We share in the grief, sadness, and rage being stirred by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black men, women, and children across our country. We denounce structural racism and police brutality. We stand with our Black employees, members, athletes, community members and all those fighting for justice and against systemic racism. Black Lives Matter.
We know it has taken us time to publicly respond. We have been listening and learning in order to ensure our words would be backed with appropriate actions.
As such, we have formed an advisory council, which consists solely of Black women and men in sports—including Alana Beard, Skyy Clark, John Cox, Hunter Greene, Phil Handy, Kayla McBride, Kahlil McKenzie, Donald Mitchell, Salima Rockwell, and Isaiah Thomas, among others—and will have the power to change, guide, and lead internal and external measures we take to combat systemic racism in sports.
We view sports as a place that can be a haven, but not one that is or should be divorced from the world we live in.
We recognize that there is always more we can do in the fight against systemic racism and will continue to work towards creating a just, respectful and equitable environment in our organization and communities.