Talk about your dissension in the ranks. The consensus in the black community appears to be that the police are evil, and when they hear contrarian rhetoric from one of their own success stories, they’d rather fight than listen.
The success story in this case was former NBA star player Charles Barkley, and he was shouted down and eventually booed off stage by a town hall audience in Baltimore after he defended law enforcement.
The town hall, which was meant to last for an hour, had to be cut short after the audience began insulting Barkley for standing up for police officers and their families, reports Yellow Hammer News.
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Barkley asked why people didn’t mourn when four police officers were shot throughout the country in a 24-hour period. A black man stands accused of killing white San Antonio Detective Benjamin Marconi.
“Did anybody say, ‘Man, I feel bad for their family?’” Barkley reportedly asked the audience. He had stopped in Baltimore to film part of his new documentary, “The Race Card.”
“There was no love [for police] in this room,” he added.
One mother stood up to tell Barkley that she didn’t like him or his position on police.
“I don’t know you, I don’t like you,” Diane Butler declared. Butler’s son, Tyrone West, reportedly died after being restrained by police officers.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Barkley responded, adding:
As far as you not liking me, it really doesn’t bother me. I’m used to it. I’m like the homecoming queen. All the ugly girls hate you. That’s part of my life. I never take anything personally.
Another audience member called Barkley “arrogant.”
“What does your condolence mean to her?” an audience member said, pointing toward Butler. “How simple and arrogant are you?”
At that point, the audience began yelling insults at Barkley. His security had to rush him off the stage, bringing the town hall to an end.
He probably failed to win hearts and minds when he announced after Donald Trump’s election that even though his candidate lost, Americans “have to respect the office” and “move on”:
https://youtu.be/a4m0GUpnrfk
This report, by Amber Randall, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
