The University of San Francisco Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice Receives $100,000 Gift from Stephen Curry, Recipient of the NBA’s 2022-23 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award
SAN FRANCISCO (May 23, 2023) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry has been named the recipient of the 2022-23 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award. Curry selected the University of San Francisco (USF) Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice to receive the $100,000 award from the NBA on his behalf. The Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice investigates, illuminates, and advances the theory and practice of transformational nonviolence to confront and overcome injustice and systemic violence, and contribute to the just resolution of communal conflict.
“I’m passionate about the work of the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice and its commitment to overcoming injustice and systemic violence through peace,” said Curry. “As an athlete, I consistently leverage my platform to amplify advocacy and address the pervasive issue of systemic racism. I firmly believe that we must be vocal both on social media and in real life, taking tangible actions to effect real change in our society and for generations to come. Together, with the organization’s co-founder, Dr. Clarence B. Jones, we have initiated meaningful conversations around social justice with the school’s student body, doubled the charity’s donations through my foundation Eat. Learn. Play.’s gift matching initiatives, and continued building on its mission in my personal and professional life by holding people accountable and promoting the principles of justice, fairness and equality today, tomorrow and in the future.”
Curry was selected from a group of five NBA finalists for his dedication to pursuing social justice and advancing Abdul-Jabbar’s life mission to engage, empower and drive equality for individuals and groups who have been historically marginalized or systematically disadvantaged.
“I am deeply honored to accept this extraordinary gift from Stephen Curry and the NBA,” said Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice Director Jonathan D. Greenberg. “Dr. Jones and I share enormous admiration for Stephen Curry, who is a hero on the basketball court and in many communities in which he has been a dedicated activist, leader and humanitarian. Hand in hand with his wife Ayesha, his Warriors teammates, and with his team at the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, Steph Curry has improved the lives of countless people throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and across the nation. We congratulate him for this incredible award.”
The gift will enable the Institute to magnify the impact of their partnerships, programs, and initiatives, empowering new generations of students, community organizers and faith leaders in the values, strategies and methods of nonviolence practiced by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the activists of the Black Freedom Movement.
“Stephen Curry belongs in the pantheon of great athlete activists,” said Dr. Jones. “Along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, and Bill Russell, Steph stand with true heroes who have helped to bend the arc in the struggle to redeem the soul of our nation.”
“This award affirms the powerful intergenerational relationship between Dr. Jones and Stephen Curry, and the lineage from Martin Luther King, Jr. through Dr. Jones to Curry’s magnificent role model combining excellence, social justice and community empowerment for millions of people today,” noted Greenberg.
About the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco
The Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice is the leading university-based research, teaching, and advocacy institute dedicated to investigating and furthering radical nonviolence in the context of Jesuit community-based service education, interfaith activism for racial and environmental justice, democracy, and peace, and the intergenerational legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The institute focuses on the most urgent social problems in our communities, across the nation, and around the world. It aims to bring attention to the systemic, pervasive violence that plagues our society and world, to understand this violence as a public health crisis, and to work to address it. The goal is to be useful to students, activists, and thinkers confronting injustice and inhumanity in all forms. For more information, visit https://www.usfca.edu/institute-nonviolence-social-justice
About the University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco is a private, Jesuit Catholic university that reflects the diversity, optimism, and opportunities of the city that surrounds it. USF offers more than 230 undergraduate, graduate, professional, and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, law, education, and nursing and health professions. At USF, each course is an intimate learning community in which top professors encourage students to turn learning into positive action, so the students graduate equipped to do well in the world — and inspired to change it for the better. For more information, visit usfca.edu.
