Donald Sterling, a Pretty Face and a Racist Heart

It has been amply stated and often proven that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. Donald Sterling’s jealous rage and pride in his skin color have left him in disgrace. All of his money and all of his minions cannot undo the destruction he has brought upon himself and his reputation.

All is not lost for Mr. Sterling, though. There is hope for him just as there is for all of us who have stumbled in one way or another. Hope begins with humility, a humility that causes us to see just how fallen and broken we are and how much we need God.

Jealousy blinds our senses and distorts our reason. Pride causes us to believe we are better than others, sometimes that we are above God. It’s what led Adam and Eve to sin.

Jealousy and pride have led Donald Sterling to allow his mistress to bait him hook, line and sinker. How many men have found themselves slammed to destruction over a pretty face and a racist heart? In the gone but not forgotten days of slavery, we found fatal triangles such as the beleaguered Clippers owner is entangled in today. A scorned wife, a tricky mistress, money and racism—wow!

Yes, like countless others, Mr. Sterling has discovered that his money is not God, his passion is marred with lust, and the world that seemed to love and revere him is fickle.

Pride deceived Mr. Sterling into puffing himself up by looking down his nose at those he considers to be beneath him. Never mind the tawny, beautiful, honey-colored mistress who was found in that same position, only to rise up and bury a dagger in his back.

All too often, jealousy, greed and pride allow our society to discriminate against an entire class of people. In this case, skin color is the issue. I wouldn’t be true to my calling though, if I didn’t remember that the unborn—because they’re small, dependent and helpless—are also a part of the looming presence of the elephant—discrimination—in the bedrooms and board rooms across America and the world.

We don’t want to be reminded that we’re small, dependent and helpless. It offends our pride. So we pretend that some classes of people—like blacks or the unborn, for example—are, well, different.

My Uncle M.L. spoke of building a loving community. As a man of God, he understood that love has to be the foundation for any meaningful transformation of society or individuals. He knew that love changes the heart from proud to humble so that we see our own brokenness. He knew that a loving community has compassion for all of its members, not just those who are like us.

Donald Sterling has presented us with a teachable moment, a time when we may consider Uncle M.L.’s words and his life and work for a more loving community.

It’s also a prayerful moment.

My Uncle M.L. and his brother A.D. King, my father, died for raising the alarm over racial discrimination and inequality in America. The force of racism remains alive today in bedrooms, board rooms and the wombs of mothers. It is time to face the truth and slay the beast.

Donald Sterling is rich enough and famous enough to catch the eye of the media. Yet he is just the tip of the iceberg, the festering proof of a splintered society.

Let’s pray for Donald Sterling—and indeed for all who are victims of the deceptions of racism and classism.

Let’s continue to pray that God will open all eyes blinded by pride, lust, greed, jealousy and every human failing. Oh, that God will change our hearts and free our souls. There is no evil, be it discrimination against darker-skinned people or discrimination against smaller people in the womb, too great for God to overcome.

Alveda C. King is the daughter of the late civil-rights activist the Rev. A.D. King and niece of Martin Luther King Jr. She is also a civil rights and pro-life activist, as well as director of the African-American outreach for Priests for Life. Click here to visit her blog.