“What bothers me about this whole Donald Sterling affair isn’t just his racism. I’m bothered that everyone acts as if it’s a huge surprise,” remarked Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a six-time National Basketball Association champion and former member of the Los Angeles Lakers.

I can’t help but agree with Abdul-Jabbar. I, too, find it hard to be surprised when most racist comments come out of the mouths of powerful political leaders, actors or athletes. From Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic, drunken rants to Steve Martin’s inappropriate tweets about African-Americans, it seems as though (accidentally) revealing one's racism has become something of a trend.

In just one day, Donald Sterling has become the greatest villain in Los Angeles County. Walking through the halls of USC buildings I hear whispers of “did you hear about Sterling?” and when my professor asked “name a problem in the world,” a young man screamed “Donald Sterling!”

SEE ALSO: NBA Bans Clippers' Owner Donald Sterling For Life

Donald Sterling, alone, isn’t the entire problem. But the lack of attention paid to Sterling’s past offenses disappoints me as an African-American citizen and former club athlete born and raised in Los Angeles.

Countless media sources have covered the Sterling debacle, but many people have overlooked Sterling’s personal history of discrimination towards Latinos, Blacks, Asians and women of color. Take a look at these Donald Sterling quotes, originally documented in legal testimonies and recordings.

Sterling was heard casually throwing around the N-word in an interview at LAX in 1983. He stated:

Here’s this guy, and he has this blonde bimbo with him, they have a bottle of champagne, they’re tanked. And Don looks at me and he says, "I wanna know why you think you can coach these n*****s."

In 2006, the Department of Justice actually charged Sterling $2.75 million for discriminating against African-American, Korean-American and Mexican-American tenants in his apartment building in Los Angeles.

“Black tenants attract vermin.” he said in court. When a black female tenant complained about water damage in her apartment, he asked, "Is she one of those black people that stink?" When one of Sterling's property supervisors, Sumner Davenport, asked Sterling if the woman could be reimbursed for water damage, Sterling merely stated:

I am not going to do that. Just evict the bitch.

He also told lawyers during his lawsuit that his reasoning behind excluding African-Americans from his building was  “because all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean."

But he didn't just show racist attitudes towards African-Americans. His prejudice seemed to extend towards several other non-white groups, like Mexican-Americans.

And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day. So we have to get them out of here.

But the most explicit example of his condescending and racist attitude was when he described his dream team during the Baylor Lawsuit. In 2009, the former general manager of the Clippers, Elegin Baylor, filed a lawsuit against Sterling for his "plantation mentality," because Sterling essentially aspired to have a team with...

...a white Southern coach coaching poor black players.

Baylor had also filed a law suit against Sterling for other reasons, including his habit of bringing women into the locker room while players were showering. "Look at those beautiful black bodies," he would say of his team.

 

 

Despite several run-ins with the law based on racial prejudice, Sterling was still given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association for the Advacement of Colored People in 2009. In response to receiving his award, he jokingly told the press, "Do you know why they're here? They want to know why the NAACP would give an award to someone with my track record!"

But not until just two days ago did the American public or the NBA really take notice of this thirty year long issue. Sterling openly admitted that his girlfriend "associating with black people" really bothers him.

Yesterday morning, NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, announced that Sterling has been banned from the NBA for life. Silver intends "to do everything in his power" to compel the NBA Board of Governors to "force a sale" of the Clippers.

SEE ALSO: Oprah Considering Buying The Clippers 

According to CNN, Silver was asked if Sterling has shown any remorse for his actions and words. Silver does not recall Sterling showing any remorse to him.

Just as his (former) girlfriend pointed out on the tape, I find it incredibly ironic that Sterling hosts such strong anti-black feelings while the majority of the players on the team he owns are African-American. Even worse, most of the greatest iconic basketball players have been African-American males. And what Sterling probably doesn't understand is that basketball itself is not just a game in black America. For many young men, their talent is a "way out" from struggling communities or just a a way to create family traditions that may last several generations. For me, basketball has always meant tradition, and even though I only played the sport for a few years, it will always be the pastime that takes place before Thanksgiving dinner. And "the court" is one of few places where I can really feel comfortable throwing "slang" back and forth with my black peers and siblings.

So maybe the blatant ignorance Donald Sterling showed didn't personally affect me. But it does impact the African-American community in Los Angeles on a cultural scale. Because 30 years of racist remarks clearly imply that Sterling really did feel like he "owned" the predominately black, Los Angeles Clippers team. And the worst part of hearing about ignorant people like Sterling, is that I'm rarely surprised by their prejudices, because I have come to expect that the "plantation mentality" still runs in many of us.