Jaylen Brown.Photo: Kathryn Riley/Getty Images
On the heels of signing his massive new contract, NBA starJaylen Brownsays he’s hoping to use his platform to spread the wealth.
At a press conference on Wednesday after the guard signed a NBA record five-year, $303.7 million supermax contract extension with the Boston Celtics, Brown reportedly said that his aim is to use the “generational wealth” for good.
“I want to launch a project to bring Black Wall Street here in Boston,” Brown, 26, said, according toCNNandESPN. “I want to attack the wealth disparity here. I think there’s analytics that supports that stimulating the wealth gap could actually be something that could be better meant for the entire economy.”
He added, “With the biggest financial deal in NBA history, it makes sense to talk about one year investment in community, but . . . the wealth disparity here that nobody wants to talk about is top five in the US (and) is something that we can all improve on it. It’s unsettling.”
According to the outlets, Brown said he hopes that his version of a “Black Wall Street” would “create new jobs, new resources, new businesses, new ideas” for the Northeast U.S. corridor, much like the original Black Wall Street did in the early 20th century for affluent Black residents in Tulsa, Okla.
“Boston could be a fully integrated self-sufficient hub,” he said. “I think Boston could be the pilot, not just for wealth disparity here in the US, but also for around the world.”
It’s not the first time that the two-time NBA All Star has opened up about helping the Black community.
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As an extension of their work to raise awareness around systemic racism following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the initiative aimed to change the stereotypes often associated with Black men.
Madison Quisenberry/NBAE/Getty
“How Black men are looked at and represented in culture is important,” Brown told PEOPLE at the time. “To try to change some of those narratives in media is a great effort.”
source: people.com
