GUEST COMMENTARY-I commend Donald Sterling for his statement of apology and his request for forgiveness. When Sterling’s racist rant on tape was made public April 26, I was the first to publicly call for Sterling to apologize. Now he has. But that’s no longer enough.
Sterling must take the next step and put action to his apology. This action would be to take an active and leading role in the fight for civil rights and equal opportunity locally and nationally.
This first and foremost means insuring that he enforces a strict policy of non-discrimination in his housing and apartment rentals, supports civil rights organizations with no strings attached donations earmarked for their specific anti-discrimination causes and programs, and becomes a visible presence in civil rights actions and activities in Los Angeles and nationally.
Donald Sterling’s apology can only have real meaning if he backs up his words with his dollars and active presence on the civil rights front.
His example would service as a true teaching experience for the nation on the peril of bigotry and how one man whose vile actions did much to contribute to that bigotry can show the world how one can land squarely on the right side in the fight against that bigotry.
(Earl Ofari Hutchinson is President of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable and an occasional contributor to CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 39
Pub: May 13, 2014