TAKING POINT
NBA stars lead fight for social justice
“Our mission with starting it (Social Change Fund) wasn’t to be about us. It was about unifying one another and bringing other people on to teach ... kids and grow together and hopefully make real impactful change.”
Chris Paul,
Phoenix Suns guard
The four NBA stars stood on stage. They looked at a crowd that attended to watch their favorite athletes accept awards in dapper attire.
But Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James did not go to the 2016 ESPY awards just to make a fashion statement and accept hardware. They spent their time on stage decrying recent killings both of unarmed Black people and police officers.
“I don’t think we knew at the time the impact it could have,” Paul told USA TODAY
Sports last week. “But we knew it was something we wanted to do at the time to empower athletes to speak out.”
Wade told USA TODAY Sports that he considered their speeches “one of the most impactful things that we’ve done” for two reasons. It marked a turning point for the current generation of athletes to feel compelled not to stick to sports. It also led to all four NBA players becoming further entrenched with initiatives
to address racial inequality. Those efforts resonate deeply on MLK Day, at a time when the nation has shown how deeply it is divided.
While 2016 is often remembered more for the beginning of Colin Kaepernick’s protest movement, the speech from the four players was another vital marker. It gave a permission structure to players from across all sports that they could speak out on social justice issues, and shouldn’t fear reprisals. If some of the biggest stars in sports could do it, they could, too.
James launched “I Promise School,” in 2018 to help at-risk youth. He also oversaw “More Than a Vote” this past year, which increased voter turnout in the Black community.
Paul, who is president of the National Basketball Players Association, oversaw the union’s efforts with the league to ensure teams used their venues as voting sites. He also established a social justice coalition and a foundation aimed to increase educational and economic opportunities in the Black community
Anthony has become one of the NBA’s social justice coalition board members. He launched the “STAYME70 PROPEL program” that supports Black fashion designers and was guest editorin-chief for a “Slam Magazine” issue devoted to racial justice topics.
Wade, who retired from the NBA in 2019, is an analyst with Turner where he has talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, the pandemic and police brutality.
In what they all consider their most important project, Anthony, Paul and Wade launched the “Social Change Fund” to address racial inequality issues. They involve ending police brutality, establishing criminal justice reform, expanding voting access, improving education, health equity and economic investment as well as promoting change through education and the arts. The three have donated an unspecified amount.
“The Social Change Fund is timely,” Anthony told USA TODAY Sports. “It was our time to step up to the plate, put our money where our mouth is and really go out there and make change.”
How they came together
Paul, Wade and Anthony tried to make change in their communities well before 2020 and even before delivering their ESPY’s speech in 2016. They had formed foundations early in their careers.
But after Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, was shot in 2012 while wearing a hooded sweatshirt, Wade and his Miami Heat teammates all wore hoodies during a team photo to convey a specific message.
“We were just showing when your hood is up, we’re all the same. We’re
Black men,” Wade said. “When my hoodie is down, you can see I’m Dwyane Wade. But when my hoodie is up, you don’t know who I am.”
Wade, Paul and Anthony were among the NBA stars who wore “I Can’t Breathe” T-Shirts during pre-game warmups in the 2014-15 season after a police officer choked and killed Eric Garner, an unarmed Black man. Anthony also protested in his hometown of Baltimore in 2015 after Freddie Gray, a Black man, died after suffering spinal cord injuries as he was taken into a police van.
Yet, Anthony reached a tipping point in the 2016 offseason amid shootings of unarmed Black people and police officers in Dallas, Orlando, St. Paul and Baton Rouge.
“I was sitting in the middle of the night trying to figure out what to do,” Anthony said. “Somebody was telling me to just write. So I started writing.”
So on July 8, Anthony published those words on an Instagram post that praised past athletes and civil rights leaders and called for current athletes to “go to your local officers, leaders, congressman, assemblymen/assemblywoman and demand change.”
Shortly after, Anthony, Paul, Wade and James discussed something far more important than their inside jokes on their group texts. For the upcoming ESPY awards, they decided to condemn gun violence against unarmed Black people and police.
“We didn’t have a plan,” Wade said. “But we spoke from the heart and we were trying to get everybody to listen to what we were saying.”
How Social Change Fund works
Some of the listeners included Paul’s son, Chris, who is now 10, and daughter Camryn, now 7. Paul tried to give some answers, but admitted he “was not sure they were old enough to process it.”
Paul had more tough conversations with his kids this past year after the police killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor. Anthony and Wade said they have done the same with their children.
“My wife and I told them that their entire life is different for them growing up as an African American young man and an African American young woman,” Paul said. “We explained what had taken place. My daughter, I’ll never forget, she was crying. She was devastated. She doesn’t want that to happen to her brother.”
Then the three stars decided to collaborate on a social justice project that ultimately became the “Social Change Fund.”
“We’ve been able to do some great things individually, but we also want to stand with strength and numbers,” Wade said. “We understand that this problem that we’re trying to fix is not going to be done by just one person.”
They have secured contributions from several companies, including Beyond Meat, Goldman Sachs, and Creative Artists Agency’s Managing Partners and Agency Board. Wade, who has a wine company called D Wade Cellars, has partnered with Foxtrot to sell wine packages that will include a matching donation to the Social Change Fund. Other NBA and WNBA stars have chipped in too, including Candace Parker, CJ McCollum, Khris Middleton and Natasha Cloud.
They have sought to expand the financial contributors as well as social justice initiatives in hopes of maximizing the Fund’s resources and expertise.
“We’re always open to suggestions and for people to join the Social Change Fund,’” Paul said. “It isn’t a fund that’s closed. We’re always open to new ideas and people that share similar passions.”
What’s next?
Anthony, Paul and Wade were among the NBA’s influential voices who condemned President Donald Trump for his divisive rhetoric and emphasized the importance of voting.
“We got the president out of there. So that’s a major accomplishment,” Anthony said. “So we can start shifting our focus to the next thing. Things are not going to stop. There’s always going to be something else.”
Paul has been part of the NBPA’s efforts to hold the NBA accountable for ensuring more diversity among the coaching, front office and ownership ranks. Anthony will remain busy with the NBA’s social justice coalition in hopes that teams can work with local leaders to enact criminal justice and police reforms. And Wade will continue to discuss these issues using his platform at Turner.
Most importantly, though, the three plan to stand together to oversee the growth of the “Social Change Fund.” Just as they did four years ago at the ESPYs, they are determined to address racial injustices and call on others to join them.
“Our mission with starting it wasn’t to be about us,” Paul said. “It was about unifying one another and bringing other people on to teach ... kids and grow together and hopefully make real impactful change.”