The Toronto Raptors have been very active in showing their support as an organization to the widespread “Black Lives Matter” movement. Team general manager Masai Ujiri has been at the very forefront of this initiative, and recently, the high-ranking team executive explained why they decided to use their team bus as another avenue to promote the BLM movement.

The Raptors decided to have a huge “Black Lives Matter” embellished on their team bus, and Ujiri shed some light on how the organization came about in making this decision:

“We said we were going to use the bubble as a statement,” Ujiri said during an appearance on “The Arena” (h/t Sportsnet). “We said we’re going to use this place as a platform and we thought that, coming in here, you have to make a statement. You have to create awareness. What you guys are doing over there is creating awareness, talking about this. We have to continue to do that.

“And we thought, what greater way than to ride through Florida for three hours and show people, you know, we know what’s going on in the country. We’re heading to the bubble, and what is going on here, what Adam Silver has done here to get the league back, we are excited about that, but there’s something on our minds too. And we wanted to show people that as we come in — not just the Toronto Raptors, we represent the NBA — that there’s something that’s on the minds of all the players, and all the teams.”

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Toronto's players have been very appreciative of the team's efforts. For his part, Raptors swingman praised the team's front office for their commendable action:

“We didn’t know they were doing that, or at least I didn’t know,” Powell said.

“…They’ve been really quick to respond to the feedback from the players and being really proactive and making sure they’re behind us every step of the way. I thought the bus was really cool and the publicity that it got. Those are the types of little things that show where we stand, and we’re going to continue to take strides and steps forward and really effect some real change.”

Players and teams alike have expressed on numerous occasions how they intend to use the season restart as an avenue to carry on with their fight against social injustice in the nation. For their part, the Raptors have already provided concrete action towards this objective, and they certainly deserve praise for the same.

The Raptors are set to re-open their campaign on Friday, as the defending champs take on the Houston Rockets in a scrimmage game.