Civil rights leaders angered by canceled meeting with Hawks CEO

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• Rev. Markel Hutchins

About a dozen civil rights leaders yesterday showed up at Philips Arena to chat with Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin for a scheduled meeting. They were surprised — and outraged — to find out that their sit-down had been canceled without being notified.

The meeting had been requested following racial remarks made by both Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson, who in 2012 sent an email to officials stereotyping the team’s black fanbase, and General Manager Danny Ferry, who last June made disparaging remarks about NBA forward Luol Deng. After the team launched an investigation after another co-owner complained about Ferry’s comments, Levenson disclosed his email and announced that he would sell the team in response. Koonin has disciplined Ferry with an undisclosed punishment.

On Tuesday, Rev. Markel Hutchins, a community activist who once acted as a spokesman for (and later sued) the family of Kathryn Johnston, spoke with Koonin to confirm the meeting. Upon the sitdown’s cancellation, the group took turns expressing their frustrations - Hutchins even went as far as to compare the Hawks leadership to plantation owners - at a press conference outside the meeting. WABE’s Michelle Wirth shares some details about what happened:

Reverend Markel Hutchins said the fact the meeting did not take place is symptomatic of what he believes is the culture within the Hawks.

“Evidentally as we suspected there is a culture of disrespect and disregard for people of color who can do anything other than run up and down the basketball court and make the administration of the Hawks millions and millions of dollars.”

Hutchins said on Tuesday a public relations official for the Hawks asked for the meeting to be postponed. However, Hutchins said he told the official since Koonin originally scheduled the meeting he would have to call and personally cancel. Hutchins says that didn’t happen so civil rights leaders showed up at Phillips Arena. He says leaders planned to ask for Danny Ferry to be fired or resign due to racial comments he made about free agent Luol Deng during a June conference call.

“There is no way that a man who uses the kind of language and holds the kind of sentiments that he does should be the general manager of the basketball team in the home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the cradle of the American civil rights movement.”

Hawks spokesman Garin Narain insisted the Hawks CEO still intended to meet with the group of civil rights leaders.

“This conversation is a priority for us,” Narain said in a statement. “We are committed to having this meeting and will work with community leaders to reschedule as soon as possible. We ask our community to work with us, be patient with us, and help us heal.”

Following their demonstration, the civil rights activists staged a sit-in inside the Philips Arena lobby that lasted for about 15 minutes. According to WSB-TV, the protesters left once a security guard informed them that Hawks exec was not planning to speak with them.