There’s been A LOT happening in America the past week or so. There’s been protests everywhere and what took place in Dallas was so tragic to see.
Due to police dying, people seem to think that this was #BlackLivesMatter retaliating when in fact in wasn’t. Nonetheless, there’s now commentary on how black people should react and Charles Barkley is the latest to give his opinion.
Barkley was on Dan Le Batard’s show and he spoke about race and policing in America. Listen to his commentary below.
He talks about the cops making mistakes and how it doesn’t give black people the right to riot and shoot cops.
Well, we can all agree that shooting anyone isn’t right and as far as rioting, who’s rioting? Last time I checked, every American has the right to protest, it’s in the Constitution, it’s the first amendment in the Bill of Rights. No one is rioting.
Time and time again the responsibility has been put on black people as if black people haven’t tried every thing in the book to attain equality and justice.
Then, he goes on to say,
We never get mad when black people kill each other, which that has always bothered me … I’ve always said if we as black people want more respect, we have to give each other respect. You can’t demand respect from white people and the cops if you don’t respect each other. We’ve got to do better as black people.
To say this is so disingenuous to community leaders all over the country. You think people are just sitting around letting bullets fly and letting the youth die in their neighborhood?
This is the problem I have. People constantly ignore the efforts that people are putting in towards their community. Every time there’s a police shooting, people love to bring up the violence in Chicago for some reason. People really think Chicago is a Call of Duty simulation game and no one is trying to stop the violence. They forget that SO many people, from rappers to athletes to regular everyday Chicagoans are active in their communities.
Black respectability politics is clumsy and lazy. All these Martin Luther King wouldn’t do this or we should act more like him….blah..blah. Well, he ended up being assassinated despite his peaceful ways.
It’s tiring and repetitive and it keeps this cycle going. Why can’t the cops do better? Why don’t the police hold other police officers accountable? Barkley wants to say black people have to better after Dallas, well when will the police do better after Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Mike Brown etc?
When will the conversation turn to what cops and what white people should do because once there’s understanding THERE, then there can be compromise and unity and eventually the peace and love that everybody wants but until then we’re going to be right where we are now.