Weeks after the team issued a statement condemning "racism, bigotry, violence and prejudice in all its forms," the Los Angeles Lakers announced a pair of moves to aid in their mission to spur positive social change.
The Lakers announced the hiring of Karida Brown as the team's director of racial equity and action on Thursday and said the team and staff would take Friday off to observe Juneteenth.
Dr. Karida Brown "will play a key role in implementing educational programming on race and racism for our employees ... as well as empowering the organization to identify ways to be more active participants in affecting real change."https://t.co/OQ8JE7rLgM
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 18, 2020
Brown, an oral historian and assistant professor of African American studies and sociology at UCLA, is tasked with educating Lakers employees about the issues facing black and brown people in the United States and facilitating the team's outreach efforts to combat systemic racism.
"We are very happy to have Dr. Brown join the team," said Tim Harris, Lakers chief operating officer and president of business operations, in a statement. "She will play a key role in implementing educational programming on race and racism for our employees and helping us focus on racial equity in our day-to-day functions, as well as empowering the organization to identify ways to be more active participants in affecting real change."
Harris, an alumnus of UCLA's sociology program, reached out to his old school to see if the sociology department had anyone on staff who could help the Lakers navigate the racial tensions of the times. He was connected with Brown, and a dialogue began before she was hired.
"That set of conversations led to my question, 'Is the Lakers a non-racist organization or an anti-racist organization?'" Brown shared on a video conference call with reporters Friday. "And I was super happy when Tim responded, 'You know what, we hadn't necessarily thought about it in those terms. But I can say that we are aspirationally anti-racist.'
"And I get really excited by that because in that statement there was so much that recognizes that there is this aspiration, but that's a process to get there."
Brown said she will be working primarily with the Lakers' nearly 150 team employees, rather than the players, coaches and front-office members specifically. However, she said she plans to be a "resource to everybody within the Lakers family."
She was asked about NBA players -- including Lakers guard Avery Bradley and center Dwight Howard -- who have expressed concern about resuming the season in Orlando, Florida, and taking the spotlight away from the Black Lives Matter movement and said she has not had a chance to delve into that topic with the roster just yet.
"I don't know enough yet to have a strong opinion either way," she said. "But again, coming back to that point, I'm not surprised that there's such a variety of responses, particularly from black players who are leaders in their communities and at the forefront of these issues as well."
Brown took part in a group call with the organization Thursday, according to a team spokesperson, and is planning to spearhead regular town-hall-type discussions within the team in the future.
On Friday, the Lakers are encouraging employees to use their time off on Juneteenth to further educate themselves on both the history and current state of race relations in the U.S., according to a team spokesperson.
Friday marks 155 years since the effective ending of slavery in the U.S. -- on June 19, 1865.
In conjunction with the time off, the Lakers have also planned several charitable outreach efforts. They have pledged to donate iPads to four organizations: 4wrd Progress, a South L.A.-based group focused on providing opportunities for minority youth; Watts Skills Academy, a group founded by two Los Angeles Police Department officers aimed at bringing basketball and education to youth throughout the Watts Development Projects; Crete Academy, a South L.A. charter school in which 30% of the student body lacks permanent housing; and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro L.A., which serve more than 1,900 youth across five locations.
The Lakers are also sponsoring a five-part virtual series hosted by Game Changer, an organization that hopes to spark open dialogue in the community between at-risk youth and law enforcement agents.
Los Angeles is the eighth-most racially diverse large city in the country, according to a 2018 study by the U.S. News & World Report.
In the days following the death of George Floyd, who was killed while in police custody when Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck, Lakers players issued a shared statement to their social media accounts as protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles.
"If YOU ain't wit US, WE ain't wit Y'ALL!" the statement, organized by Bradley, read.
Apart from the educational efforts that Brown will lead, the Lakers have made reading materials available on the subject of racial inequality and have given their staff an opportunity to screen the film "John Lewis: Good Trouble," about the U.S. congressman and civil rights leader.
Brown will report directly to Harris and work closely with the team's human resources department, which engages in regular dialogue with NBA executive vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Oris Stuart and his representatives.
The NBA requires that each of its 30 teams has someone on staff to head diversity and inclusion within the organization. The roles vary by title, but everyone in that position serves as the liaison between the team and the league's diversity and inclusion office, led by Stuart since 2015, to execute programs and be a guide and a resource for support in those areas.
Brown joins the Lakers after authoring two books -- "Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia" and "The Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois: Racialized Modernity and the Global Color Line" (co-authored with Jose Itzigsohn) -- as well as serving on the boards for both the Obama Presidency Oral History Project and the Du Boisian Scholar Network.
"Sports was the social influencer before we had social influencers," Brown said. "Sports organizations are a source of entertainment, inspiration, aspiration, identity. So all of these kind of intangible ephemera that make us who we are, sports is one way that we express that.
"So [for] that platform to take a stance, to take action, to demonstrate what it looks like in everyday life has the potential to have great impact in influencing others, even if it's just making folks think, 'Am I a non-racist? Or am I an anti-racist?' That's a very important question. And our stance in making a firm commitment about that perhaps will invite others to also ask themselves that question. That is a great starting point."