Donald Sterling speaks to Anderson Cooper in an interview that airs 8 p.m. Monday. Photo: CNN.com screenshot.

JNS.org – In an interview with Anderson Cooper that will air 8 p.m. Monday on CNN, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling apologizes for the racist comments that got him banned for life from the National Basketball Association.

“I’m not a racist,” Sterling, who is Jewish, tells Cooper. “I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I’m here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I’ve hurt.”

“I’m a good member [of the NBA] who made a mistake and I’m apologizing and I’m asking for forgiveness,” he says. “Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It’s a terrible mistake, and I’ll never do it again.”

Reacting to the fallout of Sterling’s racist remarks, Jewish organizations both local and national moved to take the focus off his ethnicity and remind the country of the Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement. Read the full JNS.org story here.