Sir Charles on Justice Thomas

Guesting on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC-TV last evening, former professional basketball player Charles Barkley plugged his new book, Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?.

The book is an exploration of racism in 21st century America. To write it, Barkley interviewed people like Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, comedian George Lopez, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Noting that he had never met Thomas, host Jay Leno asked Barkley's impressions of the much-maligned jurist. Barkley replied that Thomas gets "a bad rap." He added that "we should be able to disagree with each other without calling each other names" and that black Americans should be proud that Justice Thomas serves on the Supreme Court.

Barkley has often been rumored to be a potential candidate for public office, including governor of his home state of Alabama. Interesting thought.