I don’t really watch basketball much anymore.  There was a time though when my daughters and I were really into it – during the second half of the ‘90s.  We were big Knicks fans back in the day.  But then Ewing and Larry Johnson left, and they gave Alan Houston a 100 million dollar contract, letting Sprewell and Camby go and we were finished with the New York Knicks. 

However, we also had favorite players on other teams that we followed.  Shaq was one of them, as was Kenyon Martin and also Charles Barkley.  One of my daughter’s even named one of her pet goldfish after him – but alas, poor little fellow, he didn’t last a week.  It was traumatic. 

During these difficult times, even our Democratic president usually won’t stand up for what’s right and be clear and unequivocal about an issue – especially if it might be politically incautious or offensive to even a small particle of a special interest or some morally bankrupt independent voter that he needs.  Obama gives mixed-signals like no President I’ve ever seen.  Anyway, last weekend I was thinking about this lack of leadership quite a lot because I was also thinking about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how much we need him still.  I was re-reading the speech that he gave before he was murdered, about the war in Vietnam and the social and moral costs of it.  And I felt so bereft that we no longer have anyone with a national platform who even comes close to his voice of reason and moral integrity.  And then, along came Charles…

Apparently, as I read in The Nation magazine, during a recent NBA Double Header on TNT, Charles Barkley had this to say about Dr. King and about gay rights:

“People try to make it about black and white.  {But} he talked about equality for every man, every woman.  We have a thing going on now, people discriminating against homosexuality in this country.  I love the homosexuality people.  God bless the gay people. They are great people.”

Further, from this article, I learned that in August of 2006 on Fox Sports, he said:

“I’m a big advocate of gay marriage.  If they want to get married, God bless them.”

And, in 2008 on CNN, Charles Barkley said:

“Every time I hear the word ‘conservative,’ it makes me sick to my stomach, because they’re really just fake Christians, as I call them.  That’s all they are…  I think they want to be judge and jury.  Like, I’m for gay marriage.  It’s none of my business if gay people want to get married.  I’m pro-choice.  And I think these Christians, first of all, they’re not supposed to judge other people.  But they’re the most hypocritical judge of people we have in the country.  And it bugs the hell out of me.  They act like they’re Christians.  They’re not forgiving at all.”

He also spoke up for immigrants on this weekend’s program when he said:

“We have discrimination against Hispanic people in this country and we need to answer to that.”

And last year, he said:

“Immigrants aren’t the problem.  The only people screwing it up are the politicians.  You know, living in Arizona for a long time, the Hispanic community, they’re like the fabric of the cloth.  They’re part of our community and any time you try to do any type of racial profiling or racial discrimination is wrong.”

And in light of the way our elected politicians, twist and turn in the wind, unable or unwilling to just come out and say what is right or moral and take a stand, but instead they dissemble and dance around issues rather than offering a clear and compelling narrative the way Martin Luther King, Jr. did or Charles Barkley has – these kinds of clear, fearless statements are so refreshing.  It’s like taking a dip in the cool ocean on a blisteringly hot day. 

So, run Charles, run.  You have my vote.