During Wednesday night's “all hands” meeting at Disney World, Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics issued a challenge to his fellow NBA players in Orlando to show the same commitment to activism and fighting for racial justice if and when they leave the bubble and return to their respective communities.
“Jaylen Brown also asked them, ‘If you guys leave here, are you just going to leave and go chill and hang out with your families and lose that loneliness? Or are you gonna be in the trenches? Are you gonna be in the streets?'” ESPN's Marc J. Spears relayed on SportsCenter Wednesday night.
“If you leave just to leave and be mad, that's just a waste of time,” Spears added, speaking for himself. “If you're gonna do what Jaylen Brown said, be in the streets. Be active…If you're gonna be about it, be about it.”
.@MarcJSpears: "Jaylen Brown also asked them, 'If you guys leave here, are you just going to leave and go chill and hang out with your families and lose that loneliness? Or are you going to be in the trenches? Are you going to be in the streets?'" pic.twitter.com/tikik945vu
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) August 27, 2020
Jaylen Brown has been on the front lines of advocacy during the recent swell of Black Lives Matters demonstrations. He drove 15 hours from Boston to his native Atlanta to help organize and lead peaceful protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on May 25.
At 23, Brown has already become a leading voice amongst NBA players on issues of social justice. He has been outspoken calling for justice for Breonna Taylor and, earlier this week, addressed the Jacob Blake shooting at length.
“The majority of African Americans and people of color have a history with the police. It comes with the plague of systemic oppression, the lack of education, economic opportunity, housing … Does America think that Black people or people of color are uncivilized, savages, or naturally unjust, or are we products of the environments that we participate in? … Are we not human beings? Is Jacob Blake not a human being? … People post my jersey all the time — No. 7, and every time I look at my jersey now, what I see is a Black man getting shot seven times.”
Brown defended the Bucks' decision to protest Wednesday's game without informing other teams first, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Sources: As some in tonight's meeting wanted to hear Bucks' explanation for making an abrupt decision independent of rest of teams to boycott game, Boston's Jaylen Brown essentially said that the Bucks didn't need to explain themselves and he fully supported what they did today.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
Brown's Celtics were set to begin their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, but that game is unlikely to take place as scheduled.
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