Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce took to the streets to fight for justice on Monday ... telling TMZ Sports it's time to confront racism and police brutality head-on.
Hundreds of people -- including the NBA coach -- gathered in ATL for the NAACP's "March on Georgia" after Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed at the hands of 2 police officers on Friday.
Pierce spoke with us about what the city needs to do moving forward ... and he says it starts at the top.
"The issue is not in Atlanta, I think the issue is in our country and not addressing racism and addressing the system of racism that's continued to go on for over 400 years.