Race hustler Al Sharpton and his ilk could take a few cues from former NBA player Charles Barkley. In October, Barkley ruffled some feathers by provoking an inconvenient truth: “For some reason, we [blacks] are brainwashed to think if you not a thug or an idiot, you’re not black enough.” The basketball legend had a few words to say about the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, and the ensuing riots. Some highlights from a recent radio interview should be required listening to race agitators (in his words, “scumbags”):

• “When you try to do well in school, they tell you you’re acting white. When you speak intelligent, they tell you you’re acting white. We should have more black kids speaking correctly, we should have more black kids going to college and getting great jobs.”

• “There’s no excuse for people to be out there burning down people’s businesses, burning down police cars.”

• “I know I’m black, but I’m always going to try to be honest and fair.”

• “If it wasn’t for the cops we would be living in the Wild, Wild West in our neighborhoods.”

• “We can’t pick out certain incidentals that don’t go our way and act like the cops are all bad.”

• “Do you know how bad some of these neighborhoods would be if it wasn’t for the cops?”

• “I can’t believe anything I hear on television anymore. And, that’s why I don’t like talking about race issues with the media anymore, because they love this stuff, and lead people to jump to conclusions. The media shouldn’t do that. They never do that when black people kill each other.”