Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks guard Jew Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris and Golden State Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson are finalists for the inaugural Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award, the NBA. announced Friday.
Named after the league's all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the award is given to the player who best embodies Abdul-Jabbar's message of civil rights, black empowerment and racial equality.
The five finalists, who have been dropped from the original list of 30 nominees, one from each team, are being considered for a $100,000 prize that the league will donate to the social justice-focused organization of selecting the winner. Four other finalists will receive $25,000.
Anthony, along with Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul and former NBA guard Dwayne Wade, in July 2020 created the Social Change Fund, an investment organization that seeks to address social and economic issues facing black communities, including voting, housing and education. does. He also founded the STAYME7O Propel program and Creative 7, an initiative focused on content creation, fashion, art and design. Anthony is also a board member of the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition. His organization is the Portland Art Museum's Black Arts and Experience Initiative.
For the 2020 presidential election, Barnes worked with Be.Woke.Vote, an out-of-vote campaign aimed at historically disadvantaged youth. In last season's bubble, Barnes pledged $200,000 to organizations and foundations that combat police brutality and racial inequality, including those killed by Trayvon Martin, Botham Jean, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Jordan Davis. Includes family foundations of black men and boys. Ninth Year Ahead also advocates for financial literacy, partnering with a Blacks-owned finance app and opening savings accounts for 500 students in Dallas and Sacramento, Calif. Barnes' organization is the Center for Policing Equity.
Harris awarded $300,000 to The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia to recruit teachers from historically black colleges and universities, through the Tobias Harris Charitable Fund, and created the Tobias' Top Teacher program, which provides professional development workshops. Funds and buys classroom supplies for teachers to help recruit and retain black male teachers. Through his Lit Labs program, Harris donated 30,000 books to 8,000 Philadelphia schoolchildren. His organization is the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia.
Holiday, who won the league's Joe Dumars Trophy for Sportsmanship last week, with his wife, a former United States women's national football team midfielder, in response to COVID-19 last summer , Jur and Lauren Holiday founded the Social Impact Fund. The pandemic and global anti-racism protests following the killing of George Floyd. The fund provided grants to 50 Black-owned businesses and Black-led organizations in the New Orleans, Indianapolis and Los Angeles areas in November. His organization is Wisconsin's Expo.
Oakland native Toscano-Anderson founded the Journey to Achieve Foundation to help people of color in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz, California, and Mexico. The second-year forward, whose mother is Mexican and father is Black, was part of the Warriors Voters Win campaign during the 2020 election, which emphasized voting for Black and Latino communities. Toscano-Anderson's organization is Homies Empowerment.
The finalists were selected by a panel that included Abdul-Jabbar; Dr. Richard Lapchik, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport; Mark Moriel, President and CEO of the National Urban League; Janet Murguia, President and CEO of Unidos; Amanda Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Rise; NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum and Chicago student activist Teyona Lofton.
The winner of the prize will be announced before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.