Agree or disagree? NBA legend Charles Barkely criticizes the black community's reactions to Ferguson decision -- Now check out what he had to say!

Believes playing the race card hurts discourse on race relations in U.S.

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley shared his views on the riots in Ferguson and the changing face of racism in the United States during an interview with CNN's Brooke Baldwin.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic online) - Barkley lamented that in the U.S., dialogues on race never occur unless spurred on by tragedy.

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"We never discuss race in this country until something bad happens," he said. "We never have meaningful dialogue over a cold beer when things are going good."

Last week Barkely came under fire for expressing his displeasure at the protestors and riots in Ferguson following the acquittal of Officer Darren Wilson, who was being investigated by a grand jury following the shooting death of Michael Brown in mid-2014.

"You don't put everybody altogether; black is not always right and white is not always wrong," he said. "You've got some bad apples who are taking advantage of the situation, and that's unfortunate. Somebody lost a child, this is something we need to sit back and discuss and figure out what went wrong."

Barkley continued to voice his displeasure with the attitudes that are held by both white and blacks about police actions in America.

"The notion that white cops are out there just killing black people is ridiculous. It's flat-out ridiculous.

"I challenge any black person to make that point. Cops are absolutely awesome. They're the only thing in the ghetto (keeping it from) being the wild, wild west."

Some people were upset by the basketball hero's remarks, including John Carlos, a U.S. Olympian and civil rights leader who said that Barkley should "keep (his) mouth shut."

Barkley also commented on the Eric Garner case in New York, where a 43-year-old black man died after being placed into a chokehold by a NYPD officer.

"I don't think that was a homicide. I think the cops were trying to arrest him and they got a little aggressive," Barkley said. "I think excessive force - something like that - but to go straight to murder?

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