Brooklyn A-team
Nets field 5 vs. racism & econ inequality
The Brooklyn Nets have announced a new starting five, a talented collection of clutch players committed to winning — off the court.
While Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving take care of collecting “W’s” and making a playoff run, these new recruits will dedicate themselves to serving the community outside the Barclays Center, thanks to a new team grant aimed at addressing racial injustice and economic inequality in the borough.
Team owners Joe and Clara Tsai pledged $50 million over 10 years to support the effort, starting with five local Black leaders who will receive funding from their foundation.
The recipients being announced Thursday under the new Black Voices for Black Justice Fund include an emergency room doctor fighting to remove racial disparities in health care that were revealed by the coronavirus pandemic, the founder of a Black-led charter school dedicated to African-American culture, and an ex-con battling barriers to postprison employment, education and housing opportunities.
The initiative grew out of the national reckoning that followed the police-custody, Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the protests across the nation that followed.
The movement it sparked included a closer look at inequities in health care coverage, social services and the media.
“When it comes to dismantling systemic racism and economic inequality in our communities, we want to lead by example,” team owner Clara Tsai said in a statement.
“That’s why it is so important to us to invest in the Black leaders combating racial injustice from every angle right here in Brooklyn.”
Among those with an ear to the ground is journalist Natasha
Alford, senior correspondent and vice president of digital content for theGrio, a Black-owned news and culture site on the internet.
Alford, 34, said she is using her foundation award to start a scholarship fund for Black and Latino student journalists in her upstate hometowns of Rochester and Syracuse, and in Brooklyn.
“I wanted to do something that represented what I needed when I was trying to break into the industry,” Alford said.
“There are young people who are talented who we need in this industry that cannot afford to get the experience.”
Rafiq Kalam Id-Din is trying to reach an even younger crowd.
As founder of Black-led Ember Charter Schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant, this educator said he is looking beyond test scores and information overload to develop the whole child.
“Dollars always matter,” said Kalam Id-Din, 46.
“We didn’t even apply for this grant. They found us. We’ve been doing the hard work with few resources.”
Also receiving grants are emergency room doctor Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, which partners with health care organizations to combat bias and structural racism in the health care system, and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, the founder of Urban Ocean Lab, an environmental research hub dedicated to advancing equitable climate policies in coastal cities.
Rounding out the lineup is Michael “Zaki” Smith, an activist and policy expert who works to dismantle barriers in employment, education and housing that keep formerly incarcerated people like himself from fully reintegrating into society.
“I’m not at all in any way denying or trying not to be held accountable for anything I have done,” said Smith, 49. “That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is my debt was paid. What other debt do I owe?”