Jaylen Brown and other Celtics have used their platform around the team and NBA to raise concerns about racial justice. These efforts have drawn significant consideration from sports fans.
Now, Celtics players are trying to reach a different audience – readers of The Boston Globe opinion section.
There’s something powerful about an op-ed with “By Boston Celtics Players.” They used that attention-grabbing byline to call for greater limits on police use of facial-recognition technology.
I suggest reading the piece in full.
The players are correct: Facial-recognition technology fuels sloppy policework and miscarriages of justice. The technology is treated as far more reliable than it really is. Unchecked, it also allows the government to be far too intrusive into the lives of citizens.
Like with many elements of our system that trample on people’s rights, Black people are disproportionately harmed by facial-recognition technology. Black people are both more likely to be treated heavy-handedly by the police generally and misidentified by this technology specifically.
Hopefully, this op-ed draws more attention to an important issue.
The piece was attributed to every Celtics player ticketed for the regular-season roster: Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams III, Daniel Theis, Semi Ojeleye, Jeff Teague, Javonte Green, Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards, Romeo Langford, Tremont Waters, Tacko Fall, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith.