Jazz Shaw:
Ed touched on this briefly, but Mark Cuban has probably opened up a bigger can of worms than even he could have imagined when he decided to have a rather frank discussion onpeople’s preconceived notions.
“I mean, we’re all prejudiced in one way or another,” he said. “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 we all live up to and are fearful of.”
This, of course, set off the usual alarm bells with our nation’s keepers of the watchful flame of racial tensions. Finally they had it on the record. Mark Cuban is obviously a racist! Sure, some of the chief monitors of all thing race card related, such as Travis Waldron at Check Your Privilege Central, were willing to slide a smidgen of credit toward Cuban for admitting he’s a despicable monster, but he still had to ask The Big Question: does he still cross the street?
When CNN’s Don Lemon dared to wonder exactly what it was that Cuban should be apologizing for, he was quickly swatted down by Marc Lamont Hill and Sunny Hostin. Our own Katie Pavlich felt the sting of Mediaite’s hall monitors when she suggested that she might cross the street herself in certain circumstances. Said monitors were also quick to note that Cuban felt compelled to apologize to the family of Trayvon Martin for mentioning the word “hoodie.”
This brings up two questions – one relatively minor and the other having more far reaching implications – which merit attention.
First, and of far less import, is a question of sartorial style. Since when does the entire planet apparently owe a mea culpa to the legacy of Trayvon Martin for saying hoodie? I’ve got news for you.. the rest of the world is still allowed to talk about people wearing hoodies in whatever context they wish. If they are common in high crime areas and you find them unsettling, you are free to be unsettled. (As a startling side note, I have a black hoodie and wear it every spring and fall. It has a graphic of a loon on it – I mean the bird, not Nancy Pelosi – and I find it comfortable. But I’m sure I’m unsettling to a lot of people also.)
But the second, and larger issue here has to do with this fundamental concept of peoplecrossing the street. I was reminded of a rather eerie parallel while reading the interview conducted by Don Lemon which I linked above. For the last couple of years I’ve had to do a lot of traveling in the “deep South” as it’s called – particularly through the Appalachian Mountains – and gotten to know some of these areas pretty well. I’ve learned that once you get outside the clearly defined borders of a couple of cities down there you immediately enter into more mountainous, less populated areas which some natives affectionately refer to asthe hollers, or simply, out in the county.
Even though I’m a Mavericks fan, I haven’t followed this episode very closely because, basically, I don’t care. However, as opposed to Sterling (who was initially reputed to be a Republican) it appears to me that Cuban is sufficiently liberal to merely have his remarks discussed on their merits rather than infer complete racism clear down to his spleen.
However, if did find the obligatory “apology” for inferring everyone that wore hoodies are wanton killers disgusting. Dress like a thug, act like a thug, expect to be characterized, just on be on the safe side, as a thug and, as such, avoided.
When it gets cloudy with thunder and lightening, expect a storm and prepare accordingly. When you see someone wearing a hoodie (particularly in temperate weather) skulking about, expect trouble and prepare accordingly. One should not risk their life for the sake of political correctness. That’s sort of stupid.
Though not an overwhelming follower of Mark Cuban, what he said should be of no surprise to anyone. We all have our biases and prejudices. We all act accordingly. Anyone who says they are unbiased and do not have prejudices simply aren’t telling the truth. But, then again, they are intellectually dishonest on most matters as well.
As @Bill Burris said, wear a hoodie in warm weather, one should expect trouble. Besides, there is no chill in the air when its hot and humid, and the wind is hot as well.