DESTIN, Fla. - Charles Barkley, declaring himself a Democrat, said Tuesday he is seriously considering a run for governor of Alabama, maybe as early as 2010.
The Leeds native and former Auburn University and NBA basketball star has teased for years about pursuing the state’s highest office, but he told about 900 public school board members from across the Southeast that he’s moving toward a decision on the matter.
“Alabama, that’s my home. I’m thinking about running for governor; they need the help,” Barkley said as the crowd laughed. “If it wasn’t for Arkansas and Mississippi, we’d be dead last in everything. I think we can do better.”
“I’m serious,” Barkley said. “I’ve got to get people to realize that the government is full of it. Republicans and Democrats want to argue over stuff that’s not important, like gay marriage or the war in Iraq or illegal immigration. They push those issues because they play well on TV and because they deceive people. When I run - if I run - we’re going to talk about real issues like improving our schools, cleaning up our neighborhoods of drugs and crime and making Alabama a better place for all people.”
While Barkley said he has been mulling a run for governor for years, he believes he will soon reach a place in his life where he will stop thinking about it and start doing it.
“I really believe I was put on Earth to do more than play basketball and stockpile money,” he said. “I really want to help people improve their lives, and what’s left is for me to decide how best to do that.”
He discounted speculation that he considers himself a Republican.
“What I’ve said is I’m rich like a Republican. But I’m not one,” Barkley said.
In the hour-long talk to a meeting of the Southern Regional Conference of the National School Boards Association, hosted by the Alabama Association of School Boards, Barkley reeled off one-liners that had the crowd alternately laughing and groaning.
Barkley said that too often affluent and middle-class white children attend good schools with lots of computers and textbooks, while black kids attend poor schools in neighborhoods where crime, drugs and teen pregnancy dominate.
“People will tell you this is America and there is a level playing field. That’s the most BS you’re ever going to hear,” Barkley said. “If you’re poor, if you’re dodging bullets and drop out (of school), it’s not a level playing field.”
While scolding white America for largely ignoring the needs of the poor, Barkley admonished black students and parents.
“There are too many black kids and their parents who do not value a good education,” he said. “There are places where a black kid who is a good student and tries to speak correctly, you hear stuff like, `He’s trying to be white.’ Well I say, if that’s true, we need more kids trying to be white.”
Barkley attacked rap music as promoting a culture that is not good for black Americans.
“I used to think it was just music. I was wrong,” Barkley said. “I think it’s having a negative effect on black kids, especially young black men, who grow up believing things that hurt them and hurt people.”
Barkley urged school board members not to give up on educating poor kids.
“I will never give up on helping those kinds of kids, because I used to be one of those kinds of kids. Don’t you give up, either.”
I’ll save my comments for when this might come to fruition. Just like Barkley’s promise to return to the nba with mj those years ago.
