The upcoming Prime Video documentary Power of the Dream examines the watershed moment when the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream defied team owner Kelly Loeffler and publicly supported her opponent, Reverend Raphael Warnock, in their closely contested 2020 special election race for a U.S. Senate seat.
During the height of civil unrest in the wake of the unjust killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, many WNBA players wore Black Lives Matter or Say Her Name t-shirts to bring awareness and show support. In July 2020, Loeffler wrote a letter to WNBA brass expressing her opinion that players should not be allowed to wear the shirts and make political statements of the sort.
“Getting to the bubble felt like a win, and then we get smacked in the face with Kelly Loeffler’s letter,” WNBA star and documentary producer Sue Bird told Sports Business Journal. “Saying she didn’t want us to have Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name [Breonna Taylor], anywhere involved in the season. I can vividly remember being like, ‘That’s bulls—. What do you mean? You own a WNBA team. You know exactly who we are, you know exactly what we represent.’”
With the league being made up of more than 80 percent Black women, the WNBA has long used its voice to advocate for social justice and Bird says this instance was no different.
Directed and co-produced by Dawn Porter, along with fellow producers Tracee Ellis Ross, and WNBA stars Nneka Ogwumike and Bird, the documentary features firsthand accounts of the moment from a number of players that took part including Bird, Angel McCoughtry, and Layshia Clarendon as well as media personalities like Jemele Hill and Holly Rowe.
Power of the Dream will premiere on Prime Video on June 18.
Check out the trailer below.
