CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The first grants from a $100 million pledge by Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand will focus on the legal system and issues regarding voter suppression.
Donations of $1 million each will go to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People and Families Movement. Black Voters Matter fund will receive a $500,000 donation.
Jordan said in a prepared statement he is "all in" on "a commitment to address the historical inequality that continues to plague Black communities in the U.S."
It's no surprise these grants included a voting element. Voting rights in the upcoming election has become a major community-involvement topic for the Hornets. Spectrum Center, the uptown city-owned arena the Hornets manage, will be used as an early-voting polling place for the November election, as will Bank of America Stadium and Bojangles Coliseum.
Also, the Hornets are making election day a paid holiday for its employees and encouraging them to volunteer at polling sites.
Jordan addressed the voting issue in his statement.
"There is a long history of oppression against Black Americans that holds us back from full participation in American society," Jordan said. "We understand one of the main ways we can change systemic racism is at the polls.
"We know it will take time for us to create the change we want to see, but we are working quickly to take action for the Black Community's voice to be heard."
Jordan and Jordan Brand announced in early June a pledge to donate $100 million over the next 10 years to address ingrained racism.
Jordan spoke passionately, in an interview with the Charlotte Observer, about how the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, by a white policeman, was a "tipping point" for decades of Black outrage over brutality toward people of color.
"We have been beaten down (as African Americans) for so many years. It sucks your soul," Jordan told the Observer. "You can't accept it anymore. This is a tipping point. We need to make a stand. We've got to be better as a society regarding race."
Jordan said in that interview there needs to be an educational process in which racism stops being "somewhat acceptable in certain circles."
"It's not just (donating) money," Jordan said of the intent of the $100 million pledge. "It's the act of calling on all of us to take a look at ourselves. That's an important start."
