Former NBA star Charles Barkley had some harsh words to say about the protesters in Ferguson who broke out into looting and torching law enforcement vehicles after the grand jury decided not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
According to reports, Barkley called the looters "scumbags" during a radio interview in Philadelphia and also shared that he thought the grand jury was right in their controversial decision.
This is not the first time that Barkley has taken an unpopular stand against the black community in the U.S. The Christian Science Monitor previously reported that he also publicly sided with the exoneration of George Zimmerman when he was tried for shooting an unarmed Trayvon Martin back in 2013.
"There is no excuse for people to be out there burning down people's businesses, burning down police cars ... Those aren't black people, those are scumbags," he told sports radio station 97.5 The Fanatic.
He also added that the media have continued to misinform and skew the facts of the case for the public. He believes that the grand jury has the correct version of the events that happened on the night Brown was shot.
Barkley said in the interview that he often refuses to speak about race in public because he doesn't want to give the media more fodder to feed on. Instead, he wants people to think logically, look at the whole picture, and not jump to conclusions by calling the police the bad guys automatically.
"We have to be really careful with the cops, because if it wasn't for the cops we would be living in the Wild, Wild West in our neighborhoods," he shares.
Although many sports fans will undoubtedly criticize Barkley's stand, the basketball great has never been one to go with the grain and has always spoken his mind on hard issues.
Barkley remains firm in his position that "unintelligent" black people are the ones who should not be tolerated because they only hurt others in the community who are hardworking and educated.
