In a date and time where politics and race are a prevailing theme in the news cycle, TNT’s Charles Barkley is trying his hand at a new project:American Race, a two-night, four-hour, television series that previews on Sunday.
Barkley, a native of Leeds, Alabama has always been fascinated by race and race relations in the United States.
Everybody talks about white and black. But what America should really be talking about is economics. There’s racism, there always has been, there always will be, but one of the things we fall for is rich people do a really good job of making poor people hate each other. If the poor people would get together; white, black and hispanic and realize they’re all in the same (expletive) schools, they’re all in the same shitty neighborhoods and stop fighting with each other, they could make a difference. But the people who got all the money, do a really good job of making poor people fight with each other. Because like I said, there is racism, there always will be racism. The biggest problem with racism isn’t racism, it’s the class system the rich people keeping the poor people down. And the poor people are too stupid to realize that they’re being played
TNT’s new docu-series,will air May 11 and May 12 from 9pm to 11pm ET. In the series, Barkley will make his way across the country to meet people who will each offer their point of view on subjects like police and race relations, Muslims in America, Hollywood stereotyping, and Immigration. The four-episodes that comprise the series are titled: “Baltimore Rising”, “Muslim Is the New Black”, “Entertainment Still So White”, and “The Divided States of America.”
In the trailer for the series, Barkley tells viewers, “We’re gonna talk about race, stereotypes. We’re gonna talk about religion. We’re gonna start a dialogue.”
