Charles Barkley, Hall of Fame NBA star and popular TNT analyst, is rarely at a loss for words, so when the George Zimmerman verdict of innocent was handed down Barkley spoke up.
"Well I agree with the verdict," Barkley said. "I feel sorry that young kid got killed, but they didn't have enough evidence to charge him. Something clearly went wrong that night - clearly something went wrong - and I feel bad for anybody who loses a kid, but if you looked at the case and you don't make it - there was some racial profiling, no question about it - but something happened that changed the dynamic of that night."
Barkley's comments are sure to be unpopular in the black community, but he insists wrongdoing occurred on both ends of the confrontation. He also used the opportunity to lambast the way race is handled in the media, especially in cases such as Trayvon Martin's with the potential for serious divisiveness.
"I just feel bad because I don't like when race gets out in the media 'cuz I don't think the media has a 'pure heart,' as I call it," Barkley continued. "There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form - there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don't like when it gets out there in the media because I don't think the media has clean hands."
Barkley was careful to point out that the racism he speaks of was present on both sides of the issue.
"The main thing I feel bad for is it gives every white person and black person who's racist a platform to vent their ignorance," he said. "That's the thing that bothered me the most. I watched this trail closely and I watched these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. They want to have their racist views, whether they are white or black ... Their biases definitely come out. It was a bad situation. We all lost."
Barkley has been with TNT since 2008 and been involved in his fair share of controversy. He also flirted with the idea of running for the governor position in Alabama, before ultimately deciding against it.
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