NBA’s Carmelo Anthony Marches in Baltimore Protest

Carmelo Anthony returned to Baltimore to join peaceful demonstrations near City Hall on Thursday.

The 30-year-old NBA superstar, who moved with his family to the city when he was 8, walked with protesters in a march following Freddie Gray‘s April 19 death from a spinal cord injury suffered while in police custody.

“These are the streets that I walked when I was growing up,” the New York Knicks player told Fox 5, saying that it is important for a prominent figure like himself to support the cause. “As you can see, everybody wants justice right now, so we’ve got to be patient and start believing in our system — I know it’s hard to do that right now.”

He said that this week’s unrest in the city was “definitely disturbing,” but he added, “I understand it. Our community is fed up, but we’ve got to be smart about it.”

Instagram photos of Anthony in the march can be seen below, as can video of the Fox interview.

Thank u melo. #AaronMaybinPhotography #BALTIMORE #justiceforfreddiegray #ilovebaltimore

A photo posted by aaron maybin (@aaronmaybin) on Apr 30, 2015 at 1:47pm PDT

#ilovebaltimore #BALTIMORE #justiceforfreddiegray #peacefulprotests #alllivesmatter #AaronMaybinPhotography

A photo posted by aaron maybin (@aaronmaybin) on Apr 30, 2015 at 2:07pm PDT