Maybe the NBA should ban the NAACP while it’s in high dudgeon over Donald Sterling. That purported “civil rights” organization must have, or least should have known about his pattern and practice of shunning African-American tenants in his vast real estate empire, which led to a roughly 3 million dollar out of court settlement, yet chose to give him one “lifetime achievement” award, and had scheduled another.

If saying something bigoted in private is really, really bad, how about honoring someone you know to be a bigot as a racial healer? Isn’t that even more destructive?

Jason Riley, editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal sees the con game going on here:

Jason Riley, the Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary editor, does not find the NAACP’s reaction to the controversy surrounding racist remarks made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling to be particularly genuine. Riley noted that the NAACP gave Sterling a lifetime achievement award and was prepared to give him a second so long as they benefited financially from their association with him. Riley noted that this “pattern of behavior” from groups like the NAACP and MSNBC host and activist Rev. Al Sharpton.

“I don’t think that these comments are as surprising as the NAACP is pretending they are,” Riley began. “This man has a long history of paying to make lawsuits – anti-discrimination lawsuits – go away, and this has to deal with his non-basketball activities.”

 “The NAACP knows about this history, and yet gave him a lifetime achievement award and was about to give him a second one,” the WSJ editor continued.

“This is another example of how the civil rights movement has become an industry,” Riley added. “You have groups like the NAACP, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, others who basically go around the country shaking down corporations and individuals for money.”

“This guy gave them money,” Reilly said of Sterling, “and that’s what’s most important to them.”

Mike Razar has speculated that we may very well see the NAACP start mentioning “healing” and “forgiveness” in the future, if Sterling pulls out his checkbook and makes the right noises. Based on what we have seen already, that might not be a bad bet.