Utah Jazz Participating in Blackout Tuesday
Jun 2, 2020, 11:36 AM | Updated: 11:48 am
Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz and Joe Ingles #2 react after a basket by Mitchell in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on November 16, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 76ers defeated the Jazz 113-107. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz are participating in Blackout Tuesday. A social media movement created to amplify the voice of black people on social media. The premise is to “mute” personal content and in place of it share content from black creators.
The Jazz posted a black square on their Instagram page. The team also took the movement to Twitter. The Jazz blacked out their avatar image, banner, along with a blacked-out tweet with the hashtag #BlackoutTuesday.
🖤 #BlackoutTuesday 🖤 pic.twitter.com/yEDPe4LlVB
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) June 2, 2020
Likewise, several Jazz players are participating in the social media movement. Rudy Gobert, Jarrell Brantley, Ed Davis, Miye Oni, Justin Wright-Foreman, Georges Niang, Royce O’Neale, Joe Ingles, and Donovan Mitchell have also posted blacked-out screens.
As of Tuesday morning, 28 of the 30 NBA franchises were participating in Blackout Tuesday. Both the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs posted black squares in honor of the movement, despite being the lone franchises not to issue a statement on the death of George Floyd.
The Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers are the only teams that haven’t posted the square. The Wizards are honoring Washington legend Wes Unseld who passed away early Tuesday morning.
Blackout Tuesday
Blackout Tuesday, a movement focused on amplifying the voices of people of color, began in the music industry with Atlantic Records and is spreading across all platforms of social media. Users are posting a black square to their profile, using #blackouttuesday. Organizers and creators are reminding people not to use #blacklivesmatter, as that hashtag is reserved to share information regarding the movement.
The death of George Floyd and the nationwide protests spurred the movement. Floyd was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a Minnesota police officer. The officer – who has now been fired and arrested – held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes on May 25, 2020. The officer involved has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
The movement was started by record executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agymang, according to Variety magazine. The movement was originally created using #TheShowMustBePause, but evolved into #blackouttuesday.
“Tuesday, June 2 is meant to intentionally disrupt the work week,” they wrote, “The music industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. And industry that has profited predominantly from Black art. Our mission is to hold the industry at large, including major corporations + their partners who benefit from the efforts, struggles and successes of Black people accountable.”
NBC News contributor and activist, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, posted guidelines to follow for those participating. She guided black people to continue posting while non-black people are encouraged to “mute” but to continue sharing content from people of color.
