Carmelo Anthony: Hashtags won’t end police violence

Knicks star Carmelo Anthony continued to speak out against police violence on Tuesday in a letter, and an interview.

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New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony continued to speak out against police violence on Wednesday in a letter and a video interview.

After calling for athletes to “step up and take charge,” in an Instagram post last week, Anthony wrote at The Guardian that simply posting to social media will not bring about change.

“When I chose to speak out,” Anthony wrote, “it was a matter of being honest, speaking from the heart about what’s going on and calling on my colleagues to step up, get out there and put pressure on the people in charge to not let this happen anymore. No more hashtags.”

In an interview with VICE Sports, which was also released on Tuesday, Anthony reflected on marching in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray. He said that he has “relationships” with police in Baltimore, but that there are some that will give him issues.

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“You have police that I know by first name. You have good relationships with some of these police,” Anthony said. “And there will always be the one out of five who, you see him, you already know that it's instant problems, right away. It's not about trying to take down, or bad-mouth the police force and the officers. There are good police, and there are f—ed up police. That's the way it is.”

The country was shaken by three acts of violence last week, the deadliest an attack on police in Dallas during a Black Lives Matter protest that left five officers dead.