Jaylen Brown: ‘We need to start using different words other than reform’

Boston Celtics star forward Jaylen Brown thinks a shift in how we represent needed change in policing for Black and brown people is in order.

With the intense challenge of the latter rounds of the NBA Playoffs requiring intense concentration for success, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for outside interests.

But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world goes away, either.

For Boston Celtics star forward Jaylen Brown, it hasn’t been easy to stay up to date with the news cycle outside of the NBA campus at the Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

So he had to be updated Wednesday by a reporter about a $12 million settlement granted the family of Breonna Taylor, killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky while executing a no-knock warrant in a situation that has since become emblematic of excessive use of police force.

“I’m not sure if that makes me feel any better or worse about the situation,” replied the Georgia native after being brought up to speed.

“I think Brionna to this situation represents, not just her and her family, but other people that fell victim to the system that has been orchestrated to keep Black and brown people oppressed. I guess that is a great step for them telling her family, but it’s also more of a thing that needs to be changed.”

Brown took issue with the word “reform” in particular when discussing the police policy changed that were included in the settlement agreement.

“I think that reform is the word that we use a lot,” he explained. “And we want to constantly see reform, but really, we’ve been saying that for a long time.”

“To be honest, we’ve been saying it for years. And if I wanted to reform my house you know I might upgrade my kitchen. I might change my garage. I might even do some outside but that doesn’t change [that] the house is the same. I think we need to start using different words other than reform, because reform is not the right energy I think that we are trying to present. I think that “recreate,” “dismantle” and things like that are words that we should maybe use, because it’s obvious that this incrementalism in this system has just been stringing us along year after year after year.”

Reform has been the topic of conversation, and some of the same things have happened,” Brown added.

“But people are still getting killed in their houses,” he explained, “in their backyards, outside of places that they spent time at and reform is not the word, so we need to find a new word.”

And perhaps a stronger, evidence-based package of interventions to go with whatever word best reflects the change that is so desperately needed.

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