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Carmelo Anthony Marches in Baltimore Rally

NBA superstar represents for hometown, urges peaceful protests.

Merely penning a heartfelt message to his former hometown of Baltimore wasn't good enough for Carmelo Anthony.

The NBA superstar had to visit his former city and march in a peaceful protest against the death of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody. 

While marching, Melo talked about the experience with CNN's Ryan Young, explaining why he made it a point to visit Baltimore.

"This is my community," Anthony told Young, as reported by Newsday. "But it's not also my community, it's everybody's community. It's America's community. So for me to come back here and be a part of a community where I grew up and really get a chance to kind of talk to the people and get a feel for what's going on, I had to come. It was only right for me to come down here."

Born in Brooklyn, but raised for a bulk of his childhood in Baltimore, Anthony doesn't have to look too far back to trace his connection to the city. Marching with Kevin Liles, Melo also spoke about peaceful protests over violent protests and looting.

"I was one of them," Anthony said. "So when I come back home it's all love, everything is cool. But I'm here for a different cause right now. I'm supporting my community. I'm here to talk to the youth about kind of just calming things down here in the city. We shouldn't tear our city down. We've got to rebuild our city. We're going to get the justice that we want. It's going to take some time. Our message to everybody is just calm down. Just try to be patient. I know that's easier said than done right now to be patient, but we have to be patient in order for us to get what we want."

| CLICK TO SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING IN BALTIMORE |

The New York Knicks' star added: "We care. I understand where everybody is coming from. Our community is fed up. They're fed up right now. But there's different ways that you can go about it. I'm here to kind of lead that to the right path. This is a peaceful march. This is my community. These are people I grew up with. For me to come back here and just show that type of leadership, we're together. This is one Baltimore. This is time to build our city back up, not tear it down."

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(Photo: NBAonEPSN via Twitter)

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