Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell announced he is donating $45,000 raised from sales of his latest shoe release to help fund the education of the children of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot earlier this week by police in Kenosha, Wis.
Mitchell made the announcement in a video posted to Instagram on Friday, revealing that Adidas would match his donation, bringing the total funds donated to Blake's children to $90,000.
"For the first 45 hours of the #DONISSUE2 spidey-sense drop, I will be donating $45k of the proceeds to support the education of Jacob Blake’s children," he wrote on Instagram.
In his video, Mitchell discussed the importance of education and education reform.
"Allowing kids to understand and be able to go into the same classrooms and be able to be taught at a level playing field is something I believe is the key to generational success and being able to push past racism, systemic racism, voter suppression and everything," he said.
Earlier this week Mitchell praised the Milwaukee Bucks for leading NBA protests over the shooting of Blake, who has been hospitalized and his family has said is paralyzed from the waist down.
The NBA protests have sparked boycotts by other professional sports leagues as well, who are standing in solidarity with calls for justice for Blake.
Blake was shot in the back seven times by an officer as he attempted to enter his vehicle with three of his children inside. Video of the incident has fueled continued Black Lives Matter protests and activism across the country that were ignited earlier this summer after George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, died in police custody.
