Rain flooded the streets of Memphis on Feb. 1, 1968, a deluge that would alter history. Forced to work in the downpour that day, two sanitation workers, black men named Echol Cole and Robert Walker, sought shelter in the back of a garbage truck and were crushed when an electrical switch malfunctioned. That same day, nearly two dozen black sewer workers were sent home without pay while their white supervisors stayed on the clock.

Memphis’ sanitation workers would go on strike later that month, decrying the racism, low wages and horrible working conditions they had endured. The eight-week protest eventually led to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end,” King told Memphis’ sanitation workers in April 1968. “Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.”

Half a century later, Mike Conley wants to remind the world of that ongoing struggle. The Utah Jazz point guard, who spent more than a decade of his career in Memphis, will wear the striking workers’ rallying cry — “I am a Man” — on the back of his jersey as the NBA season resumes this week.

“It was something I consulted my family on,” Conley said. “It’s something we thought was powerful, especially because that came from Memphis. … It means a lot to put that on the back of my jersey and be able to represent everyone behind me.”

The vast majority of NBA players, including each member of the Utah Jazz, have opted to replace their last name on the back of their jersey with a message of social justice:

• Jordan Clarkson — PEACE.
• Nigel Williams-Goss — JUSTICE NOW.
• Joe Ingles — ALLY.
• Justin Wright-Foreman — JUSTICE.
• Jarrell Brantley — ENOUGH.
• Rayjon Tucker — JUSTICE.
• Mike Conley — I AM A MAN.
• Tony Bradley — PEACE.
• Emmanuel Mudiay — PEACE.
• Juwan Morgan — SAY THEIR NAMES.
• Ed Davis — EDUCATION REFORM.
• Royce O’Neale — EQUALITY.
• Rudy Gobert — EQUALITY.
• Georges Niang — EDUCATION REFORM.
• Donovan Mitchell — SAY HER NAME.
• Miye Oni — POWER TO THE PEOPLE.

Each player has his own story and reason for the message he has chosen, but their goal is a unified one.

“I think (basketball) is a distraction from what’s going on in the world,” All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell said earlier this month. “But when the job calls, you have to go to work. Now it’s on us to go out there and push this message as much as we can.”

Mitchell will wear “Say Her Name” on the back of his jersey in honor of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old black woman who was shot and killed in her own home by Louisville, Kentucky, police in March.

“It should be about Breonna Taylor,” said Mitchell, who played college basketball at Louisville. “Her killers still haven’t been arrested.”

Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson will wear “Peace” on his jersey.

“Everybody is fighting for a peace of a mind, especially with the Black Lives Matter” movement, Clarkson said. “This fight — that black lives matter — at the end of the day is going to cause peace for us all, being able to feel that equality in all areas and aspects of our lives.”

The Jazz’s All-Star center Rudy Gobert, meanwhile, has chosen “Equality” as his message.

“I think equality is a powerful word,” Gobert said. “I want my kids to live in a world where everyone is treated as equal, regardless of the color of their skin, their religion. I think it’s something we have to strive to attain in society.

“Obviously, it’s better than it was 100 years ago but it can be a lot better. We’d be lying to ourselves if we said there was equality today. We have signs every day that that’s not the case. We have to keep pushing in that direction to make sure that one day it is the case.”

The Utah Jazz closed out their scrimmage schedule Monday afternoon with a 112-107 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Rudy Gobert scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the way for Utah, while Mike Conley made four 3-pointers on his way to 18 points.

The Jazz now prepare for the restart of the 2019-20 season as they will face New Orleans on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. MDT (TNT). All of the scrimmages and games are being played in Orlando.

Newsletter