(ThyBlackMan.com) While much of the U.S. was focused on the U.S. Supreme Court as it relates to Donald Trump in recent weeks, there was much more significant news involving the Supreme Court recently. In late June, the Supreme Court issued its highly important ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, as the ruling granted cities more power to arrest, cite and fine homeless people who sleep outside in public places, which overturned six years of legal protections for homeless residents in California and other western states. One celebrity who may have celebrated the ruling is basketball television analyst Charles Barkley. During the TV broadcast of the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, Barkley criticized the city of San Francisco and its homeless population while remarking to his other on-air TV announcers, “If you had a chance of being in the cold or being around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco, which would you take?”
Charles Barkley has had a wealthy post-NBA playing career out of saying ridiculous, foolish things for laughs and shock value. It might be implied that calling a number of people in San Francisco “homeless crooks” as one of his usual absurd statements except he also said in 2022 on an NBA television broadcast that, “San Francisco, you know, it’s a great city. All that dirtiness and homelessness, y’all gotta clean that off the streets.” Strangely, Barkley’s comments about the homeless in San Francisco don’t point the finger at the absurdity and ugliness of homelessness in a country that has enough houses for every human being to be provided with shelter. Through the years, Charles Barkley has shown himself to be devoid of character and substance when it comes to most real-life issues affecting the most vulnerable groups of people.
As it relates to Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, it is a significant setback to the constitutional and human rights of homeless people, and local governments will feel more confident passing punitive policies with the Supreme Court’s decision. There have been strong statements made by advocacy groups for the homeless. “This decision sets a dangerous precedent that will cause undue harm to people experiencing homelessness and give free reign to local officials who prefer pointless and expensive arrests and imprisonment, rather than real solutions,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “At a time when elected officials need to be focused on long-term, sustainable solutions that are grounded in evidence – including funding the affordable housing and supportive services that their constituents need — this ruling allows leaders to shift the burden to law enforcement. This tactic has consistently failed to reduce homelessness in the past, and it will assuredly fail to reduce homelessness in the future.”
Sports fans will be lucky when Charles Barkley soon retires. Like the Skip Baylesses and Stephen A. Smiths of the sports world, his appeal while on sports television is based on style (for Barkley outrageous humor) than any intelligent sports analysis. He is a mouthpiece as a member of the ignorant black petti-bourgeoisie that serve as the cheerleaders to protect the status quo and that includes verbally insulting the homeless. He isn’t on the same team as the vast majority of the people who watch and listen to him spew his ignorance.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines