Carmelo Anthony Calls on Fellow Athletes to ‘Demand Change'

"We can't worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or who's going to look at us crazy," Anthony wrote in a post on Instagram

Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony said in a social media post that he's willing to take a lead role in demanding change following a wave of racial violence that has rocked the nation.

Anthony posted on Friday to Instagram and Twitter that he and other athletes need to take advantage of this moment and step up: "There's NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore. Those days are long gone. We have to step up and take charge."

He wrote, "We can't worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or who's going to look at us crazy. I need your voices to be heard. We can demand change. We just have to be willing to. THE TIME IS NOW. I'M all in. Take Charge. Take Action. DEMAND CHANGE."

Anthony said he's tried marching and posting on social media but ultimately realized the system is broken and it takes more. 

View this post on Instagram

First off let me start off by saying " All Praise Due To The Most High." Secondly, I'm all about rallying, protesting, fighting for OUR people. Look I'll even lead the charge, By Any Means Necessary. We have to be smart about what we are doing though. We need to steer our anger in the right direction. The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever. Martin Luther King marched. Malcolm X rebelled. Muhammad Ali literally fought for US. Our anger should be towards the system. If the system doesn't change we will continue to turn on the TVs and see the same thing. We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right. A march doesn't work. We tried that. I've tried that. A couple social media post/tweet doesn't work. We've all tried that. That didn't work. Shooting 11 cops and killing 5 WILL NOT work. While I don't have a solution, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change. I'm calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge. Go to your local officials, leaders, congressman, assemblymen/assemblywoman and demand change. There's NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore. Those days are long gone. We have to step up and take charge. We can't worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or whose going to look at us crazy. I need your voices to be heard. We can demand change. We just have to be willing to. THE TIME IS NOW. IM all in. Take Charge. Take Action. DEMAND CHANGE. Peace7 #StayMe7o

A post shared by Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) on

Two of the recent shootings were in separate incidents involving two black men who were shot by police. Then on Thursday night, five police officers were killed and seven others were wounded in downtown Dallas. Among the suspects was a man who allegedly said he was targeting white officers.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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