In the summer of 2020, the entire world was in a state of stagnation and fear.
The COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging and there seemed to be no end in sight. As if that wasn’t enough, America, in particular, was in the thick of a long-overdue racial reckoning following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery by police. Not to mention, it was a contentious election year.
With everything shut down, everybody masked up and with very little to do, athletes took on the task of getting involved politically in a way that hadn’t been seen since the 1960s and 1970s, when the likes of Muhammad Ali, Curt Flood, Billie Jean King, Bill Russell and Arthur Ashe defined athlete activism. In 2020, athletes were in the streets leading marches, regularly using social media to call for justice, encouraging fans to vote and willingly sacrificing a pay day to take a stand.
Such activism was embodied by the 144 players in the WNBA, as captured in the new Prime Video documentary Power of the Dream, directed by Dawn Porter and produced by Sue Bird’s production company, TOGETHXR. The film features WNBA players Bird, Elizabeth Williams, Layshia Clarendon and Nneka Ogwumike, along with social and cultural commentator Jemele Hill, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe, WNBPA executive…
