In light of the shootings involving Alton Sterling and Philando Castile earlier this week and the tragic shootings that took place during a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas on Thursday night, Carmelo Anthony took to his website on Friday to pen a lengthy message calling for athletes to "step up and take charge." In his powerful statement, Anthony points out that marching and tweeting about social injustices haven't worked, and he writes that responding to them with violence will not work, either. Instead, 'Melo believes "we need to come together more than anything at this time" and contact our local politicians to demand change.
Here is what the Knicks star posted on ThisIsMelo.com:
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
LeBron James expressed a similar sentiment late Thursday, and Carmelo's wife La La has also been very vocal on social media with regards to what has taken place in Baton Rouge, La., Falcon Heights, Minn., and Dallas over the last few days:
