Black Lives Matter

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Bigger Than Basketball. Let's Change the World.

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Continuing the Sacramento Kings long tradition of lifting up and highlighting community champions, the team will honor local Black leaders that have positively impacted the Sacramento region with the Dream All-Star Award and a video feature on the team’s social channels to amplify their voices during each of the eight seeding games in Orlando. The Dream All-Star awardees were chosen by Kings staff members and community partners based on their accomplishments and commitment to championing initiatives that support platforms and opportunity for our Black community.

“It is an honor to celebrate each of these individuals for their tremendous impact on our community fighting for increased access to education and resources, equity and social justice,” said Sacramento Kings Chief Operating Officer Matina Kolokotronis. “With an unwavering dedication to serving youth, young people and families, the Dream All-Stars are incredibly deserving of our ongoing support and recognition. We thank them for their tireless work, numerous contributions and leadership in ensuring the region lives up to its fullest potential for all residents.”

The eight distinguished Dream All-Star honorees and game date they will be honored include:

Moe Copeland, Interim Assistant Director of Programs for Housing Services, Sacramento LGBT Community Center (July 31)

Moe Copeland serves at the Interim Assistant Director of Programs for Housing Services at the Sacramento LGBT Community Center and is focused on helping unhoused transitional aged youth (18 to 24 years old) achieve their life and housing goals daily.

Nicholas Haystings, Executive Director, Square Root Academy (August 2)

Nicholas Haystings is the founder and President of Square Root Academy, which exposes over 3,000 underrepresented scholars annually to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education and the careers of the future through after school programming.

Les Simmons, Senior Pastor, South Sacramento Christian Center (August 4)

Les Simmons is a community leader, advocate and pastor who has been on the front lines of the battle for equality, justice and inclusion in his South Sacramento community and beyond. Les has been a fierce advocate and leading voice for police reform, ending injustice including protesting at the border over the treatment of immigrant families and children, and participating as a core leader of Build.Black, a group focused on inclusive economic development and the Black community.

Marcus Strother, President and CEO, MENTOR California (August 6)

Marcus Strother is a career educator, youth and community advocate, 22-year veteran in public education and President and CEO of MENTOR California, dedicated to expanding quality mentoring relationships for young people.

Michael Tubbs, Mayor, City of Stockton (August 7)

Michael Tubbs serves as the City of Stockton’s first African American mayor and youngest mayor of any city in America. His leadership paired with an ambitious progressive agenda has received national recognition including bringing Advanced Peace to Stockton to work to reduce gun violence, launching Stockton Scholars to increase the number of college graduates and developing the nation’s first-ever mayor-led guaranteed income pilot known as Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED).

James Van Buren, Director, Grant High School Drumline (August 9)

James Van Buren (“Mr. V”), a teacher and musician, founded Grant High School’s drumline in 2009 as an opportunity for students to tap into their musical nature while simultaneously avoiding getting into trouble. The drumline has received a magnitude of exposure and has performed internationally.

Dr. Marcellene Watson-Derbigny, Associate Vice President, Student Retention and Academic Success, California State University, Sacramento (August 11)

Dr. Marcellene Watson Derbigny provides broad oversight to over 25 plus educational equity programs and components, she is well versed in educational equity practice, program development, and in the strategic planning of retention initiatives within complex higher education structures, overseeing a vast realm of programs and initiatives that leverage the success of students.

Dr. Maisha Winn, Co-founder and Co-director, UC Davis Transformative Justice in Education Center (August 13)

Dr. Maisha Winn is the Associate Dean and Chancellor’s Leadership Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis where she co-founded and co-directs the Transformative Justice in Education (TJE) Center, community-university collaborative serving practitioners and researchers committed to disrupting racial inequities in education by creating restorative, humanizing, justice-seeking teaching and learning communities.

These awards are a continuation of the franchise’s longstanding commitment to give back to the community, invest in Black youth locally and support civic engagement. In the coming days, the Kings, in partnership with the Build.Black. Coalition, the Black Child Legacy Campaign, My Brother’s Keeper Sacramento, First Tee of Greater Sacramento, Cameron Champ Foundation and OneSwing Golf Academy will announce the third season of Kings and Queens Rise, the highly successful co-ed youth sports and mentoring league. Recently, the team announced that Golden 1 Center would be transformed to a Vote Center for the November election to enable voters to register to vote and cast their ballots while practicing social distancing. And last month, the team developed a “Pledge to Our Black Community” to help combat social and racial injustice and invest in meaningful change.

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Sacramento Kings to Honor Local Black Leaders During NBA Restart

A Call to Action for White People | Team Up for Change

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Today, in solidarity with communities across the country, the Sacramento Kings announced they will continue their commitment to utilize their platform to influence social and systemic change to address institutional racism. After extensive conversations over recent weeks, both internally and externally, the organization developed a “Pledge to Our Black Community” to help combat social and racial injustice and invest in meaningful change. Some of the steps outlined in the pledge include:

The Kings remain committed to fighting for racial equity and social justice, speaking up against police brutality and building upon this pledge until there is meaningful change.

View the Kings “Pledge to Our Black Community".

In addition, the team debuted a PSA calling for unity and action in the wake of George Floyd’s brutal murder at the hands of police, in collaboration with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Lynx and Sacramento Area Youth Speaks. The nearly two-minute video features players from both teams including Kings guards De’Aaron Fox and Bogdan Bogdanovic and forward Marvin Bagley III along with Timberwolves guards Josh Okogie and D’Angelo Russell. Kings Head Coach Luke Walton, Timberwolves Head Coach Ryan Saunders, Kings General Manager Vlade Divac, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas and more are also in the PSA.

In March 2018, following the tragic killing of Stephon Clark by police in Sacramento, the team voiced a commitment to work alongside the community to prevent future tragedies. The Kings, together with the Boston Celtics, released a PSA, “Accountability. We Are One,” and separately launched a multi-year partnership with Build.Black., a coalition of community leaders that organized to support transformational change for Black communities in Sacramento. Over the last two years, Kings players, coaches, Legends and team members have participated in youth healing forums, STEM education and mentoring workshops, and a co-ed youth basketball league, all focused on using sport as an agent for change. Together with Build.Black., the team has held more than 40 events and hosted nearly 2,500 area youth associated with the coalition, impacting the lives of countless youth across the city. This partnership and the Kings leadership to create the Team Up for Change platform, a model for how sports teams can address issues of injustice in their respective cities, were recognized with the 2019 and 2020 NBA Innovation Inclusion Awards. The Kings were also recently named among the finalists for ESPN’s 2020 Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award.

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Sacramento Kings Pledge Action to Help Combat Social and Racial Injustice

In solidarity with communities across the country, the Sacramento Kings will continue our commitment to utilize our platform to influence social and systemic change to address institutional racism.

Below are some immediate next steps we will take internally and externally to promote understanding and diversity to impact change. We arrived at this plan after extensive conversations over recent weeks based on feedback from our community partners and team members.

We are dedicated to doing the work and remain focused to being a part of the solution through sustained action.

1. Activate Team Up for Change: We have partnered with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx on a PSA urging unity and action in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police. We will partner with the Timberwolves, Lynx and Milwaukee Bucks to host the third Team Up for Change summit in the near future to address issues of social injustice with the goal of working towards more equitable communities.

2. Ongoing Funding for Kings &amp; Queens Rise Youth: To support our ongoing commitment to investing in transformational change for Black youth in our community we will donate $75,000 to collaborate on a series of youth and young adult-led Kings and Queens Rise workshops, launch a virtual summer Kings and Queens Rise Co-ed Youth NBA2K League in partnership with Build.Black., and support the Black Child Legacy Campaign (BCLC) Youth Violence Prevention Program. We will provide BCLC Community Incubator Leads with NBA mental health resources and partner with Kaiser Permanente to host resilience and well-being sessions.

3. Empower Currently &amp; Formerly Incarcerated Individuals: We will continue to work with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) to provide resources and mentoring to support career development for formerly incarcerated persons. We know that marginalized populations,
particularly Black individuals, are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. We pledge to work alongside ARC to empower individuals who have been impacted by the criminal justice system to thrive in our community.

4. Increase Support for the Local Black Community: We will increase our commitment to dedicating time in underserved neighborhoods by providing resources, volunteering, mentoring, and championing initiatives that support platforms and opportunity for our Black community.

5. Invest in Black-Owned Businesses: We commit to reviewing and assessing our diversity sourcing practices and pledge to foster economic equity in Sacramento by highlighting and partnering with regional small and large Black-owned businesses. Additionally, we will support financial literacy programs and career development for local Black youth.

6. Amplify Black Voices: We commit to building upon our amplification of Black voices, creators, and business owners on our social media channels and throughout our game programming year-round.

7. Ongoing Education: Learning is an essential step towards meaningful change, and we will continue to cultivate and share an evolving list of educational resources (books, articles, podcasts, movies, entertainment, and more) with team members and across our digital channels. In addition, we will equip team members with training and tools around communication skills and tactics to ensure we practice empathy in our conversations.

8. Engage in Uncomfortable Conversations: We commit, guided by our Diversity &amp; Inclusion Council, to meet regularly as an organization for open and honest dialogue. In addition, we will continue to team up with experts to further educate ourselves in an effort to combat implicit and explicit bias.

9. Further Accountable Hiring Practices: We commit to holding ourselves accountable for increasing the number of Black people who are represented at all levels, from interns to executives, and requiring all hires are sourced from a diverse group of candidates.

10. Rally the Vote to Make Our Voices Heard: We commit to mobilize civic participation by hosting voter registration workshops for our team members and community and providing employees with a paid day off for election days. We will continue to lead and relaunch a coalition of professional sports teams to encourage voter registration and turnout.

As an organization, we are committed to reviewing and updating our pledge to our Black community on an ongoing basis. We are hopeful about the future and dedicated to action today, tomorrow and until we see meaningful change.

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Sacramento Kings Pledge To Our Black Community

Tracee Jay

“Let’s take a moment of silence…”

Those were the first words spoken at the Sacramento Kings Team Member Forum, hosted virtually by Vice President of Kings Academy &amp; Professional Development Galen Duncan, on Friday, June 6.

The moment of silence honored black lives that have been taken due to prejudice or racism at the hands of law enforcement or civilians in the U.S.

The Kings have been front-facing on issues of race and the pursuit of change within the NBA since Stephon Clark was killed in his grandmother’s backyard in Sacramento in 2018.

Since then, the organization has taken steps to ensure they’re in line with issues affecting Black Americans, including their team members.

The forum was a chance for the team to discuss the ongoing racial injustice impacting Black people in our country, protests in downtown Sacramento and the impact the current environment has on everyone in the organization.

Duncan was joined by Dr. Leah Wright-Rigueur, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Dr. Vajra Watson, Director of Research and Policy for Equity at UC Davis, and Kindra Montgomery-Block, Program Officer of The Center at Sierra Health Foundation.

The goal of the conversation was to offer team members the opportunity to learn, be heard, ask questions and get action items to be an active participant in affecting real change.

Wright-Rigueur put it succinctly when she said, “Working for action and equity begins at home.”

The Harvard assistant professor expanded on what should be taken in the day-to-day learning with your Black colleagues and within the organization to make a difference.

"The Kings have are an amazing organization, in particular in terms of outreach, in terms of community partnerships, and the kinds of statements [the Kings] are making on racial justice and equity, but what does it look like at home?"

"[Organizations] need to think about what are they doing in their day-to-day operations that will make changes."

Each panelist left team members with critical takeaways to put their learnings into action.

Kindra Montgomery-Block cited the importance of being an active participant in our democracy.

"We've got to vote like never before,” she said. “Not just on a national level but right here locally.

“We've got to be able to make some decisions and stand people up in the midst of this pandemic and uprising that can really demonstrate the voice of the people."

Watson then reinforced the importance of collective accountability.

"Learning is the soul of social change,” said the UC Davis director. “Because racism and white supremacy are so vetted to a learned ideology, we have to take a lot of steps to unlearn and see fully what [privilege] is.”

Lastly, Wright-Rigueur reminded the group these aren't notes but "survival" action items.

"The reality when we're talking about change and what you can do to maintain change, the best thing you can do is be consistent and be in it for the long haul,” she said. "We're not going to change 400-plus years of history in a matter of days or even years."

The topics covered in the conversation may have been new for some, but highlight the importance of maintaining a routine schedule of conversations that push the organization’s shared understanding forward.

Committed to making real change, in and out of the office, the organization has its sights set on continued momentum.

Black Lives Matter

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