
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 22, 1995                   TAG: 9502240014
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BARKLEY'S BITE

REMEMBER WHEN the thought-and-speech police declared that remarks made by House Majority Leader Dick Armey were offensive, bigoted and inappropriate? That was Armey's ``Barney Fag'' slip of the tongue, in reference to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Now we have the case of Charles Barkley, a professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns. Before the NBA All Star Game, Barkley made a ``joking'' remark to a white reporter friend. ``That's why I hate white people,'' said Barkley, who is black. Reporters who heard about the remark invaded the locker room and surrounded Barkley, seeking elaboration. Barkley later held a news conference and hurled some expletives at those present, and journalists in general, telling them to leave town.

eO action to Barkley's comments is a study in political correctness. NBA President David Stern was asked whether the same standard should be applied to Barkley as some did to Armey. Said Stern: ``It depends. I think in this case Charles was doing his routine, and that's part comedian - the same as Billy Crystal or Bill Cosby.'' So, in addition to being an outstanding basketball player, Barkley's ``joking'' remarks can be excused because he is an amateur comedian, is that it?

Barkley also said to a Japanese journalist, ``By the way, did I tell you I hate Asians?'' The reporter laughed. But Barkley wasn't through. He managed to convey his ``hatred'' to a reporter of Polish descent and even lambasted a black reporter whose skin was lighter than his: ``You know, I hate light-skinned black people, too.''

Is Barkley an equal-opportunity bigot? Of course not. He was having fun and tweaking reporters he knows. But why did he largely get a free pass - not only from the NBA commissioner but from much of the media when they learned they couldn't fan the small flame into a bonfire?

There seems to be a double standard in speech, as there is for most everything these days, from capital punishment to Capitol ethics. It isn't the content of a racial slur that offends, nor is it always the intent. Rather, the judgment is leveled at the person saying it, based on his or her political worldview.

Imagine the response had these same words come not from the mouth of Charles Barkley but from Rush Limbaugh. Because there are those who believe Limbaugh to be a racist-sexist-homophobe, the cries of outrage would break the decibel meter.

As for Barkley's uncouth slur of the media, it might be difficult to find a critic - because many share his feelings about reporters who constantly search for the next flap to sensationalize to get their faces on camera or their bylines on the front page.

That words play differently when they come from different mouths is evident when one recalls the ``Nightline'' remarks of Al Campanis, late of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Campanis responded to a question as to why there were not more black managers by citing their alleged genetic shortcomings. Never mind that the Dodgers led the way in the integration of baseball. For Campanis, it was one strike and he was out.

Or how about similar remarks about genes and blacks by Jimmy the Greek? Same thing. Jimmy was pulled from his CBS broadcast job.

Yes, Campanis and Jimmy were serious, while, we're assured, Barkley is auditioning for a post-basketball career on The Comedy Channel.

And so Charles Barkley plays on. And so he should. We have finally found one person who stands up to the thought police and Maces them. Maybe he should run for governor of Alabama, as he's said he might do. Wouldn't that keep the press and the selective enforcers of the First Amendment busy?

- Los Angeles Times Syndicate

by CNB