By your very own description, your instincts to cross the street were triggered because of the way the teens were acting and treating people in front of you. That doesn't make you racist. It would be racist if you didn't see a problem with the same suspicious behavior from white kids or if there was a black teen innocently walking home and you found him threatening.
Yep. If you purposely avoid a person by crossing the street you might as well hang ring a siren and yell, "I'm scared, rob me!" That's what we in the hood call a 'Mark'. You just made it obvious you don't don't belong and must be valuable.
I like when people speak their mind and don't apologize for it. Even if I don't like it. Barkley does it. I like it.
It's unfortunate that honesty and candidness aren't usually acceptable in this regard. But being a black person, I can understand Mark Cuban's point. The issue isn't whether or not he has any prejudices, or whether he has them because of personal experience or cultural disaffect. It is how he's handled those prejudices publicly as a business person, particularly, that is so important. He has been better, after a fashion, than his fears and weaknesses by and large. And I would hope and believe that is what Mark Cuban is hoping to accomplish here. Good job, in my opinion.
Thanks for the reply, I agree with exactly with what you say. Which brings me to the next point, there are rotten people in every race and when people in those races act the parts of any stereo type from any race. People will take notice and it shouldn't be racism. Racism gets used to loosely nowadays in my opinion. If I dress like a guy who is up to no good I get treated likewise. If I do something odd I will get treated likewise. Now I don't know what this Donald sterling issue if he is racist or not so I won't comment. But I know what racism is considering I am a minority. I have had terrible things done to me or said at me and hate has come my way. I got pulled over I Chicago because I looked the part of a drug dealer , I was held at gun point, searched and had my car stripped in the middle of a highway. Is that racism? Or getting called a gook or a Charlie or an egg roll racism? Or the thought that all Asian fans a jlin fans racism? The problem is racism is so broad and so narrow by definition at the same time. In reality any type of generalization is racism but acting upon experience shouldn't be considered such. Now if u just hate the is prejudice and racist.
Well in my day this was really called street smarts. It's not going to be ALL kids or groups of kids you move to the other side of the street but you evaluate (ie profiling) base each situation.
Mark's comments are a generalization that everyone has inherent prejudicial behaviors...basically the sky is blue...nothing really to psychoanalyze here...
where I feel like my life is in danger No sir, not everyone has natural prejudices based on experiences....what if you never had a bad experience with other races? I never been called the n-word by anyone, but I have the media telling me how racist white people are and how dangerous black people are...how illegal Mexicans and how selfish Asians are. They only report the bad....it's common day brainwashing. Now, maybe you have had bad experiences with black, Mexicans etc and you can relate to Cuban....give him a virtual high five i guess. But everyone doesn't feel that way. I don't stereotype people and I make a conscious effort not to because I was taught to treat people as I'm treated. Now, if I'm in a certain situation for example...walking down the street and see a hooded black guy walking my way it depends.....Is it in the afternoon or 2AM? Probability is now in effect because of either experiences or what we've been sold by mainstream media.
That plays very little part in this. Its largely media portrayal, and occasional exposure to gang culture. I'm surprised none of that has an effect on you. Personally, I like Cuban's transparency. He admits its a prejudice. There are too many self righteous people when it comes to race. Its fine to admit one has a prejudice or fear that may not be totally rational.
It's the smart thing to do. If they move to the other side of the street to intercept you, you know what their intent is. Would you rather just walk through the unknown and possibly get jumped, or would you rather show your hand so they'll show theirs? You just admitted to having bias there. I said people have their prejudices based on experience AND probability. If you didn't, you wouldn't need to consciously remind yourself. It would be your natural behavior not to bias. You're lying to yourself if you believe you don't have natural prejudices.
If you continue to read my post you see I agree with the media point you made. My earlier post touched on stereotyping and "dealing with it" I don't believe many people are racist; just think people stereotype more often because of experiences or IMO heavy media brainwashing. As far as the "gang culture" you speak of....it's misrepresented. It's a HIP HOP culture and its gets a bad wrap because of the media and a lot of it's own fault. It's the world we live in....i don't blame Cuban for what he said; just don't think it was a wise idea to do that in his position. I've never been one to label people racist because of their opinion; Cuban isn't racist...hell, he might be smarter than me to walk across the street when a black man in a hoodie approaches lolol I would keep walking towards him. To each....
This reminds me of the song... "Everybody is a little bit racist" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMeU_szhZ6E
I agree with your comments. 90% of people feel the same way as Cuban, but a tiny percentage would be willing to admit it. In fact, the people that go out of their way to be self-righteous or over-compensate when dealing with minorities are typically the ones that have a guilty conscious from thoughts along the lines of Cuban. When confronted with a situation, rationale people will choose safety over danger -- and it's not wise to take chances.
No i didn't....It's 2am. Danger doesn't have a color. The Probability of being mugged is higher at 2am. It's probably wise to be ready for anything at that time of morning and in that situation......that's not lying to myself; that's just being realistic. If it's a normal situation and I'm walking down the street in the morning, afternoon or evening...I'm not stereotyping the person coming my way. I know who I am and if you differ from me then there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe you are stereotyping me now thinking I'm the guy defensive about race? I'm not....I just said not everyone thinks like you and Cuban and that's ok...doesn't make you wrong because you would walk across the street. We are just different men.
I don't cross the street. Cuban's point that people have prejudices is true, but some people seem to be more prone to acting on those prejudices than other people. By acting on his prejudices and then admitting (maybe even boasting) that he does, he is arguing it's okay even as he admits it's wrong. I don't think it's okay. He shouldn't act on his prejudices and then tell himself, 'that was wrong, but it's okay; it's human nature and totally understandable and everybody does it.' Everyone will fail at doing the right thing, but he's not even trying here, he's just rationalizing.
