Celtics Visit White House to Discuss Criminal Justice Reform

The Celtics utilized their trip to the nation's capital to address more meaningful matters than what transpires on the court.

Monday, with the Boston Celtics in the nation's capital for a Tuesday night tilt against the Washington Wizards, Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, and Grant Williams visited the White House.

The three, each vice presidents of the NBA Players Association's Executive Committee, met with Justice Department officials to discuss social justice priorities and criminal justice reform.

At Tuesday's shootaround, Malcolm Brogdon said a mutual friend and fellow Atlanta native, Scott Budnick, a film producer who worked on films such as 'Old School' and 'The Hangover' trilogy and who fights for criminal justice reform, arranged the meeting.

The Celtics' sixth man conveyed there was an emphasis on raising the age of juveniles to 20.

"Children (get tried as) adults when they make mistakes as though they're beyond redemption. And that's something that has to change. There are a lot of kids behind bars that shouldn't be, a lot of the time, because of the color of their skin, but overall, that's, I think the common denominator.

"So, raise the age in (MA) is something I'm really pushing for; I put out an op-ed recently that talks about raising the age to 20 so we can stop treating kids like adults."

When asked about the feedback he, Brown, and Williams received at their meeting with Justice Department officials, Brogdon responded, "(We got) amazing feedback ... affirmed everything me, JB, and Grant were thinking. But we also, while sitting at that table, learned that Congress and there are all these other, sort of, branches of power that have to approve certain bills and certain policies before they get put in place."

Brogdon, a vice president of the NBA Players Association's Executive Committee since 2019, put a more accurate and appropriate label on the subject, expressing, "I think now, this is a generation where we're having more players that are interested and involved in, I don't even call it politics, I call it injustices that are happening in the world."

The former Virginia Cavalier, who stated the NBPA will continue to get more involved, added that the Black Lives Matter movement was "the window we had to spread the word, shed light on social justice and everything that's going on in this country that's wrong, but now's the time to continue to push forward.

"There's not as much light on it, but I think (that) we still have momentum. I think people's eyes and ears were opened during that moment, and I think (that) they still are, but we have to continue to push."

You can watch Brogdon's full interview below, courtesy of CLNS Media.

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