Carmelo Anthony assumed the social responsibility he promised to take on before his fellow athletes at this year's ESPY Awards when he rebuked the WNBA's punishment of the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, and Indiana Fever on Thursday [July 22]. Each of the three teams above were fined $5,000, and their players were each docked $500 for their protest of the questionable shootings of Black men by police. The Liberty for one, have gone out dressed in black during pre-game warm up on four different occasions since the Sterling/Castile killings. The Mercury and Fever have followed suit.
“A bunch of teams did it. Everyone has their freedom of speech if they decide to use the platform. I don’t see no reason for anybody to get fined," Anthony told reporters before Thursday's U.S. Olympic games practice in Las Vegas. "We did it [3½ years ago after the Trayvon Martin shooting]. The NBA did it. The NBA was very supportive. I don’t see any difference in this matter. Right now the players have an adamant stance in what they believe in right now. I don’t think anyone should be fighting that at this moment.”
Earlier this month Anthony was joined by Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and Lebron James in making a pact before the millions viewing when during the 2016 ESPY Awards they each vowed to step up as athletes capable of using their platform to speak on issues affecting the Black community. Heading into his [record] fourth Summer Olympic games, the team captain is in a focal position to take leadership on the issue, seeing how the WNBA, in fact, operates under the ownership of its counterpart National Basketball Association. Anthony has taken immediate action to tackle the problem of police violence, with him leading the organizing efforts of a closed invitation-only forum set to be held in Los Angeles on Monday. Anthony's partners in the endeavor are said to be canvassing communities to pool questions and concerns that will be brought up before the event's attendees.
"I don’t want to call it a town hall, I like to call it more a conversation," Anthony responded to reporters' inquiries into what the media has called a town hall meeting. "We want to get some of the local politicians. We want to get youth, kids, adults, officers, teachers, community leaders and athletes just there having this conversation and this talk. Both sides hearing each other out.’’
Source: nypost.com
