Steve Munsell is a lifelong Los Angeles Clippers fan who wanted to something more than just voice his disgust with the racist comments allegedly spoken by team owner Donald Sterling about blacks in an audio tape that surfaced last week.
So, the 32-year-old substitute Irvine District high school teacher, hopped on Twitter, inspired by the revolution that was sparked on social media during the Egyptian uprising.
And he created the Twitter handle @ClippersBlkOut on Sunday, with the hope that fans will show up to Tuesday night's Golden State Warriors-Clippers game at the Staples Center wearing all black. By Tuesday morning, he had 217 followers, and he had tweeted 517 times.
"I have this dream that I can somehow collect enough black T-shirts and pass them out at the game," Munsell said, adding that he took the day off of work to figure out how to accomplish his goal. "I want to show the beauty of what a black Staples Center can look like."
Plz help get out the msg out 2 support Clips player's protest! Clips fans plz wear BLACK 2 Staples 4/29! #ClippersBlackout — ClippersBlackout (@ClippersBlkOut) April 28, 2014
His goal began forming shortly after TMZ reported alleged racist remarks were made by Sterling during a phone conversation with his girlfriend Vanessa Stiviano, first reported Friday. NBC News has not been able to authenticate the audio tapes posted on TMZSports.com or the extended clips posted by Deadspin. On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the voice was Sterling's, banning the owner "for life" from any association with the team or league, and fining him $2.5 million.
The Clippers on Sunday decided to turn their warm-up gear inside outon Sunday in protest.
And Munsell, a UCLA graduate and former San Francisco resident, was motivated by that simple - but powerful - act.
"The moment I saw those players doing that and wearing the black bands, I thought there was no better way to make a point," Munsell said. "This is the first time they've really had a shot and it's awful the players have to go through something like this."
He said when he was watching the team, he figured he needed to speak up.
"I thought the least I could do was show solidarity," he said.
