C’s take part in protests
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown drove 15 hours from Boston to lead a peaceful protest Saturday in Atlanta, which is 20 miles from his home town of Marietta, Georgia.
“Being a celebrity, being an NBA player don’t exclude me from no conversations at all,” Brown said on Instagram. “First and foremost, I’m a black man and I’m a member of this community and I grew up on this soil.”
Nationwide protests have been sparked after George Floyd, a black man, was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis.
“It’s a peaceful protest. We’re walking, that’s it,” Brown said. “Raising awareness for some of the injustice we’ve been seeing. It’s not OK.
“As a young person, you need to listen to our perspective. Our voices need to be heard. I’m 23 years old. I don’t know all the answers, but I feel how everybody else is feeling.”
Brown was joined by fellow basketball players Malcolm Brogdon and Justin Anderson on the march through Atlanta.
In Boston, Celtics Marcus Smart, Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier participated in a peaceful protest Sunday.
“We wanted to come out here and let our voice be heard because we stand for the truth, and we stand for justice,” Smart told NBC Sports Boston. “And we won’t stop until we get justice. That’s really what this is about.”
“We need change. And change cannot wait,” Kanter told a crowd via a PA system at the protest. “I get emotional, but we are on the right side of history, man. You know what, black lives matter, right?”