[MY DETROIT PLAYAS]

Taking a step back look at the statement in it's entirety, in context and access this as a non-partial mediator

...“he has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out the back.” Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.

This is the equivalent to calling someone a 'snake oil salesman', far as I know that's never a good thing. Words like 'disingenous' come to mind. It implies he is a charlatan or a fraud

IF there is an alternate interpretation, please enlighten me

[BallsDeep]

Being called "African" is a compliment in sports. It refers to toughness.

Here's a quote by former UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland, when referring to two African players, including current NBA player Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who played on his team: (espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/3046386/ucla-wants-more-ties-cameroon)

"They eat snakes, from pythons to boas and have even eaten elephants and giraffes. You've got to be tough to do that since elephant has a tough skin."

Of course that was in 2007. In our present climate the coach would've been fired for wanting tough African players.

In American sports, being "African" is tough while being "Euro" is weak. Dirk Nowitski was referred to as the "German Strudel" or "Fraulein" before winning a championship a few years ago.

In boxing, anytime a top black fighter goes up against an unheard of Euro, the Euro is referred to as a Swedish Pastry, French Pastry (or whatever Euro country he's from). How many boxers have been nicknamed the "Danish Pastry?" In the last ten years alone I can think of Mikkel Kessler, Brian Nielsen and Franc Botha. Basically any prominent Danish boxer has been referred to as a pastry.

I hope that investigation conducted on Atlanta's business affairs also reveals the frequency in which a player wasn't drafted or signed because he was a weak Euro.

[jariel]

Luol Deng's Statement

[Fighting888]

This is political correctness taken to an extreme.

[TheSlayer]

Anybody remotely interested in this topic needs to read this:

An exclusive look at Hawks GM Danny Ferry’s fateful conference call

Basically the entire episode is a power play. We have guys saying stupid stuff and making insensitive remarks but there was no racism here IMO. I will try to give a quick summary of the whole situation:

The controlling owner writes an looking for more white fans/customers. He sends it to the minority owner whom he doesn't like. The minority owner doesn't say anything about the email for 2 years.

The new GM Ferry comes in and is the man of the controlling owner. The minority owner doesn't like Ferry and Ferry doesn't like the minority owners except for the controlling owner Levenson.

Ferry makes dumb comments regarding Deng on a conference call. Minority owner has his 'gotcha' material that he needs to kick Ferry out. Controlling owner denies his request and minority owner leads an investigation. The controlling owner's email becomes public and thus starts the "Racist E-Mail storm".

Make no mistake, Ferry made dumb comments since Deng is regarded as a high character guy but I doubt he was being racist because he wanted to sign Deng (mentioned in the article as well). There you have it people. A power play within an NBA organization has guys running around and yelling "racist" at each other.

[jariel]

The Audio Tape

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/atlanta-hawks...ence-call/

Doesn't sound like Ferry is reading from a report...

[Stun]

(09-08-2014 10:22 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

I'm really trying to think what does "African" imply in this context?

He's implying that black African players are lazy, when contrasted against African-American players. It's probably not racist, but it's certainly derogatory.

Imagine:
"He's got some Jew in him. Not a bad thing, I just think he might be a little cheap."

[CJ_W]

(09-07-2014 12:37 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

Seems like he's just talking demographics and marketing.

It's "racist" because he dared insinuated that blacks spend differently than whites and also put out a certain perception to other races.

It's just a matter of time until these racist/sexist witch hunts hit against basic economics and business sense, where actually believing in true equality and lack of race will cause your business to lose a lot of money.

I agree. . .I'm black and I don t think this is racist. . .but then again I also think that strerling shouldnt thave had his team taken away because some dumb ass ho secretly recorded him - shouldn't that be agaisnt the law, and thus nullify any action towards stern? But really, with feminism and liberalism, Two wrongs DO make a right.

(for the record I DO like Obama though even though I don't like Liberalism. . .or much conservatism either)

[jariel]

Ferry Takes Indefinite Leave of Absence

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/115142...ve-absence

He's done.

The leave of absence is a soft resignation, and it saves him the embarrassment of being fired.

I think too much attention is being paid on whether or not people should be branded as racists.

The actions/words of Levenson/Ferry were just wrong, and they're both now toxic for the business of the Atlanta Hawks. Levenson is still a billionaire, and chances are Ferry will end up getting another job at some point, just probably not in this particular capacity.