Jaylen Brown plans to continue using his platform for positive change

Just because Boston’s time in the bubble has ended doesn’t mean Celtics forward Jaylen Brown plans to stop fighting for a better world.

Perhaps more than any other player in the Disney restart bubble, Boston Celtics veteran forward Jaylen Brown used his platform to fight for racial equity.

A leader in the league almost from the moment he joined the NBA, the Cal-Berkeley product leveraged his position to amplify existing fights for racial equality, and his thoughts to new interventions like the “Boston Celtics United” initiative his team unveiled in recent weeks.

So when he was asked about the political donations of team owners in the NBA going to mostly Republican candidates after the team’s crushing Game 6 loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, Brown replied with a thoughtful answer.

“I believe everybody has the choice to choose what they feel is best for them in their own specific situation,” answered the Georgia native.

“However, I do feel … as as athletes and the role we play in sports, to entertain, we do feel like we have more of a responsibility in our communities and our platforms. We’ve got to hold people accountable at the sense of organizations that we play for, and [that] we represent. They need to need to understand that members of our community’s and that our lives matter.”

“Our cousins or brothers our sisters, nieces, nephews — their lives matter too, to us,” he added.

Brown addressed the common “shut up and dribble” mentality some fans and pundits tend to fall back on when they hear a player pushing a political or ethical concern they don’t agree with.

“I know we’ve reached a certain level and everybody thinks you’re a millionaire; ‘What do you got to complain about? You NBA players should be grateful,'” he related. “Just because I escaped the barriers our society has put up, why should I forget about the people who won’t?”

“That’s where I stand,” Brown explained.

Just because the Celtics have left the bubble doesn’t mean that the nascent star plans on relaxing on social issues, either.

“As an athlete, I want to continue to use my platform,” he affirmed.

“If I wasn’t drafted by the Boston Celtics or I wasn’t a basketball player, a high level one that made it to college … I’m not sure what my situation [would have] turn[ed] out to be. There’s not a lot of opportunities for people to of color at the bottom of the bottom tier. People need to … understand that it’s a lack of care that has gone on in our society. It was honor to be able to play here, and try to play and shed light on some of those injustices, and I don’t know what the answers are, I just want to do my part.”

“But, I appreciate everybody who’s out there listening, heard me, and who agrees and wants to make change,” shared Brown.

Whatever your political orientations are, getting registered to vote, voting, and working the polls are all non-partisan approaches you can take if you’re among the people Brown cites as wanting change.

And while there are many other ways you can help change the world into a better place, it’s easily one of the best places to start.

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