Go to any major city in America, and it quickly becomes apparent how large the divide is between the haves and the have-nots. Poverty and homelessness are everywhere, while at the same time billionaires exert more and more influence over the world. Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown may be known first and foremost as a basketball player, but he’s committed to fighting this system that just doesn’t work for so many people.
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Brown is one of the NBA’s true Renaissance men, a polymath whose interests include numerology, history, activism, and higher education. He’s given lectures at prestigious universities on heady scientific and social topics like dynamic normalization and social stratification. If those terms are foreign to you, take comfort in knowing that I had to look them up too.
Brown spoke to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated recently, and though they touched on basketball, the interview focused more on what Brown is doing to make the world a better place. Number one on that list is tackling wealth disparity, which he’s doing through his Boston Xchange, an organization that “is dedicated to fostering innovation and cultural diversity, empowering under-invested creators and entrepreneurs to thrive.”
Brown wants athletes to use their money and platform for good, and he thinks that they should be covered differently by the media than they are now.
“I think [athletes] should be celebrated more for what they do in their community rather than them being on TMZ or who they’re dating or what kind of car they’ve got. I just think society is backwards.”
Jaylen Brown is doing his part to build a better world
Brown’s work is especially notable for the efforts it’s making in Boston, a city that, for decades, has had uneasy racial relations between its population and athletes. The city has diversified more in recent years, and Brown is trying to help those who are less fortunate and traditionally underrepresented to thrive as entrepreneurs.
Just a few minutes of news consumption is all it takes to feel pretty bad about the world. It seems too often, the most powerful people are only interested in further enriching themselves, not in helping the disadvantaged. Brown is a shining exception and a reason that those who are not in the 1% shouldn’t lose hope, and he’s rightly been praised by other minority business advocates for his work.
Sports is an escape for many people, and there are some who say that because of that, athletes should just shut up and dribble. Brown’s efforts to improve society are proof positive that the world is a better place when athletes use their wealth and influence to actively engage in their communities.
