So if you use ‘em up for four years of college and then kick ‘em out after four years and they don’t have their degree, what are they gonna do? But most of the kids aren’t going to make it. And, you know, if you make it, obviously everything’s rosy. You know I said earlier I hate the AAU thing, cause they’re just scumbags selling players. You know, but they’re trying to keep their jobs. ![]() Because number one, the kids can’t play if they don’t get their education. They’re not doing enough to educate these kids. Q: With high schools being the new breeding grounds for NBA players, do you think the ADs and coaches are doing enough…ĬB: They’re not. I got parents to me coming up to me to say that commercial was really important and significant. And I have people come up to me even to this day and say ‘that’s cool’-parents. And I’ve said to this day many times, that’s the greatest thing I’ve done in my life. You know, and that’s how this whole thing with my affiliation with Nike-like I said, I wanted to start a dialogue when I came up with this commercial. Are they both 5-2? Your ass better go to school and get your education. I always tell people, look at your mom and dad. I mean, no disrespect to you little fella, but no matter how hard you work you’re not gonna make it. ![]() I wanted to start a debate-like I say, I wish all of these kids could play in the NBA, but that’s unrealistic. Thankfully 80 or 90 percent of the letters we got were positive. And I appreciate-because we took a lot of heat from the press for doing this commercial. And I said I wanna start a debate about this role model thing. Then I’d ask the other kids, and they’d say ‘I wanna be a doctor,’ or ‘I wanna be a lawyer,’ I wanna be an engineer, fireman, teacher. But then when I would go to predominantly white schools, I’d ask ‘how many of you want to play professional sports’ and only like 15 or 20 percent would raise their hands. And I was saying like wow, they don’t think they can do anything but play sports. They don’t think about being doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, firemen, policemen.’ Cause like when I was going to speak at predominantly black schools, I was doing this thing, ‘well, how many of you want to play professional sports,’ and they would all raise their hands. And they were like ‘why do you want to do this commercial?’ I said, ‘man, I’m noticing a trend that every black kid only think they can play sports or be an entertainer. I love talking to the kids.Īnd I’m gonna tell ya-one of the reasons I have great admiration for Nike, when I went to them with the role model thing, it was a big deal. And I wanted to be in a neighborhood like this. And like I say, I watch it every day when I’m here. We’ve set a record like the last X amount of years. We got so many young black kids-that’s not a record you want to set every year. I met with Michael over the summer, I said what can I do to help? And obviously we’ve got to find a way to stop black-on-black crime. I mean, I see it every single day and it makes you want to cry. It’s unbelievable to me, the stuff I see every single day. Like I say, I’m here, I live here five months a year. It hurts me number one to see all these murders first and foremost, secondly as a black man it bothers me to see all these young black people getting killed every single day. I’ve had a couple meetings with the new mayor trying to figure out what ways I can help. I’ve been talking about it for two years now. We gotta make our neighborhoods safer, and it was important to do this event here. We-we, as black people-we gotta stop killing each other. Q: How important was it for you to come speak here, in West Philadelphia, as opposed to like a super store or a big Foot Locker…ĬB: I think it’s important-obviously we got the problem with the violence going on here in Philadelphia-it’s deeply disturbing, I’ve been talking about it for a couple years now. This is the last segment of the interview he did in West Philly. He knows that not many will be able to follow the path that he did, but at the same time he wants to make sure that they’re able to follow A path. Charles Barkely grew up poor in Leeds, Alabama, was one of the lucky ones who made it out and made millions in the process. He says “first of all” way too much, and when he believes strongly about something he’ll repeat it over and over and over again.īut there’s another side to him as well-one who cares very much about the well-being of kids he sees growing up just like he did. He’s outrageous, outspoken, and (sometimes) out of his mind. ![]() ![]() You all have heard Charles Barkley speak before, I’m sure.
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