When much of the sports world came together in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the WNBA was at the forefront — and now their stars are recounting their fight for social justice in a new documentary.
New documentary, The power of sleepexplores how WNBA players united against Republican former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. The doc, which premieres on Prime Video next month, was produced by Dawn Porter, actress Tracee Ellis Ross, former WNBA star Sue Bird and current Seattle Storm player Nneka Ogwumike, and PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the trailer.
The battle between the players and Loeffler began in the summer of 2020, when the WNBA announced it would embrace the Black Lives Matter movement by allowing players to wear warmup uniforms bearing the movement’s name and slogans, including “Say Her Name” in honor of Breonna Taylor. Loeffler did, however, send a letter to commissioner Cathy Engelbert opposing the league’s decision, writing, “The truth is we need less — not more — politics in sports.”
The power of sleep.
Amazon Studios
“When Kelly made her statement, it was very disheartening knowing that she owns a team that is predominantly black women,” says former Dream player Elizabeth Williams in the announcement.
“The players are angry,” Bird, 43, recalls in the trailer, adding that the group was looking for “action-based” solutions at the time.
WNBA players want Sen. Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of Atlanta, out after speaking out against Black Lives Matter
Layshia Clarendon, a former Dream member who has been vocal about her disapproval of Loeffler’s ownership, says she and her teammates began researching incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, who ran against Loeffler, the Georgia incumbent.
Warnock, who sat down for an interview at the power of sleep, says the players were “putting it all on the line” in the trailer.
“This is a moment where it’s bigger than basketball,” Ogwumike says, as the trailer shows footage of players wearing “Vote Warnock” shirts during the 2020 season.
Eventually, Loeffler was removed from ownership of the organization, and former Dream player Renee Montgomery joined a three-member investor group consisting of Larry Gottesdiener, chairman of the board of real estate company Northland, and Northland president and chief operating officer Suzanne Abair to take over the team.
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Former Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler. Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty WNBA’s Atlanta Dream sells team from sen. Kelly Loeffler to new ownership including former player
In a statement to PEOPLE, Bird says he hopes viewers will take away “the power of banding together to achieve a goal” by watching the documentary.
“In this case, it was a pretty high goal. It was scary at times,” says Bird. “But what helped us was the strength-in-numbers aspect. Even at times when you felt maybe a little tired or a little weak, right? Or maybe, you know, you went through that intimidation. You always knew that you had people who support, behind the scenes, people next to you, people in front of you at times, whatever the case may be, and that’s really pulled us through,” the former Seattle Storm star added.
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Porter, who also directed the power of sleep, tells PEOPLE, “I think the power of the dream has so many meanings. There’s the actual dream of Atlanta, but there’s also the power of the vision that they had. It was a powerful vision and it was so clear that they could follow it.”
Porter says she was particularly moved by one moment in the document. “There’s a certain part in the movie where Layshia says, ‘I need a break.’ And Sue’s like, “We’ve got you.” And so you see they’re stronger, those women rely on each other. I think the movie shows all those things.
The power of sleep premieres June 18 on Amazon Prime Video.
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Source: HIS Education