American football cornerback Richard Sherman says US still alive, active with racism

American football cornerback Richard Sherman has said people in the US should not be surprised over Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's racist remarks, for which he has been banned for life by the NBA, because there is a lot of racism still alive and still active in the nation.

Sherman, who plays as cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League (NFL), also said that Sterling would not have been disciplined so harshly if he had owned an NFL team.

According to The Guardian, Sherman said that he does not think that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would have taken the same disciplinary stance as the National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner Adam Silver if Sterling had owned a team in NFL instead.

Sherman, who has agreed to a 57.4 million-dollar four-year contract extension with the Seahawks this week, added that because NFL has a team called the Redskins he does not feel that NFL really is as concerned as they portray themselves to be.

Sherman, who will be the highest-paid player in his position after signing the new contract, said that the NFL is more of a bottom-line league, because if something does not affect their bottom line, they are not as concerned.

The Washington Redskins' name has reportedly caused protest from native American groups for some time, but the team owner Dan Snyder has repeatedly said that he would not change the name.

Sherman also said that America still has some progress to make, as it seems that a lot of people gave Sterling a lot of criticism, which had been well deserved, but he feels like a lot more people were more surprised than they should have been.