Carmelo Anthony powerfully demands athletes 'take the lead' against police violence

Adi Joseph

Carmelo Anthony powerfully demands athletes 'take the lead' against police violence image

Carmelo Anthony is ready to take action in his own hands, even as he sorts through his emotions to figure out what that action is.

The Knicks forward and Team USA Olympian posted a fiery paragraph to his website, thisismelo.com, Friday afternoon, invoking Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. He wrote that athletes should take the lead in demanding justice after the deaths of Alton Sterling of Louisiana and Philando Castile of Minnesota, black men who were shot by white police officers earlier this week.

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"It's Time to Step Up and Take Charge," the post is titled, and it includes the famous photo of the summit NFL star Jim Brown hosted to support Muhammad Ali's refusal to participate in the Vietnam War. A college-aged Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor, NBA legend Bill Russell and a slew of NFL players are among those joining Brown and Ali in the photo.

Here is Anthony's full post:

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. 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. 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. Peace7 #StayMe7o

The stance is admirable, proud and emotional. Anthony is aware enough to know he does not have the answers. He mentions the shooting deaths of five policemen Thursday night in Dallas as clearly not the answer.

Anthony has long been outspoken, much like his longtime friend LeBron James. Expect the two of them to continue to lead NBA players toward action on this issue that has taken hold of the entire nation, especially the black community.

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Anthony and James have sons, black boys whose lives they also must worry about in these times. They understand their platforms and their financial and public power.

The demand for change is powerful. But it's a first step.

Adi Joseph

Adi Joseph Photo