Celtics star Jayen Brown opens up on his meeting with Boston civil rights pioneer Jean McGuire

“It was amazing,” said Brown. “I wasn’t familiar with her before and the things that she’s done in her career in education and civil rights.”

Boston Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown has long been a champion of using his platform as an NBA player to promote education as a means to help underserved communities and individuals. Speaking at Harvard, working with MIT’s Media Lab and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Program, and even giving TED Talks to such an end since joining the NBA in 2016.

Brown’s interest in the spaces where the fight against structural racism and other forms of inequity meet opportunities through education taking root in the city of Boston has been an ongoing affair since the Celtics selected him third overall in that year’s draft.

And after hearing about how local education advocate and civil rights pioneer Jean McGuire was the subject of a brutal attack on her usual walk in Franklin Park, the Celtics star made a point of connecting with McGuire to learn more about her efforts to promote education in the greater Boston area.