NBA hall-of-famer Charles Barkley laid into politicians of all stripes – Democrats and Republicans alike – for promoting racial division in the country, saying they are trying to “make whites and blacks not like each other.”
Barkley, a former star forward with the Philadelphia 76ers, was speaking during CBS Sports’ broadcast of the Final Four on Saturday.
Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan talking during a January 28, 1996 game.BRIAN BAHR/AFP via Getty Images
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He was responding to a pre-game segment about Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s alerting a crowd in Indianapolis – site of this year’s games – in 1968 that the Rev. Martin Luther King had been assassinated in Memphis.
Robert F. Kennedy, shown in this April 4, 1968 file photo, as he speaks to an Indianapolis crowd telling them of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.AP Photo/Leroy Patton, Indianapolis News, file
Barkley, never one to shy away from controversial statements, said politicians “divide and conquer” the population