Jaylen Brown explains how racism really affects people in Boston: "People think it's like a color dynamic, but it's a power dynamic"
- Jaylen Brown, a star guard for the Boston Celtics, signed a five-year, $285.39 million supermax extension in 2023 and established the 7uice Foundation to focus on education and equity for minority communities.
It's been almost 10 years since the Boston Celtics selected Jaylen Brown as the third overall pick in the Draft. Time flew by and in that time, Brown has established himself as one of the best guards in the NBA, highlighted by the team's 2024 championship run, where Jaylen was named the Finals MVP.
Also, in those 10 years, Brown was able to negotiate himself a very lucrative deal, signing a five-year, $285.39 million supermax extension in 2023.
Brown's work in the community
He also wanted to use his privileged position for good, opening a 7uice Foundation that focuses on education and equity, especially for the minority communities who don't get the same opportunities to develop their financial literacy or entrepreneurship habits.
Jaylen got himself involved with the Boston XChange, a non-profit organization whose goal is to focus on supporting minority entrepreneurs and their businesses in order to build sustainable growth.
In Boston, as in the USA, a difference between the wealth of white communities and the minority ones is usually pretty big and that's what Brown recently touched upon in his interview with Bloomberg. A host asked him his take on the 2015 study that determined an average net worth of white households in Boston is approximately $247,500, while the same data for black households sat at $8. Dominican families were even lower, at $0.
"It reflects outside of the city even more, because that becomes the perception of Boston. Because when people start to use words like racism, most people think it's like a color dynamic, but it's a power dynamic more than anything," Brown said before going into more detail.
"The analytics of opportunities and resources, analytics educationally defined the wealth gap, the incarceration rate and the acquisition of housing... These are the things that make up that dynamic," he explained.
Related: The former NBA star turned his career earnings into a nine-figure fast-food empire
Recent numbers aren't getting better
While somebody could naturally assume that the gap must've gotten closer in the last 10+ years, the numbers don't suggest that.
A 2022 Urban Institute study found that the white Boston households, on average, had a 180 percent higher net worth than black Boston households. That trend suggests that the gap has gotten wider, especially after economic problems caused by COVID lockdowns and the inflation rates we've been seeing in recent years, whether we're talking about what it costs to buy a house or an apartment, or even basic life purchases, like food, for example.
And that's exactly what Brown is talking about.
While it's definitely hurtful to be discriminated against or made fun of because of the color of your skin, it's even more painful when you don't get the same opportunities to improve your and your family's quality of life because of it. Sure, there's always an individual responsibility, but these numbers indicate a systemic problem that Boston and a lot of other major cities in the USA are finding themselves in. That's the real cost of racism.
Now, what Brown is doing is admirable, but systematically, he needs a lot more support from other wealthy people to truly change things for the better. He also needs time, because after decades of these kinds of issues, it's impossible to change the trend in a few years, even if you have all hands on deck.
Sadly, that's why it will take some time for Boston to stop being considered as a city of the rich white and poor black folks.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
