The fact that very successful people wont call you out. Im very proud that those young athletes, with their mull pi in it will dollar athletes stood up. I used to do a sermon, some of those young men and young ladies stood up on this showed their soul wouldnt be compromised for a contract. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Hi ho silver. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews up in new york. Is this something thats bigger
thannen basketball . Bigger even than sports . Is this a National Setting oof a higher bar for public and private behavior on matters dealing with race . Is this decision to shun steriling from the nations professional league mark a hiking up of standards, private and public both . Are we now in an environment where hate speech, even in the most personal kind and setting is a matter for severe punishment . Tonight, we look at the thought of what may go down as an historic condemnation. The verdict from the nba is that donald sterile canning no longer own a team. Can no longer even attend nba games. Isiah thomas is an nba legend. Hes a halloffamer, a former coach, part owner, and team executive. He also served as president of the Nba Players Association. And jamel hill is a columnist with espn and cohost of numbers never lie. Late today adam silver announced the authenticity of those
recordings that set off this firesto firestorm. The nba was fining sterling the maximum amount of 2. 5 million. That was just the beginninbegin. Heres the commissioner. Effective immediately, i a am banning mr. Sterling for life mr. Sterling may not attend any nba games or practices. He may not be present at any clippers facility he may not be involved in any player or personnel decisions involving the team. He will also be barred from attending nba board of governors meetings or participating in any other league activity. We stand together in condemning mr. Sterlings views. They simply have no place in the nba. Wow. Well, commissioner silver also announced he would be pressing for a vote by the leagues ow r owners to force steriling to sell the team, sell the clipper meps also made it clear the verdict was not based on sterli sterlings past actions. In other words, the audio recordings are the only evidence the league needed. Heres a key portion of those tapes, originally obtained by tmz. People call you and tell you that i have black people on my instagram and it bothers you. Yeah, it bothers me a lot. If you want to broadcast that youre associating with black people. How about your whole life every day, you can you could do whatever you want, sleep with them, bring them in, do whatever you want. The little i ask you is not to promote it and not to bring them to my games. Wow. Thanks for coming on. Youve had a lot of of experience with this league. Does this stun you . For life, its almost something out of the bible. For life. When you look at the words and the language that was had in a private setting but came out publicly, and you look at the sport of the nba, this is a league that has fought racism and racialization since its existence. And this is a place that embraces diversity. We speak to all races, classes, creeds and gender. And this is a place where the commissioner took a leadership position today, adam silver did something today that not only stands in the arena of sports, but also goes outside of the arena. Because the values that we try to exude and exhibit in sport mirrors the ones we want in society. Sports is the backdrop for society in terms of values. Sport is a way that we transfort our game culturally, intellectually, across the world. So this is a big moment for us. This is a defining moment for us. Not only for the nba, but also
for society as large. If we can take advantage and have the and have an open dialogue. Do you agree with that . Were talking here about a new its hard to codify this in words, what words are in, what words are out. We know some that are out. But this is more about a private conversation, which has become exposed because of a tape recording. And its really about a point of view exposed in words rather than a particularly bad vocabulary. I mean, he just said he thought he didnt want his girlfriend showing up with black guys. That was his statement. Clearly stated. Its his position. And the nba commissioner said, saying that is unacceptable. So what does that say about the league . Sports . America . I think for so long that sports, we often saw players held to a certain standard. In the work force, if you will. Its the same in the nfl. Roger goodell has a situation on his hands with jim err say. Now youre saying the power structure be held accountable. I think thats what made this much more unique than what weve seen in the past. Now, i know a lot of people, and mark cuban even brought this up himself, talking about, is this a slippery slope because you are punishing somebody for something they said in private . Well, i think there are numerous examples in Todays Society that everybody is a reporter. You know, you cant just go out to dinner, you have people with their own individual smart phones. You have people taping conversations. So i think its just if anything, its another lesson about whether or not you should be careful. I on the other hand am okay with how this all came to light. And in a weird way, its poetic justice. Because here is a man who had been known for his seedy and sha shady and unscrupulous business
pr practices and lo ben a and behold he was done in. Mark cuban is sticking up for sterling when it comes to his ownership of the team, warning that forcing sterling to sell the team could lead to a what mark cuban calls a slippery slope. Heres kau been a specuban spea reporters yesterday its a very, very, very slippery slope. If its about racism and were ready to kick people out of the league. Okay. Then what about homophobia. What about somebody who doesnt like a particular religion. What about somebody whos antisemitic. In this country, people are allowed to be morons. Its a slippery slope when you start trying to remove people from the nba or any organization based off of their private thoughts they have at home. Thats damn scary. What do you make about that . People are allowed tor m eed to . Well, yes, but theres also a sanctity of the game and the sport. In this case, when youre talking about racism and racialization in this country and in the history of this country and an africanamerican league thats predominantly 80 to 85 of the players. Words carry weight and words have tradition, particularly in this country. And we have to be kargful and we have to be sympathetic to the words than being used and the way theyre being used in this setting. And they do transfer outside of the sporting arena. Well, lets get into how this is going to, like, get out there. Manifest itself beyond this one decision. Like a court decision. Its going to become a precedent. I remember when we had the marge schott case in cincinnati. And she said her stuff. And her lawyer, smart guy, i know him, bob bennett from washington said okay, you want to play this game, owners, every one of you owners i want to
depose you, put you under oath, and ask you if you ever used words like this ever and youre going to be under oath for this. A smart lawyer would say okay, suppose this guys lawyer, sterlings lawyer says fell lo eowners, i want depositions publicly taken. I want you to say youve never said anything about other groups. This gets pretty terrifyinging to some people, i would say. It really does. But for the 30 owners and the 400plus players in our league, you know, we have a sanctity and a moral code that we try to live by protecting the sport. We try to have in sport a level playing field. Sport is the place where you come in society and you say theres a level playing field. This is a place where black,
white, you know its merit based. The one area in which i think is totally merit based. You have to be careful here. This is fascinating the way isiah thomas has talked about this. With amazing talent, not just athleticism, the shooting ability, ive grown up, all the sports, one sport has changed dramatically in my lifetime and thats basketball. Its so much better. The players are so much more able to hit the threepointers with amazing swishes, relentless. Steph curry. The talent on display, the eyehand coordination, whatever you want to call it, this dynamic in sports. The question is the fans have accepted that. Theyve accepted merit based. How are the fan goings to react to this . Do you think theyll say this guy got what he deserved . Well, let me just quickly address something that chris just kind of put a hopefully up on the last conversation. I whauunderstand what you mean t free speech enthusiasts thinking that right is infringed upon. Even though the commissioner said he didnt take Donald Sterlings past behavior into account, you cant possibly think that he didnt think about it at all. I think thats a major piece to this. Because if this if Donald Sterlings comments on their own, if we just had the audio and lets say that up until now he had a clean track record and we didnt know about anything else, ei think he would have been dealt with differently. Thats not what the commissioner said. I teeming you, im watching that commissioner, im thinking the guy is thinking legalese, hes thinking i better say its based just on this incident. There must have been some reason he said just this incident . Well, yes, and probably legally thats probably what he needed to say. But chris, you and i, i mean, we boat have a bit more common sense than that. You mean to tell me hes not going to take into account the fact that this man has been sued multd pl times and settled those
lawsuits for sexual harassment, for racial discrimination. That would indicate that he not only thinks these things, he puts them into practice. And thats the true definition of racism. Which is why i would not put this in a category of simplifying it the way that mark cuban did. Mark cuban is trying to treat him like a firsttime offender. Im sorry, i consider Donald Sterling a career racist. Because thats what his track record certainly indicates. And i think its more than fine. Maybe not from adam silver from a legal perspective, but for me as a basketball fan, its okay for me to look at him from that perspective. Now, you asked about the fans, i think now that the commissioner has essentially put given the Death Penalty to this particular owner, they probably feel a lot better about rooting for the clippers, a lot better about tonights game and a lot better about rooting for the clipper, therefore, to pursue winning a title, which is what this all was about to begin with. But i cant say im sorry it
came out at this particular time. I wonder would we have had the same reaction if this were occurring in january. Your expertise is on display here, jamel. What are the percentage chances of the the clippers winning the title this year . Well, i still say miami is the favorite. But if you asked anybody after the last game how lifeless and emotionless they looked, i think we all would have given them a 0 chance. But theyve been a pretty good team all season. They set a franchise record for wins and this hasnt been an historically below average sub par franchise. So i would say that right now, with this new lease on life, feeling probably a lot of relief that the situation is resolved, i think that i would deaf anily put them in that bracket of top three or four teams that have a chance to get to the feenls. So theyve got a shot anyways. Thank you. Honor to meet you sir, isiah
thomas. Coming up, millionaire, well, theyre not slaves but they are millionaires. Thats how William Rhoden reviews many of the americas top africanamerican athletes. Wealthy but not free. This is going to be an interesting discussion. Its coming up after this commercial. Also, president obama takes on the Armchair Generals out there. Dont you love them . Why are those on the right so eager to engage militarily . Even after afghanistan and the tragedy of iraq . I think thats a good question. The president has answered it. And speaking of the right, the hawks are after john kerry now over a word he used to describe israels longterm choices if it cant reach a twostate solution. Their real goal to to not reach any kind of peace treaty with the palestinians. Its the Little Things in life that make me smile. Spending the day with my niece. I dont use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. Before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. Even wellfitting dentures let in food particles. Super poligrip is zinc free. With just a few dabs, its clinically proven to seal out more food particles so youre more comfortable and confident while you eat. So its not about keeping my dentures in, its about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. [ banker ] sydney needed some Financial Guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. So we talked about her options. Her valuable assets were staying. And selling her car wouldnt fly. We helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today. And tomorrow. So lets see what we can do about that. Remodel. Motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. They take a banker. Make a my financial priorities appointment today. Because when people talk, great things happen. A federal judge in wisconsin struck down the voter id laws. Republicans who supported the law said it would cut down on voter fraud, but the judge agreed with the laws proponents who said it disproportionately hurts poor and minority voters who tend to vote democrat. Well, Governor Scott walker believes the law is constitutional and wisconsins attorney general says the state will appeal the judges decision. Hardball back after this. Tall the building is, or how ornate the halls are. It doesnt matter if there are granite statues, or big mahogany desks. When working with an investment firm,
whats really important is whether the people behind the desks actually stand behind what they say. Introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. If youre not happy with one of our participating Investment Advisory services, well refund your program fee from the previous quarter. Its no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply. Chuck vo standing by your word, thats what matters the most. Welcocome back to hardball. This morning, Oprah Winfrey weighed in on sterling saying he has a, quote, plantation mentality. I know youve been following this story. Of course i have been
following this story. It feels like a plantation mentality in 2014. It just doesnt fit. Well, nate silver is 538 blog and found that 76 players are africanamerican. 43 of coaches are africanamerican. But when it comes to ownership, just 2 of owners are black while 988 are white. In other words, Michael Jordan owns the charlotte bobcats, thats it. In his book, 40 Million Dollar slave William Holden who is right here argues that while africanamericans may have achieved wealth from the industry, they havent gained or exercised real power within it. With us now is him, the author of the book, the New York Times sports columnist, William Rhoden. And also a real expert for history, the history of the civil rights movement, former u. S. Congressman for mz mz who is also a former president of the naacp. Lets start with william here. We all think about nba players as being well off. Theyve got a tenyear career, they may end up saving 50 million with all the endorsement opportunities. Its not just the payroll. Its the endorsements. How are they badly off . I dont think theyre badly off. Theyre making money. But if somebody could pay 15 players 10 million each, how much is he making . You know . Well, you know, too, they get a percentage at the gate with a cap its always about half the money come into the door goes to the players. The point is, they are well off relatively speaking, but this is an issue of power. I mean, you could be paid money. A lot of enslaved people actually made money, but they had no power. And they didnt share the revenue. It would be different if, like, they said okay, you could get 50 of the cotton sales. It still wouldnt the barberism is one thing. At least you could say well, we split it 5050. But in this case, in is so, like, white labor i mean black labor, white wealth. So thats the premise of the didnt it used to be, before the Big Development of black athletes ability to dominate the nba, you had white athletes making a lot less. Everybody was making less. They didnt own the teams. Everybody was making less. And the point is, all of them on the plantation, whether youre talking about hockey, Major League Baseball, the nba. Theyre all on a plantation. Probably a lot of white guys dont know theyre on a plantation. But i think that one thing thats germane here is that i mean, you know, i was at the press conference. And, you know, they kind of brought sterling out and stoned him. Yeah, the wicked witch is dead. If you go through the franchi franchises, there arent many back people at all. Youre a majority where they need you congressman, do you accept this premise that we have a labor force of super talented professionals who make the money, make the fans come to the games and watch on tv, and the guy ws who make money off of th . Isnt that the nay kmur of capitalism . Just to be blunt about it. It is. But the nature of capitalism only moves great opportunities when there are fres surpressure applied. I agree with bill and oprah also. We cant just focus on this one incident. When you look at the other 29 teams and what theyre not doing when it comes to corporate officers, when it comes to Vice President s, when it comes to marketing, communications, its a shame. Its almost like what major newspapers are doing in this count country. You get the sense that they care about opportunities until you
walk into the news room and you begin to wonder whats going on here. So theres a disconnect. This issue has given people the opportunity, i think, if were serious, to really look at what is not going on and not just focus on Donald Sterling. Im playing devils advocate. So heres your guy, heres your exhibit a, donald steriling. Here he is defending what he thinks is his kind treatment of african