Sir Charles the Just

Retired NBA player and current NBA analyst for TNT television, Charles Barkley, nicknamed “Sir Charles” by many, is well known for his outgoing and outspoken personality.

In the wake of the Zimmerman trial, Barkley could have easily laid low and kept his opinion to himself.

Instead, he said he agreed with the verdict, and he denounced the media and “every white person and black person that is racist.”

“I agree with the verdict,” Barkley stated. “I feel sorry that a young kid got killed, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him…. Mr. Zimmerman was wrong, he was racial profiling. But I think Trayvon Martin, God rest his soul, I think he did flip the switch and start beating the Hell out of Mr. Zimmerman…. It was a bad situation. We all lost.” (A transcript of Barkley’s full comments is below.)

Barkley then turned his remarks towards the bigger picture: Racism.

“Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form…. I think sometimes when people talk about race they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist.”

Amen! Fortunately Barkley didn’t stop there. He went on to say:

“I don’t like when it [race] gets out there in the media, because I don’t think the media has clean hands. The main thing I feel bad for, it gives every white person and black person who is racist a platform to vent their ignorance. That’s the thing that bothered me the most. I watched the trial closely and I watched all these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. You know, they want to have their racist views, whether they’re white or black. The bias definitely comes out.”

Charles Barkley is a smart fellow. He knew he risked the wrath of the racist wraiths that plague our society. Doubtless he’s since been the recipient of countless vile tweets, and I’m sure that the comments trailing news articles about his remarks are laced with outrageous obscenities against him.

Perhaps it will be some consolation to Barkley that from now on at least one person will think of him not just as “Sir Charles”, but as “Sir Charles the Just”.

Video and Transcript of Barkley’s Comments

I agree with the verdict. I feel sorry that a young kid got killed, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Something clearly went wrong that night. Clearly something went wrong, and I feel bad for anybody who loses a kid. But if you looked at the case, there was some racial profiling, no question about it, but something happened that changed the dynamic of that night, and that’s probably not a popular opinion among most people. But just looking at the evidence I agree with the verdict. I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media because I don’t think the media has a pure heart as I call it. There are very few people that have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape, form. There are a lot of black people who are racist too. I think sometimes when people talk about race they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media, because I don’t think the media has clean hands. I feel sorry that young kid got killed. But just judging by the evidence I don’t think that guy should have went to jail for the rest of his life, because something happened bad that night obviously. Mr. Zimmerman was wrong, he was racial profiling. But I think Trayvon Martin, God rest his soul, I think he did flip the switch and start beating the Hell out of Mr. Zimmerman. It was just a bad situation. The main thing I feel bad for, it gives every white person and black person who is racist a platform to vent their ignorance. That’s the thing that bothered me the most. I watched the trial closely and I watched all these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. You know, they want to have their racist views, whether they’re white or black. The bias definitely comes out. It was a bad situation. We all lost, and I feel bad for his parents, you never want to see anybody lose a kid.