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Anti-Racism Protest Against Donald Sterling To Take Place In Downtown
Donald Sterling (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
An anti-racism protest in response to Clippers owner Donald Sterling's alleged racist rant will take place on Tuesday in downtown—and it also coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the L.A. riots.Civil rights groups and activists including the NAACP, Nation of Islam and National Hispanic Media Coalition will be in attendance for the "Los Angeles is Better Than Donald Sterling Anti-Racism Protest and Rally." The rally is for "Angelenos of all races and ethnicities offended by the racist comments of L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling," according to a press release from the organizers. The gathering is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at Figueroa Street and Pico Boulevard in front of the Staples Center with the rally launching at 6 p.m., just before the Clippers game that day at 7:30 p.m.
A media firestorm ensued after TMZ got ahold of an audio recording on April 25 of Sterling allegedly telling his former girlfriend, V. Stiviano that she shouldn't bring black people to his Clippers games, and not to post Instagram photos of black people as well. Clippers team members wore their shirts inside out as a silent protest at a game over the weekend. Clippers' sponsors like State Farm and CarMax are pulling out their ads from the team in the wake of the Sterling tape recording.
There will also be speakers in attendance at the rally, including representatives from the NAACP, Najee Ali and Rev. KW Tullos of the National Action Network, Marqueese Harris-Dawson of Community Coalition, Dr. Melina Abdullah, Professor and Chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles and Minister Tony Muhammad of the Nation of Islam.
According to the organizers' press statement:
“Donald Sterling’s comments do NOT represent Los Angeles and the millions of collective voices of minorities who call Los Angeles home,” commented co-organizer Jasmyne Cannick. “Los Angeles is better than and bigger than Donald Sterling and his racism. If Donald Sterling doesn’t want blacks and other minorities at his game, as Angelenos we are only happy to oblige him. But we want to make it clear, there is no place in Los Angeles 22 years after the 1992 Civil Unrest for racists like Donald Sterling. L.A. is better than that and together, black, white, Latino, Asian, and every other minority represented in Los Angeles will stand together and lift our collective voices in support of the players, the team, and our city.”
More information about the protest can be found here.
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