There are times when even well-meaning white people become so comically confused and paranoid about what they can or can not say on the topic of race that even the most innocuous, non-racist of messages make them nervous.

Like, say, one white person describing to another white person how they saw a firefighter charge into a building and heroically rescue three children.

"Awesome, I know a lot of firefighters in town, do you know which it was?"

"No, I don't, but he was maybe in his 30s, tall and strong and, um, he had a mustache, and, um, um, um [looks around three times], he's, um, [begins whisper] an African-American [ends whisper]."

Then they pause and hope that wasn't construed as terrible. Then the other person has to explain that describing an African-American as an African-American isn't racist, it's just descriptive. Or else they just nod and look around in panic also.

When it comes to race, many have concluded it's best to say nothing out of fear of innocently saying the wrong thing. It's one of the reasons why there are so few honest discussions about race in this country.

There are just too many people on the fringes of every side of every debate topic eager to be immediately offended, or eager to be immediately offended that someone else is offended, or, especially on social media, eager to demand someone is fired or sanctioned for supposedly offending them. Or someone. Or something. It goes in circles.

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Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, decided Wednesday night at a forum to speak publicly on the issue of race while being interviewed by Inc. magazine.

It put him in the crosshairs, and the crosshairs can be awful.

Cuban was asked about controversial Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and if you listen to his full comments – not the pared down versions good for 140 characters or even a column on the subject – it's clear he was condemning ignorance and bigotry. What he said was unfiltered and free flowing. The casualness with which he spoke suggests a positive comfort level on the topic. This wasn't his first introspection. He wasn't entrenched in his opinion. He wasn't attacking others.

Instead, in the interest of transparency after repeatedly condemning bigotry, Cuban wanted to note that he was hardly perfect, that he too had room to grow.

"I mean, we're all prejudiced in one way or another," Cuban said. "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.

"And the list goes on of stereotypes that we all live up to and are fearful of," he continued. "So in my businesses, I try not to be hypocritical. I know that I'm not perfect. I know that I live in a glass house, and it's not appropriate for me to throw stones."

Cuban could've done better. His analogies were anything but perfect and he later acknowledged as much. There's a big difference between purposely shaving your head and getting (presumably) a lot of tattoos in essence to look a certain way, and wearing a hoodie, which is suitable to stave off rain or cold. It could also just be someone paying homage to Bill Belichick.

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