For his first playoffs, new NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been handed multiple series of closely competitive games that should have been the talk of the sporting nation.
Instead, Silver has had to cope with one set of racially charged remarks after another coming from people who are usually silent, team owners. Three weeks ago, it was Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling whose secret inflammatory statements about blacks came to the fore.
Last Thursday, Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks reopened the national discussion about bigotry, prejudice and discrimination in a manner that few other people could.
You’ve no doubt already heard the portion of an interview that Cuban gave as a part of a business conference in Nashville. In responding to a question about Sterling’s remarks, Cuban copped to some of his own prejudices and bigotry.
Cuban allowed that if he were approached on a sidewalk at night by a young black man wearing a hoodie, he would cross the street. Conversely, if after he got across the street, he was approached by a white guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos, Cuban said he would go back across the street.
In the wake of the Sterling controversy, Cuban’s soundbite was the stuff of a producer’s dreams, as the news cycle swallowed his words whole.
As a black man with nephews between 18 and 36, I do take exception to Cuban’s equivalence of young African-American men with trouble, but, as we saw last year in Florida with the Trayvon Martin case, he’s hardly the only one.
And if that was all the never reticent Cuban said, he’d deserve the scorn he’s getting in some corners. But the 20 or so seconds of Cuban’s more incendiary remarks were a part of a 2 minute 45 second answer about how we handle issues like race and bigotry these days.
Cuban said his goal as an entrepreneur is not to pass racism off to the next person, but to attempt to deal with it head on. Cuban said, “It does my company no good, it does my customers no good, it does society no good if my response to somebody in their racism or bigotry is to say, 'It's not right for you to be here, go take your attitude somewhere else."
Cuban’s thoughtful approach will likely catch many off guard. The mercurial Mavericks owner has seemingly been more interested in getting in front of cameras and fighting with Silver’s predecessor, David Stern than being seen as thoughtful. Still, Cuban struck a solid chord, although his approach could be seen in many quarters as naïve and Pollyanna-ish.
In today’s sports realm, however, Cuban’s message is entirely appropriate. These days, locker rooms are increasingly filled with people of varying ethnic persuasions and creeds. As we’ve learned through Jason Collins and Michael Sam, teams are dealing with men with differing sexual orientations as well.
Cuban’s message may not have been smoothly delivered, but it deserves a listen, and not just the controversial parts.
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