Brown reiterates social justice call
Says ‘we have to continue to vote’
As the Celtics’ seeding opener against Milwaukee draws nearer, Jaylen Brown wants to expand his platform even further.
The Celtics guard has spent his time in the bubble conferring with other players — especially fellow members of the players association’s executive committee — searching for ways to ensure that their social justice platform doesn’t lose momentum once the games begin.
As such, Brown once again called Wednesday for justice for Breonna Taylor — the Louisville EMT killed by police after they invaded her home by mistake — in addition to calling for members of the Black community to use their power at the voting booth.
The call for justice for Taylor has been reiterated by many Celtics during their Zoom media conferences over the last two weeks, and Brown revisited that call Wednesday.
“It’s important. I don’t think it should even be a question, to be honest, as to why it’s important to us,” he said. “We all come from our moms, we all have sisters, aunts, nieces, etcetera, so not just with African Americans not feeling comfortable in this American society, it’s a lot of women who don’t feel comfortable as well. We want to continue to show our support for them for sure.
“I had a call with Tamika Palmer, (who) is Breonna Taylor’s mother, not too long ago, and it was emotional for me,” he said. “The fact that she can get on a call with a bunch of NBA guys and utilize her strength in front of us. We know she was hurting. That was her baby girl that’s gone. Her daughter was killed. And for her to be able to get on a phone call and exhibit that strength in front of us and rally us up and let us know that we don’t want this to happen to the next girl or the next person or color, or woman of color, I stand with her.
“I have a mom, I have nieces, and so do the rest of us NBA players, so it’s hard listening to that and not feeling some type of way. And I think the rest of America is like — or certainly not the rest of America, but some people in America are like ‘oh well, she lost her life, police were doing their job —oh well.’ And this is not an ‘oh well’ moment for us, so we’re going to continue to emphasize justice for Breonna Taylor, continue to emphasize voting, especially in the Black community, utilizing our power to come together for things that we believe in, and I’m not going to be quiet.”
Celtics players will continue to expand their platform once the seeding games begin. The Celtics released a list of the NBA-approved messages players will wear on the backs of their jerseys Friday night, including “Freedom” by Marcus Smart and Enes Kanter, “Black Lives Matter” by Jayson Tatum and Daniel Theis, and “Liberation” by Brown.
Brown, like Smart and many others, felt that the list was too restrictive, and is unsure of whether he will actually wear “Liberation” on his jersey.
“I don’t want to chime in on it too much yet,” he said. “We’ll see Friday. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I’m for sure undecided. One of the things I participated in choosing was Liberation. I felt like the list was a little bit limited. But Liberation is what I chose from that list. The definition of liberation is free yourself from oppression, slavery, or marginalization. I wanted to represent that. This is the season to break free of some of those cycles.”
Voting is one tool to break that cycle.
“I think there’s a lot of power in coming together and voting — especially in the Black community, where politicians have made empty promises to the Black community year after year after year,” said Brown. “Some think that’s OK and acceptable, and I think it’s not. I want to emphasize that we have to continue to vote, we have to come together and use our power in the right manner. I want to inspire people from Georgia, where I’m from, Marietta, DeKalb County, Boston, Mass., Dorchester, Roxbury, Oakland, East Oakland, West Oakland, wherever my influence reaches.
“I want to influence people to vote. There’s a lot of power in exercising that, and we have to use it. I want to continue to exercise that. We have to get some of these guys out of office who don’t care, who don’t think it’s appropriate that we’re trying to end systemic racism. I want to make voting a trend, I want to use my platform, I want athletes to come together and continue to talk about it. I understand the apprehension from the African American community — politicians that made empty promises, people who feel why should I participate in a political system that hasn’t necessarily participated with me. I believe in small victories, beating those guys, getting the right people in office, a big part of that is voting. Let’s continue to express that, lead in that direction. I want to continue using my platform to inspire people, whatever color, whatever race that voting is important —especially in the Black community to get out and vote.”