NEW YORK, N.Y., June 10, 2020 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Harlem Wizards\u2019 players, staff and support personnel want to express their deep sympathy to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. As an organization, it\u2019s saddened to see the images of such heinous murders. This is very personal for the group as 90 percent of the players are people of color, and this could have been one of them or their family members.<\/p>\n
![\"Harlem](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/20-0611s2p-harlem-wizards-696x522.jpg\")
\nIn order for the players to have a platform to collectively share their thoughts and feelings, a Zoom conference call was organized to give Harlem Wizards\u2019 players a voice and outlet to provide their perspective on these issues of inequality and injustice.<\/p>\n
Reactions to these horrendous murders was anger, disappointment, resignation, pain and sadness. The common questions that emerged were: \u201cHow do we get past this?\u201d \u201cHow can I make it safe for my kids?\u201d \u201cHow can I feel completely comfortable and welcome in the USA?\u201d \u201cWill this ever change?\u201d<\/p>\n
King Arthur Lewis, Jr., the inspiration for the \u201cTeam of We\u201d movement, shared that, \u201cWe have to have sustained perseverance, like the 381-day Birmingham bus boycott that ended busing segregation in Birmingham. We can protest and demand equality, but our challenge is to stand up for these things that we believe in while coming from a place of love and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Todd Davis, CEO Harlem Wizards, said, \u201cIt was heartbreaking to hear the players\u2019 experience of living a somewhat double life. Respected and beloved while in \u2018Wizard\u2019 mode, but subject to a different reality when the uniform is removed. What was gratifying was that the players shared their authentic experiences and came together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key Zoom meeting takeaways included a desire to continue to bring people together through fun, inspiration and exciting trick-hoops, but also a shared hope to go beyond that and to be part of the healing and educational conversation about race relations and the challenges faced as a nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that through our travels around the USA that we have an opportunity and moral obligation to share our thoughts with the millions of students we see each year,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n
Eric Jones, the longest-tenured Wizard of 22 years and one of the player-coaches said, \u201cAs an organization we have entertained fans across the globe for the past 59 years and we have brought families and communities together through basketball. This is not just what we do, this is who we are. This commitment to educating and fostering connection and understanding is a natural next step for the organization, fostered by where we are right now in this national conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dwayne \u201cSwoop\u201d Simpson, a 13-year Wizard and a player-coach said, \u201cThis is about fair treatment and justice for African-Americans, but it\u2019s also about humanity and making the world a better place for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wizards participated in a peaceful rally in Paramus, N.J. at Paramus High School.<\/p>\n
For more information about the Harlem Wizards: https:\/\/www.harlemwizards.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
![https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/20-0611s2p-harlem-wizards-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\nMEDIA CONTACT:\nTodd Davis\nof Harlem Wizards\ntd@harlemwizards.com\n+1-201-600-0105<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK, N.Y., June 10, 2020 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Harlem Wizards’ players, staff and support personnel want to express their deep sympathy to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. As an organization, it’s saddened to see the images of such heinous murders. This is very personal for the group as 90 percent of the players are people of color.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8269,"featured_media":60173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,236,611,1,175,8,30],"tags":[13523,13576],"class_list":["post-60229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-editorial-news","category-african-american-interest-news","category-basketball-news","category-business-news","category-corporate-social-responsibility-news","category-new-york-news","category-sports-news","tag-black-lives-matter","tag-social-justice","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":4421,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/20-0611s2p-harlem-wizards-300dpi.jpg\"){kind=link}