Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is a billionaire. So of course, donating money to women's rights groups would be an important avenue through which he might begin to make restitution to the victims of sexual misconduct that occurred on his watch.
Too many organizations concerned with the empowerment and protection of women are often strapped for cash. And women who are survivors of sexual trauma often need time and space to find their way out of the trauma.
Money can often buy that time and space. But no amount of money can buy absolution.
As a survivor of sexual trauma, I can testify that the effects of this kind of trauma never go away. People who have been violated in this way carry the residue of the experience. These acts mark us forever. It affects our ability to love, to trust, to have healthy relationships, to partner easily, to partake of a sexual life freely and with joy. Those of us who have any measure of sexual freedom, or the ability to trust people, have to work very hard at it.
And no amount of money will erase that.
So, this $10 million of Cuban's money is not enough to right the wrongs that have been ongoing for 20 years in the Mavericks organization. The incidents reported span the whole range -- from forced kissing to groping to domestic violence. Some of it is at once unbelievable and preposterous. Chris Hyde, a former senior account executive and one of the franchise's top sales producers, stands accused of licking one woman's face.
Cuban maintains he knew nothing of the toxic environment women endured at his company. What about Cuban's tepid response after he received an email about Hyde and the practice of subjecting other employees to pornography in the office?
He "thought" it was being dealt with.
Or when he was told of Earl Sneed, a former Mavs.com reporter, being arrested right outside the office for beating his girlfriend, who was left with broken bones.
In an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols on The Jump, Cuban went on about the concern he had for Sneed, for the company, for himself -- but nothing in his responses addressed any concern for the women who bore the brunt of these cruel violations. Nothing specific came from Cuban, only a vague reference to his discomfort in having to experience the pain of the victims.
I am having a difficult time believing this cry of ignorance from the "Shark Tank" mogul.
Even as the incidents became known to the organization, those in power chose to cover for the perpetrators rather than offer protection to the vulnerable.
Too often, perpetrators and enablers of sexual violence (largely men) see the financial route as a way to buy absolution from the mostly women who survive them. This is a necessary step in the long walk to restitution. But it is only a small first step. The only way to comprehensively eradicate sexual misconduct is to effectively address this issue in all the places it lives. Sexual predation is widespread -- and remains largely unchecked. There is no sector of society untouched.
Cuban, you did well to fire Sneed and Buddy Pittman, a human resources director for the organization. It's good that you hired women in high-profile positions.
But $10 million, even at four times the permissible NBA fine, is only an admirable first step. If it were to be measured against the suffering of the victims, it does not go far enough. All the folks who will decide where the money is to be sent are NBA insiders. Invite some other players to choose the organizations that will benefit from these funds.
The sentenced cannot be in charge of their own sentencing.
Staceyann Chin is the author of the memoir, "The Other Side of Paradise," and is currently touring "MotherStruck," her critically acclaimed solo theater piece, directed by Cynthia Nixon and produced by Rosie O'Donnell, chronicling her experiences about motherhood, which opened in New York, in December 2015. Follow @staceyannchin on Twitter and Instagram.