Charles Barkley: 'We've Lost The Message' With Anthem Protests
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Charles Barkley doesn't believe the NFL National Anthem protests are necessarily accomplishing what we want them to.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began sitting down during the National Anthem of his team's first preseason game last year. On September 1st, 2016 -- during the 49ers' final preseason game -- Kaepernick decided to kneel instead, a more respectful protest.
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Now, NFL players protesting the mistreatment of minorities during the National Anthem before games is commonplace.
Barkley, the outspoken NBA analyst for TNT, says the message is lost.
"I think that we have spent so much time worrying about the narrative of who's standing for the anthem, who's not standing for the anthem, we've actually lost the message that we were trying to get," Barkley said on The Howard Eskin Podcast this week.
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"I think with this situation, we have spent the last, now year, talking about Colin Kaepernick and different guys standing during the National Anthem. And who's gonna be there, who's a good guy who does it, who's a bad guy who doesn't do it. We've lost the narrative."
Eskin asked Barkley what professional athletes could do instead to protest racial injustice.
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"Well first of all, you have to accept the fact there is racism," Barkley explained. "Racism has always been here, it's gonna always be here. So you start with that premise. And then you have to make an honest decision what you can do. You can't control what everybody thinks, says, or does.
But I try to figure out what can I do to make the situation better and you go from there. I have no problem talking about any of this stuff."
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