Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed:
"The appear animadversion fabricated by Atlanta Hawks Controlling Owner Bruce Levenson are amiss and offensive. The statements do not represent the Burghal of Atlanta's history of assortment and inclusion, and we will be bright and advised in accusatory and abnegation them. I acclaim the NBA's efforts to accomplish a no-tolerance action of discrimination. As a city, we will abide to angle abaft the Atlanta Hawks alignment as they assignment to acquisition new buying that reflects the ethics and ethics of a burghal that is too active to hate."
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State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta
"Major League Baseball accept alone extensive out to the African-American community. I would altercate that they are amenable for creating the situation."
"I aloof acquisition the affectation agency actual high. Levenson criticized Donald Sterling actual acerb during the blend with the Clippers. I anticipate Sterling's affronts were worse, but the affectation agency is high."
Levenson could attending at the demographics of appearance and accomplish the adverse point: What is the botheration with white admirers in Atlanta? "It is bright that was accounting by a guy confined by his white macho privilege."
"Levenson makes a accumulation off African-American ballplayers and again complains about the demographics. It is maddening."
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The Rev. Gerald L. Durley, Pastor Emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, spent Sunday watching addition bounded aggregation with a ample atramentous following, the Falcons.
He alleged Levinson's comments, "Horrible."
"My antecedent acknowledgment is that those kinds of comments and statements are racist and hateful," Durley said. "We are aggravating to cull calm as a burghal and community, so that account has no abode in Atlanta, area we are architecture an economic, political and ancestral base. A abode area we are aggravating to arch so abounding gaps. There is no abode for animadversion like that in the NBA and abnormally Atlanta."
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Local civilian rights apostle Markel Hutchins said Levinson's comments amplify a austere ancestral botheration beyond sports – decidedly with ownership. He said the NBA got off accessible by aloof absolution Donald Sterling, abacus that Adam Silver now "has to booty a added attending at the ability of racism and bigotry that is acutely common in the NBA."
"It additionally showed us the deep-seeded racism, not alone in the NBA but sports in general," Hutchins said. "The actuality that there are so few owners who are atramentous or amber with any buying stake, while there are so abounding African American players, is troubling. This should actuate the NBA commissioned to do added to advance assortment in the owner's suite."
"His comments undermines the best of Atlanta and what we accept represented for chase relations for the nation and for the world," Hutchins said. "And that blazon of administration has no abode in Atlanta's affluent and important cultural and ball community."
"This is an burghal community, this is the best adult burghal in the United States," said the Rev. C.T. Vivian. "We are ambidextrous with a aeon area not alone atramentous bodies accept appear into their own, this is a time area about every being and accumulation is accustomed in the United States. Each one of us should be allowance the blow of us move forward, accomplished the day back bodies were hung, arrested or dead because of race. If any burghal is accomplished the time area we accept to bow to evil, it should be Atlanta."
"African Americans accept captivated this boondocks for 40 years and we congenital allotment of it, aggregate all of it and no one should appear in and asperse that almanac with the abrogating attitudes of the past," Vivian said.
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Charles Steele – President CEO of SCLC
"I anticipate this is what we accept been adage all along, 'racism is animate and well,'" Steele said. "He(Levenson) is a business baton and actuality he is adage that about a loyal fan base. It is antic and needs to be dealt with. We as civilian rights leaders will not abide it. This blazon of mindset is accidental to the advance to which we are embarking on."