Most people think that the case of Donald Sterling poses no free speech or First Amendment issues. Their argument is that Sterling has every right to order his mistresses not to be seen with black people and to privately talk about Los Angeles Clippers players as if they were livestock, and that the NBA, a private organization, has every right to expel him from the ranks of ownership.
Twitter user/novelist Joyce Carol Oates is not most people. She looks upon a man paying a small, symbolic price for having openly used his wealth and power to abuse minorities, women, and working families for decades and sees, above all, the threat that NBA owners exercising their rights of freedom of association pose to the Constitution. Along with other Twitter users like former Atlanta Braves reliever Mark Wohlers, whose contributions to the debate are noted in the story below, she is willing to stand up to the majority on behalf of the principle that people should be able to say whatever they like and face no criticism or consequences for it. She has taken the first steps on an intellectual journey that will, if we're lucky, end with her finally identifying The Real Racist.