Carmelo Anthony Gets Real About Racial Inequality with ‘ESPN’

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NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony graces the cover of the latest issue of ESPN magazine and he’s getting really real with the mag about the state of race in America.

Anthony rocks a Black Panther-esque beret on the cover of the latest issue, which should immediately clue fans in on the topic of discussion during the interview. The star player hasn’t shied away from his stance on racial inequality- he’s participated in marches and spoken out against police brutality on social media and at events, like his speech on social injustice at this year’s Espy Awards alongside Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James .

It is not about how others are or how society is. The most important thing is to ask yourself, “What should I do?” and “What can I do?” One who stands up with moral courage and conviction can change society and create waves of transformation around the world. #StayMe7o

A photo posted by @carmeloanthony on Oct 18, 2016 at 11:53am PDT

Anthony calls the current state of America with regards to race “the new ’60s” and feels that in order for any real change to take place in the Black community and the country as a whole, the “broken” system needs to be addressed.

Take a look at what he told ESPN below:

The system is broken. It trickles down. It’s the education. You’ve got to be educated to know how to deal with police. The police have to be educated on how to deal with people. The system has to put the right police in the right situations. Like, you can’t put white police in the ‘hood. You just can’t do that. They don’t know how to react. They don’t know how to respond to those different situations. They’ve never been around that, you know? When I was growing up, we knew police by their first name. We gave them the nicknames. But that’s only because we related. And when the white police came into our neighborhood, the black police said, “Yo, we got this.” That doesn’t happen anymore. You got black police afraid to go into black communities now, and the white police are like, “Shit, I’ll come. It’s a job. I’ll go in there and do it.” Not knowing what’s going to happen.

The athlete goes on to discuss his feeling about the Terence Crutcher video, how his personal talks with police officers have gone and how the NBA has reacted to his stance on racial inequality. Read Carmelo’s full interview over at ESPN.

Photo Credit: ESPN/Instagram

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