I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It by Charles Barkley Read Free Book Online Page B

left to make before the start of the season, and it was coming down to Rickey Green, who is black, or Dave Hoppen, a white guy. And somebody asked me while we were on the air live who I thought the team was going to cut. I said I don’t know who the guys who make that decision will keep. But some people might be offended by an all-black team.
    I woke up the next day, and people were saying, “Charles Barkley said the 76ers will keep Hoppen because he’s white.” And that, of course, is not what I said. I still think some people would be offended by an all-black team today. I was asked a question, and just stated my opinion. You mean to tell me people think there haven’t been times when white guys were kept as the eleventh or twelfth man so that it wouldn’t be an all-black team? I remember when the Knicks had that all-black team and people called ’em “the Niggerbockers.” I remember how people around basketball, black guys and white guys, would joke about playing two brothers at home, three on the road, and four or five when you’re trailing in the fourth quarter.
    You think there wasn’t some truth to that for some franchises at some points in time? I’m not saying it was that blatant in 1991, but don’t tell me race played no factor at all in decisions like that. It reminds me of a conversation I had not too long ago with Warren Moon. He told me one day that people think race is no longer a factor in being an NFL quarterback. And while it’s a helluva lot better with a lot of coaches starting black quarterbacks now, Warren pointed out that there aren’t any third-string black quarterbacks. And that’s a fascinating observation. You’ve got to be good enough to start, pretty much, to be black and play quarterback in the NFL. There are only a couple of second-string guys, but if you look at it they were all starters very recently and could be starters again. Now, tell me it’s just a coincidence that there are no third-string black quarterbacks in the league? Twelfth man . . . third-string. Don’t tell me this is so far-fetched, because it isn’t.
    Anyway, people all over town in Philly were just killing my ass. And I’m like, “Damn, this is all-out war now. I had no ill will in my heart when I answered that question.” See, this is one of those places where being too uncomfortable to discuss the situation leads directly to misperceptions and hostility. If somebody wanted to open up a discussion about whether people are still offended by an all-black team, fine. In fact, it’s probably a discussion we ought to have today. Seriously, just let people put their thoughts out there so we can all talk about it. We need to talk about issues like that.
    But that hurt me to my heart, to have reporters who knew me misrepresent what I said. To turn that into “Charles doesn’t like white people” was totally asinine and just plain wrong. It was mean. It bothered me to wake up the next morning to people calling me a racist, after all the shit I’ve been through down in Alabama. I grew up with my mother and grandmother telling me about the four little girls being killed in that Birmingham church, about the marches and violence in Selma. That really bothered me.
    There are times I may joke around and try to lighten the mood when the atmosphere is tense, but not when we’re discussing a specific issue that needs to be talked about. That incident hurt me, and I just kind of laid down the gauntlet. I decided I was going to say what I felt about things, and if they are controversial or unpopular, then so be it. I wasn’t going to become subservient and afraid to speak out about certain things. There might be a few folks who say they want you to speak your mind on certain issues, but most folks don’t want to hear any opinion different from their own or the majority opinion because it’s uncomfortable. It disturbs their comfort level. I guess the bottom line for me became “Screw it, I’m going to do my own