SEATTLE — Gary Payton had a message for FIFA Men’s World Cup fans Friday.

Soccer’s governing body tapped the Sonics icon to deliver a Juneteenth message that was scheduled to air in the four stadiums holding matches, beginning with the U.S. men’s national team’s match against Australia at Seattle Stadium.

In a video clip filmed at Seattle’s Northwest African American Museum, Payton gives a brief education about June 19’s significance to U.S. Black people. The date in 1865 is when approximately 250,000 enslaved Africans in Texas were told slavery had been abolished in the Confederate states.

The notice was two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, part of the fault being a lack of enforcement. Black people held the first Freedom Day festivity in Texas in 1866 for the three million formally enslaved people in the confederate states.

“This day means freedom, Black liberation, joy, jubilation and celebration,” Payton says in the video. “Today we are definitely celebrating. This matchday gives us a chance to educate the world. Recognize players that paved the way for myself and many others and inspire the next generation.”

Mixed in a montage of Black history makers and Payton waving a Seattle FIFA World Cup scarf is a glimpse of former Seahawks legend Michael Bennett’s art installation “Night Chapel” at NAAM.

FIFA worked with each city to ensure the video is personalized for each stadium, featuring imagery specific to that city while recognizing the nationwide holiday and its importance. Seattle’s has shots of the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and the waterfront.

The Seattle video ends with motivational message from Payton.

“Here in Seattle, we’re cheering on the U.S. men’s national team as they take on Australia,” he says with the enthusiasm that rallied crowds at KeyArena back in the day. “You know what? Let’s go! Welcome to Seattle.”

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