*Charles Barkley says some of the biggest complaints about race come from fellow blacks, who figure he’s too rich and too successful to possibly understand da struggle.
“Like, those people say he’s not black anymore, he shouldn’t speak on black issues,” Barkley said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m always going to be black,’ but that’s a double-edged sword I’m willing to deal with.”
The basketball Hall of Famer and TNT analyst will debut “The Race Card” on the network in 2017, a show that won’t just be about race, but he’s expecting to offended both whites and blacks equality while discussing what he believes to be America’s problems. Barkley says the nation has a rich versus poor issue — not black versus white.
“I just want to do a positive dialogue because I’m sick of arguing over race all the time,” Barkley said. “Like, I’m very aware that racism does exist, it always has and probably always will, but the media does a really poor job. There’s more good than bad, but the bad pops off the newspaper and on television. And like I said, the truth is somewhere in the middle.”
READ RELATED STORY: Charles Barkley to Host New TNT Show: ‘The Race Card’
For the first episode of “The Race Card,” Barkley interviewed people of color about the way they are portrayed on television. He spent a day with Muslims and learned they have something in common with residents of primarily urban areas.
“We started talking about, like every time I see a mass shooting, I’m saying to myself, ‘Please don’t be black.’ And I said to them, every time you see a bomb, what are you thinking?” And they’re like, ‘Please don’t be a Muslim,'” Barkley said.
Barkley spoke with four blacks about their encounters with police. He also met with Asians and discussed his “smart” perception of them from TV. Additionally, he interviewed entertainer Ice Cube about the criticism they get from African-Americans.
“And he says it’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard. We’re not supposed to be successful, and like wait, we’re not black because we’re successful?” Barkley said. “First of all, they should be patting us on the back because we made it, instead of saying, ‘Well, they don’t know what it’s like to be black because they haven’t been in the hood in so long.'”
