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The Washington Wizards and Mystics will lead a march today at Capital One Arena at 11 a.m. ET on Juneteenth, which is today. It was initially billed as an event with few additional details, but according to a release by Monumental Sports & Entertainment on Thursday, it will be a march starting at the arena and going to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at the National Mall.
This march is just part of a broader initiative by the organization to address police brutality and social injustice. These include:
- Employee matching for donations to social justice causes
- Encouraging players to speak out for police reform.
- Highlighting two nonprofit organizations per month, one of which that is focused on ending police brutality
- Voting registration drives in the D.C. area. Federal Election Days are now company holidays, and local election days are also additional paid days off for employees.
- Internal and external communications programs for employees, team fans and the public regarding diversity and inclusion.
While these initiatives are all great, where are the Washington Capitals in all of this? Locally, they are the most popular team in Monumental Sports’ family, so it would be nice to see some of their players in the march alongside the Wizards and Mystics who can make the march later today.
To be fair to the Capitals, they have released a video earlier this month. Also, several players including Alex Ovechkin, Braden Holtby, Tom Wilson and John Carlson made individual statements. But I’m also interesting seeing how they also participate in the company’s initiatives over the coming days, weeks and months ahead.
Also, if you’re going to the Wizards’ and Mystics’ march in Washington, feel free to use this as your open thread.
I hope you all have a safe and happy Juneteenth Friday and a great Father’s Day Weekend.