its regular lineup of heavily laced hip hop music.
“There are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant ticket base,” he added. “I read comments about how dangerous it is around Philips Arena … Then, I start looking around other arenas. It’s completely different.”
And all of a sudden, some four weeks after Donald Sterling finally washed his hands of it all with a king’s ransom in his pocket, Bruce Levenson would have us believe he’s simply had an awakening, undergone an attack of consciousness so profound it just won’t let him be.
”I have said repeatedly that the NBA should have zero tolerance for racism, and I strongly believe that to be true,” he argued. ”That is why I voluntarily reported my inappropriate email to the NBA. After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community, and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise.”
And with that, Bruce Levenson could readily be vanquished — if the price is right.
”If you’re angry about what I wrote, you should be,” Levenson added in what he clearly hopes will be his Hawks’ swan song. ”I’m angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense. We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them.”
To that, Mr. Levenson, rest assured you’ve sold out your mission.
