Charles Barkley joined 247Sports’ Evan Daniels as part of his Social Distance series and made a statement on athletes trying to bring awareness to social issues. Barkley talked on the killing of George Floyd, who lost his life in the hands of four Minneapolis police officers.
“I really have appreciated the support from just people. I’m not even gonna just say the white community because that’s not even a way to phrase anything. But if you weren’t appalled with that video then there’s something wrong with you as a person. We as players have a great platform. You know, it’s interesting, especially being black, you go back to the movie Do the Right Thing with Spike Lee, and he was talking about the racists.
He said ‘well, how can Michael Jordan be your favorite black basketball player if you don’t like black people? How can Michael Jackson be your favorite entertainer if you don’t like black people?’ And he said ‘they’re different.’ So I’m not gonna get on your interview and act like I know what everyday poor black people go through. That’s disingenuous on my part, but we in the sports world have an obligation to do is, No. 1, keep trying to make a difference, but also anytime something like this happens, keep trying to bring awareness to it,” Barkley said, per CBS Sports.
The former Suns and Sixers legend joined the talk of the racial inquality and social justice, which “unfortunately, always matter”.
“The racial stuff always matters, unfortunately, it always matters. But this to me is just about being a human being. If I was walking down the street and I saw a person with, I’m an animal lover, and if I was walking down the street and I saw a guy with his foot on a dog’s neck for extended period of time, for any time really, I would just whoop the hell out of that guy.
That’s the simplest way that I can put it. That video is terrifying, it’s frustrating, and I think the thing that’s really resonating with people is that I think this is the first time we’ve seen it in action. Normally when you see someone killed at the hands of the cops, you hear about it after the fact, but this was really painful to watch. A grown man breathing, begging for his life, calling for his mom, and spectators are sitting there saying ‘hey the guy can’t breathe,’ I think that’s really the most powerful and disappointing part of it.”
After George Floyd’s killing, many NBA stars took a stand against the core problem of systemic racism that causes a big number of “Black Lives Matter” protests all over the United States.
