“We, as black people, we have a lot of crooks”

“We never discuss race in this country until something bad happens,” he said, CNN reported. “And even then it usually reflects a ‘tribe mentality.’ Everybody wants to protect their own tribe, whether they are right or wrong.”

Mr. Barkley, who has previously dealt with his own confrontations with police, said too many communities call on police to come clean them up, but then decry racial profiling when something happens, CNN said.

“We, as black people, we have a lot of crooks,” he said, CNN reported. “We can’t just wait until something like [the Brown shooting] happens. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. There is a reason that they racially profile us in the way they do. Sometimes it is wrong. and sometimes it is right.”

Mr. Barkley commended those who peacefully protest, saying “that’s what this country was built on,” CNN reported. But he sharply rebuked those who turn to violent means to get their point across.