Sacramento Kings partner with Black Lives Matter in wake of Stephon Clark shooting

The Sacramento Kings have announced a partnership with Black Lives Matter Sacramento and the Build. Black. Coalition in order to “fundamentally transform black communities through deep investment in black youth in Sacramento.”

As part of their commitment to the goals of the Build. Black. Coalition, a group of Sacramento community leaders who have organized in the wake of the Stephon Clark shooting, a tragic death of a young man by Sacramento police, the Sacramento Kings will create an education fund for the children of Clark. This fund cannot fix the issues that led to the death of their father, but it will secure opportunities for their futures while the family and the city grapples with healing.

To support transformational change for black communities in Sacramento, the Sacramento Kings are creating a multi-year plan in partnership with the Build. Black. Coalition to support the education of young people and to provide the workforce preparation and economic development efforts needed to truly #BuildBlackFutures.

The announcement of the collaboration comes 12 days after the death of Clarke, a 22-year-old black man was shot 20 times in his grandmother’s backyard by Sacramento law enforcement officials who mistook the cell phone in his hand for a weapon. Many citizens conducted protests in the wake of the incident, including two demonstrations at the Golden 1 Arena that blocked the entrance for fans and ticket holders. Rather than risk a clash between fans and protesters, the team stopped letting people in well before tipoff, leading to a nearly-empty game between the Hawks and Kings.

“Due to law enforcement being unable to ensure ticketed fans could safely enter the arena, the arena remained closed as tonight’s game proceeded with a delay,” the team announced in a March 23 statement.

Inside the arena, Kings owner and chairman Vivek Ranadive addressed a sparse crowd after the team’s March 23 game against the Hawks to tell the people outside the stadium he “respect[ed] their right to protest.”

“On Sunday we had a horrific, horrific tragedy in our community. And on behalf of the players, executives, ownership, and the entire Kings family, I first of all wanted to express our deepest sympathies to the family. What happened was absolutely horrific and we are so very sorry for your loss.

I also wanted to say that we at the Kings recognize your ability to protest peacefully and we respect that. We here at the Kings recognize that we have a big platform. It’s a privilege but its also a responsibility. It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously. And we stand here before you all young, black, white, brown and we are all united in our commitment. We recognize that it’s not just business as usual and we are going to work really hard to bring everybody together to make the world a better place stating with our own community and we’re going to work really hard to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.”

On Sunday, both the Kings and the Celtics donned warmup T-shirts that read “Accountability. We Are One.” on the front and Clark’s name on the back.

The team’s current pinned tweet is a joint message between Kings and Celtics players calling Clark’s shooting “bigger than basketball” and demanding accountability for his shooting.

The effort between the Kings and Sacramento’s local Black Lives Matter and Build. Black. Coalition chapters begins Friday evening when players Vince Carter, Garrett Temple, and former player Doug Christie will be a part of a youth panel aimed at healing a city deeply affected by Clark’s death.