I would like to clarify some issues regarding the Los Angeles Clippers and associated matters. From the onset, I did not want to sell my team. The team that I love, the team that I respect, the team that I have worked for over 33 years to build up! And now I am being forced to give that away? .
I have apologized for my mistakes. I know what I said and I know how many people I have hurt. I made those statements in anger and out of jealousy all in the context of a private conversation. While this is not an excuse for the statements, like every other American, I never imagined that my private conversation would be made public. Mr. Silver, I tell you in all honesty that the things that I said are not who I am. I was baited and entrapped by an individual that I was fond of. I was a fool to let my emotions compromise who was as a person. My apology is sincere, and I want every American to know that. But at the same time I will not give up fighting for my rights. .
We, as a society, value human dignity as a right of all people -- but we also value the right to be different, the right to hold certain ideas ideas that when voiced or communicated, are subject to our own opinion and our own opinion alone. I was brought up in America and educated to believe that every citizen has these rights of privacy and freedom of speech. We value this not only because it is a guarantee against governmental oppression under our First Amendment, but also because it allows people in our free society to believe what they want to believe, and, yes, say what they want to say. As a citizen, I am shocked that the NBA wants to strip those fundamental rights away from me. .
While my position may not be popular, I believe that my rights to privacy and the preservation of my First Amendment right to free speech should not be trampled. I will not stand for the NBA to deny me the freedoms that are afforded to all Americans for it is our First Amendment that states, Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble (Vanderbilt Law Review).
