Cal Basketball: Jaylen Brown Helps Lead Peaceful Protest in Hometown
In the best tradition of the campus where he spent a year, former Cal basketball standout Jaylen Brown drove 15 hours from Boston to his hometown of Atlanta to help lead a Saturday march protesting the the death of George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man who died last week after a Minnesota police officer knelt on his neck.
“It’s a peaceful protest,” Brown said in an Instagram video. “Being a celebrity, being an NBA player don’t exclude me from no conversation at all. First and foremost, I’m a Black man and I’m a member of this community, and I grew up on this soil. I want to say that first and foremost.
"We're raising awareness for some of the injustices that we've been seeing. It's not OK. As a young person, you've got to listen to our perspective. Our voices have got to be heard."
Brown, who spent just one year at Cal before being drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2016, wrote Friday on social media, “I will be peacefully protesting tomorrow.” That post was re-tweeted nearly 39,000 times.
Brown asked others Saturday to join him on his walk through Atlanta, and among those who participated was Malcolm Brogdon, who plays for the Indiana Pacers and also grew up in Atlanta.
“We got to keep pushing forward,” Brogdon said. “Jaylen, man, has led this charge. I’m proud of him. We need more leaders.”
Brown and Brogdon both serve as vice presidents on the NBA Players Association executive committee.
Brogdon said his grandfather marched a half-century ago with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “He would be proud to see us here,” Brogdon said.
Protests have sprung up in cities across the country since Floyd was killed Monday night. “I Can’t Breathe” has become the battle cry after videotape of the deadly incident captured those as some of Floyd’s final words.
Brown expressed the frustration of so many when he Tweeted on Friday, “There are no more cheeks to turn.”
“I’m 23 years old. I don’t know all the answers," Brown said on his Instagram video."But I feel how everybody else is feeling. For sure. No question.”
Brown carried a megaphone during the march, asking others,
“What do we want?"
"Justice!"
"When do we want it?"
"Now!"
Lil Yachty, a Georgia-based rapper, urged protesters to refrain from violence and looting.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” he told the crowd. “As I sat home, and I’m trying to make it add up, as to why we have to go through breaking windows, demolishing our — all this is ours. We may not own it, but we live here. We’re raising our families here and we’re building up our lives here. It’s unfortunate we got to do this, just to show our frustration. We shouldn’t take that.”
Brown's willingness to be a forceful voice in response to Floyd's death drew praise from others.
This from former NBA player Kendrick Perkins:
Sean Grande, veteran radio voice of the Celtics, also took to Twitter to express his admiration for Brown's efforts.
"This will be a rerun if you've listened to Celtics games the last few years, but it belongs here as well," he wrote. "You will be proud of Jaylen Brown's Celtics career on the court.
"But when it's all said and done, it will be nothing ... nothing ... compared to what he accomplishes off it."
Tom Westerholm, who covers the Celtics for MassLive, put out this on Twitter: "Gotta say, what Jaylen Brown is doing in Atlanta tonight feels really powerful."
Another Twitter contributor wrote, "Shoutout Jaylen Brown. I hope he runs for office some day."
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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