Bucks' Sterling Brown Leads 'No Racist Police' Chant During Milwaukee Protest
June 7, 2020
Milwaukee Bucks wing Sterling Brown joined the protests in Minneapolis on Sunday against racial discrimination and disproportionate police brutality faced by the black community, leading chants of "No racist police."
Rory Linnane of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted the video of Brown leading the chants:
Brown was arrested and stunned with a Taser in Jan. 2018 over a parking violation at a Walgreens pharmacy. Charges against Brown were ultimately dropped, and Milwaukee police publicly apologized to him in May 2018, releasing the bodycam footage of the arrest.
Brown said at the time:
"What should have been a simple parking ticket turned into an attempt at police intimidation, followed by unlawful use of physical force, including being handcuffed and tased and then unlawfully booked. This experience with the Milwaukee Police Department has forced me to stand up and tell my story so that I can help prevent these injustices from happening in the future."
Brown has sued the city of Milwaukee and its police department for false arrest and has rejected a $400,000 settlement.
On Saturday evening, Brown was joined in the protests by his teammates Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Donte DiVincenzo, Brook Lopez and Frank Mason II, per Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Bucks players wore "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts, echoing the words of Eric Garner and George Floyd, both black men who were killed while in police custody during arrests in 2014 and 2020, respectively.
"We want change, we want justice, and that's why we're out here," Antetokounmpo said Saturday, per Steele. "That's what we're going to do today. That's why I'm going to march with you. I want my kid to grow up here in Milwaukee, and not to be scared to walk in the streets. I don't want my kid to have hate in his heart."