As is his wont from time to time, Charles Barkley was talking sense again. Appearing Thursday on TNT’s Tip-Off program, and discussing the grand jury’s decision not to charge officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, Barkley did something few in the lefty sports media are willing to do: deal with the facts of the case.
The shooting in Louisville, Barkley maintained, was different than other high-profile incidents. “We do have to take into account that [Taylor’s] boyfriend did shoot at the cops and shot a cop,” he said. “Even though I’m really sorry she lost her life, I don’t think that we can just say we can put this in the same situation with George Floyd and Ahmad Aubrey. I just don’t believe that.”
As for how to address problems moving forward, Sir Charles didn’t mince words. “I hear these fools on TV talking about ‘defund the police’ and things like that,” he said.
“We need police reform and prison reform and things like that. Because you know who ain’t gonna defund the cops? White neighborhoods and rich neighborhoods,” said Barkley. “Who are black people supposed to call, GhostBusters, when we have crime in our neighborhoods?”
Summing up with his usual eloquence, Barkley reiterated, “White people, especially rich white people, they’re always gonna have cops. So we need to stop that ‘defund or abolish the cops’ crap.”
Hear, hear.
