Why do the Atlanta Hawks have "MLK" written on their jerseys?

The Atlanta Hawks announced their "city edition" jerseys at the beginning of the season and it featured the letters "MLK" on the chest. MLK stands for Martin Luther King Jr., a native of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in the Auburn Avenue community. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who was the primary spokesperson for the American Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and '60s.

Atlanta Hawks are the first team to wear a jersey featuring the words "MLK"

The @ATLHawks reveal their new 2020-21 City Edition jerseys honoring Martin Luther King Jr. 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/vQ5j0C83uG

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 4, 2020

The Atlanta Hawks hold the privilege of hosting an NBA game on MLK Day every season. This season they went one step further to show tribute to the civil rights icon and debuted their "city edition" jersey with the words "MLK". Profits from the jersey sales were distributed to the Atlanta community.

The MLK jerseys are of black, gold and white colors, in reference to Martin Luther King Jr.’s membership in the first black Greek-letter fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. The features throughout the uniform were inspired by architectural elements of churches. Moreover, King’s signature is on the authenticity tag at the bottom of the jersey.

Hawks city edition “MLK” jerseys pic.twitter.com/Z9IhffIsR1

— Master (@MasterTes) October 4, 2020

The stars at the bottom of the shorts represent the 22 times that Dr. King went to prison fighting against injustice and discrimination. The waistband displays the Atlanta Hawks’ logo encircled in black to symbolize "the continuous quest of the black community to achieve freedom and justice."

Atlanta Hawks star guard Trae Young spoke about the jerseys, saying,

"For us to be the team that wears [those] three letters on a chest, it was going to mean a lot to us...honoring him even more, I think it’s going to be even more special to the city and to our team"

Forward John Collins further added by saying,

"I feel like, for me, it just gives me a little bit of an edge, a little bit more of a chip to play harder, and prove to the city of Atlanta that we earned these letters as we’ve been pushing so hard to tell our fans"

The Atlanta Hawks announced that the Vatican reached out to their organization and asked for a jersey for the Pope. Pope Francis wanted to acknowledge the stance that NBA players were taking in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and pray a blessing over them.

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬. 🙌On Dr. King's birthday, @Pontifex blessed our 20-21 MLK Nike City Edition jersey to honor our shared commitment to making positive change in social equality, economic empowerment and love.🔗: https://t.co/ob7sSp0J9H#EarnTheseLetters pic.twitter.com/Hy8xts7t9y

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 15, 2021

Atlanta Hawks' "city edition" court

Atlanta Hawks' then head coach Lloyd Pierce spoke about his team representing those letters and honoring the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.,

"Dr. King is the first name you think of when you think of the city of Atlanta...And when you talk about City Edition, there’s nothing better that we can do to represent the city of Atlanta than rolling out some jerseys that represent Dr. King and the legacy of Dr. King...When you really understand some of the details of it as well, as I’m still learning, I think really people are going to be excited to have that jersey on and come to an Atlanta Hawks game"

Atlanta Hawks brand creative Shirley Zhang spoke about "city edition" jerseys while working alongside Nike for the design. She said the idea was a "no-brainer" and there isn't any better way to represent the city of Atlanta by celebrating one of the city's favorite sons, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.