Jews on both sides of acts of racism

JACK MILNER

Most people are aware of the rants of Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. On April 25, a recording of a conversation between Sterling and a female “friend” was released in which a man – confirmed to be Sterling – was irritated over a photo she had posted with Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people” and, “you can sleep with (black people). You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want”, but “the little I ask you is… not to bring them to my games”.

Sterling was banned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and while there are still numerous court cases going on, he was forced to sell the franchise, for which he received $2 billion.

Now Bruce Levenson, owner of the Atlanta Hawks, has found himself in a similar situation. Levenson sent an e-mail to the team’s general manager, telling what steps had already been taken to make the arena experience feel “less black” in order to attract more white fans.

When the Sterling mess hit the fan, Levenson told a local radio station that he had “zero tolerance for this sort of bigoted racial comment” but he ended up getting caught out himself!

Explaining why ticket sales were low, Levenson wrote: “My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base.”

Levenson added that talk of the arena being unsafe was “just racist garbage” and “when I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong plac, I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games”.

The difference between Levenson and Sterling is that the owner of the Hawks appears to have self-reported the e-mail in question, offered about as strong an apology as possible and is taking responsibility for what he wrote and did, by deciding to sell the team – without a fight.

Levenson responded: “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.”

In the UK two instances of alleged anti-Semitism have raised their head in the world of football. The FA is investigating claims that former Enfield Town manager George Borg told Wingate & Finchley fans: “Hitler is going to get you.”

Borg was sacked by the club hours after their 3 – 2 defeat, though the club refused to comment as to the reason for his dismissal.

Borg denied he had said what had been reported, but admitted to making a similar remark. He claimed Wingate supporters had been singing songs about his mother who died from cancer three years ago. “I know it is not acceptable either way but I dispute the wording of what has been reported. I did not say: ‘Hitler is going to get you’, but I did say: ‘They sound like Hitler’ with the songs they were singing.”

Wingate released a statement which read: “Any allegations made by George Borg as to the conduct of the group, are categorically denied. Those present at the match are willing to co-operate with any investigation into the conduct of George Borg.”

The other incident was a text from former Cardiff City manager Malkay Mackay to Jewish agent Phil Smith, which read: “Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers.”

Smith came out in support of Mackay, saying the manager was not a racist. “Most times when someone calls you a ‘Jew’ it’s out of ignorance and with all that’s going on around the world with the anti-Semitic slants, I just felt it was irresponsible that something which might have been said in jest, had got out. It started to make me angry.”

Mackay has subsequently made a public apology. 

These issues do beg the question about whether we are getting too politically correct; where to draw the line. Comedian Mel Brooks admitted that two of his best movies – The Producers (the original 1968 version with Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel) and Blazing Saddles – would not have been made in today’s environment.

In the media a question that is cropping up more often is: Are we perhaps losing more than we are gaining by overreacting to even the most innocuous of comments? Who knows. Hindsight is an exact science.