USA TODAY International Edition
Lending his voice
A spate of police shootings prompted Knicks star Carmelo Anthony to speak up,
The moment of inspiration hit Carmelo Anthony in the middle of the night. For a few days, he had contemplated the shooting deaths involving police in Baton Rouge, St. Paul and Dallas.
“Enough is enough,” Anthony thought to himself before posting a famous picture on Instagram of Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul- Jabbar and a call to action.
“We need to steer our anger in the right direction,” wrote Anthony, an All- Star for the New York Knicks. “The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever. … 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. We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right.”
He implored 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 ( who’s) 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.”
Unable to sleep, he went to his Instagram account and “just started typing, and that’s how it came about,” Anthony said as the U. S. Olympic men’s basketball team prepared for Rio.
He was asked about another shooting, the one that took place in Baton Rouge on Sunday, killing three police officers.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s sad. I really can’t even put it into words what’s going on — not only there but throughout the whole country, throughout the whole world,” Anthony said. “For us as a country, we’ve got to stand united. We’ve got to come together. It shouldn’t be us against them.”
Anthony, who also wrote a column on the topic for The Guard
ian, was quick to acknowledge: “I don’t think anybody has the solutions. I just think everybody has to play a part and keep that dialogue, that conversation open. I’ve had a lot of very important people reach out to me and want to do something and see how they can help, how they can step up.
“For me, it was all about getting everybody — not just athletes — just getting people out there talking to the right people, talking to the community and trying to have a voice for the community because they need it.”
That dialogue will continue in Los Angeles when USA Basketball moves its training camp there for practices and an exhibition game against China on Sunday. A town hall meeting featuring U. S. Olympic basketball players and possibly other athletes is being planned, U. S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
“A number of our players in the NBA have come out about the situation that’s happening in our country. In a beautiful manner, they’ve expressed their feelings,” Krzyzewski told USA TODAY Sports. “During the trip, we’ll try to do that even more. … I love the fact that our guys want to do that. It’s using the sports platform in a really outstanding way.
“I’m not sure any sport has helped race relations in our country more than basketball over the years. We have an opportunity to maybe help some in that process. We’re encouraging every player to follow their conscience. But also, they’re unified in their feelings about helping.”
Anthony also recently appeared on stage with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul at the ESPYs to address the issue. He wasn’t originally scheduled to be at the event, but after his post, the close friends asked Anthony to join them.
“You want to be able to speak up. You want to have a voice. But you want to do it right,” Anthony said. “You just don’t want to be out there speaking up on everything that’s happening. For me, it’s a matter of having a plan and executing that plan.”
Anthony dismissed the notion that athletes should “stick to sports” and not comment on social issues. There is a long tradition in sports of athletes speaking out for social justice.
“The tragedies that are happening, it affects people,” Anthony said. “We’re athletes, but we’re human beings at the end of the day. We’re affected by that. We have families who are in some of those cities and those situations. Just because we’re athletes doesn’t mean we’re not affected.”