As an athlete what do you do when there is civil unrest? In 1968, US Olympian, John Carlos (center) and Tommie Smith (right) showed their dedication to the Civil Rights Movement by raising their black gloved fists in the air. Carlos recalls being bullied during the olympics by reason of race but that didn’t keep him down. These days, Carlos is having a run at Charles Barkley and his disturbing comments towards the “scumbags” looting in Ferguson and saying racial profiling is necessary… Carlos had these words concerning Barkley and other celebrities who have decided to stay quiet.
“He’s just looking for political votes down the line,” Carlos told the New York Daily News. “If you don’t have anything good to say, you should keep your mouth shut. I don’t know where Mr. Barkley gets his reports. He’s a basketball commentator. It’s not like he’s in the legal field. He shouldn’t be saying derogatory things.”
“Not just athletes,” Carlos said. “Puff Daddy, Snoop (Dogg), we haven’t heard much from those individuals or our black movie stars out there. They chose to take the back seat. How many millions of dollars do you have to have in your bank account before you speak your mind?”
These days not too many celebrity voices are heard in terms of the recent civil unrest. It has to be painful for someone who lost endorsements and was black listed in result from his salute to black power to seeing celebrities these days barely peep a word. Barkley’s comments were ignorant and pathetic; they represent everything he’s against. Hopefully someone from his camp tell him who idiotic he sounds and to apologize for not only shaming his own history but destroying whatever brand he had left.