Black Lives Matter Won't Like Barkley's TNT Series on Race

May 11th, 2017 7:09 PM

If race baiters were hoping retired NBA player Charles Barkley would rubber stamp Black Lives Matter-style, police-bashing racism on his four-part TNT series American Race, they may be in for disappointment.

Maya Jones, writer for ESPN's The Undefeated, said people questioned Barkley's sanity for taking on such a project, which is airing May 11-12. Nonethless, Barkley was determined to exit his comfort zone and do the series "at a time when America needs it most."

Barkley, who has often made racial digs at Whites in the past, said Whites deserve more credit for their involvement in civil rights marches. He also said Blacks are "destroying our race" through the epidemic Black-on-Black crime:

“Nobody agrees with everybody on everything. I always try to judge everybody on their own individual merits. I don’t like when people say black or white, because we’re all individuals. There are some white people out there that have done amazing things, and that’s one thing that one of the heroes of the civil rights movement talked about. C.T. Vivian says more whites should have gotten credit for being on the civil rights march.

 “There are so many black people out there who are destroying our race. We never call them out, and we’ve got to do a better job of that. If you ain’t for us, you’re against us. Black-on-black crime is an epidemic. We’ve gotta address that. My views on race are probably not gonna change. Anybody who’s with me, they’re with me. If they’re not with me, they’re against me.”

On May 11, TNT broadcasted the first two episodes of the series, co-produced by Barkley and Emmy winner Dan Partland.

Barkley experiences a painful experience in front of a Baltimore audience when he says he had spent a day with police officers and had come to understand that they sometimes must make split-second decisions which can "go awry." That did not go over well with African-Americans in the audience. Diane Butler was there, and she busted Barkley's chops for that. Her son, Tyrone West, had been beaten by police for several minutes and then cleared of wrongdoing, she said. Barkley said, "It was really uncomfortable getting your a-- kicked like that."

The series also features Muslims and Asians who tell of the prejudice they faced. Others featured are Atlanta civil rights activist Gerald Griggs, who had a conversation with white supremacist Richard Spencer. Griggs stood up in defense of America, but did get in a dig at President Donald Trump, saying:

“What I wanted to get across to Mr. Spencer is one, the rest of the country is great, the rest of the country is strong, and we will not stand for the bigotry and hatred flowing out of [his] mouth. We will show the world that in America, love does and truly trumps hate.”

Of his own conversation with Spencer, Barkley said, “It was the most disappointing, frustrating, angry I could probably envision myself in my life. I never worry about a fool calling me the N-word and things like that. But if you have economic power and you can make sure people can never get economic power, that’s racism."

Barkley also did a recent interview about the series on CBS News. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," he said. "I've always defended the police, but that doesn't mean they're always right. We have to find a way to hold police accountable when they do things wrong."

Referring to the the night in Baltimore, Barkley said, "And we can't keep treating each other with such disrespect and then call the cops when things go bad and then disrespect the cops."

CBS asked Barkley about the recent situation in Boston, where Baltimore Orioles' outfielder Adam Jones said he was the victim of racism. "I was more disappointed with the people around" the person(s) committing the alleged acts of racism, he said. "They shoulda policed that situation. So to come back the next night and give a standing ovation that was ridiculous."

A short clip from the series shows Barkley saying, "This is not about Black and White. This about everybody. We're all in this thing together."