Carmelo Anthony Calls For Meeting To Discusss Police-Related Violence

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is in the process of organizing a meeting of athletes, community leaders, politicians and representatives of law enforcement to discuss issues related to recent incidents of violence involving police.

Carmelo Anthony Calls For Meeting To Discusss Police-Related Violence

The meeting will take place Monday in Los Angeles, Anthony said.

“It’s more of a conversation,” Anthony told ESPN’s Sage Steele Thursday. “It’s more about, kinda the community getting their voices out there. I want the community, I want police officers, I want blacks, whites, latinos, I want everybody there. I just want the voices to be heard…. I just want everybody to take something from that.”

Anthony was speaking from Las Vegas while preparing for the Rio Olympics with USA Basketball.

Melo has requested that the meeting be closed to the media so that all sides are comfortable enough to speak honestly.

Standing beside Chris Paul, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Anthony opened the 2016 ESPYs with a message to athletes everywhere, urging them to use their platform for good.

“In this moment of celebration we asked to start the show this way,” Anthony said on stage at the ESPYs DATE. “The four of us talking to our fellow athletes with the country watching because we cannot ignore the realities of the current state of America. … The system is broken. The problems are not new, the violence is not new and the racial divide, definitely, is not new.”

NBA SUPERSTARS CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE AT 2016 ESPYS

It is not clear whether Wade, James, or Paul will be present at the LA meeting, but given their strong words at the ESPYs, one can expect their message to be discussed.

Wade called for a halt to violence on both sides of the issue.

“The racial profiling has to stop. The ‘shoot-to-kill’ mentality has to stop,” Wade told the audience. “Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop. But also, the retaliation has to stop.”

James and Wade have both been outspoken about violence against African-Americans by police, staging protests before games for Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

The Cleveland Cavaliers hometown hero cautioned that frustration with the process is no excuse.

“We all feel helpless and frustrated by the violence,” James said. “But that’s not acceptable. It’s time to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘What are we doing to create change?'”

Anthony requested that all participants in the meeting approach the discussion with an open mind.  He urged the parties to talk through their issues, while acknowledging he does not have the answers to solve all the problems with policing and race relations in the country.

“What I’m doing now is trying to lay the foundation down and just trying to take advantage of this platform that we have,” he said Thursday. “Hopefully everybody in their own individual rights branch out and start doing things on their own.”

Article by Kevin Xavier