Charles Barkley just said something really stupid or really insightful: your opinion on that probably depends on a plethora of things: your race, education, culture, political affiliation come to mind. I think maybe the most remarkable thing about this interview is how clearly I can understand him. Why can’t he speak this articulately during March Madness?
Oh well.
“On an interview Thursday with Philadelphia radio host Anthony Garano, ex-NBA all star Charles Barkley responded to the rumors over Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s receiving criticism over not being “black enough” from some of his teammates. He then addressed a larger issue within the black community, one Barkley described as a “dirty, dark secret.”
As I tell my white friends, we as black people, we’re never going to be successful, not because of you white people, but because of other black people. When you’re black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people. It’s a—It’s a dirty, dark secret; I’m glad it’s coming out. It comes out every few years. I wrote a big chapter in my book about it, to be honest with you.
I said, you know, when young black kids, you know, when they do well in school, the loser kids tell them, ‘Oh, you’re acting white.’ The kids who speak intelligently—
They tell them, ‘You’re acting white.’ So it’s a dirty, dark secret in the black community.
One of the reasons we’re never going to be successful as a whole, because of other black people. And for some reason we are brainwashed to think, if you’re not a thug or an idiot, you’re not black enough. If you go to school, make good grades, speak intelligent, and don’t break the law, you’re not a good black person. And it’s a dirty, dark secret, Anthony.
Most, I—I heard Stephen A. [Smith] talkin about it, and it, listen, I hate to bring white people into our crap, but as a black person, we all go through it when you’re successful. Uh, you know it’s like one of the reasons, you know, one of the reasons a lot of black players go broke is because when you’re successful your friends say to you, ‘Oh, you ain’t cool. You ain’t down with us anymore.’
And you end up giving up all your money to these damn losers, and you end up broke again.
But it’s a dirty, dark secret in the black community. There are a lot of black people who are unintelligent, who don’t have, uh, success. It’s best to knock a successful black person down because they’re intelligent, they speak well, they do well in school, and they’re successful. And they don’t..if you think about it—
Anthony Gargano: Well it’s crabs in a barrel, right?
It’s crabs in a barrel. The thing that’s hap—we’re the only race that tell people if you don’t have street cred, with like, that means you been arrested—
Like, like that’s a compliment. We’re the only ethnic group who say, ‘Hey, if you go to jail, it gives you street cred.’ It’s just typical BS that goes on when you’re black, man. But don’t waste a lot of time on it please.”
Source with the audio version of the interview.
Three Taverns Brewery 