‘Wanted People To Be Able To Make It Personal To Their Experience’: Dallas Wings’ Isabelle Harrison On #IAm Campaign With Shirts To Benefit Black Lives Matter

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(CBSDFW.com) – As the WNBA season opening weekend approaches, the focus is beginning to turn towards basketball with players set to take the court for the first time in 2020. While the return of games is an exciting moment for sports fans everywhere, the league and Dallas Wings center Isabelle Harrison don’t want people to lose sight of the movements for social justice.

That’s why Harrison, 26, has created the #IAm campaign allowing people to explain their personal experiences with social injustice and police brutality. The launch of the campaign came earlier this month with customized t-shirts featuring the hashtag and with a line next to it to allow people to personalize the shirt to their own experience.

“I made shirts with the hashtag #IAm with an open dash next to it and I wanted to be able to make a shirt so that people could interact with the hashtag,” said Harrison during the team’s media availability Tuesday. “I wanted them to be able to make it personal to their experience in life so, tying in their experience with any social justice issues whether they experience it or just saw someone go through it. I wanted to make a shirt we could all come together on and look at each other’s experiences and see how much we really are alike.”

The shirts, which can be found here, have been worn and posted about on social media by Harrison’s teammates in pushing the movement forward.

Harrison says that the idea for the hashtag on the shirts was to use the power of social media to allow it to reach as many people as possible in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the ongoing conversations surrounding the topics of injustice and police brutality.

“My idea for the shirt was to have the hashtag so that it spread as far as it can. And, I wanted to personalize it so people are able to join in and have their own story to tell,” said Harrison. “Obviously, George Floyd wasn’t the first person this has happened to. But I will say this is probably the most seen in day activity that we saw with police brutality. I hate it had to happen like this but I just don’t want him to go down in vain or any other person going through this issue. That was my initiative to step forward and bring us all together as a team and staff.”

The Wings are also part of a league-wide effort to raise awareness and keep the focus on the Black Lives Matter movement. On opening weekend July 25 and 26, players throughout the league will wear uniforms with Breonna Taylor’s name on them and throughout the season warm-up shirts that have “Black Lives Matter” on the front and “Say Her Name” on the back. “Black Lives Matter” will also be displayed on the court during games.

The proceeds from the #IAm T-shirts will go to support Black Lives Matter.