NBA Stars Deliver Passionate Message At 2016 ESPY Awards: ‘Enough Is Enough’

The 2016 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles (July 13^th) opened with NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James delivering a passionate message in regards to last week’s violent events.

“We cannot ignore the realities of the current state of America,” said Anthony, as he began the powerful speech. “The events of the past week have put a spotlight on the injustice, distrust and anger that have plagued so many of us. The system is broken. The problems are not new. The violence and the racial divide, definitely is not new. But, the urgency to create change is at an all-time high.”

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“We stand here tonight accepting our role in uniting communities,” said Paul. “We stand before you as fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, uncles, and in my case, as an African-American man and the nephew of a police officer, who is one of the hundreds of thousands of great officers serving this country. But Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile — this is also our reality.”

“The racial profiling has to stop,” said Wade. “The shoot to kill mentality has to stop. Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop. But also, the retaliation has to stop. The endless gun violence in places like Chicago, Dallas, not to mention Orlando — it has to stop. Enough. Enough is enough.”

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

“Let’s use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence,” James added. “And most importantly, go back to our communities and invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better.”

Watch the whole clip below: