By Walter L. Hilliard III
Can you believe it, Charles Barkley, the Black man that said Trayvon Martin, a child, did something to cause his own death, is at it again. According to Barkley: “Discrimination in any form is unacceptable to me. As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.” Reggie Miller, another ex-jock, also added his two-cents on behalf of gays, but let me ask you a question: When have you ever heard, in your entire life, Reggie Miller say something about anti-Black racism?
But I want to know who wrote that statement for Barkley because he’s intellectually illiterate and although he’s always speaking out on behalf of gay rights, he recently told Black people to “. . . kiss my ass.”
Barkley was responding to the passing of a new Indiana law, Senate Bill 101, signed by Governor Mike Pence. The bill is believed to be anti-gay because it supports people’s right to express their religious beliefs within state and local governments in Indiana. But why is it okay for gay-rights groups to continue pushing gay laws, but the religious community cannot?
So Charles Barkley is solidifying his position as a gay rights spokesmen (I guess he’s too old to get into anymore bar fights). Why? I’m sure gay White men targeted him like they targeted Barack Obama some years ago. However, they know he serves their purpose even more so because he’s pretty stupid and wouldn’t see them coming (to use him as a “tool” for manipulation) and he’s a macho ex-jock with a high profile. These gay White men are always looking around for Black men to help them advance their cause because the threatening image of a macho, heterosexual Black man gets America’s attention, good or bad; thus, if you can get a Black man (like Barkley, Michael Sam, or Jason Collins) to push gay rights, you “effeminize” the threat and help America equate their gay cause with Blackness, the Civil Rights Movement, and the phoney notion that some gay White man is no longer a benefactor of White Supremacy and he’s, in fact, discriminated against– just like a Black man.
Puhhhhleeeeze! But that’s what they think and it’s working because most people don’t understand the complexities of racism and White supremacy.
Barkley is a spoiled, rich ex-athlete who mainstream media “uses” as their go-to guy when they need a dumb high-profile Black person to tell Black America to shut up about racism. Now he’s first out the box, giving statements on gays? I know one thing for sure, if Black gays asked him to give a statement about White gay racism, he’d call the police on them– after he cussed them out. What he’s figured out is that the mainstream media puts a microphone in his face when they need an Uncle Tom. They don’t run to Minister Louis Farrakhan because he’s too intelligent and could lecture them on racism.
Coming from a non-religious perspective, although I do pray and believe in GOD (but I’m not a “religious” person, per se, and I haven’t been to church in awhile), my concern has always been that homosexuality is inextricably tied to sexual and other forms of a abuse, based on research. Additionally, when has it become okay to glorify a behavior, particularly among gay men, that many of those men had “put upon them” because of sexual abuse? Most of these men struggle emotionally because gay rights groups tell them their behavior is wonderful when they want to change their behavior. If a woman became promiscuous after being raped, society would not glorify her promiscuity– they’d urge her to seek counseling and work through her issues. So why is it okay to tell a man who was molested to embrace his homosexuality and move on?
I am a former mental health therapist and the number of gay men who’ve been sexually abused is staggering. The push for gay rights is just another way White men who are gay, operating within a system of White supremacy, are able to expand their oppression of everyone else by empowering themselves as if they are a legitimate “protected class” like Blacks. And in the meantime they go on practicing racism like the rest of the mainstream, having increased their power.
As for Barkley, well, let’s just say: “An empty can always makes the most noise.”
Peace!
