Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has maintained a different type of apolitical nature since leaving the game. He is far from apolitical in the normal sense of the word since he speaks his mind about politics and culture regularly. But throughout his broadcasting career, he has staved off criticism over his polarizing views because they have always rung with truth. He doesn’t make Republicans or Democrats happy, but he does just enough to keep them from being too angry.
His latest comments may be too far for the radical left to allow him to go unscathed. He broke their rules on “wokeness” by telling the truth about racism in America. He didn’t claim there was no racism or racial tension. He simply stated that the tension is artificially created by politicians, and by proxy that means the puppetmasters among the corporate “woke” crowd are implicated as well.
Charles Barkley spittin truth! it’s all about the divide and conquer agenda pic.twitter.com/E81b2Pw2h4
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) April 4, 2021
“Man, I think most white people and black people are great people,” he said. “I really believe that in my heart. But I think our system is set up where our politicians, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, are designed to make us not like each other so they can keep their grasp of money and power. They divide and conquer.”
This is a truth that is spoken by one side to the other regularly, but rarely does someone like Barkley come out and point both fingers in both directions. The left says Republicans are racist and only adhere to the philosophies of white supremacy. The right says Democrats are igniting race wars in order to keep people misinformed about reality and equality. Both sides are right to some extent. Both sides are wrong as well. Barkley pointed this out nicely.
“I truly believe in my heart that most white people and black people are awesome people,” he continued. “But we’re so stupid following our politicians, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats.
“And their only job is, ‘Hey, let’s make these people not like each other. We don’t live in their neighborhoods. We all got money. Let’s make the whites and blacks not like each other. Let’s make rich people and poor people not like each other. Let’s scramble the middle class.’ I truly believe that in my heart.”
Jennifer Van Laar at Redstate felt Barkley hit the nail in the head.
Barkley is right about that, but it goes even further. We’re also divided along political lines, polarized so we don’t talk to each other and figure out that with just a little bit of common purpose, the slightest connection with each other on a human level, we can figure out the solution to problems within our own communities and states without the bloated bureaucracy complicating it and driving up the cost.
I know this is true because I’ve seen this start to play out in California during both the AB5 fight and the Recall Newsom effort. Sacramento’s Democrat supermajority and their “hero,” Gavin Newsom, have so overplayed their hand in enacting woke policies and draconian pandemic lockdowns that everyone in the middle and working classes are suffering, and many of the upper class and wealthy are suffering too – and they’re finding each other and collaborating to fight back.
I truly believe that if the pandemic lockdowns in California had not been so extended, the blowback against Gavin Newsom and other Democrats would have happened sooner and with at least the amount of passion we currently see, because the full effects of the anti-freelancing AB5 law would have been apparent much earlier (through closures of community orchestras/theaters, sports camps, tutoring, entertainment, and hospitality venues).
Republicans don’t get a pass on this. Over the last decade, Republicans have also had the opportunity to enact their own legislative agenda on things like Obamacare, immigration, education, and tax reform due to their majorities in the House and Senate while having a Republican president, but they didn’t. Why is that? In my opinion, it’s because the more problems they solve, the fewer issues they have to use in outrage-stoking fundraising emails to the base.
Did Barkley go to far by not adhering to the tenets of “wokeness”? Will he be attacked by the left because he said he opposed Critical Race Theory in saying most white people are awesome? He should be cheered, not canceled.
