#Nets owners pledge $50 million to support social justice causes

Throughout the recent upswing of the social justice movement, many have offered the warning that actions speak louder than words. The Nets owners have pitched in to help with both, and did again Tuesday.

Joe and Clara Wu Tsai — who own the Nets, Liberty and Barclays Center — issued a joint social justice statement, including a five-point plan.

They also pledged $50 million over the next 10 years to a fund aimed at helping minority communities, especially the black community.

“Alongside the leadership of our companies, we have spoken up against all forms of racism and made a commitment to work in partnership with our community to raise awareness and push back on racial prejudice,” Joe Tsai said.

“Brooklyn has long been a place where people of many different origins can engage in dialogue and find common ground, and we have seen the best example of that at the plaza in front of Barclays Center. Today, we present the framework for how we plan to accomplish the goals of justice and equality.”

The plaza at Flatbush and Atlantic became an epicenter for Black Lives Matter protests, and Tsai said it will be made available as a place for peaceful gatherings and for all constituents to listen to each other.

Their five-point plan includes, 1) establishing the fund “for social justice initiatives and community investments that will benefit the BIPOC (especially Black) community, with a priority on Brooklyn,” 2) supporting athlete voices, 3) creating a more inclusive work culture, 4) leveraging league-wide influence in the NBA and WNBA, and 5) ongoing community engagement.

“Joe and I are proud to present our statement of core principles and action plan as a continuation of our efforts to address racial injustice and economic inequality in our society,” said Clara Wu Tsai, who’d been listed as co-owner of the Liberty, but is now being listed as a Nets co-owner for the first time.

“We plan to focus first on our organizations and our community in Brooklyn. We believe Barclays Center, the Nets, and the Liberty can be symbols of how we move forward together as a country. It is our hope to lead by example through supporting our athletes, employees, and our community in anti-racist and anti-discrimination work and providing the resources needed to accelerate change.”

Wu Tsai — a philanthropic investor educated at Harvard and Stanford — is involved in the REFORM Alliance to enact prison reform. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York the couple’s foundation donated 2,000 ventilators and 3 million masks.