Former neurosurgeon and possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said during a CNN sit-down that former NBA player Charles Barkley was right in his assessment of the Ferguson situation — that white police officers don’t have a target on the backs of blacks and they aren’t out to kill those of color.
Mr. Barkley, in widely reported comments, characterized Ferguson-area looters and violent protesters as thugs and said that it’s “ridiculous” to think white police officers are trying to kill blacks, and that officers of the law were only trying to keep communities from chaos.
Mr. Carson, who was asked to share his opinion on Mr. Barkley’s assessment of the St. Louis-area situation, said he mostly agreed, Mediaite reported.
“I think it’s true that the police are our friends,” Mr. Carson told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. “I think he has some very valid points, absolutely. I probably wouldn’t have expressed them quite so vehemently.”
Mr. Carson also weighed in on whether “justice was served” after the grand jury decided against indicting Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of teen Michael Brown.
“We never like to see death,” Mr. Carson said, Mediaite reported, “[but] we also have to understand that people [Brown] have to take responsibility for some of their own actions.”
SEE ALSO: Charles Barkley doubles down on Ferguson: ‘We as black people, we have a lot of crooks’
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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