NEW YORK, NY – July 11, 2018 – The New York Liberty will host its first-ever Unity Weekend from July 13-15, highlighted by a panel discussion on Sunday, July 15 at Westchester County Center prior to its game against the Chicago Sky. The panel will feature former NBA player, activist and author Etan Thomas, CBS Sports personality Dana Jacobson, Columbia University Professor of Race & Racism Zerandrian Morris and former NBA player and Boys & Girls Club of Mt. Vernon Executive Director Lowes Moore and focus on themes such as how to leverage an ally identity to improve race relations, and how sports can assist in uniting our communities.
For the Liberty, using sports as a platform to impact and unite communities is a fundamental component of its identity. Last year, New York was the 2017 recipient of the Inaugural Season Long WNBA Community Assist Award recognizing broad social efforts, including its inaugural Unity Day game which addressed societal issues such as racial injustice, police brutality and gun violence. This season, from July 13-15, the organization continues to champion unity and equality with an emphasis on the Westchester County community, while further amplifying the voices of the players through several community outreach initiatives.
“As an organization that’s been rooted in cultivating change, the Liberty strive in that principle providing various opportunities to unite with the community and raise awareness efforts.” Liberty Chief Operating Officer Daakeia Clarke explained. “Unity allows us not to achieve by ourselves, but with those who are also dedicated to reform.”
The 2017 Unity Game was conceived as a way to engage the greater Liberty community of fans, activists, and civic servants; as well as provide passionate Liberty players an opportunity to unify and leverage their platform to enact positive social change through sport.
This season’s three-day commemoration will commence with a dynamic interactive workshop at the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester on Friday, July 13, designed for participants to increase their skills as allies, heighten awareness of microaggressions and effectively support those who are racially oppressed in an effort to dismantle structural racism in their everyday lives.
On Saturday, July 14, the New York Liberty will partner with Westchester’s Project 105 to host an invite-only youth basketball clinic. To conclude the weekend the Liberty will lead the pre-game panel discussion at Westchester County Center, focused on what it means to be an ally, how to support racially disenfranchised groups, how to leverage an ally identity to improve race relations and how sports can assist in uniting our communities.