Hawks owner to sell team because of "racist" email

[fairweatherfan]

Luol Deng is the guy you racially stereotype?  The Sudanese-born British citizen who has won recognition for his community service, and who is a great guy in the locker room?

I'm guessing it was more a commentary on his athletic vs intellectual ability or something like that.  That kinda crap knows no nationality.

[mgent]

As others have said... I'm not sure it's racist.  I mean... Think about this...  I live in Seattle.  There is a massive population of Asian folks out here.  There's a reason why the Seattle Mariners spent money on Iwakuma shortly after Ichiro went to the Yankees.  As someone who attends a lot of games, it's hard not to notice the difference in fanbase when iwakuma is pitching.

Yeah, if you're making a decision that's based on making more money, then the decision is obviously not being based on race.  It's called conducting business, and by definition can't be racist.

as stated, i, and many others, disagree. as one painfully obvious example we need only look at the business of selling slaves in the USA long ago. yes, one can be engaged in business and involved in racist behavior at the same time.

That sounds more like a painfully unrelated example.  Let's not pretend to compare what this guy did to slavery.

I think it's already been linked, but this is what Kareem said:

http://time.com/3296175/bruce-levenson-atlanta-hawks-racist-email-kareem-abdul-jabbar/

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Bruce Levenson Isn’t a Racist, He’s a Businessman

"Business people should have the right to wonder how to appeal to diverse groups in order to increase business. They should even be able to make minor insensitive gaffs if there is no obvious animosity or racist intent. This is a business email that is pretty harmless in terms of insulting anyone — and pretty fascinating in terms of seeing how the business of running a team really works."

[mgent]

If you guys were wondering why that article completely echoes what I've been saying all along in this thread, right down to the example using women, it's just because I'm Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

[D.o.s.]

I've maintained that it is the biggest bummer ever that Kareem is a Laker. He's one of my favorite sports minds ever.

I'd actually use a different quote from that article:

If his arena was filled mostly with whites and he wanted to attract blacks, wouldn’t he be asking how they could de-emphasize white culture and bias toward white contestants and cheerleaders? Don’t you think every corporation in America that is trying to attract a more diverse customer base is discussing how to feature more blacks or Asians or Latinos in their TV ads?

[Moranis]

Here is the whole Kareem piece.  It is very well done and makes a number of very strong points

Sure, there are assumptions he makes that are cringe-worthy—but the questions about how to attract more white fans were entirely reasonable.

Well, the pitchforks are already sharpened and the torches lit anyway, so rather than let them go to waste why not drag another so-called racist before the Court of Public Opinion and see how much ratings-grabbing, head-shaking, race-shaming we can squeeze out of it. After all, the media got so much gleeful, hand-wringing mileage out of Don Sterling and Michael Brown.

The only problem is that Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson is no Donald Sterling. Nor is his email racist. In fact, his worst crime is misguided white guilt.

I read Levenson’s email. Here’s what I concluded: Levenson is a businessman asking reasonable questions about how to put customers in seats. In the email, addressed to Hawks President Danny Ferry, Levenson wonders whether (according to his observations) the emphasis on hip-hop and gospel music, the fact that the cheerleaders are black, the bars are filled with 90 percent blacks, kiss-cams focus on black fans, and timeout contestants are always black has an effect on keeping away white fans.



Seems reasonable to ask those questions. If his arena was filled mostly with whites and he wanted to attract blacks, wouldn’t he be asking how they could de-emphasize white culture and bias toward white contestants and cheerleaders? Don’t you think every corporation in America that is trying to attract a more diverse customer base is discussing how to feature more blacks or Asians or Latinos in their TV ads?

Back when the original Law & Order first launched, there was a cast shake-up, adding more females, reportedly in an effort to attract more women viewers. MTV shows like Finding Carter and Teen Wolf can’t get through an emotional scene without a pop song coming in to sing to the viewer what they should be feeling because that’s what their demographic wants. Car companies hire specialized advertising agencies to create ads to appeal specifically to women, blacks, and Latinos. That’s business.

Sure, there are a few assumptions he makes that make me cringe a little: “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.” On the other hand, I have no evidence that he’s wrong on either count. Even if he is, the question still needed to be raised because racism is a realistic possibility as to why whites in Atlanta, Georgia may not be coming.

To Levenson’s credit, in that same paragraph, he dismisses fans who complained about the arena’s site as being code for racist fear that “there are too many blacks at the games.” He further decries the white perception that even though the percentage of blacks in attendance had lessened, that they still feel it’s higher and therefore somehow threatening. His outrage seems authentic.

Business people should have the right to wonder how to appeal to diverse groups in order to increase business. They should even be able to make minor insensitive gaffs if there is no obvious animosity or racist intent. This is a business email that is pretty harmless in terms of insulting anyone — and pretty fascinating in terms of seeing how the business of running a team really works.

The thing that makes me mad is that Levenson was too quick to rend his clothing and shout mea culpa. In his apology, he wrote: “By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.” But that’s not the message in the email at all. If the seats had all been filled, even if all by blacks, the email wouldn’t have been written. He wasn’t valuing white fans over blacks, he was trying to figure out a way to change what he thought was the white perception in Atlanta so he could sell more tickets. That’s his job.

[fairweatherfan]

I agree with Kareem generally - the problem with the email isn't that it deals with racial issues and attracting a broader audience, but that in the process he's endorsing a lot of dubious stereotypes about black and white patrons (and condemning a few others, to be fair).

Where he and I part ways is the "torch-bearing mob" stuff.  This isn't getting nearly as much attention as Sterling did, and I don't see a lot of people attacking Levenson's character.  A lot of outrage and anger in a situation like this is about what the authorities will or won't do about it, and since Levenson already resolved the situation as part of breaking the story, that energy's not there.  And Atlanta has neither the market nor the prominent players/coach that the Clips do. Unless a lot more dirt comes out, the whole story will be long-forgotten, except perhaps in Atlanta, by the start of the season.

[Ogaju]

Kareem is wrong and just trying to be relevant by taking a contrary stance.

Levenson himself knows he was wrong and made racist assumptions and conclusions. The las paragraph of Kareem's piece is fallacious because the theme through all of Levenson's comment is that he values white customers more than blacks. How can Kareem even question that conclusion. Levenson's email was not about increasing attendance, it was about increasing white attendance. Levenson's email was not about increasing affluent fans, it was about increasing white fans. He even mentioned that DC  with a more affluent black population only made up 10% of Wizards fan base. He wanted the black attendance of the Hawks to return to the mean of 10%. That was the gist of his email. The gist of his email was not how to make his predominantly black fan base happy, but how to make them less happy, drive em away so more whites would come.

By the way, the example about Law and Order cannot be true, because the way you get more women to watch a show is not to have more women on the show, but to have more attractive men on the show.

[D.o.s.]

The email is about selling more season tickets -- an NBA demographic, for better or worse, that is made up of 35-55 year old white people and corporations, according to the email.

[bdm860]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--gm-danny-ferry-s-reference-to-luol-deng-s-african-heritage-initiated-hawks-investigation-162901096.html

What Ferry said about Deng:

"He's still a young guy overall," Ferry said, league sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Yahoo. “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."

Also on how Levenson's email came up:

Ferry was on the phone with seven Hawks owners and was reading off a report in which the information, Ferry said, had been gathered through a network of scouts, officials, players, coaches and others around basketball.

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Ferry had received an undisclosed punishment, but would remain as GM.

The disparaging racial reference to Deng triggered at least one team owner on the call to pursue an independent investigation into how the organization operated in regard to race. The search uncovered the 2012 email that Levenson sent to Ferry and two minority owners that ultimately led to Levenson's decision, under pressure, to sell his stake in the Hawks.

[fairweatherfan]

When you're saying "He's a good guy overall.  But he's not perfect.  He's got some African in him.", how is the "African" part "not in a bad way"?  It's part of the "but he's not perfect", so it's clearly stated as a negative.  Weird.

[Ogaju]

what did Ferry mean by that? Deng is African, no?

[D.o.s.]

When you're saying "He's a good guy.  But he's not perfect.  He's got some African in him.", how is the "African" part "not in a bad way"?  It's part of the "but he's not perfect", so it's clearly stated as a negative.  Weird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YIlXsnB3_U

[fairweatherfan]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
TP for Danger Doom.  Criminally underrated.

what did Ferry mean by that? Deng is African, no?

Ferry didn't write the report, he just read it aloud.  It's unclear who actually wrote it and what they would've meant.

[Moranis]

Kareem is wrong and just trying to be relevant by taking a contrary stance.

Levenson himself knows he was wrong and made racist assumptions and conclusions. The las paragraph of Kareem's piece is fallacious because the theme through all of Levenson's comment is that he values white customers more than blacks. How can Kareem even question that conclusion. Levenson's email was not about increasing attendance, it was about increasing white attendance. Levenson's email was not about increasing affluent fans, it was about increasing white fans. He even mentioned that DC  with a more affluent black population only made up 10% of Wizards fan base. He wanted the black attendance of the Hawks to return to the mean of 10%. That was the gist of his email. The gist of his email was not how to make his predominantly black fan base happy, but how to make them less happy, drive em away so more whites would come.

By the way, the example about Law and Order cannot be true, because the way you get more women to watch a show is not to have more women on the show, but to have more attractive men on the show.

no the gist of his email was to figure out how to increase ticket sales and what the Hawks could do to get to sell outs, get more jersey sales, etc.  Kareem is right if the Hawks were selling out every game, weren't on the bottom on jersey sales, had bars and restaurants that were packed with 2 hour waits, etc.  the email wouldn't have been written no matter the makeup of the fans.

And for the record the greater Atlanta Metropolitan area in the 2010 census was 55.4 % white.  Blacks made up 32.4%, with Hispanics at 10.4% and Asians at 4.9%. 

Probably not entirely unreasonable to want your fan base to be more representative of the people that comprise your fan base.  A more representative fan base will make you more money.

[Eddie20]

Kareem is wrong and just trying to be relevant by taking a contrary stance.

Earlier in this thread you stated:

All the posts in support of Levenson miss the larger point, context context context. It is not what you think, or what I think. It is what the larger black civil rights conscious movement thinks. That is what this is all about.

Yet when Abdul-Jabber disagrees with you he is wrong? This despite you saying that your own opinion does not matter, but only what the black civil rights movement think. Abdul-Jabbar has been part of that said movement for how many years now?