by J. Darien Stokes
How much has the modern sports era evolved since racism was not only prevalent but open and flagrant? There aren’t as many racial slurs and epithets being thrown around as freely. There aren’t situations like Jack Johnson being locked up for dating a white woman. It’s much more subtle.

In 1995, former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was suspended and fined only $25,000 for referring to two of her players as million dollar niggers. She was eventually forced to give up the team but only after years of making anti-black, anti-Semitic, and homophobic comments. Nothing has yet to happen to LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling who has been sued several times by former employees and prospective tenants for racist acts. He purposely won’t rent the real estate he owns to black or Latino tenants. He has lost several cases and settled out of court multiple times. The NBA has yet to publicly say anything. He has been quoted saying comments such as “I’m offering a lot of money for a poor black kid”. But David Stern has no problem taking the hip-hop out of the league by making changes to the dress code. He is so concerned with the NBA’s image but not willing to force an obvious racist out.

There seems to be a media bias toward black coaches in the NBA and NFL. They can have equal achievements as their white counterparts but are criticized more harshly. It’s been well documented about the large amount of black players in both leagues but not many black coaches. There are only two minority majority owners in the four major sports. Several partial owners and others who wanted to be owners claim they were blocked from purchasing majority ownership. I’m not saying the players are not well compensated which is possibly why you rarely hear from any of them on the matter until they retire. It could be fear of being black-balled by the good ole boy system for being outspoken.
I understand that white owners have to cater to their majority white ticket base and may actually be doing what they feel is best for their individual leagues. I feel if the media actually reported on this new age minstrel show more of the public would view it a lot different. Pro sports to me are a lot closer to old white men buying property on the auction block and not leagues out for the best interest of society.

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