Cheers to Carmelo Anthony for Call to Fellow Athletes: “I Need Your Voices to Be Heard”
July 12, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On July 8 New York Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony issued a statement in the wake of the police murders of Anton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in St. Paul. He called on people—fellow athletes in particular—to “step up” and act against these outrages. He said “The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever.” He urged others to stand strong: “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.”
Anthony’s Instagram and Twitter posts of his message were accompanied by a 1967 photo of Muhammad Ali with Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and other athletes who were supporting Ali’s refusal to fight in the Vietnam War—a decision which cost Ali his heavyweight champion title. Anthony’s statement appeared on the full outside cover of the New York Daily News and in other media.
The full text of Carmelo Anthony’s statement:
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
Among the athletes and others expressing support for Carmelo Anthony’s statement were NBA stars Dwayne Wade and Joakim Noah, actor Gabrielle Union (who is married to Wade), former world #1 tennis player Boris Becker, WNBA star Chiney Ogwumike, and NFL player Andrew Hawkins.
It’s very good that an athlete of Carmelo Anthony’s stature as well as other in the public eye are speaking out and calling on others to stand against the outrage of murders by police and to fight for justice and change. We call on them to follow through on their convictions—and, in the course of fighting for justice, to really dig into the source of terror by police and other outrages of this system, and what it is going to take to win real and lasting change for the better.
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