Yeah, About That Conversation On Race…
[guest post by Dana]
By now, most of us are exhausted from the never-ending circus that is Donald Sterling, his crazy girlfriend/”archivist”/”silly rabbit” and the whole sordid mess. And yet, Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, entered the fray during an interview where he discussed his personal views on bigotry.
In this day and age, this country has really come a long way [toward] putting any type of bigotry behind us, regardless of who it’s toward,” Cuban told the magazine. “We’ve come a long way and with that progress comes a price. We’re a lot more vigilant and we’re a lot less tolerant of different views, and it’s not necessarily easy for everybody to adapt or evolve.”
“If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street,” he said. “And if on that side of the street, there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face — white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere — I’m walking back to the other side of the street.”
“I know that I’m not perfect,” he adds. “While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it’s an issue that we have to control, that it’s part of my responsibility as an entrepreneur to try to solve it, not just to kick the problem down the road.”
Cuban said everyone has prejudices “in one way or the other.”
The Los Angeles Times took offense at Cuban’s comments and scolded Cuban for trying to “justify” his remarks in a way that they believe essentially defended the actions of Sterling. So, how did Cuban justify his remarks?
“So in my business, I try not to be hypocritical,” he said. “I know that I’m not perfect. I know that I live in a glass house and it’s not appropriate for me to throw stones.”
The LAT continued to huff and puff,
Judging from his comments, that glass house needs to be shattered.
By acknowledging a fear of a “black kid in a hoodie,’’ Cuban is admitting he is scared of many of his own players and fans, as the hoodie is a common piece of wardrobe for young people of all races. He’s also buying into the sort of fears that led to the 2012 Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida, an incident that sparked national outrage. In fact, players from the Miami Heat even wore hoodies one day in protest of the fatal shooting of the black teenager.
Just because Cuban says he is trying “not to be hypocritical” does not mean that he can be excused for his ignorance. Simply because he praises this country’s fight against bigotry doesn’t give him a pass to sound like a bigot.
Mark Cuban is not Donald Sterling. He doesn’t have Sterling’s racist past. He is considered one of the league’s smartest and most passionate owners.
But after making those comments, Cuban appears to be lot closer to Sterling than anyone ever imagined, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver needs to deal with the dangers of that proximity.
It should be noted that another public person essentially said the same thing.
There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved…. After all we have been through. Just to think we can’t walk down our own streets, how humiliating. — Jesse Jackson*
After the interview, Cuban tweeted an apology, yet stood by his comments.
P/1: In hindsight I should have used different examples. I didn’t consider the Trayvon Martin family, and I apologize to them for that. P/2: beyond apologizing to the Martin family, I stand by the words and substance of the interview.
*This morning I listened to Bill Handel on KFI who told listeners that during an interview he conducted with Jesse Jackson, Jackson made the same statements as referenced above.
–Dana
The LA Times editors cut their baby teeth on mere hypocrisy, and now excel at holding 10 mutually exclusive idiocies in their cranial cavities at the same time.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:32 pmWe were told 5 years ago that this nation needed to have a dialogue about race.
Now that we’re having one why are they complaining?
AZ Bob (533fbc) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:40 pmReality bites.
nk (dbc370) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:42 pmHe will be vilified.
JD (9f0beb) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:43 pmwhat I take from this is that it’s important to feel safe on whatever side of the street you’re on
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:44 pmAZ Bob,
They are complaining because when they say they want a dialogue about race what they mean is that they want to talk and we have to listen.
Peter (1d4db1) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:44 pmlike if you’re on one side of the street and you feel like it’s not safe you should go over to the other side where you feel more safer
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:44 pmCheck your privilege – typical white people. SMH
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:45 pmthis is how we take back the night
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:46 pmon the other hand I don’t understand why Cuban says “that it’s part of my responsibility as an entrepreneur to try to solve it”
what a pompous lil moneyslut this douchebag is
I can see how he fits in well with the thugtrash NBA
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/22/2014 @ 7:57 pmwhile we wait for Marco Cubano to solve the prejudice I’m thinking of watching Deadwood since it’s on Amazon now
i never seen it my whole life but there’s quite a few shows so Marco can start whiteboarding and really take his time and get it right
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:12 pmI thought we needed to “have a national conversation on race”–but when Cuban makes a comment that touches on race, he gets his nuts kicked up between his ears.
The Times version of a “national conversation on race is” “Hey you, STFU and be still while we lecture you.”
Skeptical Voter (12e67d) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:18 pmThe Los Angeles Times took offense at Cuban’s comments and scolded Cuban
I’d love to see how the editor who wrote that two-face crud lives his or her own life. I bet that person resides in some protected hamlet of Los Angeles, far removed from the hard reality of certain neighborhoods mocked by no less than comedienne Chris Rock, a fairly non-stuffy black liberal, by the way.
He had a segment in his stage routine where he mentioned the irony of people who when visiting an American city for the first time and are concerned about their own personal safety, should try to avoid those areas where a street is named “Martin Luther King Boulevard.”
Mark (99b8fd) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:29 pmThat’s the definition of limousine liberal, Mark. What you just described.
nk (dbc370) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:34 pm*The editor* you just described. And why the word hypocrisy would bother him especially.
nk (dbc370) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:36 pmdaley beat me to it.
The “national conversation on race” is only supposed to go one way.
Evil white men (especially evil old white men) get lectured about how we’ve never earned anything in our lives because our skin color gives us “privilege.” But our “privilege” blinds us to the evil racist, sexist, heterosexist society that serves our “privilege.”
And we’re supposed to STFU unless we want to admit our sins. And agree to the demands for redistribution of all the stuff we stole from the minorities we oppressed.
Steve57 (c8cb20) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:37 pmActually, Mark he said if you ever find yourself at the corner of MLK Blvd and Cesar Chavez Ave, get the hell out!
Gazzer (554004) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:38 pm“if you ever find yourself at the corner of MLK Blvd and Cesar Chavez Ave”
Hide under all the other bodies until the shooting stops. Then run diagonally.
steveg (794291) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:47 pmSound advice, indeed!
Gazzer (554004) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:49 pm“Hide under all the other bodies until the shooting stops”.
But watch out for the anchor shots!
felipe (098e97) — 5/22/2014 @ 8:59 pmI am a victim of a trigger. People who deny freedom of speech are causing me unwanted anger, duress and anxiety. I’m not kidding. I am considering a lawsuit.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 5/22/2014 @ 9:06 pmWhat an idiot. Instead of apologising to Martin’s family, he should have pointed out that Martin was exactly the kind of kid he was talking about, who looks as if he might be a thug, and indeed turned out to be exactly that. But to point this out, Cuban would have had to have known it, and he appears to have bought the media myth of the innocent 12-year-old St Trayvon, the modern version of Little St Hugh.
Milhouse (b95258) — 5/22/2014 @ 10:16 pmEven if he hasn’t bought into it, his players, and his fan base who buy his corporate sponsors’ overpriced Chinese sneakers, have. He had to back down if he wants to keep sucking on the tit of the NBA racket.
nk (dbc370) — 5/22/2014 @ 10:23 pmSo tell them the truth. Don’t keep spreading the myth.
Milhouse (b95258) — 5/22/2014 @ 10:30 pmHe’ll be Sterlinged. Or Eiched.
nk (dbc370) — 5/22/2014 @ 10:51 pmWhat the PHUG is wrong with this country? When did we stop THINKING LOGICALLY??? It’s quite OK to discriminate against my SON, because he is WHITE, and to give a DARK person preference at the UNIVERSITY of MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL. But it is WRONG to feel threatened by the DEMOGRAPHIC that is vastly more proportional in CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. My decision to AVOID a Black Teen (Trayvon O’Bummers’ son) is wrong and RACIST, but the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN finding my SON GUILTY of something he never committed is OK, because the beneficiary of that BIAS is a pre-determined VICTIM???
Gus (70b624) — 5/22/2014 @ 11:10 pmMy changing the side of the street I walk on, HARMS NO ONE.
If my SON meritoriously EARNS a place at ANY UNIVERSITY or otherwise is given LESSER PLACEMENT BECAUSE OF MY SONS RACE or ANY OTHER RACIAL FACTOR. That is WRONG. If you cannot understand this. You need help.
And unless people with the money and clout to stand up to this sort of bullying do so, none of us will be safe. With power comes responsibility. Paying the dangeld is not only foolish, it’s also morally wrong.
Milhouse (b95258) — 5/22/2014 @ 11:35 pmMark Cuban just hasn’t met the right woman yet.
ropelight (515de4) — 5/23/2014 @ 4:42 amI’d love to have time to parse Cuban’s apology thoroughly.
He identified the victim (“Trayvon’s family”)
He identified his error. (“did not consider”)
He identified a corect behavior (“other example”)
He accepted responsibility ( _I__ apologize)
He avoided weasely conditionals ( “if someone might have been offended, then I suppose I should eventually apologize” )
He affirmed and stood by the balance of his behavior.
Pouncer (415203) — 5/23/2014 @ 4:54 amVery good point, Pouncer.
However, I really don’t see what he needed to apologize for. For being honest? Not delicate enough?
JD (9f0beb) — 5/23/2014 @ 5:34 amThe problem is, Trayvon’s hoodie did in fact mean something bad. Taryvon attacked George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman couldn’t possibly have followed Trayvon and attacked him. This is so, even if he told some lies about what he did that night. Trayvon’s attack may not make any sense to you, but it happened.
It may have happened because he mistook George Zimmerman for a Blood – who had somehow recognized him as a Crip.
Sammy Finkelman (42d229) — 5/23/2014 @ 6:08 amDo we get an apology for that murder porn, ‘Redacted’ he financed, rehabilitating Brian De Palma’s career, and provoking an attack on US forces
narciso (3fec35) — 5/23/2014 @ 6:20 amCuban is not a paisan, and the Mavericks aren’t doing so hot either,
narciso (3fec35) — 5/23/2014 @ 6:29 amWhy is this a problem?
Michael Ejercito (becea5) — 5/23/2014 @ 7:02 amHe’s got to show you cold be “prejudiced” against cetain white persons, too.
Most Islamic terrorists are white, acording to the Census Bureau definition, but that doesn’t count.
Sammy Finkelman (42d229) — 5/23/2014 @ 7:45 amIf a guy with tattoos all over his face starts walking toward you, it would only be common sense to cross the street, whether you’re white, black, or orange, wearing a hoodie or not. So Cuban should not have apologized.
kishnevi (a808b4) — 5/23/2014 @ 10:15 amAfter the interview, Cuban tweeted an apology,…
What a fool. The only thing he’s done by issuing his apology is the target on his back just got bigger.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque (d3cdd0) — 5/23/2014 @ 2:53 pmMr. bour3 offers this compelling illustrative gif
http://bour3pages.blogspot.com/2014/05/mark-cuban.html
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/23/2014 @ 9:17 pm“””””””P/1: In hindsight I should have used different examples. I didn’t consider the Trayvon Martin family, and I apologize to them for that. P/2: beyond apologizing to the Martin family, I stand by the words and substance of the interview.”””””””
Re: P/1: Why don’t you also apologize to George Zimmerman as well? After all, he was acquitted. Actually, there’s really nothing you need to apologize to Trayvon Martin’s family for at all, as Trayvon wasn’t the only black person to wear a hoodie.
Re: P/2: Whatever.
Typical. And spineless as always.
Oh for the days when asked to apologize for a comment a prominent person in the public realm would simply state “No comment” and move on.
Kenneth Simmons (a10c17) — 5/26/2014 @ 7:26 pm