Sterling Banned? Then Kerry Must Resign

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned from the NBA for his incendiary racist remarks about black people and minorities in general.

He didn't want his girlfriend of mixed heritage taking pictures with black people, or bring them to basketball games. In the recorded argument with his girlfriend, Sterling kept trying to put aside the issue of race, as though he wasn't really racist, but then he told her not to bring black people to the basketball games. Does Sterling know that he has players on the Clippers from diverse backgrounds, including African-Americans? Sterling's comments plunge the depths of folly. Racism is not just morally bankrupt, but intellectually backward. That alone should dissuade individuals from carrying out any actions or behaviors due to prejudice.

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The uproar following his recorded private conversation was bad enough. Will the guy lose everything over such outrageous remarks? If that is to be the case, this man is going to lose so much over a private conversation between two private persons. Sterling's thoughts about race, minorities, and the proper interactions among all of us are offensive and spiteful. However, if the media storm has pounded this private, wealthy basketball team owner so heavily, then there must be greater outrage toward Secretary of State John Kerry for his remarks about Israel. From CNN:

A two-state solution will be underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either an apartheid state with second-class citizens or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish State.

Kerry shared these comments before the Trilateral Commission. Not exactly a private meeting. As a public official representing this country abroad, the citizens of this country should expect the highest regard for official communiques among leaders.

Arabs and Muslims enjoy more freedoms and privileges in Israel than they do in Arab states

Israel is not an apartheid state. Period. Arabs and Muslims enjoy more freedoms and privileges in Israel than they do in Arab states. For the Secretary of State to use that word in the context of Israel is not just patently offensive, but either unintentionally revealing about the Obama Administration's true intentions about Israel and the Palestinians, or exposes a gross incompetence from this liberal administration's appreciations of Middle-Eastern tensions. In 2001, the United Nations called Zionism a form of racism. Do we want diplomatic leaders who resurrect such outrageous, offensive, and even dangerous ideas again? The Guardian was not too kind to Kerry:

Regardless of the apology, Kerry's remarks represent a significant departure, as senior US officials historically have avoided the word "apartheid" relating to Israeli policies. It is believed to be the first time a US official of Kerry's standing has used the contentious term in the context of Israel, even if only as a warning for the future.

The Obama Doctrine has determined not only to diminish American military presence throughout the world, but to weaken military might as well as empower hostile countries to pursue their limited, disastrous, or violent agendas. On its surface, Obama's foreign policy is directed more toward scaling back the US rather than maintaining any sense of peace and security here or abroad. He directed a no-fly zone over Libya, yet did nothing when Israel-ally Hosni Mubarak was removed from power. His administration killed Osama bin Laden, yet Al-Qaeda satellites are springing up all over the Middle East and North Africa, including Benghazi, where terrorists attacked the American embassy and killed four people, despite repeated pleas from the staff for more security. John Kerry, US Senator, Presidential candidate, and now Secretary of State, knows better than to use such language. Sterling is a racist. Kerry is unfit for Secretary of State. Is he anti-Semitic too? The Weekly Standard's William Kristol blasted Kerry, whose comments differed with President Obama's at one time:

"On Friday secretary of state John Kerry raised the spectre of Israel as an 'apartheid state'. Even Barack Obama condemned the use of this term when running for president in 2008. It is no longer enough for the White House to clean up after the messes John Kerry has made. It is time for John Kerry to step down as secretary of state, or for President Obama to fire him."

US Senator Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor and demanded that Kerry step down. Because the United States should stand tall with the state of Israel, and because of Kerry's remarks about a potential apartheid state, Cruz condemned the Secretary's reference to a systemically racist regime in South Africa.

There is no place for this word [apartheid] in the context of the state of Israel.

And there is no place for John Kerry to remain Chief Diplomat of the United States. Even Democratic US Senator Barbara Boxer punched at the outrageous remark, without directly targeting Kerry:

Sen. Barbara BoxerVerified account@SenatorBoxer 21h

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and any linkage between Israel and apartheid is nonsensical and ridiculous.

Charles Krauthammer has also signaled the need for Kerry's resignation:

It's beyond nonsense. It's pernicious, and extremely harmful. What the Secretary of State of the United States has succeeded in doing in what he thought was a private comment is to echo and therefore legitimize the worst of the libelous calumnies against the Jewish State. If there is one minority in the Middle East who enjoys the rule of law and protection and democracy, it is Arabs in Israel. . .this is a resigning-type statement."

So, Sterling's comments exposed him as a racist, and now he will have to sell off the Clippers and go away. At the minimum, John Kerry must step down as Secretary of State. President Obama has already condemned Sterling's comments about black people, which deserved condemnation Anything less for Kerry would send a message that anti-Semitic remarks are somehow acceptable (comments with global implications) or that racial slights from basketball owners must command more attention than the devastating remarks issued from a United States diplomat who has inadvertently exposed a latent agenda to delegitimize American-Israeli relations.