I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It by Charles Barkley Page B

involved in ownership. I’m more concerned with owning the means of production in certain industries.
    I’m not saying I don’t understand why people are upset with state flags that include the Confederate flag. It’s just that those people are not going to change what they feel in their hearts because they take the flag down. I understand the power of symbols, and if I had anything on my house that seriously offended someone, I’d take it down if for no other reason than common courtesy.
    I guess everybody picks and chooses certain battles. One of the ones I won’t back away from is the freedom to choose who you want to be with. When you marry outside of your race, as my wife and I did, you get such garbage from people of both races. People say, “Well, your kids will suffer.” Sadly, that’s true. Of course they only suffer because people put their prejudices off on the kids. So yeah, kids suffer because adults are hateful. But even with that, it’s not like my daughter is conflicted about everything in her life every day. She doesn’t wake up in the morning and wonder, “Should I study George Washington or Booker T. Washington?” That’s what I tell people. It’s not a daily struggle. Her life isn’t one big tug-of-war. The only time kids have trouble, whether or not they are the products of interracial marriages, is when people put ignorant shit in their heads.
    People should be able to go out and date whoever they want to and it’s nobody’s damn business. And that’s that. I think anybody who disagrees with that basic freedom to associate with, befriend and date whoever you want to is full of shit and has some kind of agenda they need to seriously think about.

Life in the Public Eye
    I’ve had plenty of people tell me it appears I enjoy being famous. But I’ve always disagreed with that. It’s that I enjoy meeting people. There are only two ways to go about life if you are famous: enjoy this damn life or be miserable. People say, “Do you enjoy being a celebrity?” And I say, “Not really.” When I was playing I wish I could have played basketball and made a lot of money, period.
    When you’re in public life, no matter who you are, you’re either going to learn how to enjoy it, especially meeting people, or be a miserable jerk. A lot of famous people go through their whole lives not wanting to be bothered, with bodyguards hanging around all the time, or staying to themselves. I’ve always thought that wasn’t going to be me. It didn’t seem to be an enjoyable way to go about it. Like Jack Nicholson says, this is as good as it gets. So if you’re successful at something and you become famous for it, that’s as good as it gets. So why walk around moping all the time? That trips me out. And especially if you’re healthy physically and financially and your family and friends are healthy, what the hell is there to mope around and complain about or have all these people trying to shield you from folks?
    I don’t enjoy the limelight as much as people might think. You think I want to talk to the press every day or accommodate everybody’s wishes all the time? Hell no. But I’m the luckiest damn guy in the world, and I’m not going to walk around being miserable. I’m going to have fun with this. I just believe in accommodating people whenever possible. It wears you out, having to do it all the time, especially when you’re tired or you have serious things on your mind. But I just believe that signing autographs or posing for pictures with people or sitting and talking with people who want to meet you is all part of what goes with being a public person. I don’t turn people down for autographs unless I’m eating or I’m trying to keep on schedule or there are so many that there’s just no way to sign them all.
    It’s an honor to play professional sports for a living. It’s an honor to entertain people or make them feel better or whatever it is they feel when they’re watching you.