This week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought the hammer down on Donald Sterling over the LA Clippers owner's leaked racist rant, banning him from the NBA for life and pledging to force Sterling to sell the team. It wasn't just the harshness of Sterling's racism that shocked, but also the casualness. The resulting media firestorm reignited questions about the way the league had long turned a blind eye on Sterling's even-more-outrageous history of housing discrimination based on race -- and why the LA chapter of the NAACP was nevertheless on the verge of honoring Sterling with a lifetime achievement award. Meanwhile, on Thursday the Obama administration released a list of 55 higher education institutions under investigation for not adequately handling allegations of sexual assault. The scrutiny and transparency are good first steps but real progress would mean greatly reducing the assaults themselves. As Dr. King said, "The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause."
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