Levenson’s subtle racism is unlike Donald Sterling’s overt racism. Sterling showed outright contempt for black people at his games on top of a long history of employment and housing discrimination. Levenson, like Kareem Abdul-Jabar argues over at Time, is a businessman who seems to understand how racist perceptions of black fans are hurting his operation. His e-mail contains casually racist allusions (“few fathers and sons at the game”) and he doesn’t strongly condemn the racism that he’s accusing Atlanta’s white fans of. 

Maybe money can’t buy love, as the saying goes, but if recent trends in the world of philanthropy are any indication, it can, in many cases, buy absolution from a host of sins. How so? When oil companies such as BP or Exxon create environmental havoc, their go-to response is usually to donate money to pliant conservation organizations.  They then take ads out in national newspapers such as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or USA Today touting their donations. 

The spectacle of racist rancher Cliven Bundy and racist NBA owner Donald Sterling underscore why minority political and economic rights cannot rest solely upon majority rule. America is changing but it’s not changing fast enough to do away with key protections, and that’s what the Court seemingly did not get.Before turning to the way in which the race-infused antics of rancher Cliven Bundy and Los Angeles Clippers chief Donald Sterling upended the Supreme Court’s rationale of a race-free America, it’s important to quickly review the action the Court took.