Los Angeles Clippers Add To Sport's Noble History Of Protest

 So, what do you do when, as a professional black athlete, it turns out that the man who owns your team is a hideous racist who hates your race so badly he admonishes his girlfriend for even being seen with black people? He’ll profit from your skills, he’ll prance and preen when you win, but actually be seen around you, or have people close to him seen around you? Never!
I refer, of course, to the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, who this week heard recordings of their 80-year-old owner, Donald Sterling, admonishing his 31-year-old girlfriend (I am guessing she finds his personality alluring) for “associating with black people. Do you have to? You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games.”
In response, the team had meetings and looked at all options of protesting, including boycotting their next play-off match. Instead, they maintained loyalty to each other, and their fans, while sending a very public “up yours” to the owner by wearing black socks, black wristbands and then wearing their practice jerseys inside out for the warm-ups.

The gesture achieved huge publicity, severely embarrassed Sterling, and made their point. Sterling may own the team, but he does not own them. Such protests and gestures in the world of sport have a noble history. The most famous example, of course, was during the 1968 Olympics when, after the 200 metres final, black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos used their moment of glory to protest against racism by holding their gloved fists in the air on the dais, as a symbol of "Black Power". Our own man, Peter Norman, who had won the silver medal, found out about it in the dressing room, and decided to wear a human rights badge to support them.
The Americans also decided to wear only black socks on their feet, “to symbolise black

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/los-angeles-clippers-add-to-sports-noble-history-of-protest-20140430-zr1xd.html#ixzz30ZgfCdHI