Cuban wants white people to have open, uncomfortable discussions about race

The Dallas Mavericks hosted an invite-only event on Tuesday featuring high-ranking city officials to discuss racial inequality in the U.S.

Owner Mark Cuban began the function by challenging white people to engage - rather than deflect - in conversations about race.

"The reality is, to be brutally honest, when people talk about white privilege, we get defensive," Cuban said, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "We all have this mechanism that I call manufactured equivalency to try to protect ourselves. We'll say, 'I have a lot of black friends.' We'll say, 'I grew up in a mixed community, so I'm not like that. I can't possibly be someone who takes advantage of white privilege,' and manufacture this equivalency.

"It's incumbent on us to stop doing that, because that doesn't move us forward when we do that. That's part of having a courageous conversation."

Last week, Cuban joined Mavs players Maxi Kleber, Jalen Brunson, Justin Jackson, and Dwight Powell at a vigil for George Floyd, who was killed in police custody.

Kleber was the only current member of Dallas' roster present at Tuesday's event and echoed Cuban's message.

"We have to talk about it," said Kleber. "Like Mark said, this is not something where we want to feel comfortable. We want to feel uncomfortable, because for real change, that's how we have to feel.

"Nobody in this world should tolerate and ignore the fact that there is racism, that there is discrimination because of skin color or beliefs. That's why it's so important to be here, to talk about this, to raise awareness."

Various members of the Mavs organization were also in attendance, including president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, former player and current executive Cedric Ceballos, and assistant coach Jamahl Mosley.

During the event, participants were broken into smaller groups and conversed with one another.