Clippers Protest #Democrat Donald Sterling by Wearing Shirts Inside-Out for Warm-Ups

At CBS Los Angeles, "Clippers Turn Shirts Inside-Out In Silent Protest Against Sterling."

And at the New York Times, "With Uproar Around Sterling, Clippers Take the Court":

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Los Angeles Clippers, finding themselves embroiled in controversy surrounding racist remarks attributed to the team’s owner, took the court for their playoff game Sunday with a statement, both fashion and political. In sartorial signs of solidarity, players wore their shirts inside out during warm-ups, and each wore black socks and black wristbands during the game.

The owner’s wife sat courtside, across from the Clippers’ bench, with her husband barred from attending while the N.B.A. investigates the matter. She wore all black.

The recordings of the remarks, apparently made by Donald Sterling, the Clippers’ owner, bounced around the globe on Sunday like viral aftershocks, rattling the league’s leadership, overshadowing its playoff games and even receiving the attention of President Obama in Malaysia.

But the epicenter was at Oracle Arena, where the Clippers played the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. The teams are closely matched rivals, and although there were no clear signs that the crowd’s enthusiasm and voracity had anything to do with Sterling, the story line certainly provided a boost to the energy and intrigue.

The remarks struck a nerve in the N.B.A., in which the majority of players are black and the majority of owners are white. That the controversy should involve a team based in Los Angeles, a diverse city with its own history of race-relation problems but one that has long revered black athletes, only added a layer of complex context.

As the Clippers’ players quietly went through their usual pregame routine of stretching and relaxing, trying to make the unusual circumstances feel normal, their coach stepped into a warm and crowded room. Over seven minutes, he answered 13 questions about the racist comments attributed to Sterling.

“Racism, injustice of any kind, it should always be front and center, and we should never run from it,” the Clippers’ coach, Doc Rivers, said. “I think we all do a good job running from it. You should never run from it. You should confront it and try to do your best to handle it. I think we are doing our best right now in this case by trying to do that.”

In a meeting on Saturday, the team considered all its options, from ignoring the comments to boycotting the game, as some suggested.

“Our message is to play,” Rivers said. “Our message is that we’re going to let no one and nothing stop us from what we want to do. And I think that’s a good message.”

Also, at the Lede, "Reaction to the Remarks Linked to Donald Sterling."

Previous Donald Sterling blogging here.