I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It - Charles Barkley [19]
You have ugly-ass stuff happen to you like that, what the hell you going to have, a smiley face?
I’ve been reading about that brother Donald Watkins from Alabama. He talked about buying the Twins, about buying the Angels. Personally, I’d love to see him involved in some other ownership ventures. Hell, he doesn’t have to go to Minnesota or California either. We could use a guy of his resources right at home in Alabama. It’s a complicated thing because chances are overwhelming that even if the league and owners allow him to buy in, he’s never going to really be made a part of the network. He’ll be an owner, but sadly he would probably never be in the mix. It is a travesty, though, that we’re past the year 2000 and no person of color is the majority owner of a professional sports franchise. That’s crazy.
I don’t want people to think my concerns about race only deal with white people. In fact, I tend to be harder on black people who are prejudiced than white people. If you have suffered as much and as long as black people have suffered . . . If you have fought racism and seen your parents and grandparents fight racism . . . If you know the history of the suffering your own people have been through for hundreds of years and you intentionally mistreat people because of the color of their skin, that’s just really, really sad to me.
And I know that point is complex, too, because resentment and bitterness are natural when you’ve had your ass handed to you generation after generation. You’ve got reason to lash out. But I look at my mother and grandmother, women who saw some really tough times and ugly bigotry, and still managed to treat people based on the way they wanted to be treated.
Not only that, but we as black folks have to do better among ourselves. We treat each other like shit. People hear me sometimes criticizing what we as black folks tend to call “the system” and say, “Man, Charles blames everything that happens to black people on ‘the system.’ “ And “the system” is screwed up, don’t get me wrong. But we still have to treat each other better. Black-on-black crime, teenage pregnancy at the rate it is, single-parent homes increasing at the rate they are . . . we ourselves have to address and solve those problems. Making your situation in society better can’t happen until you start with those problems.
We live in a culture where there’s so much prejudice and bias that people just start directing it anywhere, not just at people who are different but sometimes at their own people. And it’s all sad and ugly. Too damn often, black people aren’t even happy for accomplished black people. Guys talk about it privately among ourselves, and a lot of black people are scared to say anything publicly. But there’s too much envy, which is crazy. There’s enough out there for everybody to grab. Why is there envy?
When I see somebody black on television who is successful, or when I read about somebody or meet somebody who has accomplished something, I’m giddy. I see somebody black achieving something, I’ve got my chest all poked out.
A whole lot of times you feel that way because you know somebody and what they must have gone through to achieve something, regardless of race. But all over the world people feel good for their own people when they accomplish something. But this jealousy you see in black America sometimes, man, it’s ugly and I don’t understand it. I’m just trying to get to the top and send the elevator back down. Ramsey Lewis said that to me a few years ago and I thought it was profound. Getting to the top isn’t the end of the process, it’s the beginning. Make sure the elevator brings up somebody else.
So for some successful black people, you’re caught in between two worlds you don’t seem to fit in. It’s a weird place for most black athletes. Even now, black people are struggling to be successful in America, to get over the hurdles or the misperceptions. A disproportionate number of the highly successful people produced by black communities probably are athletes. So when