Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, in a tv interview, said two things, among others:
Thing 1: “If I see a black kid in a hoodie at night on the same side of the street, I’m probably going to walk to the other side of the street.”
Thing 2: “If I see a white guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos, I’m going back to the other side of the street.”
Guess which comment made the headlines.
Guess which comment caused the PC Police to scream "racist."
If you guessed the "hoodie" remark you win the gold star (assuming that's not offensive to either the colors or stars).
The New York Post, in an article heded Cuban: I’d cross the street to get away from a black kid in a hoodie, grudgingly stuck in a paragraph in its story between Cuban's two comments: As if to balance that stunning statement, Cuban said a white person looking like a skinhead would also force him to the other side of the road.
Would it have been OK if Cuban had said he would fear a white person in a hoodie or a black skinhead with tat(toos)? How about if he just said he had a problem with hoodies? The tats remark would cause the tattoo parlors and those who frequent them to raise up in artistic arms. Should I take umbrage on behalf of those who shave their heads (thinking it a better option than displaying a growing bald spot)?
Cuban was simply expressing his level of discomfort based on the reputation, deserved or otherwise, of people wearing hoodies - especially when the temperature is high - or people with shaved heads and tattoos.
I'm uncomfortable with people who walk around with their trousers around their knees. Does that make me a racist? How could it - people of all shades are fashion deficient.
Maybe I make young people feel ill at ease; I'm a geezer with a beard and, oft-times, a hard continence. Does that make the young folk "ageists?" Shall I go whining to the local press and the Civil Rights Commission? Spare me.
I know that not everyone who has colorful "sleeves" (arm tattoos) is a threat. When I lived in Clearwater we had a guy at the area post office that that "sleeves." Hard to ask for a nicer guy. He even took time to explain each image to my curious, then teenage, son.
While all generalities are lies is a truism, when something has developed a reputation - deserved or not - then a reasonable person has a reason to be concerned.
Pit bulls.
Banned in Dade County and many other locales.
Dangerous. Attack without warning. All pits are bad dogs.
Put a skinhead with a pit bull and Katie, bar the door.
In the photo above, the only thing that would make either the skinhead or the pit bull angry is if someone upset the little girl.
Truth on blogging. The skinhead is my son-in-law and the pit, one of two, is one my grand-daughter's guardian playmates. As my daughter repeatedly points out, dogs are what we make them.
My son-in-law and Mango (the pit in the picture, the one not shown is Kiwi, obviously vicious names for vicious dogs) are not exceptions to the rule but there are enough people and pits with dispositions to make "awareness" appropriate.
But back to Mr. Cuban.
Why do the PC Police seem to focus solely on a black kid in a hoodie - the headline, after all, shouted the comment in 48 point typeface - compare that to the 10 point body typeface.
Where was the outcry against the equally bigoted - assuming there is no justification for the opinion - “If I see a white guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos, I’m going back to the other side of the street? Silence.
Seems the PC Police are selective in their condemnation.
That's wrong.
It's time we retired the PC Police, or at least relegated them to their place.
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