Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony is taking the gloves off and tackling any and every conversation that involves enacting social justice.
The Blazers forward has made use of his platform as an athlete to speak for those who don't have a voice:
“My thing is just to make sure people feel comfortable with speaking on s*** that they’re uncomfortable with and holding people accountable for not having those conversations, for not wanting to have those conversations,” said Anthony, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
“For me, I’m taking the gloves off. Whatever you want to talk about, let’s talk about it. That’s where I was at, which kind of translated to what I’m doing with my platform, having these conversations with people and bringing awareness to certain situations. Also, educating people. We haven’t been educated [on issues], and now we’re starting to want to be educated.”
But Anthony's message does not only rest in words, but actions as well.
Recently, the Blazers veteran partnered up with Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade to launch the Social Change Fund, helping impoverished communities and those in need.




Anthony also chose two messages to wear on the back of his jersey:
“I put two. It was either ‘Peace’ or ‘Freedom.’ I wish I could have done something else, put something else on there. But, I’m trying to put something that means something to me,” said Anthony. “That way I can be able to speak on why I got ‘Peace’ on the back of my jersey.
“For freedom, in general, that’s the end-all, be-all. That’s what we want. That’s what we really want. We’ve been fighting for that for so many years. We’re still fighting for it. We will continue to fight for freedom. So, we got to continue preaching that message.”
The first day of inter-squad scrimmage action made this evident — players will use their platform in the NBA bubble to raise awareness about social injustice, racism, and bigotry. Interviews will quickly change from scoring droughts, missed field goal attempts, and winning streaks to what society is doing or not doing to elevate past the issues that plague it, as evidenced by Blazers guard CJ McCollum and many others when discussing Breonna Taylor.
Anthony is doing his part now, but surely there will be more to expect from the perennial scorer on this front.