North Bay information: Lakers basketball video games Saturday to boost racism consciousness, increase cash for BIPOC bursary

Nipissing Lakers’ annual anti-racism basketball video games are again this weekend when the boys’s and ladies’s groups take to the court docket towards the Laurentian Voyageurs.

The ‘With1VoiceNight: Shoot for Change’ video games assist increase funds for a college bursary for deserving Black, Indigenous, and different college students of color whereas additionally elevating consciousness in regards to the racism marginalized minorities face.

Taijon Graham at all times hoped his basketball initiative can be a success. Graham is president of the Nipissing College Black Affiliation For Scholar Expression (NUBASE) and is a Lakers’ participant.

“It is at all times been my imaginative and prescient to see this sport develop,” he stated.

Began final winter, Graham got here up ‘With1VoiceNight: Shoot for Change’ to boost consciousness of racism and discrimination minorities — specifically Black college students — face whereas additionally elevating funds to start out a bursary for college kids who’re Black, Ingenious or folks of color.

“I actually hope that this sport will proceed to deliver ahead these points and preserve this dialog going,” Graham stated.

He stated he’s appreciative of his teammates’ help and the help from the ladies’s group. The occasion has unfold all through the league. Brock, Guelph, Laurentian, McMaster, Ontario Tech and Windsor universities now all take part.

“For different colleges to choose it up, it is actually thrilling,” Graham stated.

“We simply had a sport towards Guelph a pair days in the past and it is actually thrilling … It reveals that we’re all hoping to become involved and make a distinction.”

All through the video games, there can be a raffle for Toronto Raptors tickets and Toronto Raptors signed jerseys, with the proceeds going to the bursary.

“The college itself has raised $300,000 for BIPOC scholarships,” stated Nipissing College president and vice-chancellor Kevin Wamsley.

“The entire community has been working collectively to extend alternatives.”

Final yr’s video games raised greater than $18,000.

“We’re very happy with our student-athletes who do nicely on the court docket, they do nicely within the classroom they usually do nicely in social justice actions and that’s precisely the precise system that we’re on the lookout for,” stated Wamsley.

Graham is hoping within the coming years, the cash raised can be used to create extra bursaries.

The video games are set for Saturday night. The ladies’s group performs at 6 p.m. and the boys’s tip-off at 8 p.m.

Nipissing College college students and youngsters beneath age 12 get in free. Grownup tickets are $10.

Extra data on the sport and buy tickets will be discovered here.