Atlanta Hawks Pay Tribute To Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With New City Edition Uniforms

As the 2019-20 NBA season has finally been reaching its conclusion in the bubble in Florida, one thing that’s received plenty of attention has been the placement of social justice messages and statements on the back of the players’ jerseys. There’s also been some questions as to whether or not the practice will continue going into future seasons. While there’s still no confirmation as to whether or not there will be messages on the back of jerseys league-wide going forward past this season, one team is making sure that they’ll be sending a message with their one of their uniforms for the next season.

The Atlanta Hawks have officially unveiled their City edition uniforms for the 2020-21 season and the entire uniform will serve as a tribute to Atlanta native and legendary civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is the first time in league history that one person’s initials is serving as the primary wordmark logo across the chest of the jersey, and the uniform design inspiration didn’t stop at just putting Dr. King’s initials on the front of the jersey.

The color scheme of black-gold-and-white itself is a tribute to the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity that Dr. King was a member of. The shorts feature a striping pattern that tapers into a peak that’s meant to emulate the stained glass windows of a church — with the windows of Dr. King’s home church of Ebenezer Baptist Church being the primary inspiration. In the black space within the stripes, there’s also a new logo that puts the “MLK” initials over the Hawk logo on a gold shield with a crown adorning the top of the shield. Then, there’s 11 stars in that same black space running vertically below the shield logo on each side of the shorts. The stars are meant to represent “22 of the 29 times Dr. King was jailed fighting for justice and equality” and also represent the students who protested via sit-ins. To top things off, Dr. King’s signature is present below the authenticity tag on the jerseys.

The entire uniform itself gives off a regal vibe, which is a fitting way to pay tribute to man who became an icon in the wake of the civil rights movement of his time. The Atlanta Hawks appear to be aware of the weight that they’ll be carrying by wearing Dr. King’s initials across the front of their jerseys, so they have also launched a social media campaign where they encourage everyone to “#EarnTheseLetters” via positive community engagement. Additionally, proceeds of jersey sales will go towards supporting “economic empowerment programs for Atlanta’s communities of color.” The Hawks are not trying to ‘cash in’ on Dr. King’s name — rather, they seem to be making an effort to use the uniforms as a way to honor the spirit of activism that he extolled while he was leading the movement decades ago.

All-in-all, it’s a collectively worthy tribute and one of the better City edition uniforms that you will see. It’s also impressive to see that the Hawks had been working in tandem with Nike
NKE
, the NBA, the NBPA, and Dr. King’s estate for reportedly three years in order to make this uniform a reality. This wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment thing that the Hawks were inspired to do as a result of current events. Instead, the Hawks had been planning to pay tribute to Atlanta’s “most favored son” for a while and it’s the result of something that was intentional.

It’s also a uniform that follows in the footsteps of the Memphis Grizzlies taking the “I Am A Man” slogan from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike that Dr. King participated in and transforming it into their City uniform for 2018. From a personal standpoint, it’s exciting to see teams in cities with a close connection to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. using the City edition uniforms as a way to pay tribute to the impact that Dr. King left on their respective cities and to see them do it in a respectful and elegant manner is especially encouraging as well.