Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told CNBC that white people “need to speak up” and call out racism when they see it, whether it comes from businesses or people in their lives.
“We, as white people, all know people who are racist. Maybe not overtly racist, but subtly racist. And when we see people act that way, we have to step in and say something,” Cuban said on “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “That’s when things start to change.”
According to CNBC, Cuban said he understands that white people will find conversations about race and privilege difficult, adding that it makes him uncomfortable as well.
“But the fact that it makes us uncomfortable gives us a reason to really want to start taking steps forward,” Cuban told CNBC.
In the weeks following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, protests against racism and police brutality have spread across the United States.
Local and federal lawmakers have proposed law enforcement reforms, and some of the nation’s largest companies have announced plans to combat discrimination and racial inequality, CNBC reported.
According to CNBC, Cuban said he sees this moment in America as a “generational opportunity” to put in place lasting reforms.
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Cuban acknowledged the need for programs designed to end racial inequality, but he also stressed the need for white Americans to make changes in their own lives, saying that it is necessary to tear down the systems that perpetuate inequality, CNBC reported.
“We have to start to recognize that racism comes from us,” Cuban told CNBC. “It may just be one little baby step at a time that each one of us can take, but in aggregate, that is where real change occurs.”
