You know, some of us furries like to give the Ursa Major awards a hard time. The populous based nomination sometimes give out some questionable set of candidates. However, over this past week I would like to take back my statements in the fact that as bad as some of our nominations, or heck even victors have been (Skyrim: Dawngaurd winning Furry Game of the Year last year, I'm looking square at you); none of our choices has ever paled in comparison to that of another organization's that I learned of this week.

So this is where I leave talking about the fandom to go on a bit of a rant, be forewarned that it has to do with racial politics, but fear not for it is not demeaning, just highly pointed criticism where I feel it is due even if some may argue it is not my place to give it.

So I'm sure you heard about the Clipper's Owner Donald Sterling's racist comments to his ex-girlfriend, telling her to in effect stop hanging around black people and stop bringing them to his team's games. What you may, or may not, have heard was that the LA branch of the NAACP was about to give Mr. Sterling for a Lifetime Achievement Award. The reasoning they gave? Well he gave a lot of kids tickets to his games.

Um, okay, this advances people of racial minorities how? Sure, it may give a few kids a luxury their parents may not be able to afford, but those kids aren't going to come by themselves, and did their parents have to pay to get in? More than likely. If so, that's not advancing their family, it probably helped make them even broker by provoking kids to bother their parents to go to a court-side viewing of a game they could ill afford. And while they're there the young and impressionable see a dream of playing a game for a living and making millions, building up a statistically false hope that they too will get a piece of that very minute pie. They may forego their studies in chancing that dream only to have it bite them in the arse further down the road.

And I'm not just talking about the children of minorities either, one of my cousins fell into that "I'm going to be a sports star" trap himself, and he is quite white. I'm just fortunate I didn't make the team the first go around so I never had false expectations.

I can just hear the disgruntled parent now, "Yes junior, you want to be a Clipper when you grow up? Well get in line, so does every other brat that got a free ticket to this game. I assure you by the end of this fantasy, you'll wish this was Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. At least the adults accompanying THOSE kids got in for free."

So no, bribing kids to drag their parents to pay for tickets to a game is not an achievement, it's a shrew and low business practice.

At first, I thought, that it may be excused on the fact that this man hid his racist tendencies well. That it was a shock to even the most scrutinizing of organizations. Of an organization the prides itself on trying to identify racism and racists and route them from the political and social paradigm. Clearly, no amount of depth and research could find hints that the man was a racist prior to the comment leak, and thus why he won that award without question.

Except, I come to find out in only a few mere clicks how wrong that assumption is. At this Guardian article points out, Sterling came under ownership of the basketball team by committing racist practices as a land lord.

So when I wrote this I wrote it with the thought of, what would Malcom X do if he were here today? I think at this he would probably say that the NAACP, or at least its LA branch, had sold out to a rich white man. He would probably at the very least say it's about time the people of color in the LA area start asking some very pointed questions of the organization that's supposed to be representing their interests.

Did the LA NAACP sell out their award to the highest bidder? Was this an honest mistake? As a white person who lives across the country maybe it's not my business to have an answer. However, to keep such a humiliating action from happening again I believe it is in the interest of the NAACP, their supporters, and those they support's collective interests to take a look at their reward processes and have a complete overhaul. At the very least, call for the resignation of any who pushed for Mr. Sterling to win an award he was perhaps the least qualified to receive.

And that's all I gotta say about that...