Malcolm Brogdon And Jaylen Brown Shared Powerful Messages At A Peaceful Protest In Atlanta

Jaylen Brown drove 15 hours from the Boston area to his hometown of Atlanta to stage a peaceful protest on Saturday, and the Boston Celtics wing got some support from another NBA player who delivered a powerful message of his own.

Malcolm Brogdon marched with Brown, who orchestrated the protest an asked for people to join him on social media amid nationwide outrage and community action following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota while in police custody earlier this week.

Brown stressed the protest would be peaceful and chronicled the march on social media, sharing on Saturday a message from both himself and the Indiana Pacers guard.

“I got a grandfather who marched next to Dr. King in the 60’s,” Brogdon said. “He was amazing and he would be proud to see us all here.”

Brown shared his own reasoning for orchestrating the protest, saying that regardless of his status as an NBA player he needed to support his community and advocate for change.

“Being a celebrity, being an NBA player doesn’t exclude me from no conversation at all,” Brown said of protesting in his hometown. “First and foremost I’m a black man and I grew up on this soil.”

At the conclusion of the march, he advised people to disperse and get home safely.

He later expressed frustration that three people had been detained by police in Atlanta from his group and asked those he marched with to help him identify who was detained, presumably to help with their legal expenses.

Brown later shared messages on Twitter about violence from police officers across America this weekend, including one from Tobias Harris of the Sixers, who also marched in Philadelphia on Saturday.