Charles Barkley made waves Saturday when he took time ahead of the Baylor-Houston Final Four game to share his thoughts on the state of American politics.
The CBS studio analyst blasted politicians — Democrats and Republicans — saying they take advantage of a system that pits citizens against each other along race and class lines so they “can keep their grasp of money and power.”
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“Man, I think most white people and Black people are great people. 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.
I truly believe in my heart most white people and Black people are awesome people, 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.
Here are Barkley’s full comments:
It appears as if Barkley was responding to a filmed segment that detailed how Robert F. Kennedy broke the news on April 4, 1968, to a crowd in Indianapolis — the site of the 2021 Final Four — that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. In the segment, Kennedy — who was running for president — is seen calling on Black citizens not to retaliate in anger.
Kennedy was assassinated two months later in Los Angeles.
This is not the first time Barkley has spoken out on the CBS set. He has come out against the “Defund the police” movement and rejected the notion that the Nets hired coach Steve Nash because of white privilege, among other topics of discussion.
