Charles Barkley donates $5M to Auburn after Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action

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A U.S. Supreme Court decision has prompted NBA legend Charles Barkley to generously open his wallet.

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Last week the top court rejected race as a factor used in college admissions, stating it violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. Angered by the decision, Barkley said he will be giving his alma mater, Auburn University, $5 million, hoping the school remains diverse, according to TMZ Sports.

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Barkley said that his “phone was blowing up” after the ruling.

“I was talking to my friends and said, ‘I need to make sure Black folks always have a place at Auburn,’” said Barkley.

Only 5% of the student population at Auburn is Black, TMZ Sports noted.

Civil rights organization National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) criticized the Supreme Court ruling, stating it was “hate-inspired” and calling it a “dark day in America.

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In a statement, NAACP president Derrick Johnson said the Supreme Court has “bowed to the personally held beliefs of an extremist minority.”

“We will not allow hate-inspired people in power to turn back the clock and undermine our hard-won victories. The tricks of America’s dark past will not be tolerated,” said Johnson.

In a society still scarred by wounds of racial disparities, Johnson said, the “Supreme Court has displayed a willful ignorance of our reality.”

“The NAACP will not be deterred nor silenced in our fight to hold leaders and institutions accountable for their role in embracing diversity no matter what,” he concluded.

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