Nets have a social ‘plan’ $50M earmarked for Black community
The Brooklyn Nets are putting their money where their mouths are.
Nets owner Joe Tsai, his wife Clara Wu Tsai, along with the Nets, Liberty and Barclays Center issued a joint “social justice statement” released on Tuesday highlighting a 5-Point Plan to leverage their platform, status and finances to assist the Black community.
The plan includes a $50 million commitment to the cause.
The announcement comes just two days after the country witnessed the latest incident of police violence against the Black community, this time in Kenosha, Wis., where an unarmed man was shot eight times in the back.
Clara Wu Tsai said it was the police killing of George Floyd in May that led her and her husband to “take a firm stand on racial injustice.”
“I wanted to state our beliefs on this issue — that racism is pervasive and needs to be addressed, and I wanted to lay out core principles that clarified our purpose as an organization,” she said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.
The first of the 5 Points is the establishment of a social justice fund, which includes a $10 million pledge to the NBA Foundation and an additional $50 million commitment over the next 10 years “for social justice initiatives and community investments that will benefit the BIPOC (especially Black) community, with a priority on Brooklyn.”
Nets ownership intends to fund programs that address the racial gaps in education, health and wellness. They also intend to provide mentorship to men and women of color, provide access to “BIPOC” and womenowned small businesses, and continue to address communities in Brooklyn that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Racial injustice continues to be pervasive in society, and systemic imbalances must be addressed by the government, the private sector, and individuals,” read the statement.
The statement comes after NBA players have used their platform in the Orlando bubble to continue dialogue on the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29year-old man was shot eight times as he attempted to enter an SUV with his three sons — age 3, 5, and 8 — inside on Sunday. He is now paralyzed from the waist down.
“We are scared as Black people in America,” LeBron James said Monday night after the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers. “Black men, Black women, Black kids. We are, we are terrified.”
The other four points of Barclays Center's 5-Point Plan include amplifying player voices, “redoubling” commitment to a “racially equitable and inclusive corporate culture,” leveraging their influence among the NBA's other team governors, and continuing to use Barclays Center as a landmark for social justice and protest in Brooklyn.