“We all have our bigotry”
The NBA’s most outspoken owner, Mark Cuban, publicly condemned Donald Sterling’s racist comments last month, but he’s not too fond of the NBA forcing owners to sell their teams because of something they said in the privacy of their own home.
In talking to INC., Cuban owned up to his own forms of prejudice, saying that even though America has come a long way to putting bigotry behind, there’s still a price that the country has paid. He admits that there are still stereotypes out in the world and in his own life, but if he runs into bigotry in the businesses he controls, it’s his responsibility to try to help those people be more open minded. To him, it does society no good to kick the problem up the road because of someone’s opinion. It’s better to try to solve it.
UPDATE: Mark Cuban responded to the comments he made in the INC. interview on Twitter, standing behind his statements, but apologizing to Trayvon Martin’s family.
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“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. 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. 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.”
Do you think Mark Cuban’s point of view is justified?
We get the feeling some people will take this the wrong way, especially comments alluding towards the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman situation. Regardless, it’s not the best time for the NBA for Cuban to be coming out and saying this.
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.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/2: beyond apologizing to the Martin family, I stand by the words and substance of the interview.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/3: I think that helping people improve their lives, helping people engage with people they may fear or may not understand,
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/4: and helping people realize that while we all may have our prejudices and bigotries
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
P/5: 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
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 22, 2014
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