There
are a lot of interesting things about what is going on with Sterling and the Clippers, which
I may get back to. For now, I want to talk more about Mark Cuban and Stephen A
Smith.
I
do find it kind of interesting that there has been some concern about holding
team owners to any expectations for how they conduct themselves, because it
makes me wonder what would be found upon closer inspection, but that would just
be speculation about rich people being awful; I'm not going to worry about that
right now.
So
let's just go right to the quote from Cuban's interview with Inc.com:
"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."
Let's
break that down a bit. In the admittedly small group of people that I can think
of with face tattoos, there's only one who does not have a prison record that I
know of, and that's Lars Frederiksen of Rancid, whom you could reasonably
describe as a hard-core punk rocker.
Frederiksen
could have a rap sheet that I don't know about, but he also worked out
skateboard donations for shelter teens, so he may be the exception that proves
the rule. Regardless, I know that a some of the better-known facial tattoos are
either signs of having killed or willingness to kill, so that is a pretty
serious thing. I don't like to judge people by looks, but if someone does not
feel safe around a stranger with a shaved head and face tattoos, they may have
a point.
Now,
what was that other scary thing? A black kid in a hoodie. Right. You know who
wears hoodies? Everyone. My kindergarten teacher sister wears hoodies.
Middle-aged people out jogging wear hoodies, but also younger athletes, because
they are often part of a team uniform, and marching band members often wear
hoodies. I just saw a picture of Mark Zuckerberg in a hoodie, so very rich
people can wear them. Yes, there are people who question his business
practices, but I don't think anyone's going to cross the street out of fear of
Mark Zuckerberg.
I
saw a pink "Bride" hoodie that I believe was intended for
bachelorette parties. There are lots of superhero-themed hoodies out there, so
fans of comic books and movies apparently wear hoodies. I guess the scary part
is just that he's black.
I
don't remember hoodies being a big deal before Trayvon Martin's death -- before
that most sartorial criticism seemed to be directed at sagging pants and backward
baseball caps -- but okay, if Trayvon is going to be the symbol of scary black
youth let's go back and get that story straight: he was unarmed. He was not the
danger. He was walking back to his father's house from the store, which is
neither illegal or dangerous to others, and it was only dangerous to himself
because of racism that associates dark skin with crime and fear.
That
brings us to ESPN commentator Stephen A Smith defending Cuban. "All of
those folks ignored the part that he said about the white guy!" No, they
didn't. The part about the white guy presented a false equivalency, and Smith
bought into it.
"Sometimes
it is about how you represent yourself, it is about how you present
yourself."
Except
that if you are wearing jeans and a hoodie, presenting yourself the way
countless white teenagers do, you will still look like a criminal because you
are black. I guess you need to wear suits all the time, but then I just read
about a black man getting mocked behind his back for wearing a suit to an
interview at a tech company, because that meant he wouldn't fit in with their
casual vibe. There's no clear path to victory there. The game is rigged.
"And
I don’t care who in the black community disagrees with me — I’m not interested
in their disagreement on this particular issue because they are not looking at
the bigger picture here."
For
this, Smith has been called refreshing and brave. Standing with power is not
brave.
Smith
called Cuban honest, but accepting the surface story is not honest.
What
would really be honest and brave is really taking an honest look at the system
and finding the injustices in it. They have both made it, so to speak, so
there's less incentive for them to do so, but again, just staying comfortable
is neither honest nor brave.
Yes,
some people make it. Barack Obama became president. Stephen A Smith became a
sports commentator. Morgan Freeman became a respected actor. Yes there was hard
work in all of that, but that doesn't negate all of the obstacles that are set
up and have been in place to weaken education, demoralize, prevent the
accumulation of wealth, and to criminalize so that no one blinks when you say an
unarmed teenager looked dangerous because of his hoodie.
That
is a corrupt system that leads to abuses. It means you can have for-profit
prisons where people get warehoused for violations that have nothing to do with
public safety and that are not equally enforced. It means that corners will be
cut on food and medical care.
It
means a water department will cut off water in areas that are black, and they
say it's for late payments, but the abandoned properties are still getting
water, paid bills are somehow not resulting in the water service being
restored, and it really all seems to be a move toward privatizing the water
company and emptying certain neighborhoods for redevelopment.
It
means that black people who are in auto accidents and need help are shot by the
people who should be helping them, but it's not a crime because who wouldn't be
scared of a black person?
It
seems that there would be a lot of work for brave and honest people to do here.
It's a pity that with the resources Smith and Cuban have, honesty and courage
are not among them.
Related
posts:
Also,
this is a pretty good piece on the Sterling situation:
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