Tuesday, September 09, 2014

"I think there's a constitution for a reason, right? Because this is a very slippery slope," Cuban said before Game 4 of the Mavericks-San Antonio Spurs series. "What Donald said was wrong. It was abhorrent. There's no place for racism in the NBA, any business I'm associated with, and I don't want to be associated with people who have that position.
"But at the same time, that's a decision I make. I think you've got to be very, very careful when you start making blanket statements about what people say and think, as opposed to what they do. It's a very, very slippery slope.
"Again, there's no excuse for his positions. There's no excuse for what he said. There's no excuse for anybody to support racism. There's no place for it in our league, but there's a very, very, very slippery slope."

"In this country, people are allowed to be morons," Cuban said. "They're allowed to be stupid. They're allowed to think idiotic thoughts. ... Within an organization like the NBA, we try to do what's in the best interest of the league and that's why we have a commissioner and a constitution and I think Adam will be smart and deal with Donald with the full extent available. But, again, if you're saying a blanket, 'Let's kick him out?' I don't want to go that far because it's not about Donald, it's not about his position, it's about his mess - and what are we going to make a decision on?
Cuban called it "damn scary" to consider removing somebody from the NBA because of their private thoughts.
"In no uncertain terms am I supporting what Donald Sterling said, or his position," Cuban said. "He's obviously racist, he's obviously bigoted. And in this day and age when you're in the public eye, you've got to be damn careful - if that's your position and that's unfortunately where you're at - you better be damn careful what you say, even in the privacy of your own home.

"But regardless of your background, regardless of the history they have, if we're taking something somebody said in their home and we're trying to turn it into something that leads to you being forced to divest property in any way, shape or form, that's not the United States of America. I don't want to be part of that."

"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."
“I know that I’m not perfect. While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it’s an issue that we have to control, that it’s part of my responsibility as an entrepreneur to try to solve it, not just to kick the problem down the road."

To me, those provide "reasonable and articulable suspicion" to search Mark Cuban's emails and the emails of all "Mavericks" employees for evidence of racism.
Posted by BENJAMIN HARRIS at 12:03 PM