Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson to sell team after revealing he wrote a racist email

[StrengthAndHonor]

[/URL][URL="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hawks-owner-bruce-levenson-to-sell-team-after-revealing-he-wrote-racist-email-155827737.html"]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hawks-owner-bruce-levenson-to-sell-team-after-revealing-he-wrote-racist-email-155827737.html (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hawks-owner-bruce-levenson-to-sell-team-after-revealing-he-wrote-racist-email-155827737.html)

[StrengthAndHonor]

Levenson apologized for the August 2012 email, which he said made "clichéd assumptions" about the differences between black and white fans in Atlanta.

“Over the past several years, I’ve spent a lot of time grappling with low attendance at our games and the need for the Hawks to attract more season ticket holders and corporate sponsors," Levenson said in the statement. "Over that time, I’ve talked with team executives about the need for the Hawks to build a more diverse fan base that includes more suburban whites, and I shared my thoughts on why our efforts to bridge Atlanta’s racial sports divide seemed to be failing.

"In trying to address those issues, I wrote an email two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive. I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. that white fans might be afraid of our black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.

[SpursFan86]

1. from day one i have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff — food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc. in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between abe pollin’s arena and philips. some of this is attributable to southern hospital and manners but bob and his staff do a good job of training. To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.


2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much. i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don’t have much control but they have been good partners. i have wished we had some inconic offereing like boog’s barbeque at the baseball stadium in balt.


3. our new restaurant, red, just opened so too early for me to give you my thoughts.


4. Regarding game ops, i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn’t much focus on game ops. then one day a light bulb went off. when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can’t get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders. then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:

— it’s 70 pct black

— the cheerleaders are black

— the music is hip hop

— at the bars it’s 90 pct black

— there are few fathers and sons at the games

— we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.


Then i start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.

Before we bought the hawks and for those couple years immediately after in an effort to make the arena look full (at the nba’s urging) thousands and thousands of tickets were being giving away, predominantly in the black community, adding to the overwhelming black audience.


My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don’t know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.


I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while i don’t care what the color of the artist is, i want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that’s our season tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black. I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.


Gradually things have changed. My unscientific guess is that our crowd is 40 pct black now, still four to five times all other teams. And my further guess is that 40 pct still feels like 70 pet to some whites at our games. Our bars are still overwhelmingly black.


This is obviously a sensitive topic, but sadly i think it is far and way the number one reason our season ticket base is so low.


And many of our black fans don’t have the spendable income which explains why our f&b and merchandise sales are so low. At all white thrasher games sales were nearly triple what they are at hawks games (the extra intermission explains some of that but not all).


Regardless of what time a game starts, we have the latest arriving crowd in the league. It often looks and sounds empty when the team takes the floor.


In the past two years, we have created a section of rowdy college students that has been a big plus. And we do a lot of very clever stuff during time outs to entertain the crowd. Our kiss cam is better done than any in the league.


We have all the same halftime acts that other arenas have but i question whether they make sense. people are on their cell phones during half time. i wonder if flashing on the scoreboard “$2 off on hot dogs during halftime tonight” just as the half ends would be a better use of our halftime dollars and make the fans happier.


We do all the usual giveways and the fans are usually their loudest when our spirit crew takes the floor to give away t-shirts. It pisses me off that they will yell louder for a t-shirt then for our players.


Our player intro is flat. We manufacture a lot of noise but because of the late arriving crowd and the fact that a lot of blacks dont seem to go as crazy cheering (another one of my theories) as whites, it is not great. Even when we have just returned from winnng four straight on the road, i am one of the few people in the arena standing and cheering when our team takes the floor. Bob has kicked around ideas like having the starters coming down aisles rather than off the bench during intros. Sounds cool but may highlight all the empty seats at the start of games.


Not enough of our fans wear hawks jerseys to games. i have just begun to push for ideas like discount food lines for folks wearing jerseys, special entrances, etc. I think we need a committed and perhaps incentivized fan club. We need to realize atl is simply different than every other city. Just adopting nba best practices is not enough. we have to create our own.


I am rambling and could probably go on forever. If you have any specific areas you would like my thoughts on, let me know.

Best,

Bruce

ps — I have cc’d todd and ed so they can chime in with additional or different thoughts.



If this is worthy of an outrage, fuck society.

[RsxPiimp]

cuban was right. its a slippery slope.

[Holden_Caulfield]

sterlings corpse with a comeback :lol

[spurraider21]

he wants to sell his team for 2 billion too :lol

[TheRealCB]

So no man can speak his mind freely, he's even saying his white fanbase is racist, wtf??

[Infinite_limit]

LOL @ American sports

[spurraider21]

:lol cold hearted

— it’s 70 pct black

— there are few fathers and sons at the games

[DJR210]

:lmao @ concerts are either hip hop or gospel

[baseline bum]

I was glad to see Sterling go, but damn, nothing wrong with this dude.

[ChumpDumper]

It is a bit hamfisted, but he's on point about the goal of getting old white guys to spend money.

[lurker]

Acknowledging that racism is affecting your business doesn't mean you're racist. People need to put their pitchforks away.

[SupremeGuy]

:lol cold hearted

— it’s 70 pct black

— there are few fathers and sons at the gamesGoing fucking hard on the black community. :lmao


:lmao @ concerts are either hip hop or gospel:lol


he wants to sell his team for 2 billion too :lolThis, tbh.

[Koolaid_Man]

I take no exception to his note. My only issue is that while people like me can acknowledge the faults of blacks....most white people like you on this board turn a blind eye or outright deny the evil of whites...so it actually makes me a better moral authority on issues like this due to my rare ability to be unbiased and truthful despite being part of the minority group. To this day all whites do is excuse the bad behavior of other whites including those who do commit monstrous evils on minority groups.

I will take this time now to pat myself on the back for being a decent human being

[skut_farkus]

In all honesty I don't really feel disrespected by what he wrote. But then again I am white

[Biernutz]

I think he just wants out. He has a fan base of free tickets and non spending. When the hockey team makes
more money than a NBA team you know you have major problems in marketing that team to the fans who spend
money. The NBA markets itself to the hip hop crowd and in ATL they are getting what they market for.

[8FOR!3]

This guy's just talking logistics. He's not saying anything wrong...Not even morally

[~O~]

That's because Atlanta's population is most African Americans. As an entire fan base as a whole, they were pretty bad. Whenever they played Miami, I would cringe because I knew they're would be more Miami Heat fans in attendance. It was sickening to watch that team sometimes. They always underachieved. Its obvious to everyone and even the simple person that your environment drives your success.

I found nothing he said racist. I just believe he's noticed the statistics.

[ElNono]

Commish cleaning up

[jimbo]

I actually liked some of his ideas, I'd take a couple bucks off a hot dog over watching guys in inflatable fat suits go at each other. Tbh, just let local schools do whatever the fuck they want during halftime. It'll bring people to your games to watch their kids and it's cheap/free entertainment that most people won't watch anyway.

We have all the same halftime acts that other arenas have but i question whether they make sense. people are on their cell phones during half time. i wonder if flashing on the scoreboard “$2 off on hot dogs during halftime tonight” just as the half ends would be a better use of our halftime dollars and make the fans happier.


We do all the usual giveways and the fans are usually their loudest when our spirit crew takes the floor to give away t-shirts. It pisses me off that they will yell louder for a t-shirt then for our players.



Not enough of our fans wear hawks jerseys to games. i have just begun to push for ideas like discount food lines for folks wearing jerseys, special entrances, etc. I think we need a committed and perhaps incentivized fan club. We need to realize atl is simply different than every other city. Just adopting nba best practices is not enough. we have to create our own.

[Jenks]

I feel sorry for the waiters/waitresses in the restaurants near the stadium.

[BanditHiro]

the guy just wants to sell his team. the Hawks are not profitable in the slightest so might as well cash out

[Banzai]

Just telling the truth tbh

[Sec24Row7]

What in the heck is wrong with what he said?

[Leetonidas]

My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don’t know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.

I don't see how this guy is racist. Fucking PC society

[Proxy]

Read some comments on reddit.... This guy tried to sell the Hawks a few years ago, but the NBA didn't allow it. Also tried to package them with a Thrashers sale.

And that this was self-reported....bullshit by Levenson tbh

[Killakobe81]

he wants to sell his team for 2 billion too :lol

Honkey about to get paid i would send some racist letters too to get in the billionaire boys club (selling a team)

[Kool Bob Love]

I've only met one hawks fan in real life. And he was white. Srs.

[unforeseen]

I've only met one hawks fan in real life. And he was white. Srs.

Guy probably worked for the CDC in Atlanta.

[Franklin]

Donald Sterling 2.0 :lol

[RD2191]

If this is worthy of an outrage, fuck society.
:cry

[Jacob1983]

Why the hell did this guy say that shit in an email? You have to realize that in America, you have no privacy when it comes to technology of any kind. I mean yeah, it was a private email but this is 2014 and the thought police run the show.

He didn't say anything racist. He was just pointing out facts and how Atlanta's fan base sucks and white people don't give a shit about an NBA team in Atlanta. He was just talking business.

Yesterday, no one outside of the Atlanta Hawks' organization knew the name of the owner.

[HI-FI]

he wants to sell his team for 2 billion too :lol

that was my first impression as well. there's nothing on there he couldn't atone with the liberal God of Tolerance, I just think he wants to cash out.

[Infinite_limit]

Why the hell did this guy say that shit in an email? You have to realize that in America, you have no privacy when it comes to technology of any kind. I mean yeah, it was a private email but this is 2014 and the thought police run the show.

He didn't say anything racist. He was just pointing out facts and how Atlanta's fan base sucks and white people don't give a shit about an NBA team in Atlanta. He was just talking business.

Yesterday, no one outside of the Atlanta Hawks' organization knew the name of the owner.
Atlanta in general sucks for sports. Which is why the Braves are moving out of Turner Field and into the [White] suburbia.

[unforeseen]

http://i.imgur.com/F8G2bCc.jpg

[ambchang]

So he believes he want more white fans in a certain age range, this is pretty normal for marketing and customer identification purposes. I agree that the wording that was used wasn't he most eloquent and can be interpreted either way, but it certainly isn't anything that could be called racist.

A reader can read that email and understand why the Hawks are not and pretty much has never been a popular team, the owner basically made up some unfounded conclusions based on some very stereotypical views of its customers, with basically POOMA numbers to "back them up". A better way to approach the issue is to actually run a few analysis, look at the demographic make up of other teams (especially the successful ones), prove/refute some hypothesis, and make actual informed marketing decisions afterwards.

Having a large black fan base isn't a problem and never should be. As long as they are paying for your products, they are all green.

[Killakobe81]

So he believes he want more white fans in a certain age range, this is pretty normal for marketing and customer identification purposes. I agree that the wording that was used wasn't he most eloquent and can be interpreted either way, but it certainly isn't anything that could be called racist.

A reader can read that email and understand why the Hawks are not and pretty much has never been a popular team, the owner basically made up some unfounded conclusions based on some very stereotypical views of its customers, with basically POOMA numbers to "back them up". A better way to approach the issue is to actually run a few analysis, look at the demographic make up of other teams (especially the successful ones), prove/refute some hypothesis, and make actual informed marketing decisions afterwards.

Having a large black fan base isn't a problem and never should be. As long as they are paying for your products, they are all green.

Good points , Amb. I dont think he should be forced to sell over this ...if sterling had a "case" for keeping the team this guy has an iron-clad one. I think he wants to cash out and is trying to act as though he is falling on his sword.

[Venti Quattro]

Nobody gives a shit about the Hawks so he can keep his team

[ambchang]

More info: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11486641/atlanta-hawks-upheaval-3-months-making

Sounds more like internal politics.

[Jenks]

The issue with writing this off as "he just wanted to cash out" is that it's irrelevant.

The bar for what is considered racism warranting removal from the league just got lowered from Donald Sterling not wanting black people at his games, to this email about demographics.

Selling the team without a fight (that he'd easily win) is going to do a lot of harm. It's setting an absurd precedent. When someone digs up a similar email from another owner, that owner's fight is going to be that much harder.

[Spurs9]

http://i.imgur.com/0y3cUtp.gif

[scanry]

Atlanta has a lot of foreigners tbh especially from Asia and the middle east. And if you factor in the black population of the city, then who's gonna buy tickets?

Nothing wrong with what the owner's saying.

[Chinook]

How idiotic that this all started with Ferry's comment. That's eye-rolling at best. What if they described Aldridge as having "a little Texas in him"?

I was expecting something at least a little better than that. Especially since Ferry's going to get punished just for accidentally reading it aloud.

[spurraider21]

http://i.imgur.com/0y3cUtp.gif
:rollin

[Dirk Oneanddoneski]

This is hilarious Jew buys monkeyball team in Apelanta and wonders why he doesn't see many fathers and sons at the game:lol

[Malik Hairston]

http://i.imgur.com/0y3cUtp.gif

:lmao top-tier gif, tbh..

[koriwhat]

:lmao top-tier gif, tbh..

no doubt :)

[Franklin]

Why the hell did this guy say that shit in an email? You have to realize that in America, you have no privacy when it comes to technology of any kind. I mean yeah, it was a private email but this is 2014 and the thought police run the show.

He didn't say anything racist. He was just pointing out facts and how Atlanta's fan base sucks and white people don't give a shit about an NBA team in Atlanta. He was just talking business.

Yesterday, no one outside of the Atlanta Hawks' organization knew the name of the owner.
Too bad this guy is just one of the many idiots who failed to realize what you said tbh. Especially those Hollywood celebs who think themselves pretty and store their nude selfies in the so-called cloud (which's good news for you though).

[Sec24Row7]

This entire thing is insane…

[Brazil]

:lol Murica

[InRareForm]

Sterling ripples

[JamStone]

How idiotic that this all started with Ferry's comment. That's eye-rolling at best. What if they described Aldridge as having "a little Texas in him"?

I was expecting something at least a little better than that. Especially since Ferry's going to get punished just for accidentally reading it aloud.

From the ESPN article, Ferry's comments were more than just that Deng had "a little African in him." Apparently Ferry added as a qualifier by "African" he meant he was a two faced liar and cheat. It's not the initial quote that he has African in him that implied racism, but what was meant and inferred by the comment that he had African in him. And it would appear to me that Ferry trying to say he was just reading other people's comments or reiterating comments he heard from others is more of a back pedal than anything. It was in a business environment in front of a dozen people, why would you read or reiterate anything even remotely racially charged or insensitive? I'm betting because Ferry himself personally didn't have any issue with the comments.

I don't have a huge problem with the owner's comments, but I do disagree that with the idea that there is nothing wrong with what he wrote or that all he wrote were facts. They weren't facts. There were a bunch of personal opinion in his comments. He said his theory is that the black fans scared away white fans. Not a fact, an opinion. He wants more 35-55 year old white men season ticket holders because he "thinks" that the black fans don't have the spendable income for season tickets. Not a fact, an opinion. Perhaps some truth lies in those opinions, but they're still opinion more than fact. And instead of trying to look for more 35-55 year old white season ticket holders, he should realize his own demographics. Atlanta metro is has a population of over 50% African American. Atlanta for decades has been a huge African American city in terms of population and culture. There are plenty of successful black owned businesses in Atlanta. Philips Arena is located in northern Atlanta in a predominantly black neighborhood, surrounded by places like Techwood, the MLK Historic Site, Five Points, and two historically black colleges in Morris Brown and Morehouse. Why is he concerned with getting more older white fans when he should cater to his demographics? If there was an NBA team in Honolulu, Hawaii, would he be concerned that there are too many Hawaiians and Pacific Islander fans and he needed to find more 35-55 year white guys? You structure your financial business plan according to your market, your demographics, your target audience. He should look into doing more promos with black owned businesses, college group tickets for the Morris Brown, Morehouse, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State.

Perhaps his comments were not extreme enough to be considered racist, but there were some racial undertones. And at the very least, some of his comments and opinions were certainly born from ignorance.

[RsxPiimp]

From the ESPN article, Ferry's comments were more than just that Deng had "a little African in him." Apparently Ferry added as a qualifier by "African" he meant he was a two faced liar and cheat. It's not the initial quote that he has African in him that implied racism, but what was meant and inferred by the comment that he had African in him. And it would appear to me that Ferry trying to say he was just reading other people's comments or reiterating comments he heard from others is more of a back pedal than anything. It was in a business environment in front of a dozen people, why would you read or reiterate anything even remotely racially charged or insensitive? I'm betting because Ferry himself personally didn't have any issue with the comments.

I don't have a huge problem with the owner's comments, but I do disagree that with the idea that there is nothing wrong with what he wrote or that all he wrote were facts. They weren't facts. There were a bunch of personal opinion in his comments. He said his theory is that the black fans scared away white fans. Not a fact, an opinion. He wants more 35-55 year old white men season ticket holders because he "thinks" that the black fans don't have the spendable income for season tickets. Not a fact, an opinion. Perhaps some truth lies in those opinions, but they're still opinion more than fact. And instead of trying to look for more 35-55 year old white season ticket holders, he should realize his own demographics. Atlanta metro is has a population of over 50% African American. Atlanta for decades has been a huge African American city in terms of population and culture. There are plenty of successful black owned businesses in Atlanta. Philips Arena is located in northern Atlanta in a predominantly black neighborhood, surrounded by places like Techwood, the MLK Historic Site, Five Points, and two historically black colleges in Morris Brown and Morehouse. Why is he concerned with getting more older white fans when he should cater to his demographics? If there was an NBA team in Honolulu, Hawaii, would he be concerned that there are too many Hawaiians and Pacific Islander fans and he needed to find more 35-55 year white guys? You structure your financial business plan according to your market, your demographics, your target audience. He should look into doing more promos with black owned businesses, college group tickets for the Morris Brown, Morehouse, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State.

Perhaps his comments were not extreme enough to be considered racist, but there were some racial undertones. And at the very least, some of his comments and opinions were certainly born from ignorance.
+1

[Bynumite]

It's funny how this bullshit starts and ends at the top. You will never see the jew do something about a black player for making racist remarks and i highly doubt that hasn't happened before.

[Chinook]

From the ESPN article, Ferry's comments were more than just that Deng had "a little African in him." Apparently Ferry added as a qualifier by "African" he meant he was a two faced liar and cheat. It's not the initial quote that he has African in him that implied racism, but what was meant and inferred by the comment that he had African in him. And it would appear to me that Ferry trying to say he was just reading other people's comments or reiterating comments he heard from others is more of a back pedal than anything. It was in a business environment in front of a dozen people, why would you read or reiterate anything even remotely racially charged or insensitive? I'm betting because Ferry himself personally didn't have any issue with the comments.

I didn't take Ferry's comment to mean that at all. No one's a liar and a cheat "in a good way". Rather, I think he meant that Deng has an edge, like he's a great guy off the court but a nasty one on it. Deng is a former refugee, he's had to scrap by at times to get to where he is. I think Ferry's scout was talking about that when making the comment. It's like saying Stephen Jackson had some Port A in him due to how crazy he was on the court (how scrappy and combative he was). It's a reference to his heritage and how that helps him. It's not disparaging.

I agree that the Hawks owner should have tried to cater to his city's population. But if the races were reversed (say the Wolves owner saying the team needed to get more blacks to see the games) no one would have considered him a racist.

[JamStone]

I didn't take Ferry's comment to mean that at all. No one's a liar and a cheat "in a good way". Rather, I think he meant that Deng has an edge, like he's a great guy off the court but a nasty one on it. Deng is a former refugee, he's had to scrap by at times to get to where he is. I think Ferry's scout was talking about that when making the comment. It's like saying Stephen Jackson had some Port A in him due to how crazy he was on the court (how scrappy and combative he was). It's a reference to his heritage and how that helps him. It's not disparaging.

I wasn't interpreting what Ferry meant. It's not what I think he meant. He actually said it. He actually called Deng a two faced liar and cheat. It was a disparaging remark.

The ESPN story:


Added Gearon: "Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat."

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11493233/atlanta-hawks-discipline-general-manager-danny-ferry-racist-comments

And let's not twist Deng's background. His family fled the Sudan when he was a small child. He got to England before he was even a teenager. And at a very young age was identified as a basketball player who would participate in national competitions. He went to private school. You might argue his parents had "to scrap" to get out of the Sudan. But to suggest Luol Deng had some horrible unfathomable and unlikely path to the NBA is stretching the truth.



I agree that the Hawks owner should have tried to cater to his city's population. But if the races were reversed (say the Wolves owner saying the team needed to get more blacks to see the games) no one would have considered him a racist.

Faulty logic. It's like saying if Ray Rice's wife was a man, no one would consider him a spousal abuser. You can't just reverse the races.

[Chinook]

I wasn't interpreting what Ferry meant. It's not what I think he meant. He actually said it. He actually called Deng a two faced liar and cheat. It was a disparaging remark.

That was just Gearon's interpretation of what Ferry said, too. He also said Ferry used a slur by saying Deng had African in him. That's not true, and it really calls into question Gearon's understanding of racist language.


And let's not twist Deng's background. His family fled the Sudan when he was a small child. He got to England before he was even a teenager. And at a very young age was identified as a basketball player who would participate in national competitions. He went to private school. You might argue his parents had "to scrap" to get out of the Sudan. But to suggest Luol Deng had some horrible unfathomable and unlikely path to the NBA is stretching the truth.

Yeah, because him being a kid when he was a refugee clearly couldn't have affected him.


Faulty logic. It's like saying if Ray Rice's wife was a man, no one would consider him a spousal abuser. You can't just reverse the races.

Nope. It's like saying that no one is considering what Palmer did to Rice (her hitting him first) to be spousal abuse. It was, and people are just hypocrites by denying it. In the same way, people laud owners wanting diversity when saying they want more blacks, but they lambaste them for saying they want more whites. I'm not saying that the owner didn't have his own biases or that he didn't project them onto his fan base. But I am saying that he isn't a racist simply for that and didn't deserve to be fired.

[m>s]

Lol muh white guilt. Oh my goodness the guilt is just killing me inside I must go tell on myself rofl rofl.

[JamStone]

That was just Gearon's interpretation of what Ferry said, too. He also said Ferry used a slur by saying Deng had African in him. That's not true, and it really calls into question Gearon's understanding of racist language.

It doesn't read like an interpretation. Gearon said Ferry called Deng a two faced liar and cheat. How do you read that as merely an interpretation? I don't. He said Ferry said that. If all Ferry said was he had some African in him, then it leaves it as ambiguous. The rest of what Ferry said gives a pretty strong indication that there is something at the very least prejudice going on with the comments.




Yeah, because him being a kid when he was a refugee clearly couldn't have affected him.

Luol Deng left Sudan when he was 3 years old. He wasn't some village kid whose hands they were putting machine guns in. His father was a member of of the Sudanese Parliament, one of the reasons he had the resources and connections to get his family out of the Sudan. Deng moved to England when he was about 9 years old. He went to private school and competed in the British under 15 national team. He moved to the United States at 14 years of age. Do you think he really had to "scrap" to get where he is today? Really? That would be like saying Kobe Bryant has some "ghetto" in him because he was born in Philly even though his dad was a professional basketball player and Kobe lived much of his formative youth in a cultured and relative affluent upbringing in Italy. Yeah, but Kobe still has some of that Philly "ghetto" in him. It's ridiculous. Luol Deng is more British than he is African.




Nope. It's like saying that no one is considering what Palmer did to Rice (her hitting him first) to be spousal abuse. It was, and people are just hypocrites by denying it. In the same way, people laud owners wanting diversity when saying they want more blacks, but they lambaste them for saying they want more whites. I'm not saying that the owner didn't have his own biases or that he didn't project them onto his fan base. But I am saying that he isn't a racist simply for that and didn't deserve to be fired.

You are analyzing Levenson's quotes incorrectly. He wasn't suggesting he wanted more white people for diversity. He specifically stated in his email that he wanted more older white season ticket holders because he felt black fans didn't have the spendable money. At a minimum, that's a racially charged opinion. At face value, it's a racist comment. If he said he wanted more white people and/or more Latino people and/or more Asian people for better diversity in the crown, that's one thing. That's not what he said. He wanted more older white fans because he thought that demographic could afford it. There's no spinning that. It's not a matter if it's a defensible opinion financially from a business stance. Whether or not, that's a racist comment.

[m>s]

Wait I just read more so this owner is a yid?

[Chinook]

It doesn't read like an interpretation. Gearon said Ferry called Deng a two faced liar and cheat. How do you read that as merely an interpretation? I don't. He said Ferry said that. If all Ferry said was he had some African in him, then it leaves it as ambiguous. The rest of what Ferry said gives a pretty strong indication that there is something at the very least prejudice going on with the comments.

It's an interpretation no matter what, since there isn't a recording out. I can't possibly see how being African "in a good way" means he's dishonest. What the hell does being African in a bad way mean, then? That he eats people?

I think that Ferry said the that Deng had African in him and clarified that by saying he was a nice store in front and a counterfeit store in the back. That's not a description of a cheat, since a cheat would just have a counterfeit store in front. Gearon interpreted that to mean a slur, which he's admitted. It wasn't, so I personally don't believe Gearon has much credibility to interpret what Ferry was saying. He's just one of those PC idiots looking to be offended.


Luol Deng left Sudan when he was 3 years old. He wasn't some village kid whose hands they were putting machine guns in. His father was a member of of the Sudanese Parliament, one of the reasons he had the resources and connections to get his family out of the Sudan. Deng moved to England when he was about 9 years old. He went to private school and competed in the British under 15 national team. He moved to the United States at 14 years of age. Do you think he really had to "scrap" to get where he is today? Really? That would be like saying Kobe Bryant has some "ghetto" in him because he was born in Philly even though his dad was a professional basketball player and Kobe lived much of his formative youth in a cultured and relative affluent upbringing in Italy. Yeah, but Kobe still has some of that Philly "ghetto" in him. It's ridiculous. Luol Deng is more British than he is African.

Point taken on Deng not being a former child soldier. That still misses the point, though. If someone said Kobe "has some South Philly in him" meaning that he was tough and fought for what he wanted, it still wouldn't be an offensive statement.


You are analyzing Levenson's quotes incorrectly. He wasn't suggesting he wanted more white people for diversity. He specifically stated in his email that he wanted more older white season ticket holders because he felt black fans didn't have the spendable money. At a minimum, that's a racially charged opinion. At face value, it's a racist comment. If he said he wanted more white people and/or more Latino people and/or more Asian people for better diversity in the crown, that's one thing. That's not what he said. He wanted more older white fans because he thought that demographic could afford it. There's no spinning that. It's not a matter if it's a defensible opinion financially from a business stance. Whether or not, that's a racist comment.

"Racially charged" is one of the lamest terms in society nowadays. It merely means that some people may interpret it as racist even though it's not explicitly stating it. It's a reality that middle-aged white folk tend to be more affluent than black people. If he said he wanted white people because he feels like they're more moral and would breed a better family atmosphere, that would be racist. It's not like the Hawks are doing well and he just wants fewer blacks at the games. He's looking to tap into a richer demographic, which is something anyone in his position would want. Sure, he could have PC'd it up by saying "we want to tap into all markets and become more diverse in our fan base". Had he been doing a press conference on it, he probably would have said it that way. But it was a private email, and he was entitled to actually address the issue instead of sugarcoating it.

[moisaenz]

race and racist arguments are stupid. the same people that say that race should not matter are the ones that start complaining when people do not abide by their standards of political correctness. So does race matter or not?