Mark Cuban Shares Message To ‘White People’ Amid Protests & ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement
Mark Cuban is the latest celebrity using his platform to share his views in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks shared a message with his 7.9 million followers on Twitter yesterday, which included an excerpt from a post written by Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton. The article has since been viewed over 31,000 times.
“Dear White People: We are the ones that need to change. This is not one man’s story. This is almost every black man’s story. Which is why the problem is ours. We need to find OUR way to change what we do. There is no quick fix. It’s a moral imperative,” Cuban tweeted.
A short time after the Shark Tank star shared the tweet on his page, one social media user challenged him and asked what he specifically planned to change about himself and the widespread issue of racism in America. The same Twitter user also asked him what he did that led him to this.
“I used to think treating people equally meant treating them the same. Like it was a math equation. I was wrong,” Cuban tweeted back. “I’m learning that treating people equally means treating them with equal amounts of respect, for who they are and what they have experienced.”
The same Twitter user challenged Cuban even further, asking if he was understanding him correctly in that he used to treat all people the same but didn’t equally respect them. Once again, Cuban took time to reply, sharing that he used to try to treat men, women, black people, and white people all the same and noting that he thought being colorblind was the right thing to do. However, he said that he missed “a lot” and learned the hard way that respect comes from “differences” rather than thinking everyone could or should be the same.
So far, the tweet has received over 1,000 retweets and 7,900 likes in addition to nearly 600 comments. Many of Cuban’s followers applauded him for using his platform and voice to attempt to make a change and open people’s eyes. However, countless others thought that he was not being “specific” enough in what he was doing to make a change.
Yesterday, The Dallas Morning News reported that Cuban attended a vigil outside Dallas Police headquarters to honor the memory of George Floyd. The event included talks about police brutality and racial injustice and the steps that need to be taken to move forward and heal. In an interview, Cuban said that he wanted to be there to listen and to “better understand” what the African American community is going through.
Mavericks stars Dwight Powell, Justin Jackson, Jalen Brunson, and Maxi Kleber also attended the event.
