*Former NBA superstar and TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley joined ESPN’s Dan Le Batard Show on Tuesday to discuss the recent police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Philando Castile in Minnesota. He also commented on the deadly attack on officers during a rally in Dallas.
Barkley believes both cops and the black community share equal blame for the poor relationship between the two groups, as he explained during the interview:
“The cops have made some mistakes, but that doesn’t give us the right to riot and shoot cops. We need the cops, especially in the black community. We as black people, we’ve got to do better. 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.
“The cops have made some mistakes, but there’s a lot of blame to go around. But I’m not going to get on TV and yell like all these other idiots.”
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Barkley added:
“I’m not perfect. I’m not trying to be perfect. But you have to ask yourself, ‘Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution?’ I respect and admire what cops do. My bodyguard is a cop — a black cop. We talk about situations all the time. One of the problems with this stuff on the media is that all these people are ‘Monday Morning Quarterbacks.’ … Everybody is saying what I would do or what I should do. I think some of these cops are panicking under pressure.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
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