Carmelo Anthony: 'Scary' Talking To Kids About Donald Trump
NEW YORK — One night after Donald Trump’s stunning election victory, millions of Americans were still processing the results. New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, an activist for the Black Lives Matter movement and a Hillary Clinton supporter, was one of them.
After the Knicks’ 110-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets, Anthony reacted publicly to Trump’s victory for the first time.
“Now it’s our responsibility as men and women to take things into our own hands and be role models and be our own leaders at this point, regardless of who is commander-in-chief,” Anthony said. “I think that we have more of a responsibility now, especially with the youth.
“I’ve talked to kids today, this morning, and my family,” he added. “You can just hear the nervousness. They’re afraid, they don’t know what to think, they don’t know what to do at this point. It’s up to us as individuals to take on this responsibility. We can’t rely on a system or one person, and we gotta move on from it.”
Anthony said he hasn’t spoken to LeBron James—who joined Clinton at a campaign event in Cleveland on Sunday—or any other NBA players regarding the election. He’s only talked with his family.
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“It’s a conversation that we’re all going to have to have with our kids,” he said. “What is that conversation? You know, that’s the scary part for me. What is that conversation?”
Despite Trump seemingly defying many pundits’ predictions, Anthony said he wasn’t surprised with Tuesday’s results.
“The way that things are going now in this country, the educated, the uneducated, the people I saw who were voting... I wasn’t surprised,” Anthony said.
Another Knicks player who’s been vocal in the political sphere is center Joakim Noah, who initially raised eyebrows when he was the only player not wearing special “Hoops for Troops” socks to honor the military during Wednesday night’s game.
In a protest against war and violence, Noah chose not to attend a team dinner at West Point in September. He later said that his protest had “nothing to do with the cadets” and that he has “a lot of respect” for the military’s sacrifices.
On Wednesday, the Knicks said Noah wasn’t protesting and that they simply could not find the special socks in Noah’s size. After the game, Noah also brushed off the notion that not wearing the socks meant anything symbolic.
Noah didn’t talk to reporters about Trump, though he did react to Tuesday’s results on Twitter.
Anthony was more vocal. Before leaving the locker room, he urged those unhappy with Trump’s victory to continue fighting.
“I’m a big believer in worrying about the things that you can control,” he said. “And I think in this situation, we as people have to worry about the things that we can control. We can’t control what’s gonna happen, but that doesn’t mean that we have to stop… just because somebody’s in a position now that we might not agree with, might not like, we might not want in that position.
“The work has to start right now. It’s gonna be even harder. But we can’t stop working.”
