For some time, readers of Daily Kos have been able to read of the change in retired basketball star Charles Barkley. An outspoken player who proudly professed his Republican beliefs back in his early playing days years ago (someday hoping to be the GOP candidate for governor of Alabama) then leading up to the now famous "I used to be a Republican until they lost their minds" quote, to more meaningful actions on his part, as Skulnick has diaried about on more than one occasion before.
Now from this month's GQ Magazine there is an article about the TNT network show "Inside The NBA", with further two stories of Charles' evolution (more after the jump).......
First, he talks about his participation on this TV program:
"Listen, I love talking about basketball. But the only reason I’m on television is because it gives me a platform to talk about social issues. People didn’t want to hear about that stuff when I played. They want you to talk about which coach sucks or which player sucks. Now I get a chance every week to talk about issues in the black community, or about how America is divided economically, that it really is rich against poor. Poor white people are in the same boat as poor black people. If you’re poor in this country, you’re screwed. So I can come on here every week and bullshit about basketball with Ernie and Kenny, which I love to do, and then talk about stuff that matters. And because I’m on TV, people will listen to it. I just want to do good with my fame. That’s what it’s for."
Then later in the article, he's on the phone with the junior senator from Illinois:
"Hey, Barack," he says. "Charles Barkley here. Hey, congratulations, man! We did good. I’m so excited. We swept those assholes out of town." (This is November 9, two days after the election.)
"Listen, man," he goes on, "I was just in Vegas with Tiger for the fight. It was a lot of fun. He’s in Asia now, playing for the next couple of weeks, but when he gets back, I gotta get y’all together. He’s finally at the point in his life where he can think about something other than golf. He’s ready to become more political. You’d be a great place for him to start. When he gets back, let’s get y’all together." There’s a minute or two of chitchat, in which Senator Obama gets a few words in, and then Barkley says, "You give my love to your family, boy. And anything you need from me, you let me know." He hangs up, checks the score of the Rutgers-Louisville football game, then turns to me, sitting behind him, and says, "The black man is on the rise. About motherfucking time."
Wow. As outspoken and willing to address any issue back in his playing days as he was, I could never have imagined this. Encouraging Tiger Woods to become more active.....even if he never runs for governor of Alabama, he's left his mark politically. And now GQ seems to be featuring more hard-hitting political stories than they ever did before. Things change, all right.