MAVERICKS OWNER MARK CUBAN: "I THINK WE ARE ALL BIGOTS…"

LA Clippers Owner: Donald Sterling                Dallas Mavericks Owner: Mark Cuban

I truly have to say "Bravo, Mark Cuban!" after he talked about everything from, Donald Sterling to his own prejudices, at Inc. Magazine's GrowCo conference in Nashville, Tennessee, this week. . Cuban admitted that he has "prejudices" and believes that "we all have certain "prejudices".

When asked if the NBA should ban Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, for his racist recorded comments, the Dallas Mavericks' owner said, "I think "NBA Commissioner [Adam Silver] had to do it. There's a lot at stake for the NBA--it [the NBA] has to be a leader in the culture… But it's a slippery slope."

Cuban went on to say [during the onstage interview] "You can't keep that ugliness out of the league. There's no law against stupid--I learned that a long time ago,"

"The thing that scares me about this whole thing is I don't want to be a hypocrite and I think I might have to be," Cuban said, likely referring to the expected vote by the NBA owners to oust Sterling, attempting to force him to sell his Clippers professional basketball franchise. "Being a hypocrite bothers me more than anything, after my family, so it won't be fun," Cuban said.

When asked how Cuban would be a "hypocrite", the loquacious and brash billionaire said, "Well, I just sat here and said I'm a bigot."

"I think we're all bigots and I don't think there's any question about that," Cuban said.

Finally!… Finally, someone with a public and relevant platform, has the courage to stand up and state the obvious that the rest of us seem to deny, constantly. I agree with Mark Cuban, each and every one of us is prejudice, but I will take it a step further to say this; Each of us has a specific and profound [set] of biases in a variety of relevant topics. Most of the time we pretend that we are impeccant, that in some way we are above the ugliness around us; it makes us feel better about ourselves.  I wish everyone had the bravery to admit it and set an example. The axiom, we claim to know so well; "You can't solve a problem, until you admit that there is one," has obviously slipped through the fingers of our own collective consciousness.

What do I fear? If history has taught us anything about ourselves, it is that significant tragedy and suffering must occur before great change will take shape on the subject of tolerance for one another as part of a single race; the Human Race;  This is a particularly difficult challenge when it is considered a virtue to hold tight to one's self-awareness and identity through the unique set of traditions and customs of each individual's original ancestry. 

Lastly,  I really applaud Mark Cuban for his honesty and his willingness to risk. Cuban has a lot, which means he has a lot to lose and although this country has a freedom of speech amendment in our Constitution, most of us really understand that "Free Speech" doesn't actually mean you can say whatever you want. Words can cause actions and  those actions are not always in our own best interest. Many people have reacted badly to his words on the subject of "prejudice" and some are calling him a bigot. Heck, even Mark Cuban called himself a bigot, but his caveat claims that if we were all honest with ourselves, we would feel a lot more in common with Mark Cuban then we feel different. Again, you can't fix a problem if you don't even admit that you have one, and it starts at home and it should start from the beginning… If we only raised our children to be better people than we are…