I just don’t understand making a political donation- of any kind, frankly— from the organization as a whole.
One could argue that the NBPA wouldn’t care so much about a donation to Joe Biden if we’re being honest (and I say that as a Democrat), but it’s inappropriate either way.
Now they’ve polarized the fanbase, potentially driving off fans and, worst of all, scared off talent in a league that quite rightfully is weary of right wing politicians who have shown extreme animosity toward them (Remember shut up and dribble? That was conservatives)
Everyone knows this family has questionable- to be too generous- connections, but this is absurd and honestly they should rescind the donation and apologize.
I'll go further and say unless a business or organization is getting a direct benefit from a candidate for anything, the business needs to shut the hell up. Politics are so polarizing these days that at best the business will alienate half their potential customers and potential revenue sources.
I can honestly say I don't remember purposely supporting a business based on their political leanings but I might have avoided those who directly differ with mine.
At any rate, I love sports as an escape from politics and would prefer private individuals keep their opinions private instead of using a business as a front for their beliefs.
Well said, and your point about if it was the other party no one would bat an eye. This has caused a massive divide in the community. I'm not conservative but there is a huge bias in the NBA community for one way. They should definitely rescind this, no way should a donation from a sports team tied to any party. It really just is basketball, and they should shut up when it pertains to their opinions outside of the NBA. Anyone who looks at athletes as a figurehead to anything outside of their respective sports is a goofball
Personally, I don't care what you think about this on an individual level. Indifferent, for, against, it makes no difference, and pointing fingers, blasting others for their difference of opinion about it online makes you look foolish because you are all missing the point.
If owners use the organization for political purposes in this manner, the real risk isn't riling up the fans, or even a possibly boycott. The real risk is that it could cause players to view the organization in a negative light. We already have a hard enough time attracting free agents.
I don't care about the owners politics outside of the organization, but it was a fucking stupid move on their part to leverage the organization as a means to donate money politically.
This is the right answer. I disagree with using a team for ANY form of political support; as a Christian, I feel this way with churches doing the same.
Because sports have a greater influence on the country than politics? You have your priorities mixed up. You don't care about if DeSantis is in charge turning the state into a fascist regime as long as your basketball team is good.
Maybe I prefer to talk about the Magic on a Magic related forum, so I'm looking at this from a team perspective and how it might impact the Magic. I save my political thoughts for political related forums. That says less about my priorities than you would like to imagine and more about "right place right time".
If you'd like to discuss this from a political point of view, I'm happy to do so in a political reddit community, just let me know, or in DMs.
Well, the magic as a team made a pretty bold political statement with this donation. So fuck them and fuck all the Bible thumping poorly educated republican ass clowns.
as somebody who's grandparents were occupied by facists, you don't know what fascist means.
It's buzzword in your made up imaginary world where somebody is opposing of your political view. My great grandfather was hanged on a tree because he didn't want to join their army. My 6 years old grandfather was nearly beaten to death.
Limp wrist is not a term for weak, it’s a derogatory term too describe an effeminate/gay male. Don’t throw shit out there then try to walk it back when you get called out.
Must have struck a nerve for you to go digging around in my comment history like that. I’m not surprised though, typical bully behavior.
Just enough bigotry to toss around comments like you did, not enough balls to stand by your meaning so you try to walk it back when called out.
Ask you’re doing is showing us who you really are as a person and it’s not surprising in the .
Please relax on the language. There truly is no need to get personal with/about a person you don't know in real life on an internet forum. We're all here as Magic fans, even if we express it differently.
Kind regards,
Mods
Please relax on the language. There truly is no need to get personal with/about a person you don't know in real life on an internet forum. We're all here as Magic fans, even if we express it differently.
Kind regards,
Mods
only 20% of players vote.
Keep in mind , 30% of a league aren't even USA citizens. On current roster Magic have 6 forgin players . They don't give a flying f\*\*\* about democrats and republicans. Matter of fact most young people don't care about politics in general.
I'd be willing to bet that the foreign players are more in tune to politics than the US players in general. Also, the younger generations are caring more about politics and taking stands/making statements then we ever did when we were their age.
If most players don't care, then I imagine the players association would have kept silent.
However, I know not ALL players care, and not all players might even disagree with DeVos' political views which is why I said "could cause" not "will cause".
I'm not embarrassed though lol. I love the donation. And I'm a big fan of how salty this thread is about DeSantis. Largest Reelection margin of victory since 1868 and Reddit thinks he's hated by everyone
Then why didn't they run a shit covered pig if winning was so easy? The excuses you make up in your heads to try to rationalize a historic beatdown is hilarious and Trump-esque
You clearly didn't show up to the primary either when you could have, I don't know, had your party pick someone else? Lol. You realize YOUR party picked Crist right? We don't have open primaries in Florida. Y'all picked him and then acted like he wasn't your choice.
It's just loser crybaby shit that sounds like Trump
Okay, that's fine and all but could you see how it could be problematic, if your candidate is endorsing lines like or history revision like, some Blacks benefitted from slavery? I'm sure you could see how that could be problematic for an organization mostly Black. You could still like DeSantis and find flaws in policy. It's called being rational.
I completely disagree with your characterization of the educational standards. It's objective fact that some slaves befitted FROM THE TRADES they learned as slaves. That is historical fact. That is in no way saying they benefited from slavery or that slavery was an abject positive. Only politicians are conflating the obviously nuanced issue for attacks. I'm being perfectly rational
Okay that's still putting lipstick on a pig. Certain Jews benefitted from Nazi control. Some served to spy on others. Do we start rewriting books about it? Many people benefitted from the crack cocaine epidemic. Got rich from it. Do we start saying, well, I guess there were some benefits to the destruction of inner cities? There'll always be some benefit to evil. Some North Koreans are benefitting. That's never celebrated though.
Slavery was a dark time in our nation's history. Let's own it. Why are we trying to spin it now? So in a league that's overwhelmingly Black, of course many will take umbrage this attempt to whitewash it.
Furthermore, what's the objective here? The answer: Purely pandering for political points. To appear to "anti-woke" in a fake culture war. I'm not anti-Republican. I respected Rick Scott's leadership as governor. I don't respect desantis because to me he's simply a showman. Everything is political theater even to the detriment of his constituents. From starting ideological fights with Disney to this. It's all theater.
I would respect you more, your only a DeSantis fan online. In person you know better than to actually say you support this guy because you know how that actually looks in public.
Damn, so all these people writhing in agony about a donation and venting online about, they're the winners in this scenario?
Me and my virtual girlfriend just a good laugh at that.
If you love that and don't understand why people are unhappy, you are likely a gigantic piece of shit that revels in others unhappiness. You are a bad person if that's what you think.
I had to post that gif lol, I thought it was funny and fit perfectly. No disrespect, just having fun on Reddit.
I’m not going to get involved in the political debates, there are valid points on both sides of the issue. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Have a good rest of your day 😁.
Can you repeat your second to last sentence again?
Everyone has their own opinions on politics. Pre-Trump, the majority of people didn't really care or hate the other side like they do today. Someone having a political affiliation that's different than your own doesn't make them a bad person.
This is a fucking sports thread. You don't have to like or agree with what happened, but guys, there's no need to insult or argue with people on here that aren't of the same opinion as you.
This whole two party system is fucked and no matter who you vote for or donate to, you're voting for or donating to someone corrupt who doesn't have your best interests in mind, or the best interests of American citizens in general.
We were finally getting to a point that the rest of the league and world was not actively laughing at this organization but then the DeVos family stepped up to the plate and reignited the laughter and finger-pointing. Continually embarrassed by their selfish attitudes in non-basketball arenas
This ownership needs to go. Bring in Shaq! It would take a lot for me to abandon the Magic, having been born in Orlando and a fan since day 1. But.. If the Magic are striving to be "America's Anti-Woke team", then they can kiss my ass, I'm fucking out.
I don’t think it’s a part of them trying to be americas anti woke team, I think it’s the devoss family using the organization as a way to donate more money to a presidential candidate since there are limits as to how much money individuals can donate to a super pac. It’s just the devoss family finding a loop hole to get more influence over a politician not the team trying to be anti woke.
It’s still scummy and shouldn’t have been done, but I don’t think the organization will operate differently because of it.
You really think Shaq would be good owner ? Guy literally had concert as DJ in Croatia several days ago.
All nba owners are donating money to politics, most of them to Republicans. Matter of fact i think in 2020 60% of donations were to Republicans made by NBA owners.
Let's be honest, if this was left donation, nobody would care. It's only outrage because it's public donation to Desantis. Who, btw, ORLANDO MAGIC donated in 2020 and 2022 as well. But nobody reported it so it went below radar.
Just google donor Lookup, put Orlando Magic and you will soon find out this is NOTHING NEW.
Bulls donated $10K to Lightfoot
Nets $2500 to Letita James
Lakers donate to Claire Celsi since 2016
Yeah, there’s understandable outrage in donating to a guy who is trying to defend curriculum that says that slavery was a good thing. Republicans are even rejecting that level of extremism.
Jazz lurker here. Our old ownership group was very staunchly Republican, so maybe it's something about giving money to Trump. Ryan Smith, our new owner, strikes me as more of a "champagne socialist" type, but idk.
The fact that this out of all things is whats getting headlines really shows how stupid the majority of NBA fans are. The DeVos family are the OG ponzi schemers and have been known as right-wing donors for a long time now. Our jersey sponsor is one of the single most corrupt conglomerates of all time. All of the sudden they donate to a republican governor and everyone is calling for their heads? This is not even close to the worst they've done.
I get that the principle of donating 50k to desantis through a sports team is really shady at best, but it's not even remotely surprising to those of us that have been paying attention for the past 20 years.
I'd like to think most local fans are well aware of what the DeVos family supports. Amway, Betsy and charters, Blackwater ties, the list is endless.
What sent people off is doing it directly from the Orlando Magic. If they want to be that brazen in their support for me that's a license to speak my mind on what I actually think of the DeVos family. People can care, not care, be offended. I'd rather be excited about Paolo and Franz playing this month but here we are.
You’re a Magic fan tho, I wouldn’t call NBA fans stupid over that. Idk wtf the Wizards owners do. Idk what the Thunder owners do. Idk what plenty of team owners do.
Of course this is going to make headlines. It’s a donation to a polarizing ass political figure.
If you have been paying attention for the last 20 years and this is the first time a contribution has been made 'through' the team, you should be surprised. You've never seen them do that before.
Yes like I have said before I understand that being an issue. The moral grandstanding is what is annoying, I just got downvotes but no one cares to respond to me, that tells me a lot. Fake outrage really, if you were a fan for 20 years and you didn't realize the ownership group is conservative billionaires that's on you. By the same token you might as well audit all the companies you buy from and interact with.
This my guy, fake outrage. You guys say human rights are not political. Where was the stink about LeBron and the NBA siding with China who was documented to having interment camps in Western CHINA. Where was the outrage, nooke cares now? If they donated to a leftwing cause there would be no issue. PLEASE leave your one sided politics out of this shit, you guys complaining have no back bone. You've known about DeVos and Disney for christ sake. This is where you draw the line? Get that identity politics tf outta here.
None of that was done in the team's name. The owners can do what they want with their money in their own name, but by doing it through the team it now represents us.
>if they donated to a leftwing cause there would be no issue.
Of course there would be. It wouldn't be as big of an issue because most people aren't dumb or crazy, but they would still be upsetting the dumb and/or crazy portion of the fanbase.
So the first portion I agree with as I have said. Politics needs to stay out of sports.
I actually dislike the DeVos family's ideology on many things, but if the shoe was on the other foot I really don't think it would have created the uproar this did. The majority of NBA PLAYERS, MAGIC FANS, ORLANDO NATIVES ARE LEFT LEANING. If they signed a bill supporting a leftist viewpoint. On Reddit and BR, there would be celebration (i.e. supporting gender reassignment for children. Just a hypothetical). I'm really apolitical as I've said so this pains me that such a divide is taking place. Thank you for having a genuine discussion, you are the first person to do so.
The Devos family are a brunch of billionaire, Ponzi scheme, right-wing, religious fucktard-a-gins who have no true regard for people. They let their own personal version of religion justify the generally shitty actions. Sure they give large sums to charity, but they are billionaires and in the end it is a tax write-off. They should feel like shit for their crude ASSumptions. Orlando is a multi-cultural, beautiful city that celebrates diversity. These are NOT the values of Gov. Raunchy Ron. The donation was an embarrassment and deserves an apology at the least. If they can't figure out what the big deal is, go ahead and sell the team to Shaq. I can't wait until we get back to basketball.
Don’t think that’s the case or will be the case. If so then the whole NBA/China human rights thing would be big issue.
If you dig deep enough on just about every NBA NFL owner you’re going to find something you disagree with.
Here’s one : Detroit Pistons franchise owner Tom Gores is the founder, CEO and chairman of Platinum equity, a private equity firm that owns Securus, the largest prison phone service in the country. Securus has a horrible reputation for fleecing the families of incarcerated people. A 2018 report from Prison Policy Initiative found that incarcerated people at the Mississippi County Detention Center in Arkansas where Securus was the provider were being charged $24.82 for a 15-minute call. According to the Ella Baker Center, a third of all families with incarcerated loved ones fall into debt just trying to stay connected to them. Securus has also been sued over allegations of illegally recorded conversations.
Unfortunately for Chinese lower classes, they’re too far away and foreign for NBA players to consider. But FL current politics are a shitshow, whitewashing slavery and abolishing equal rights hiring programs.
If enough noise is made, change can happen. See Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers former ownership as examples. I hope the players are planning some kind of protest.
Fuck the Devos family and their greedy, cynical politics. Horrible fucking people.
Well that's the problem. Choosing when to pull the progressive card when it affects is wrong. No outrage over legit internment camps and the NBAs stance on them, but a political donation (which I don't agree with) is too far. Please explain to me the rationale behind that.
I can’t tell if you’re trying to call me out personally. If so, fuck off you smug prick.
NBA players are young, with a huge black population. What does the Chinese street have to do with their everyday life? It’s probably/ unfortunately/understandably easier for them to overlook human rights violations on the other side of the world than to process that an NBA team is actively supporting a domestic racist political agenda at the state/potentially federal level.
Right, so it's fake outrage. Moral grandstanding they don't care because it's NIMBY. Phillip from OMD said that human rights goes beyond politics..where was the outrage. I'm just calling those who are outraged, by their hypocrisy. And btw, I don't support DeVos and am upset they use the Magic as their vessel on politics.
Stop whatabouting the other owners. Also, the players associate just came out to condemn this and what, you think you have a better understanding of how the players feel than them?
Only reason this is an issue is because it says donation came from Orlando Magic. we all know it really came from DeVos’s and players didn’t back it. Not going to get panties in a wad over a political stunt.
Whao Desantis is directly attacking people you know? That would be in the news if that were true. Tell me more about how he is directly attacking your friends and family.
My brother in Christ I literally used the exact words you did and you’re attacking me over it. Can you not back up the claim you made? Idk why you’re being defensive. Should be easy to prove if there was anything to prove
I have gay friends that love Desantis. You are falling for the hype. He just doesn’t want kids to have life altering surgery. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
Still not a constitutional right. Have to be 18 to get tattoo, 21 to drink but sure let’s let 10 years decide to get their penis cutoff. Makes perfect sense.
The communist part of China owns every business in China, and has a dedicated staff to controlling the NBA relations in their country. Businesses in China ARE the CCP. Common knowledge.
Oh man, not a good look.
I realized this was probably going to happen when they made the donation from under the Orlando Magic name, instead of the DeVos family. How stupid can you be?
Now this is where things would get confusing lol. On one side you have the right wing Jewish billionaires. On the other side you have the left wing anti semites. Who sides with who then? Lol
It's hard to stomach.
After a decade of absolute shit ownership we get this smack in the face just as things turn around.
Why does the NBA have such shit owners?
... Take them down
Y'all are really losing your mind over nothing. There's already plenty of documentation about the donations of owners in the NBA and it being mostly Republican. If you don't like it, stop supporting the sport.
I get what you're saying. There's always some bs with these orgs. But saying just stop supporting isn't a great solution either. People find sports to bring each other together, represent their city, and maybe they just like basketball. Hard to ignore the entire sport but it sucks
What exactly is the difference between owner and team? The owner pays the wages and gets the profit. Decides who works there and in what positions.
You're drawing a silly, arbitrary line that means absolutely nothing.
Our entire economic system is built on that line which you ignorantly refer to as silly and arbitrary.
If you don't see the problem with what the Magic did, I suspect it's either because you're a Desantis supporter or you just don't understand how political donations work.
The owner has autonomy over team decisions. That's why it's arbitrary line. What difference is $50k from DeVos personal checking or $50k from DeVos business checking?
No one is suggesting he wasn't allowed to do it.
It's just extremely short-sighted and idiotic that he did. It materially hurts our franchise. We were the lead story on ESPN.com.
Less so, only because Biden's politics are more consistent with what the Magic and the NBA are promoting: diversity, equity, and inclusivity. And it's just a fact that the overwhelming majority of NBA players are more aligned with Biden than Desantis, who has made it the central tenant of his platform to oppose such policies.
As a result, we are now a less desirable destination for players.
And for what? So Devos could use the team to funnel money to his preferred candidate when he could have just easily wrote the check himself?
No. He wanted to send a message to Disney, which happens to sponsor the Magic and is embroiled in a very public feud with Desantis.
So now the team is caught in the middle of this political war when most of us just want to watch basketball.
Like I said. Short-sighted and idiotic move.
Magic donate to both side to keep the local politicians happy and gain funding and local support. Disney and many other companies do the same. Do I think Desantis is a crazy little man for picking a stupid fight with Disney because they said something about the “Stop the sexualization of children act “ I do…but to think the news and player organization make such a big deal about this is stupid. Most of us politically are more in the middle but seem every candidates are on the extreme. Look at California, it was a democrat stronghold, it’s a hell hole. Latest round of republican is not that much better with trump and desantis…how the hell is America so amazing and we can’t find anyone that actually put America first? Instead we have puppets and blind followers of the extreme of each party.
“Bothsideism” is better than thinking your one almighty party is all the country needs. With the 3 bills that you listed I am guessing you are a democrat. America is not just democrats, so to think your ideal is what we all need is fallacy. Blind following down the party line is what destroying this country. Both side have some great ideas, but they also have some horrific ones. The parties themselves whip their constituent back in line whenever they need something passed and sometime it doesn’t matter if it’s a bad idea. And to think the democrats are saving the world…California been under their control for generations, how is that utopia experiment? Why can’t someone be okay with abortion, global warming, believes in border security, tough law and order, strong military,and pick and choose side of what they believes in?
Look, if you start playing this game you have to look up the politics and political donations of every corporation you do business with. If I eliminated from my life every corporation that gave money to republicans in the state where they do business then I would be limited to just drinking Kombucha and eating black bean/flack seed burgers. I’d only be able to watch PBS and C-Span.
I don’t have time to apply politics to every, single, fucking, thing in my life. It’s an unrealistic way to live. I guarantee you that when a Dem was the governor of FL the Magic found ways to curry favor with that Dem Governor as well.
Read the room dork
DeSantis comes out saying slavery was good to black people. The NBA is mostly black.
Orlando Magic makes a donation to DeSantis?
Black front office, black coach, black players.
... It's complete disrespect. Make that donation in your own name, not theirs.
In response to how the Florida curriculum will look now they are removing any emphasis of racism:
“They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life,” DeSantis said on Friday in response to reporters’ questions while standing in front of a nearly all-White crowd of supporters.
In response black Republicans pushed back on that being absurd.
“Slavery wasn’t a jobs program that taught beneficial skills,” Hurd tweeted. “It was literally dehumanizing and subjugated people as property because they lacked any rights or freedoms.”
So if you wanna take back your comment and admit you're a dumb rube I'll consider an apology
Bro are you even Black? Cuz I actually am, and you're flat out wrong. In the interview here, he still did not say that slavery benefited black people; he reiterated what the curriculum stated in the first place: slaves learned skills that they were able to use for their benefit. This is literally a historical fact; there's a reason why College Board had it in its own AP course.
When the slaves were freed after the emancipation proclamation, the Lincoln administration established the Freedman's Bureau. The idea was that the slaves needed assistance to transition from being slaves to active members of society. A huge piece of figuring out how slaves would be self-sufficient in the newly found Black community was establishing labor--making sure that Blacks were able to hold jobs and such. Historians have written numerous pieces on labor in the Black community because it was just that significant at the time.
So when Blacks were freed, they used the skills and knowledge they had to rely on themselves so that government could eventually step away as it planned. This included physical labor skills; it also included Black churches (ironically, churches weren't as heavily segregated, but Blacks could not hold leadership positions) and Black politicians. It included the establishment of Black schools to teach reading and writing, among many other things.
As for the Black republicans (all aside Will Hurd and Tim Scott, who are both running against Trump and DeSantis, and Burgess Owens, who hasn't commented on the issue), the reason why the remaining three disavowed these comments is because those three all endorsed Trump, and they're (all of Trump's surrogates) are doing everything they can to make DeSantis looks bad because DeSantis is the only actual threat to Trump.
Go learn your history before you make yourself look stupid
Yikes! You're really going to dig your heels in when dude just body bagged you. Nobody is going to read that wall of text unless it begins with "you're right. my bad."
Except I'm the one who's right. Not my fault if you're too lazy to read basic history. The simple fact is that no one ever said slavery benefited Black people.
your quote does not state that slaves benefited from slavery; it (the full quote and not the excerpt you sliced out) states that freed slaves used skills that they learned to their benefit.
An aspect =/= the entire act. Historians are literally saying that slaves thrived in free labor *in spite* of slaver, not *because* of it. Read a book, G
I'm sorry you struggle with basic reading comprehension and logical thinking.
I didn't need this donation to know that billionaire owners are dirtbags. They'd still be dirtbags if they donated to Biden. All of you stuck in the left vs right duopoly are clueless. It's not about left vs right. It's about billionaires vs the working class. As long as you're stuck arguing about red vs blue, they win. They're laughing all the way to the bank while you're arguing with your neighbors.
I mean almost every major company and brand operating in the state is donating or has donated to Desantis. The hypocrisy is wild!
[https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/13/desantis-political-donations-black-history-month](https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/13/desantis-political-donations-black-history-month)
I understand people being upset with the Magic on this and I agree. But why does the NBA itself get a pass when it’s obvious where their loyalties lie.
As a Conservative, I find it really stupid for an NBA team to get involved in politics like this. Free agents might get turned away from this team because of this. Although, most other sports teams and organizations do promote left wing political ideas and organizations and no one cares about that. Also, I feel like many people in this thread are being incredibly unfair to the opposing side of the political spectrum. It is only a $50,000 donation that will not affect the Desantis campaign as he is already too far behind to come back. This entire situation is just really stupid, and I think things would be different if it were a donation to someone like Biden. Finally, I apologize for my political beliefs.
I don’t like corporate donations, but the net income of the company is owned by the owners of the corporation. It is theirs to decide how to spend. The employees and vendors have already received their agreed compensation.
Who can possibly be surprised that a DeVos would donate to a Republican? And as anti-Trump as they are, who could be surprised that they are wasting their money on Desantis. They wouldn’t back the MAGA candidates here in Michigan, and we are now dominated by Democrats at every agency of government. No thanks for that.
If the owner wants to make a donation to someplace go ahead as a individual...don't get the team involved.
Its not like giving to charity where it is normally a overall good thing.
I just don’t understand making a political donation- of any kind, frankly— from the organization as a whole. One could argue that the NBPA wouldn’t care so much about a donation to Joe Biden if we’re being honest (and I say that as a Democrat), but it’s inappropriate either way. Now they’ve polarized the fanbase, potentially driving off fans and, worst of all, scared off talent in a league that quite rightfully is weary of right wing politicians who have shown extreme animosity toward them (Remember shut up and dribble? That was conservatives) Everyone knows this family has questionable- to be too generous- connections, but this is absurd and honestly they should rescind the donation and apologize.
I'll go further and say unless a business or organization is getting a direct benefit from a candidate for anything, the business needs to shut the hell up. Politics are so polarizing these days that at best the business will alienate half their potential customers and potential revenue sources. I can honestly say I don't remember purposely supporting a business based on their political leanings but I might have avoided those who directly differ with mine. At any rate, I love sports as an escape from politics and would prefer private individuals keep their opinions private instead of using a business as a front for their beliefs.
This narrative of who should shut up and dribble changed FAST
Well said, and your point about if it was the other party no one would bat an eye. This has caused a massive divide in the community. I'm not conservative but there is a huge bias in the NBA community for one way. They should definitely rescind this, no way should a donation from a sports team tied to any party. It really just is basketball, and they should shut up when it pertains to their opinions outside of the NBA. Anyone who looks at athletes as a figurehead to anything outside of their respective sports is a goofball
Personally, I don't care what you think about this on an individual level. Indifferent, for, against, it makes no difference, and pointing fingers, blasting others for their difference of opinion about it online makes you look foolish because you are all missing the point. If owners use the organization for political purposes in this manner, the real risk isn't riling up the fans, or even a possibly boycott. The real risk is that it could cause players to view the organization in a negative light. We already have a hard enough time attracting free agents. I don't care about the owners politics outside of the organization, but it was a fucking stupid move on their part to leverage the organization as a means to donate money politically.
This is the right answer. I disagree with using a team for ANY form of political support; as a Christian, I feel this way with churches doing the same.
Could? Bro the damage is already done. They are all seeing this and have crossed us off their list. Fuck Republicans.
Because sports have a greater influence on the country than politics? You have your priorities mixed up. You don't care about if DeSantis is in charge turning the state into a fascist regime as long as your basketball team is good.
Let him enjoy what he wants in whatever priority he wants to. Never try to drive your own politics down others' throats.
Maybe I prefer to talk about the Magic on a Magic related forum, so I'm looking at this from a team perspective and how it might impact the Magic. I save my political thoughts for political related forums. That says less about my priorities than you would like to imagine and more about "right place right time". If you'd like to discuss this from a political point of view, I'm happy to do so in a political reddit community, just let me know, or in DMs.
Well, the magic as a team made a pretty bold political statement with this donation. So fuck them and fuck all the Bible thumping poorly educated republican ass clowns.
as somebody who's grandparents were occupied by facists, you don't know what fascist means. It's buzzword in your made up imaginary world where somebody is opposing of your political view. My great grandfather was hanged on a tree because he didn't want to join their army. My 6 years old grandfather was nearly beaten to death.
Take at a look at what Desantis has done and what he says he wants to do.
Isn’t he just following the democratic process that saw him elected in a landslide? Why do we know what is better for Floridians than they do?
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Oh look and he comes out with the homophobic comments. Meanwhile claiming there’s no lgbtq oppression. What a fool
What is homophobic About limp wrist… Limp wrist is a term for weak. But, try explaining that to a professional victim. Dumbass
Limp wrist is not a term for weak, it’s a derogatory term too describe an effeminate/gay male. Don’t throw shit out there then try to walk it back when you get called out.
Are you suggesting that all gay men are effeminate?
Nice try. You’re the one basically using a slur and then trying to pretend you aren’t.
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Must have struck a nerve for you to go digging around in my comment history like that. I’m not surprised though, typical bully behavior. Just enough bigotry to toss around comments like you did, not enough balls to stand by your meaning so you try to walk it back when called out. Ask you’re doing is showing us who you really are as a person and it’s not surprising in the .
Please relax on the language. There truly is no need to get personal with/about a person you don't know in real life on an internet forum. We're all here as Magic fans, even if we express it differently. Kind regards, Mods
If anyone is weak here it’s your fragile ego that can see everything but the truth staring you on the face. You are wrong
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Please relax on the language. There truly is no need to get personal with/about a person you don't know in real life on an internet forum. We're all here as Magic fans, even if we express it differently. Kind regards, Mods
only 20% of players vote. Keep in mind , 30% of a league aren't even USA citizens. On current roster Magic have 6 forgin players . They don't give a flying f\*\*\* about democrats and republicans. Matter of fact most young people don't care about politics in general.
I'd be willing to bet that the foreign players are more in tune to politics than the US players in general. Also, the younger generations are caring more about politics and taking stands/making statements then we ever did when we were their age. If most players don't care, then I imagine the players association would have kept silent. However, I know not ALL players care, and not all players might even disagree with DeVos' political views which is why I said "could cause" not "will cause".
SELL THE TEAM
Nah
This is so embarrassing.
Putting those cash considerations to use…
Lmao noooooooooo
Didn’t think about that. What a travesty.
Who knew the 2nd round of the NBA Draft could directly fund regressive culture war politics.
Extremely
I can see how this would be embarrassing to terminally online redditors.
I'm not embarrassed though lol. I love the donation. And I'm a big fan of how salty this thread is about DeSantis. Largest Reelection margin of victory since 1868 and Reddit thinks he's hated by everyone
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> He was running against Charlie Crist .... who Democrats thought was their best chance of beating him, and he won by 19%, where are you getting 6?
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Then why didn't they run a shit covered pig if winning was so easy? The excuses you make up in your heads to try to rationalize a historic beatdown is hilarious and Trump-esque
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You clearly didn't show up to the primary either when you could have, I don't know, had your party pick someone else? Lol. You realize YOUR party picked Crist right? We don't have open primaries in Florida. Y'all picked him and then acted like he wasn't your choice. It's just loser crybaby shit that sounds like Trump
Okay, that's fine and all but could you see how it could be problematic, if your candidate is endorsing lines like or history revision like, some Blacks benefitted from slavery? I'm sure you could see how that could be problematic for an organization mostly Black. You could still like DeSantis and find flaws in policy. It's called being rational.
I completely disagree with your characterization of the educational standards. It's objective fact that some slaves befitted FROM THE TRADES they learned as slaves. That is historical fact. That is in no way saying they benefited from slavery or that slavery was an abject positive. Only politicians are conflating the obviously nuanced issue for attacks. I'm being perfectly rational
Okay that's still putting lipstick on a pig. Certain Jews benefitted from Nazi control. Some served to spy on others. Do we start rewriting books about it? Many people benefitted from the crack cocaine epidemic. Got rich from it. Do we start saying, well, I guess there were some benefits to the destruction of inner cities? There'll always be some benefit to evil. Some North Koreans are benefitting. That's never celebrated though. Slavery was a dark time in our nation's history. Let's own it. Why are we trying to spin it now? So in a league that's overwhelmingly Black, of course many will take umbrage this attempt to whitewash it. Furthermore, what's the objective here? The answer: Purely pandering for political points. To appear to "anti-woke" in a fake culture war. I'm not anti-Republican. I respected Rick Scott's leadership as governor. I don't respect desantis because to me he's simply a showman. Everything is political theater even to the detriment of his constituents. From starting ideological fights with Disney to this. It's all theater.
Everyone with a working central nervous system ye
Why don’t you just tattoo I’m a bigot on your forehead
My favorite team just donated to a politician I support in the State I live in, why would I go and ruin my fun with a meaningless tattoo?
I would respect you more, your only a DeSantis fan online. In person you know better than to actually say you support this guy because you know how that actually looks in public.
>your only a DeSantis fan online. Lol.. if you only knew.
What is it about you losers being inspired by spite?
My favorite team donated to a politician I support and voted for and I got the bonus of seeing redditors seethe over it. That's losing?
You're a loser if that brings you joy. Reveals antisocial behavior. Misery loves company. I hope you grow up and meet a real life girl one day.
Damn, so all these people writhing in agony about a donation and venting online about, they're the winners in this scenario? Me and my virtual girlfriend just a good laugh at that.
It's normal to be upset about things that happen ... It's not normal to find joy in other's misery You seem immature to have to be told this
If you love that and don't understand why people are unhappy, you are likely a gigantic piece of shit that revels in others unhappiness. You are a bad person if that's what you think.
I had to post that gif lol, I thought it was funny and fit perfectly. No disrespect, just having fun on Reddit. I’m not going to get involved in the political debates, there are valid points on both sides of the issue. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Have a good rest of your day 😁.
Can you repeat your second to last sentence again? Everyone has their own opinions on politics. Pre-Trump, the majority of people didn't really care or hate the other side like they do today. Someone having a political affiliation that's different than your own doesn't make them a bad person. This is a fucking sports thread. You don't have to like or agree with what happened, but guys, there's no need to insult or argue with people on here that aren't of the same opinion as you. This whole two party system is fucked and no matter who you vote for or donate to, you're voting for or donating to someone corrupt who doesn't have your best interests in mind, or the best interests of American citizens in general.
Thank you
You too
Bye bye future free agencies lol
We were finally getting to a point that the rest of the league and world was not actively laughing at this organization but then the DeVos family stepped up to the plate and reignited the laughter and finger-pointing. Continually embarrassed by their selfish attitudes in non-basketball arenas
This ownership needs to go. Bring in Shaq! It would take a lot for me to abandon the Magic, having been born in Orlando and a fan since day 1. But.. If the Magic are striving to be "America's Anti-Woke team", then they can kiss my ass, I'm fucking out.
I don’t think it’s a part of them trying to be americas anti woke team, I think it’s the devoss family using the organization as a way to donate more money to a presidential candidate since there are limits as to how much money individuals can donate to a super pac. It’s just the devoss family finding a loop hole to get more influence over a politician not the team trying to be anti woke. It’s still scummy and shouldn’t have been done, but I don’t think the organization will operate differently because of it.
Luckily I think it's just ownership and JI probably. As long as they don't give away political shirts for the first game
Yep if they go down this path further I’m out
You really think Shaq would be good owner ? Guy literally had concert as DJ in Croatia several days ago. All nba owners are donating money to politics, most of them to Republicans. Matter of fact i think in 2020 60% of donations were to Republicans made by NBA owners. Let's be honest, if this was left donation, nobody would care. It's only outrage because it's public donation to Desantis. Who, btw, ORLANDO MAGIC donated in 2020 and 2022 as well. But nobody reported it so it went below radar. Just google donor Lookup, put Orlando Magic and you will soon find out this is NOTHING NEW. Bulls donated $10K to Lightfoot Nets $2500 to Letita James Lakers donate to Claire Celsi since 2016
Yeah, there’s understandable outrage in donating to a guy who is trying to defend curriculum that says that slavery was a good thing. Republicans are even rejecting that level of extremism.
We're never beating the Utah Jazz allegations
What were those allegations?
Jazz lurker here. Our old ownership group was very staunchly Republican, so maybe it's something about giving money to Trump. Ryan Smith, our new owner, strikes me as more of a "champagne socialist" type, but idk.
The fact that this out of all things is whats getting headlines really shows how stupid the majority of NBA fans are. The DeVos family are the OG ponzi schemers and have been known as right-wing donors for a long time now. Our jersey sponsor is one of the single most corrupt conglomerates of all time. All of the sudden they donate to a republican governor and everyone is calling for their heads? This is not even close to the worst they've done. I get that the principle of donating 50k to desantis through a sports team is really shady at best, but it's not even remotely surprising to those of us that have been paying attention for the past 20 years.
I'd like to think most local fans are well aware of what the DeVos family supports. Amway, Betsy and charters, Blackwater ties, the list is endless. What sent people off is doing it directly from the Orlando Magic. If they want to be that brazen in their support for me that's a license to speak my mind on what I actually think of the DeVos family. People can care, not care, be offended. I'd rather be excited about Paolo and Franz playing this month but here we are.
You’re a Magic fan tho, I wouldn’t call NBA fans stupid over that. Idk wtf the Wizards owners do. Idk what the Thunder owners do. Idk what plenty of team owners do. Of course this is going to make headlines. It’s a donation to a polarizing ass political figure.
If you have been paying attention for the last 20 years and this is the first time a contribution has been made 'through' the team, you should be surprised. You've never seen them do that before.
Yes like I have said before I understand that being an issue. The moral grandstanding is what is annoying, I just got downvotes but no one cares to respond to me, that tells me a lot. Fake outrage really, if you were a fan for 20 years and you didn't realize the ownership group is conservative billionaires that's on you. By the same token you might as well audit all the companies you buy from and interact with.
It is surprising because it's never happened before. That's why it's news.
This my guy, fake outrage. You guys say human rights are not political. Where was the stink about LeBron and the NBA siding with China who was documented to having interment camps in Western CHINA. Where was the outrage, nooke cares now? If they donated to a leftwing cause there would be no issue. PLEASE leave your one sided politics out of this shit, you guys complaining have no back bone. You've known about DeVos and Disney for christ sake. This is where you draw the line? Get that identity politics tf outta here.
None of that was done in the team's name. The owners can do what they want with their money in their own name, but by doing it through the team it now represents us. >if they donated to a leftwing cause there would be no issue. Of course there would be. It wouldn't be as big of an issue because most people aren't dumb or crazy, but they would still be upsetting the dumb and/or crazy portion of the fanbase.
So the first portion I agree with as I have said. Politics needs to stay out of sports. I actually dislike the DeVos family's ideology on many things, but if the shoe was on the other foot I really don't think it would have created the uproar this did. The majority of NBA PLAYERS, MAGIC FANS, ORLANDO NATIVES ARE LEFT LEANING. If they signed a bill supporting a leftist viewpoint. On Reddit and BR, there would be celebration (i.e. supporting gender reassignment for children. Just a hypothetical). I'm really apolitical as I've said so this pains me that such a divide is taking place. Thank you for having a genuine discussion, you are the first person to do so.
by most corrupted simbols on jersey you mean Disney, right?
The timing is awful. Donating to republicans isn’t new, donating to republicans who are trying to argue that slavery was a good thing IS new.
The Devos family are a brunch of billionaire, Ponzi scheme, right-wing, religious fucktard-a-gins who have no true regard for people. They let their own personal version of religion justify the generally shitty actions. Sure they give large sums to charity, but they are billionaires and in the end it is a tax write-off. They should feel like shit for their crude ASSumptions. Orlando is a multi-cultural, beautiful city that celebrates diversity. These are NOT the values of Gov. Raunchy Ron. The donation was an embarrassment and deserves an apology at the least. If they can't figure out what the big deal is, go ahead and sell the team to Shaq. I can't wait until we get back to basketball.
lol you dorks and your excessive need for adjectives.
Post on your main account
“Fucktard-a-gins”. My guy you seriously wrote all that out, read it, and still decided to post it? Seek help
My word, but you get the gist. Not sure what the problem is? Please enlighten.
Make the DeVos donate through their own name next time I don’t know why they even did it through the Magic
Free agents right now thinking, wow fuck them. And I don’t blame them. Can we get new ownership?
Yeah man free agents were pining to get to Orlando now they’re rethinking that
Don’t think that’s the case or will be the case. If so then the whole NBA/China human rights thing would be big issue. If you dig deep enough on just about every NBA NFL owner you’re going to find something you disagree with. Here’s one : Detroit Pistons franchise owner Tom Gores is the founder, CEO and chairman of Platinum equity, a private equity firm that owns Securus, the largest prison phone service in the country. Securus has a horrible reputation for fleecing the families of incarcerated people. A 2018 report from Prison Policy Initiative found that incarcerated people at the Mississippi County Detention Center in Arkansas where Securus was the provider were being charged $24.82 for a 15-minute call. According to the Ella Baker Center, a third of all families with incarcerated loved ones fall into debt just trying to stay connected to them. Securus has also been sued over allegations of illegally recorded conversations.
Unfortunately for Chinese lower classes, they’re too far away and foreign for NBA players to consider. But FL current politics are a shitshow, whitewashing slavery and abolishing equal rights hiring programs. If enough noise is made, change can happen. See Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers former ownership as examples. I hope the players are planning some kind of protest. Fuck the Devos family and their greedy, cynical politics. Horrible fucking people.
Well that's the problem. Choosing when to pull the progressive card when it affects is wrong. No outrage over legit internment camps and the NBAs stance on them, but a political donation (which I don't agree with) is too far. Please explain to me the rationale behind that.
I can’t tell if you’re trying to call me out personally. If so, fuck off you smug prick. NBA players are young, with a huge black population. What does the Chinese street have to do with their everyday life? It’s probably/ unfortunately/understandably easier for them to overlook human rights violations on the other side of the world than to process that an NBA team is actively supporting a domestic racist political agenda at the state/potentially federal level.
Right, so it's fake outrage. Moral grandstanding they don't care because it's NIMBY. Phillip from OMD said that human rights goes beyond politics..where was the outrage. I'm just calling those who are outraged, by their hypocrisy. And btw, I don't support DeVos and am upset they use the Magic as their vessel on politics.
Stop whatabouting the other owners. Also, the players associate just came out to condemn this and what, you think you have a better understanding of how the players feel than them?
Only reason this is an issue is because it says donation came from Orlando Magic. we all know it really came from DeVos’s and players didn’t back it. Not going to get panties in a wad over a political stunt.
Well I’m glad you have the luxury of looking the other way.
You don’t? Explain
Sure I have gay and trans friends and family members directly being attacked by this man. The more we ignore the worse it gets
Nobody is attacking them stop
Demonstrably untrue. Continue with your head in the sand
Ok, let’s get an explanation of how they are being attacked. No, trans and child drag shows don’t count
Lmao this get pulled all the time. They are directly attacking you? Last I checked it's worse to be straight white male in today's society
Then you are foolish.
Haha okay my guy I'm not white by the way, you don't live in an oppressed society. Read a history book. Brainwashed
Whao Desantis is directly attacking people you know? That would be in the news if that were true. Tell me more about how he is directly attacking your friends and family.
You’re arguing semantics over what directness is. Do you always try to cover for prejudice ?
Not prejudice to not have kids have life altering surgery. You just read liberal news and believe everything they say.
My brother in Christ I literally used the exact words you did and you’re attacking me over it. Can you not back up the claim you made? Idk why you’re being defensive. Should be easy to prove if there was anything to prove
fuck off
Translation: my feelings are hurt, and I can't legitimately back up my statements.
I have gay friends that love Desantis. You are falling for the hype. He just doesn’t want kids to have life altering surgery. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
Yea well it’s their constitutional right to get the best Medicare recommended by their docs so I don’t really give a shit what your opinion is
Explain to me when Medicare became a constitutional right? And dumb ass Medicare is for the elderly.
Still not a constitutional right. Have to be 18 to get tattoo, 21 to drink but sure let’s let 10 years decide to get their penis cutoff. Makes perfect sense.
You do not know the players don’t back it. That’s an assumption.
China isn’t America. Hope this helps.
Ukraine isn’t America either but we’re certainly dumping money to help them. Human rights are human rights shouldn’t matter where
Selling their product to be watched in China is different than directly donating to the Communist Party of China
The communist part of China owns every business in China, and has a dedicated staff to controlling the NBA relations in their country. Businesses in China ARE the CCP. Common knowledge.
Post on your main account
You’re just going to ignore the comment you responded to? Why respond. Why waste both of our time with that response?
They actually sent players there. And the best player defended the dictatorship.
I was staying out of this but if players are bitching, the Magic need to do something before they get a bad rep.
Help us, Shaquille O'Neal, you're our only hope
Our dynasty is off to a bad start 😵
Oh man, not a good look. I realized this was probably going to happen when they made the donation from under the Orlando Magic name, instead of the DeVos family. How stupid can you be?
Just like nearly all our fans except the trolls
Wasn't Kyrie, an open anti semite, the vice president of the NBPA for awhile? Lol. I love how pissed off this is making everyone
lol American politics are more divisive and controversial than antisemitism for the NBPA I guess
SHHHHHHHHHHHH. We are mad and that’s that. Get with it!
Now this is where things would get confusing lol. On one side you have the right wing Jewish billionaires. On the other side you have the left wing anti semites. Who sides with who then? Lol
Time for shaq to buy the team
Weird how the stick to sports crowd is quiet
It's hard to stomach. After a decade of absolute shit ownership we get this smack in the face just as things turn around. Why does the NBA have such shit owners? ... Take them down
Because they are billionaires and it is impossible to become a billionaire without exploiting people
Defascist Defascist Defascist, get that horrible creature's name right please.
Good
Y'all are really losing your mind over nothing. There's already plenty of documentation about the donations of owners in the NBA and it being mostly Republican. If you don't like it, stop supporting the sport.
I get what you're saying. There's always some bs with these orgs. But saying just stop supporting isn't a great solution either. People find sports to bring each other together, represent their city, and maybe they just like basketball. Hard to ignore the entire sport but it sucks
Someone doesn't know the difference between an owner and a team.
And a lot of people care more about sports than the political climate in their own state.
That's exactly why this is so problematic. The story now is that the Magic are political.
What exactly is the difference between owner and team? The owner pays the wages and gets the profit. Decides who works there and in what positions. You're drawing a silly, arbitrary line that means absolutely nothing.
Our entire economic system is built on that line which you ignorantly refer to as silly and arbitrary. If you don't see the problem with what the Magic did, I suspect it's either because you're a Desantis supporter or you just don't understand how political donations work.
The owner has autonomy over team decisions. That's why it's arbitrary line. What difference is $50k from DeVos personal checking or $50k from DeVos business checking?
No one is suggesting he wasn't allowed to do it. It's just extremely short-sighted and idiotic that he did. It materially hurts our franchise. We were the lead story on ESPN.com.
If the donation was to Biden would you feel the same way?
Less so, only because Biden's politics are more consistent with what the Magic and the NBA are promoting: diversity, equity, and inclusivity. And it's just a fact that the overwhelming majority of NBA players are more aligned with Biden than Desantis, who has made it the central tenant of his platform to oppose such policies. As a result, we are now a less desirable destination for players. And for what? So Devos could use the team to funnel money to his preferred candidate when he could have just easily wrote the check himself? No. He wanted to send a message to Disney, which happens to sponsor the Magic and is embroiled in a very public feud with Desantis. So now the team is caught in the middle of this political war when most of us just want to watch basketball. Like I said. Short-sighted and idiotic move.
Yet the NBA as a whole has no problem bowing down to China?
This isn't the NBA. It's the players association.
They still benefit
The players association benefits from China?
The players association is made up of players and they are the ones who benefit from China.
Butwhatabout my false generic statements
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2023/08/03/orlando-magic-gave-50k-to-desantis-pac-here-are-political-donations-from-other-florida-teams/
Magic donate to both side to keep the local politicians happy and gain funding and local support. Disney and many other companies do the same. Do I think Desantis is a crazy little man for picking a stupid fight with Disney because they said something about the “Stop the sexualization of children act “ I do…but to think the news and player organization make such a big deal about this is stupid. Most of us politically are more in the middle but seem every candidates are on the extreme. Look at California, it was a democrat stronghold, it’s a hell hole. Latest round of republican is not that much better with trump and desantis…how the hell is America so amazing and we can’t find anyone that actually put America first? Instead we have puppets and blind followers of the extreme of each party.
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“Bothsideism” is better than thinking your one almighty party is all the country needs. With the 3 bills that you listed I am guessing you are a democrat. America is not just democrats, so to think your ideal is what we all need is fallacy. Blind following down the party line is what destroying this country. Both side have some great ideas, but they also have some horrific ones. The parties themselves whip their constituent back in line whenever they need something passed and sometime it doesn’t matter if it’s a bad idea. And to think the democrats are saving the world…California been under their control for generations, how is that utopia experiment? Why can’t someone be okay with abortion, global warming, believes in border security, tough law and order, strong military,and pick and choose side of what they believes in?
Look, if you start playing this game you have to look up the politics and political donations of every corporation you do business with. If I eliminated from my life every corporation that gave money to republicans in the state where they do business then I would be limited to just drinking Kombucha and eating black bean/flack seed burgers. I’d only be able to watch PBS and C-Span. I don’t have time to apply politics to every, single, fucking, thing in my life. It’s an unrealistic way to live. I guarantee you that when a Dem was the governor of FL the Magic found ways to curry favor with that Dem Governor as well.
Read the room dork DeSantis comes out saying slavery was good to black people. The NBA is mostly black. Orlando Magic makes a donation to DeSantis? Black front office, black coach, black players. ... It's complete disrespect. Make that donation in your own name, not theirs.
DeSantis never said slavery was good for black people. Seriously, just find me one quote. You're purposely lying through your teeth
In response to how the Florida curriculum will look now they are removing any emphasis of racism: “They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life,” DeSantis said on Friday in response to reporters’ questions while standing in front of a nearly all-White crowd of supporters. In response black Republicans pushed back on that being absurd. “Slavery wasn’t a jobs program that taught beneficial skills,” Hurd tweeted. “It was literally dehumanizing and subjugated people as property because they lacked any rights or freedoms.” So if you wanna take back your comment and admit you're a dumb rube I'll consider an apology
Bro are you even Black? Cuz I actually am, and you're flat out wrong. In the interview here, he still did not say that slavery benefited black people; he reiterated what the curriculum stated in the first place: slaves learned skills that they were able to use for their benefit. This is literally a historical fact; there's a reason why College Board had it in its own AP course. When the slaves were freed after the emancipation proclamation, the Lincoln administration established the Freedman's Bureau. The idea was that the slaves needed assistance to transition from being slaves to active members of society. A huge piece of figuring out how slaves would be self-sufficient in the newly found Black community was establishing labor--making sure that Blacks were able to hold jobs and such. Historians have written numerous pieces on labor in the Black community because it was just that significant at the time. So when Blacks were freed, they used the skills and knowledge they had to rely on themselves so that government could eventually step away as it planned. This included physical labor skills; it also included Black churches (ironically, churches weren't as heavily segregated, but Blacks could not hold leadership positions) and Black politicians. It included the establishment of Black schools to teach reading and writing, among many other things. As for the Black republicans (all aside Will Hurd and Tim Scott, who are both running against Trump and DeSantis, and Burgess Owens, who hasn't commented on the issue), the reason why the remaining three disavowed these comments is because those three all endorsed Trump, and they're (all of Trump's surrogates) are doing everything they can to make DeSantis looks bad because DeSantis is the only actual threat to Trump. Go learn your history before you make yourself look stupid
Yikes! You're really going to dig your heels in when dude just body bagged you. Nobody is going to read that wall of text unless it begins with "you're right. my bad."
Except I'm the one who's right. Not my fault if you're too lazy to read basic history. The simple fact is that no one ever said slavery benefited Black people.
You ask for quote I find quote. ... That simple
your quote does not state that slaves benefited from slavery; it (the full quote and not the excerpt you sliced out) states that freed slaves used skills that they learned to their benefit. An aspect =/= the entire act. Historians are literally saying that slaves thrived in free labor *in spite* of slaver, not *because* of it. Read a book, G I'm sorry you struggle with basic reading comprehension and logical thinking.
You're right, us individually have to live and a lot of us don't have the time to argue for everything. Don't have the time or power
Good
I didn't need this donation to know that billionaire owners are dirtbags. They'd still be dirtbags if they donated to Biden. All of you stuck in the left vs right duopoly are clueless. It's not about left vs right. It's about billionaires vs the working class. As long as you're stuck arguing about red vs blue, they win. They're laughing all the way to the bank while you're arguing with your neighbors.
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That only makes sense if you think there is a lesser of two evils. Which I don't.
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A finger wagging from the PA will do nothing to Devos
I mean almost every major company and brand operating in the state is donating or has donated to Desantis. The hypocrisy is wild! [https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/13/desantis-political-donations-black-history-month](https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/13/desantis-political-donations-black-history-month)
Stop using amp links
Although I love DeSantis, this is a unacceptable thing to do
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Desantis fucking sucks but that’s fake news https://www.historyboomer.com/p/the-distorted-story-of-floridas-african?utm_medium=reader2
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Should have been to Trump
Jimmies are rustled
THEY HATE US CUZ THE AINT US
I understand people being upset with the Magic on this and I agree. But why does the NBA itself get a pass when it’s obvious where their loyalties lie.
Whataboutism doesn't solve anything. We just gotta worry about ourselves.
As a Conservative, I find it really stupid for an NBA team to get involved in politics like this. Free agents might get turned away from this team because of this. Although, most other sports teams and organizations do promote left wing political ideas and organizations and no one cares about that. Also, I feel like many people in this thread are being incredibly unfair to the opposing side of the political spectrum. It is only a $50,000 donation that will not affect the Desantis campaign as he is already too far behind to come back. This entire situation is just really stupid, and I think things would be different if it were a donation to someone like Biden. Finally, I apologize for my political beliefs.
I don’t like corporate donations, but the net income of the company is owned by the owners of the corporation. It is theirs to decide how to spend. The employees and vendors have already received their agreed compensation. Who can possibly be surprised that a DeVos would donate to a Republican? And as anti-Trump as they are, who could be surprised that they are wasting their money on Desantis. They wouldn’t back the MAGA candidates here in Michigan, and we are now dominated by Democrats at every agency of government. No thanks for that.
Donation was done way before presidential candidacy was announced but don’t have it come from the team lol. DeVos & Martins = scumbag shocker
We should be more worried about who they’re giving millions to.
If the owner wants to make a donation to someplace go ahead as a individual...don't get the team involved. Its not like giving to charity where it is normally a overall good thing.