When Black professional athletes say police brutality and being treated like a criminal is important to them, they truly mean it because it’s personal.
Brandon Marshall, retired NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver, posted on Instagram on Thursday an encounter he was having with his neighborhood security in Weston, Fla. He says he was stopped by an officer in the security booth. The guards called local police on him as his crying kids sat in the vehicle. He posted the video on his social media with the caption:
“It’s Real!!!
I was so disappointed in myself for getting so emotional with my kids in the car BUT then I realized that being numb isn’t an option anymore.”
Marshall can be heard in the video saying, “This is the problem … this is the problem. I come here, you feel uncomfortable, my first day moving into my new house … because my name’s not on the list, you call the cops … that’s what we’re seeing every single day.”
“The Browder county sheriff’s office was called by the security but no deputy was dispatched to the scene,” Browder county sheriff’s office spokesperson said Friday. “It was resolved.”
Marshall stated in the video that this is an affluent area which is why security likely called the police on him. Marshall has a net worth of close to 20 million dollars.
LeBron James had the N-word painted on the gates of his Los Angeles mansion 2017. Milwaukee Bucks Sterling Brown was beaten and tasered by Milwaukee police in 2018.
So for the crowd of folks pleading for politics to stay out of sports or who are spewing, “Well you’re rich,” your money will not save you from being a target of the state. As long as you are draped in brown skin you will continue to have a bullseye on your back.
You can’t wipe your skin off or attempt to disguise it. It’s a part of how you appear in the world.
No amount of money in a Black person’s possession can stop police and domestic terrorism against them. So that is precisely the reason Black athletes have to use this moment to elevate police terrorism and anti-Blackness, because it affects them, too.
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