Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, commented on the Sterling scandal saying that the comments made by Sterling were “abhorrent” adding that there is “no place for racism in the NBA, any business I’m associated with.” He also mentions that everyone is prejudice in one way or the other and followed that statement with the example: “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. And the list goes on of stereotypes that we all live up to and are fearful of.”
After making the comment, Mark Cuban received an immense amount of backlash for his comment regarding a black kid in a hoodie because of the Trayvon Martin case. The next day Cuban apologized because he failed to consider the Martin family when making his comment but noted that he still stood by the substance and words of his interview. Stephen A. Smith, a commentator on ESPN’s First Take, agreed that Mark Cuban’s hoodie reference was insensitive but was badgered for supporting the remainder of Cuban’s statement. After being called a “sell-out,” Smith addressed those who disagreed with his comments and broached that the most important issue was being ignored because everyone insisted on focusing solely on Cuban’s hoodie reference.
The “elephant in the room” that Stephen A. Smith alluded to was the failure of African American’s to ignore the negative stereotypes and perceptions that are commonly placed upon them. Instead of falling victim to perception, African Americans should work harder to be better than what other races “think” they should be. Michael Eric Dyson appeared on this episode of First Take and gave an opposing argument noting that these perceptions are deeply embedded in our culture and that the focus should not be to challenge ourselves but to challenge people of the majority culture (White Americans).
While watching the debate, I found myself leaning more toward Stephen A. Smith’s argument. My reason being: “Improvement begins with ‘I’.” We cannot expect the superior race to change its perception of us if we are not willing to first change ourselves. I believe in staying true to oneself but how can one expect to be successful without some type of conformity? While white people are misled under the perception that every black man in a hoodie is dangerous, black people are under the misconception that they can present themselves in any fashion and still be given the same opportunities as someone who “dresses for the job.”
Our society is a white-dominated society. The top businesses in America are owned by white people and, since racism in sports began the argument, most sports teams are owned by white people. If we look specifically at basketball, in 2013, 76.3 percent of NBA players were African American. The fraction of African Americans lessens as we look further into the management chain. The percentage doesn’t look too shabby in regards to head coaches with 43 percent being African Americans but the numbers take a sour turn after examining the percentage of African American majority owners in the NBA. Only 2 percent of owners in the NBA are African American. 98 percent of the owners of NBA teams are white and 76.3 percent are African American. These statistics allude to slavery so I then pose this question: Are African-American NBA players modern-day slaves?
No one has the answer to change the dynamics of the statistic but I believe Stephen A. Smith was off to a great start when he said that African Americans should challenge themselves instead of challenging others. There are far too many young black men seeking to be basketball players, football players, and rappers and very few with dreams of becoming NBA and NFL team owners and business owners.
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