Racism & Progress

The LA Clippers are being sold and the NBA can now hope to move on beyond the Donald Sterling fiasco. However it is important to consider comments made by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and then ask the question how far has the NBA and American society come in regards to racism?

While painting a picture of the complexities of racism Cuban indicated that as a country we have progressed in our attitudes towards other people. However Cuban also, perhaps unknowingly, illustrated that maybe we have not progressed as far as he thinks, and more importantly as far as we all realize.

Upon being honest and admitting that he lives a fairy tail life and that someone of his own status has no right to question certain societal issues, Cuban contrasted two stereotypical scenarios of being afraid of both African Amercans and White Americans.

Saying that if he were walking down the street and he saw a African American wearing a hoodie, approaching him that he would cross the street to the other side. Cuban then went on to say that if he then noticed a White American with a bald head and all tatooed up that he would cross back to the other saide of the street.

Although Cuban was trying to explain his honest feelings and was perhaps trying to be the focal point of a hot issue, he also pointed out that maybe we have not progressed as far we had hoped.

Give Cuban credit for being honest about his fears, and give him credit for running a sports organization, fairly, where the success is directly made responsible through the contributions of African Americans and other ethnicities. It can also be said that, to date, there has not been any racist acusations by African Americans employed by Cuban.

Where Cuban must be criticized is here, why should anyone be afraid of an African American wearing a hoodie, who is walking down the street?

I live in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area and I can honestly say that I would not fear for my safety if I saw an African American wearing a hoodie, walking down the street. Granted I live in an environment where crime is not as significant as other regions of the country, but still if I'm new to an area & I'm walking down the street I can honestly say that I won't fear for my safety. I also will know of my environment and there is nothing wrong with that.

I'm not sure where Cuban lives but I will take a guess and say that he does not live in a high crime area. So why would Cuban make such a general stereotypical comment?

I'm not going to even suggest why Cuban feels the way he does because there are multiple dynamics at play with the issue. However I will suggest that perhaps part of the reason is a class issue.

First of all by using the word hoodie Cuban has not only given society the right to fear young African American males, but he has also forced African Americans to think twice about wearing a hoodie.

Again, give Cuban credit for apologizing for being insensitive to the Trayvon Martin family, but the damage was already done. Maybe African Americans were already cognizant to the threats of wearing a hoodie, and the chance that they might be racially profiled by police and possibly endangering their lives. However Cuban simply, and again perhaps unknowingly, reinforced these ideas.

It is suffice to say that there is a chance that affluent people don't interact with regular class people, at least not enough, to rid them of their fears of stereotypes. Perhaps they base their beliefs on safety from the constant media coverage of violence, where as regular class people who interact with people of various backgrounds may not share the same safety beliefs.

Is it an age issue? Does Mark Zuckerberg share the same safety beliefs as Cuban? Zuckerberg lives in the same glass house as Cuban. It would be interesting to get an honest approach from the Facebook founder.

Regardless of age or class, even though Cuban was trying to be honest in addressing the issue of racism he illustrated the boundries that are yet to be conquered.