Mark Cuban Urges White People To Talk About Race and Privilege

Posted on by Bonny Johnson

It’s the conversation that must be had for the country to move forward, so Mark Cuban is urging white people to get uncomfortable and start talking about race and white privilege.

Cuban plead his case during “Courageous Conversation” an invitation-only event outside the Mavericks arena held to address race, privilege, and police brutality against black Americans.

Cuban discussed how difficult but imperative these discussions were as reported by ESPN:

“I need all of us to really open up and talk to each other, even when it’s difficult. Even when it’s not something we’re comfortable with, particularly those of you who look like me, the white people. Because it’s hard to discuss race when you’re white,” said Cuban.

“The reality is, to be brutally honest, when people talk about white privilege, we get defensive. We all have this mechanism that I call manufactured equivalency to try to protect ourselves,” said Cuban. “We’ll say, ‘I have a lot of black friends.’ We’ll say, ‘I grew up in a mixed community … I can’t possibly be someone who takes advantage of white privilege,’ and manufacture this equivalency. It’s incumbent on us to stop doing that, because that doesn’t move us forward when we do that. That’s part of having a courageous conversation.”

Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber, team CEO Cynt Marshall, Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas Police chief Renee Hall also attended the event.

“We have to talk about it,” said Kleber. “Like Mark said, this is not something where we want to feel comfortable. We want to feel uncomfortable because, for real change, that’s how we have to feel.

“I can’t understand and nobody in this world should tolerate and ignore the fact that there is racism, that there is discrimination because of skin color or beliefs. That’s why it’s so important to be here, to talk about this, to raise awareness.”

The event took place as George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston.

-->