NBA star Jaylen Brown: Trump ‘has made it a lot more acceptable for racists to speak their minds’
Celtics player Jaylen Brown harshly criticized
President Trump in an interview published Tuesday, calling him “unfit to lead.”
“Racism definitely exists across America today,” the 21-year-old NBA star told
The Guardian. “Some people think racism has dissipated or no longer exists. But it’s hidden in more strategic places. You have less people coming to your face and telling you certain things. But Trump has made it a lot more acceptable for racists to speak their minds.”
Brown also slammed systems of institutionalized racism in higher education, saying that attending the University of California-Berkeley opened his eyes to “a more subtle racism” in the country.
“It filters across our education system through tracking, hidden curriculums, social stratification and things I had no idea of before,” he said. “I was really emotional — because one of the most subtle but aggressive ways racism exists is through our education system.”
Brown said he thinks it’s “scary” for Trump to be commander in chief, and added that he thinks the president’s “character and some of his values makes him unfit to lead.”
Brown is not the first NBA player to be critical of Trump. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors prompted backlash from the right
when he said he did not want his team to visit the White House after winning the NBA championship.
