Amid the outpouring amount of anger and rage across the nation, New York Knickerbocker Carmelo Anthony is using his reach to shed light in response to the recent shootings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the five Dallas police officers murdered in the line of duty. This morning, the acclaimed basketball player took to Instagram with a long message demanding action from his fellow superstar athletes.
The post included a picture taken during a 1967 Cleveland meeting between sports legends Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then-Lew Alcindor) and other athletic greats of the day where they supported Ali’s decision to refuse to register for the draft and discussed other issues of social inequality.
“First off let me start off by saying “All Praise Due To The Most High.” Secondly, I’m all about rallying, protesting, fighting for OUR people. Look I’ll even lead the charge, By Any Means Necessary. We have to be smart about what we are doing though. We need to steer our anger in the right direction. The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever. Martin Luther King marched. Malcolm X rebelled. Muhammad Ali literally fought for US. Our anger should be towards the system. If the system doesn’t change we will continue to turn on the TVs and see the same thing.”
Anthony realizes that history is repeating itself within the justice system and American citizens are infuriated with the continual racism and its affects on Black people. There are plenty of innocent lives taken by police brutality and too many of those police officers are acquitted of all charges.
While Anthony doesn’t have a definite solution, he wants politicians to take a stand and pass laws that will directly affect those who carry the burden or fear of being victimized. He also recognizes that retaliating against police officers will only make matters worse.
“We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right. A march doesn’t work. We tried that. I’ve tried that. A couple social media post/tweet doesn’t work. We’ve all tried that. That didn’t work. Shooting 11 cops and killing 5 WILL NOT work. While I don’t have a solution, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change.” He added.
Anthony is calling for his fellow athletes to speak up and address issues that will spark political and social changes, rather than caring so much about endorsement deals with Nike and Adidas. Often times, athletes don’t take advantage of their platform in promoting due to fear of losing a deal or receiving backlash. Hopefully this will initiate a new era of athletes who will.
He continued, “I’m calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge. Go to your local officials, leaders, congressman, assemblymen/assemblywoman and demand change. There’s NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore. Those days are long gone. We have to step up and take charge. We can’t worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or whose going to look at us crazy. I need your voices to be heard. We can demand change. We just have to be willing to. THE TIME IS NOW. IM all in. Take Charge. Take Action. DEMAND CHANGE.”
This is not the first time the 32-year-old has used his voice for greater good. In April 2015, the basketball star was spotted with protestors in his hometown of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray. Yesterday his wife and television personality Lala Anthony was spotted in New York City marching alongside Spike Lee.
