In April, 2018, Alibay Barkley, the father of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, settled a discrimination lawsuit against the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania and the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority. Barkley received $45,000 after filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the two entities, based on a dispute over a bus pass.
From Mcall.com:
Barkley, who is black, claimed his race was a factor when a security guard called police after Barkley refused to swipe his all-day pass a second time when a driver questioned whether he had paid his fare.
The suit alleged the bus driver and security guard didn’t question other passengers and that the security guard made disparaging remarks about Barkley’s hygiene before calling police.
Barkley was in a seat dedicated to civil rights icon Rosa Parks when Allentown police officers forcibly removed him from the bus, the suit claims. Parks inspired the Montgomery bus boycott, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement when she was removed from a bus for refusing to give up her seat to a white man in 1955.
In August, 2017, Alibay Barkley purchased an all-day pass for $4 and took several buses on his way to the hospital. After his hospital visit, Barkley boarded another bus, which had a layover at the Allentown Transportation Center. Per the lawsuit, when the driver returned, Barkley returned to his seat, when the driver asked him if he had a ticket. Barkley responded that he had already scanned his ticket on that bus. The driver summoned a security officer who allegedly told Barkley, “God only knows if you showered last night.”
Then, two Allentown police officers, Zachary Wittman and Robert Busch, boarded the bus and told Barkley to re-swipe his pass. When he refused, Wittman and Busch were accused of using excessive force, including tasing Barkley several times. The lawsuit claimed that the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority failed to preserve surveillance video that would have shown Barkley buying and using his bus pass.
On Thursday, Barkley spoke with the media about what happened to his father, and how it’s informed his feelings about police brutality as it’s become the primary topic around the sports world.
“My father was kind of just mishandled by police officers,” Barkley said. “It was a situation when I was in college. I remember that phone call that I got from my parents, well from my mom, that my dad was basically mishandled and mistreated. At the time, they thought my dad was wrong, but they kind of worked through it and found out that my dad was right, which obviously, I knew. But in that moment when I got that phone call, I’ll never forget it. I was walking to the Lasch Building at Penn State and my mom called me. My mom was really worried and concerned. My dad had a heart condition and got tased in the heart. I remember how I felt in that moment. It hurt me. It hurt me. That’s why every single day, I try to go out, work, try to push myself and try to go out there and show my work ethic, show my talent, and just try to be an inspiration for others. Hopefully, I can continue to do that throughout my play.”
Barkley was also asked about this Twitter video (Warning: Graphic images) that he re-tweeted on Wednesday.
“Yeah, it’s just sad,” he said. “You look at it like what if that was my brother? I know my father went through a similar situation when I was in college. In that little situation right there, you can lose someone that you really care about. I think when you look at it, you can’t look at it as, ‘Oh, it’s Jacob Blake.’ Obviously, I know he didn’t pass away. But you can’t look at it like that. You have to put yourself, what if I was in that situation? What if it was your brother? What if it was your cousin? What if it was [Sterling] Shepard? What if it was Golden [Tate]? All those guys. That’s kind of the way I look at it. Then how it makes me think and makes me feel,
“I understand that God put me in a position to be able to have a platform and to be able to use my voice. I’ve been big on knowing my history, especially with the athletes and the Bill Russells of the world, Colin Kaepernicks of the world. How they were able to handle those situations using their voice. It creates a conversation that you have to have yourself. What can you do? What can you do? That’s just the start. You have to start those conversations, and then take action. Find ways you can do, and that’s what we’re trying to do with our team. We can continue to find the right things to do and we can continue to do it.”
Barkley also spoke about the decisions of players from the NBA, WNBA, and MLB to postpone games due to raw feelings over the specter of continued police brutality, especially the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin police last Sunday. Several NFL teams have canceled their practices and scrimmages this week so that the focus can be on players and coaches speaking out.
“First, my thoughts and prayers go to Jacob Blake’s family. On the video, words really can’t describe how you feel. It makes you sick, especially being a Black man. I know how my parents raised me. Just when you see those situations happening and continuing to happen, like I said, words really can’t describe it. But going on with what the NBA did, I definitely commend them for doing that. The WNBA, the ladies, did it too. I want to commend them for standing up, using their platform and using their voice. But for us to say, the Giants and the NFL, that’s the stuff that’s part of our discussions going on. We’ve been given an opportunity for our leadership group and to be able to talk to the team and try to figure out things we can do to try to help.”
On Wednesday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said that “anything is possible” when it comes to NFL players deciding to opt out of regular-season games for these reasons.