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One of the biggest issues of social justice reform preached by Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul and other players in the NBA bubble is the importance of voting.
“Voting is something that everyone in the room is very passionate about,” Paul said. “We got a chance to discuss, we got a chance to talk to the different governors and tell them how we want all of the NBA arenas to be polling sites.”
The league released a statement Friday that addressed voting in three ways:
Team governors agreed to work with voting officials within their cities to use arenas as large voting centers for elections.
The league and players formed a social justice coalition.
There will be more advertising spots in playoff games to promote civic engagement in elections.
Full release from the NBA and NBPA: Social justice coalition being formed; team governors working to convert all arenas into location for 2020 general election; advertisement spots to promote civic engagement and awareness. pic.twitter.com/piU3gmOxgh
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 28, 2020
“While we’re out there playing – we’re the product, we’re the game – during these commercials, we would like to see advertisements for voting,” Paul said. “We understand how strong our voice is, how powerful our voice is.”
The power of the players’ voices is a reason they wanted to stay in the bubble and keep playing.
“Ultimately, we decided that if we go away from this stage, we don’t necessarily have that same platform. So we stood in solidarity,” Paul said. “We’re going to continue to play, but we’re also going to continue to make sure that our voices are heard.”
They will also use that leverage on the social justice coalition, which the league statement said would consist of players, coaches and team governors to promote voting and civic engagement while “advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform.”
“We wanted to start a justice coalition so that we could, on a daily basis, make sure that there are checks and balances and also continue to attack police brutality,” Paul said.
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