Nowadays it seems like you’re just not a real sports league unless you have an official social justice department. Pursuant to that, the NBA has launched a new social justice platform.
NBA Voices, will serve as a venue for players, coaches, fans, and teams, to share their efforts at change within their communities.
NBA President of Social Responsibility and Player Programs Kathy Behrens told USA TODAY Sports, “One of the things that we’ve been talking a lot to our players about and some of our partners was, ‘How can we do a better job of sharing these stories, sharing the work that players and our partners are doing?’ We thought it needed something to stand on its own.
“It’s a new platform, but it’s not really a new initiative in the sense that it really is going to aggregate work that we’ve been doing, stories that we’ve been working on with our community partners. We’re excited to have something that can house all this great work and share the stories of what our players and partners are doing.”
According to USA TODAY Sports, some of the recent community events NBA teams have participated in which would be included under the NBA Voices program include:
- In February, the Milwaukee Bucks launched a Midnight Basketball League to provide a safe outlet for local youth.
- In May, Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker hosted a bowling outing for a group of youth and their mentors.
- In October, Golden State Warriors forwards Draymond Green and David West hosted a conversation with Oakland youth, law enforcement and community leaders.
- In November, the Boston Celtics launched a program that brings together students from two vastly different communities to create a set of guidelines to fight bullying and stereotyping.
According to Behrens, “We’re going to continue our community conversations, we’re going to continue our Building Bridges Through Basketball program, and we’re going to continue to support our players using this platform and other platforms to speak out in issues that they care about — the focus on equality and social justice. We just think this is another way to give voice to the concerns and aspirations of people in our communities.”
On its website, NBA Voices describes themselves as, “…the NBA’s initiative to address social injustice, promote inclusion, uplift voices and bridge divides in our communities. It represents another step in the league’s ongoing work to bring people together and use the game of basketball to demonstrate the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion.”
NBA Voices is the latest, but far from the only attempt by American sports leagues to raise their profiles in the fight for “equality, diversity, and inclusion.” In November, the NFL gave nearly $90 million to their activist players and Van Jones-allied spending consultants. While NBA Voices seems to differ from the NFL in that the league isn’t transferring tens of millions of dollars to activist players to spend as they choose, the focus on “social justice” and “equality,” remain the same.