New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has been openly adamant and outspoken about meeting with his fellow athletes and government officials about the tragic police shootings that have become local and national issues. Anthony joined Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and LeBron James at the ESPYs to make a powerful, unified statement on that front.
Anthony, who serves as Vice President of the NBA Players Association, helped lead a town hall meeting on Monday in Los Angeles to address these issues. The panel was called “Leadership Together: A Conversation with our Sons & Daughters” and streamed live on Carmelo’s Facebook page.
Anthony was joined by WNBA star and president of the WNBA Players Association Tamika Catchings, William Scott, a deputy chief in the Los Angeles Police Department, Calvin Lyons, president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles, other police officers and members of USA Basketball, and about 200 spectators.
(via Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal):
“We know the officers are a very united front, but when things [happen], I don’t think we need that,” Anthony said. “We just need more frank dialogue.”
In response to Micheal Jordan’s statement released just this morning, Anthony made this comment:
I thought it was brilliant, and about time that he stepped up to say what he said.
Anthony and Catchings expressed the desire to continue having these meetings in other cities going forward. People of Anthony’s stature certainly bring more awareness to the issues and hopefully more encouragement to engage in the process of solving some of these issues. That is part of Anthony’s motivation in speaking out, that others will also feel the need to. This has become a clear priority for Anthony, who helped organize and lead this meeting amidst his running exhibition tour with Team USA in preparation for the 2016 Rio Games.