Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. Today, Luke takes on Charles Barkley over his comments about the protests in Ferguson and New York.
According to Charles Barkley, African-Americans protesting and rioting in Ferguson over a grand jury's decision not to indict the cop who killed unarmed teenager Mike Brown are "scumbags." During an interview with CNN this week, the NBA Hall of Famer and television analyst also defended the New York City cop who fatally choked Eric Garner, a black man from Staten Island. A grand jury declined to indict the officer for killing Garner.
Barkley said, "The notion that white cops are out there just killing black people is ridiculous. I challenge any black person to make that point."
Challenge accepted, Sir Charles.
It's mind-boggling that a black man born and raised in Alabama, the state at the epicenter of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, sees nothing wrong with police officers killing unarmed African-American males minding their own business.
Barkley's home state is where white racists lynched and murdered black people for sport. It's the state where the Ku Klux Klan firebombed African-American churches and where voters once elected a governor (George Wallace) whose claim to fame were his attempts to stop racial integration at the University of Alabama and local elementary schools.
Barkley should be the one leading the protests in Ferguson and New York City. His homeboy and fellow NBA analyst Kenny Smith tried to give him a pass, saying Barkley is not one who should be speaking about political issues. That's not the case. Barkley has political aspirations and has talked about running for governor in Alabama in the past.
Television networks love Barkley because he speaks in black vernacular and comes off as one of the brothers. He is not as articulate as Tiger Woods or Barack Obama, but he gets ratings because he loves being controversial. The reality is that Barkley does not represent the black community's point of view.
In 2006, Barkley said he was leaving the the GOP because Republicans had "lost their minds."
Based on his comments defending police brutality against black people, it appears Barkley has rejoined the Republican ranks as a Tea Party nutjob. He's behaving like he's a direct descendant of Stephen, the house Negro played by Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained. Barkley should team up with former Broward congressman Allen West to start the Uncle Tom Republican Club.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.
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