The WNBA is making this season about more than just basketball.
In a joint statement with the Players’ Association on Monday, the league announced the launch of a new platform called “The Justice Movement” ahead of the 2020 season. A WNBA/WNBPA Social Justice Council also has been created to help “educate, amplify and mobilize” around specific issues.
In its first season, the council hopes to “cultivate designated spaces for community conversations, virtual roundtables, player-produced podcasts, and other activations to address this country’s long history of inequality, implicit bias and systemic racism that has targeted black and brown communities,” according to the statement. The council’s goal is to drive “necessary and continuing conversations” surrounding issues like race, voting rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and gun control, among others.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert lauded the new initiative.
“We are incredibly proud of WNBA players who continue to lead with their inspiring voices and effective actions in the league’s dedicated fight against systemic racism and violence,” Engelbert said in Monday’s statement. “Working together with the WNBPA and the teams, the league aims to highlight players’ social justice efforts throughout the 2020 season and beyond. Systemic change can’t happen overnight, but it is our shared responsibility to do everything we can to raise awareness and promote the justice we hope to see in society.”
The WNBA’s 2020 season is expected to begin in late July at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
