Jaylen Brown Is Organizing A March In Atlanta On Saturday

Protests are continuing across the nation on Saturday in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in custody of police in Minnesota. Floyd has the tragic distinction of being the latest black person in the United States to lose their life at the hands of a member of law enforcement, as a now-former Minneapolis police officer has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for putting his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, including several after he had become unresponsive.

One city where protests have prominently been on display is Atlanta, a stone’s throw away from the home of Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown. On Friday, Brown took to Twitter to express his intention to peacefully protest Floyd’s death the following day.

One day later and Brown announced that he’s putting together a march through the city on Saturday. Brown, who called police brutality “an act of terrorism” earlier in the week, invited people to join him at the CNN Center and march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial a few miles away.

Later in the day, however, he changed the planned route of the march due to road closures.

Brown has been outspoken regarding Floyd in recent days, including critiquing those who “want to control the response” for not wanting to “control what initiated the response” and saying that turning the other cheek is not possible, as “there are no more cheeks to turn.” He also challenged individuals who choose to be bystanders in the face of hatred, saying “if you and your friends are around or are witnesses of cultural biases, microaggressions, subtle acts of racism, acts of racism, etc., and you don’t speak up on it or do something about it, you are part of the problem.”