OT: ATL Hawks Owner

[CallMeBruce]

"He's a good guy overall. But he's not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way."

Lol, what the duckk does that even mean?

Seriously. That's absolute gobbledygook.

 

[pj]

Jim Calhoun has some Irish in him. And I don't say that in a bad way.

 

[intlzncster]

He sends out an email stating that he'd like to have less of them as customers as they're apparently bad for business. This isn't even disguised racism. This is right in your face racism. He's said so himself. I also tend to doubt that he self reported without any pressure to do so.

Not debating whether he is right or wrong, but this sounds like targeted marketing. Identify the demographic that makes you the most money, and focus on winning those customers. One person calls it racist, where another calls it a savvy (standard even) marketing technique.

 

[stick]

Yeah, well, by today's standards, this is racist. The guy is essentially saying that black people are bad for business because 1. They don't have money and so don't spend any money at the game other than the ticket, and 2. Because black people scare white people, who have more money to spend. He then concludes that they need more white people and fewer black people.

How can that possibly be construed to be anything but racist? Really? And notwithstanding the fact that everything the guy said was true.

It's not about true. It's about applying a rule to a race.

His intent is to downsize the black portion of his fan base. That's racist. Simple and pure. Because, in the broad net of "fewer black people," you catch the black people who have money and who spend it there.

I'm actually a bit shocked that I (Frank Ivy) am the only one on the BY providing this perspective.

I mean, come on people. The next step after this would be to simply get rid of all black people at the games, excepting the players of course. The white people would love that and it would be great for business.

What the hell people.

Yeah, I actually think this is much worse than Sterling's as they were the rants of an overtly racist, senile old man with no real repercussions outside his personal life. I found Sterling and his wife's dealings as a landlord to be much more offensive than his racist thoughts to his girlfriend (which everyone in the NBA knew of due to the lawsuits).

 

[Walker11]

Expect Ferry to be fired soon.

Link

 

[Dogdeacon]

Expect Ferry to be fired soon.

Link

I think Ferry's comments, even if he was simply reading a 'scouting report' written by someone else are far worse than the owner's and I'm shocked he hasn't been fired (but agree he very likely will be soon). You don't show up to a conference call having not read the material you are going to read and to re-read that to a large group absolutely shows racial insensitivity.

Normally the 'slippery slope' argument is BS, but this is clearly a direct fall-out from the Sterling fiasco. The good news here is that it exposes how racial machinations occur behind the scenes.

 

[aceboon]

yea Ferry has to go, I'd say the note about his hiring practices in the minority owner's email is more damning than the comment about Deng.

 

[Strummer]

Expect Ferry to be fired soon.

Link

The letter is a bit histrionic, but it makes the right point.
The letter is wrong in that it claims that Ferry depicted all blacks as cheats. Not so at all. He said, only, that the black player had some "African" in him. I think this is an obvious reference to the fact that most Africans live in banana republic countries where graft and corruption are the norm. It may also be a reference to the Nigerian and Liberia scams that have been propagating for the better part of a decade now. See, for example, how Nigerians are portrayed in the movie District 9 (great movie). I guess I'd liken this to somebody saying that asians are sneaky or eastern europeans are violent. Not particularly racist against a particular race, but rather a broad insult against a region.

In the end, however, the comment was racist and insensitive and stupid, and, even if the guy shouldn't be fired for the racial comments, he should at least be fired for being a dumb ass. Seriously, how can you be born and raised in America in today's culture and not understand that these sorts of references are not for sharing?

 

[superjohn]

Ferry is finished, deservedly so.

 

[huskypantz]

If the data in fact says that white males 35-55 have more disposable income to spend on season tickets, well that ain't racist. If he thinks whites are less likely to attend an event because the majority of attendees are black or because the ambiance caters to blacks, that's a theory that may or may not be correct, but it's not racist.

Danny Ferry, now that's racist.