Former NBA star and TNT analyst Charles Barkley criticized those calling for police departments across the U.S. to be stripped of funding, saying most police officers do a good job.
Barkley also discussed the impact of George Floyd’s death, during an appearance Tuesday on CNN. (RELATED: Potential Biden VP Pick Val Demings Calls Proposal To Defund The Police ‘Very Thoughtful’)
“To see a man killed on national television is a disgrace,” Barkley said of Floyd’s death. “This is not black or white. This is about humanity. To see a grown man die before our eyes. If you’re not upset by that if you’re white, Jewish, Chinese, anything, it’s something wrong with you.”
Barkley harshly criticized both Republicans and Democrats, for what he sees as a lack of action on police reform.
“The Democrats and the Republicans can’t even talk about police reform,” Barkley said. “That’s something we’ve been talking about ever since Kaepernick kneeled and these clowns in the Democrat Party and Republican Party, that’s the number one thing they should do before they do anything else.”
“We need the cops, most of the cops do a fantastic job, but instead of defunding and all this other stuff, let’s just do police reform” Barkley continued. “Everybody should be on board for that, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, conservative, or a liberal.”
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Just 16% of Americans support defunding the police, according to a poll published Monday by YouGov. Congressional Democrats introduced legislation earlier this week that would dramatically reform policing throughout the country by banning chokeholds, prohibiting no-knock warrants for drug offenses, and establishing a National Police Misconduct Registry, among other things.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott also released a plan for national police reforms that would tie federal funding to the use of body cameras and deescalation training, among other things.