This is making the rounds. Actually surprised I haven't seen a thread on it yet.

 

Cuban Discusses Own Prejudices; Bigotries

 

Seems like people are incredibly split on it.

 

Personally, I think his hoodie comment was a poor example, however I think I agree with his overall point.

 

What say you?

Given the Trayvon Martin situation the hoodie was a bad choice but I agree with what he is saying.

 

Gotta listen to the entire interview.

Today's media over hype story of the day. This is pretty much a non story IMO. I don't disagree with anything I have heard about what Cuban said. I don't get caught up in overanalysis. I pay attention to his message and I think his message is on target.

I get the hoodie sweatshirt comment maybe being a bad example but the people calling him a racist are absolutely moronic.

I enjoyed the interview. I listened to all 60 minutes in the car today.

 

He spoke the truth. We all have preconceived notions or prejudices in our heads. We all look at a situation and make a determination. His examples were very specific - both black as well as white. Hard to argue his point.

 

My thinking is also in line with his regarding the Sterling situation. He will vote against Sterling but feels hypocritical about it and says it's a slippery slope. I agree.

I have no problem with what he said.

Been there, done that.

I enjoyed the interview. I listened to all 60 minutes in the car today.

 

He spoke the truth. We all have preconceived notions or prejudices in our heads. We all look at a situation and make a determination. His examples were very specific - both black as well as white. Hard to argue his point.

 

My thinking is also in line with his regarding the Sterling situation. He will vote against Sterling but feels hypocritical about it and says it's a slippery slope. I agree.

 

There's no way he (or any owner) can vote to keep Sterling. It will make him and his franchise look bad. Even though they need 3/4 of the owners to vote him out, I can't see any other result but unanimous.

I enjoyed the interview. I listened to all 60 minutes in the car today.

 

He spoke the truth. We all have preconceived notions or prejudices in our heads. We all look at a situation and make a determination. His examples were very specific - both black as well as white. Hard to argue his point.

 

My thinking is also in line with his regarding the Sterling situation. He will vote against Sterling but feels hypocritical about it and says it's a slippery slope. I agree.

 

Forgetting his recent statements, Donald Sterling is a horrible person and no one should feel hypocritical for voting him out of the league. I believe he is the worst owner in professional sports history. It is clear to me now why the Clippers were so bad for so long. It all starts at the top.

I think that Cuban is brave for speaking about an issue he didn't have to when it was a no-win situation, but the hoodie comment was, IMO, over the line and fairly racist. I really don't know how else to put that.

 

Further, I don't think it was very tactful to then say, "...but if it were a white guy with a shaved head and a face tattoo, then I'd cross back". Sure, I think I get what you are trying to say, but it's not really fair to say he'd welcome going back to the black guy's side of the street once he saw what he painted as an extreme caricature of an unsavory white person.

 

I don't think Cuban is incredibly racist, I just think it was a poor choice of words. At least in this situation, it's one where he was speaking when he didn't have to, trying to bring awareness or facilitate discussion on an issue, so you can't really fault him for that. He was also very cognizant of the fact that he had somewhat of a sheltered view. To me, it was kind of like the kid you have in one of your first Poli Sci classes who means well, but just has a different perspective and says something that makes it kind of awkward for most people in the room. He realized what he said was wrong, apologized, and it's a learning that he'll move on from. All that said, I will stand by it being a fairly racist comment unless he would just as readily have said, "I see a white kid in a hoodie, I'm crossing the street. I see a black guy with a shaved head and face tattoo, I'm going back across the street".

 

 

If not for the Trayvon Martin murder*, this wouldn't be as big of a deal; however, we are still less than a year removed from that. Cuban, as an owner, was probably aware of the situation considering you had the whole Heat team protesting by wearing hoodies. I respect that Cuban apologized to the family and seems contrite about what he said, but his choice of words definitely ripped the bandages off of still-fresh wounds.

 

 

 

***Note: Let's call the incident what it was. If it were a white kid Zimmerman, who has pretty much done everything he could to continue building on his reputation since then, probably wouldn't have shot him. On a side note, defend Zimmerman if you want, that's beside the point to me, if you didn't read the things that his brother was tweeting or haven't followed some of the additions to his rap sheet since the incident, then please at least make yourself familiar with those if you expect me to respond further. Additionally, if we're going to talk about pictures from Martin's social media accounts, lets also talk about Zimmerman's social media posts where he talks about beating two felonies (reduced to a misdemeanor... but fret not, he tells everyone to "stay tuned" on the ATF charges), makes racially disparaging remarks about Hispanics (see: "gettin knifes pulled on you by every mexican you run into!", and calling his ex-wife as his "ex hoe"). Based on George Zimmerman's history and actions, I think that if Martin were half the "thug" that Zimmerman thought he was, then he'd have been the one inflicting the harm, not vice-versa.

I enjoyed the interview. I listened to all 60 minutes in the car today.

 

He spoke the truth. We all have preconceived notions or prejudices in our heads. We all look at a situation and make a determination. His examples were very specific - both black as well as white. Hard to argue his point.

 

My thinking is also in line with his regarding the Sterling situation. He will vote against Sterling but feels hypocritical about it and says it's a slippery slope. I agree.

 

Very well put.

 

Further, I don't think it was very tactful to then say, "...but if it were a white guy with a shaved head and a face tattoo, then I'd cross back". Sure, I think I get what you are trying to say, but it's not really fair to say he'd welcome going back to the black guy's side of the street once he saw what he painted as an extreme caricature of an unsavory white person.

 

.

 

1. We read that line of comments differently. I read it as him simply saying "no matter if it's a black kid who looks like trouble or a white kid who looks like trouble I'm cross the street to the other side." I didn't take it as him saying one was better than the other.

2. Cuban didn't apologize for this thoughts. He apologized for what he and others deemed an insensitive example. His point is still the same. We all have prejudices and to deny it is disingenuous.

Forgetting his recent statements, Donald Sterling is a horrible person and no one should feel hypocritical for voting him out of the league. I believe he is the worst owner in professional sports history. It is clear to me now why the Clippers were so bad for so long. It all starts at the top.

 

He a horse's rear end without question.

 

He's the worst owner ever.

 

If you kick him out for his comments you're setting yourself up. Are you going to kick out the owner who says gays shouldn't be allowed to marry? If not you're saying "we don't really care about discrimination. We just care about PERCEPTION and we should look like we care about discrimination against blacks because that's the majority of our product."

 

If you wouldn't vote to oust an owner who says gays shouldn't marry or he doesn't like seeing gay guys kiss at his games then you can't vote out Sterling in the name of prejudice. That's what Cuban is saying.

He a horse's rear end without question.

 

He's the worst owner ever.

 

If you kick him out for his comments you're setting yourself up. Are you going to kick out the owner who says gays shouldn't be allowed to marry? If not you're saying "we don't really care about discrimination. We just care about PERCEPTION and we should look like we care about discrimination against blacks because that's the majority of our product."

 

If you wouldn't vote to oust an owner who says gays shouldn't marry or he doesn't like seeing gay guys kiss at his games then you can't vote out Sterling in the name of prejudice. That's what Cuban is saying.

 

I could be extremely biased but saying gays shouldn't marry or kiss at his games is different than saying don't bring blacks to my games or take pictures with them.

1. We read that line of comments differently. I read it as him simply saying "no matter if it's a black kid who looks like trouble or a white kid who looks like trouble I'm cross the street to the other side." I didn't take it as him saying one was better than the other.

2. Cuban didn't apologize for this thoughts. He apologized for what he and others deemed an insensitive example. His point is still the same. We all have prejudices and to deny it is disingenuous.

 

Good points on both. I really hadn't thought of it how you put it in #1, but that makes a lot of sense each way.

 

I took it like I did because I don't really think it's fair to say that a black person wearing a hoodie is trouble. I understand why he didn't say something extreme, as he did in his example with the white guy, like "sagging pants and a purple bandanna in his pocket", just thought that it was a bit much to say that an article of clothing that would be (at least to him if I'm reading his comments correctly) fairly innocuous on most other races is enough to make him cross the street.

 

I say this as someone who has done legal aid at a homeless shelter where people go through metal detectors and are patted down for needles before entering, so trust me, I see suspicious people of any and all races.

 

I just thought that, even though he was being honest, it's a little unfair to say that a black person has to be well dressed so he doesn't appear suspicious to someone (especially when it would appear that he might not have said the same thing about a white person, at least as readily).

 

My problem isn't with the action or his admitting it. I actually respect his admitting it and his honesty is refreshing and is probably going to generate some positive debate. I'm not denying that everyone has prejudices. I do, however, think that there's a problem with the thought that "whoa, black guy in a hoodie, maybe I'm about to get robbed or beat up, better cross the street just in case". However, if he would have said the same thing if you replace 'black guy' with 'white guy' (Cuban's own race) in the above example and it would still hold true, then I have little to no problem with his stance.