If Only More People Took Charles Barkley Seriously
NBA, Race, Video July 25th. 2008, 3:15pmHis clownish antics and penchant for gambling aside … more people should be listening to Charles Barkley. Good stuff here.
22 Responses to “If Only More People Took Charles Barkley Seriously”
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July 25th, 2008 at 3:20 PM
Jesse Jackson thinks Sir Charles is talking down to nig____.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:23 PM
If Bill Cosby is ignored, Sir Charles will be ignored. Sad but true.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:24 PM
beat me to it tallguy
July 25th, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Who cares what Chuck thinks? I need to hear what Intern Bill has to say on the matter.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:29 PM
this is why i like chuck. hes funny, but damnit…hes a smart guy!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:32 PM
when he is calm, composed and thoughtful, Chuck is a very powerful and convincing speaker. dude is a breath of fresh air.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:32 PM
/threadjack
for the love of god, do not goto the discussion boards on ESPN’s prestige article if you value your intelligence. I honestly don’t understand how some people can breath based on their level of stupidity exhibited on that thread.
/end threadjack
July 25th, 2008 at 3:34 PM
He’s not smart, he’s outspoken. The things he’s saying are common sense.
(1) Slavery had a negative impact on black people.
(2) Racism still exists.
(3) Black people killing black people is bad.
(4) Taking care of your children and getting an education are good.
No rational person would counter any of those points because they’re simple common sense.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:34 PM
The Chuckster for VP!!!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Ben as usual you’re right, haven’t seen you around much here lately.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:37 PM
I like Barkley he speaks the truth but people just brush it off as “Charles being Charles”. Stephen A wrote an article for espn the mag where he says that Barkley is really the only black athlete of this generation that isnt afraid to speak out.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:39 PM
Ben, of course they are common sense to you and I. But God Dammit. Why won’t kids listen to what he is saying? not just kids, but everyone.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:41 PM
I wish I could actually hear this at work, but I have no speakers. My opinion on Chuck is I love him. He is great on TV and doesn’t give boiler plate canned responses. On the other side of that coin, he knows people like when he almost goes over the line and you can plainly see that 50% of the time he is just yucking it up and saying crazy shit so he will stay relevant.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:43 PM
Maggs, thats why I like this clip of him – he isn’t saying anything crazy
July 25th, 2008 at 3:44 PM
Mags, he hasn’t said anything you haven’t heard before. Basically he tells black kids to stop the crime and aspire to be something other than a basketball player.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:49 PM
@Mags: I feel for you, because I lost my speakers at work also. I upgraded to a better monitor but lost speakers. I’m about 90% less productive, but I have developed awesome lip reading skills.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Chuck needs to get his facts straight. The idea that there are more black men in prison than in college is a myth.
Myth 1: There are more black men in jail than in college. That study came out of the Justice Policy Institute in 2002. Morton’s research revealed that 805,000 black men were in college and 757,000 black men were in jail. “Of course that’s bad, but the actual storyline was there were more black men in jail than college,” Morton told BET. “That’s untrue. The study was flawed. The sample was flawed. The data was flawed.”
The Justice Policy Institute responded that there were more college-aged black men in college than were incarcerated. But the study researched incarcerated men ages 18 and older; because of that larger sample group, the number of black men in jail is higher than the number of black men in college.
Morton visited that statistic again looking at 2005 numbers. His research revealed that of black men ages 18 to 24, there was a 4-to-1 ratio of black men in college to black men incarcerated.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:03 PM
1) War Eagle, Chuck
2) Yes it is common sense but it’s significant because he isn’t toeing the party line. Cosby has been mentioned but there just aren’t that many black men, women of significant stature who come out and blatantly say things like that.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:05 PM
Oh, oh, sorry – There are just slightly more black men in college than in jail. That makes everything better.
/s/ Charles.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:10 PM
You completely missed the point rittyrich.
Of college aged black males 18-24, there are 4 times as many black males in college than in prison. People who cite this statistic like Chuck did make it sound like many more YOUNG black males are in jail than in college and that’s false.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:17 PM
I’ve been legitimately busy at work, which really puts a damper on my TBL time and I’m not really on the computer over the weekend unless it’s 5-10 minutes to check on my fantasy teams.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:09 PM
I have great admiration for Charles because he’s a rich black man who hasn’t let his success and money blind him to the problems that still ravage his community. The difference between Charles and Bill Cosby is that Charles knows how to give tough love without being demeaning at the same time. That is the point that Jesse Jacksn was trying to make MikeNYC, black folks don’t mind hearing constructive criticism which happens to be a well publicized myth, but we don’t won’t our own leaders talking to us in a condescending manner either. Tell us what we need to hear and challenge us to rise up and be better than what people think we are. Ahgain, kudos to Charles and Black America for continuing to rise to the challenge.