It was just a couple short years ago that Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown was on the receiving end of police brutality in his adopted home city.
Brown was shocked by a taser gun back in 2018 after police stopped him for a mere parking violation. The video of the incident made national headlines.
Brown, 25, currently has a pending suit against city of Milwaukee, alleging excessive force. He’s also now speaking out about the 2019-20 NBA season and what it might mean for Black Lives Matter activism.
Sterling Brown sees the restart of the 2019-20 NBA season as an opportunity
The idea for Brown is that the resumption of the 2019-20 season after a four-plus month hiatus will give players a platform to help enact social change.
“A lot of eyes will be on us while we’re in Orlando,” he told ESPN on Thursday. “People can actually see us and see our messages that we can give while we’re playing or at halftime, before a game or whatever. There’s a lot of ways to get out key messages and I feel like I want to take advantage of that. We’ve got a platform like none other. We’ve got resources like none other.”
This comes weeks after George Floyd was murdered by a then-Minneapolis police officer, leading to widespread protests for racial equality and against police brutality throughout the United States. These protests have continued on a daily basis since that tragedy went viral back on May 25.
“I feel it’s important for me to continue to play to use my platform because my platform has given me a voice and it has allowed people to follow me and see me and it’s allowed people to become more passionate with the movement that’s going on,” Brown continued.
This makes a lot of sense. However, it’s an idea that’s not shared by some other players around the Association.
Kyrie Irving’s stance that the NBA season should not continue has made waves
The NBA champion made it clear recently that he doesn’t believe the season should resume amid the ongoing racial issues we’re seeing in America today. Irving has received backlash from some others around the NBA. But he’s entitled to his opinion.
Despite this, that’s not going to impact the season resuming July 30 at Walt Disney World in Orlando after it was suspended back on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As for NBA players being given a platform in Orlando, Brown is right on point. The expectation is that there’s going to be widespread protests. That’s recently been backed up by comments from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.