Level Playing Field

When it began in the 1980s, Midnight Basketball League aimed to curb escalating crime rates by offering programming outside of school to keep young people safe and off the streets. But when Bill Clinton decides to leverage it for the controversial 1994 Crime Bill, the initiative is suddenly thrust into the center of a political and racial divide.

After an intense dive into the events precipitating the NCAA's 1950s creation of the term "student-athlete," the landmark decision is linked to a more recent phenomenon: modern corporations' purposeful misclassification of workers to avoid calling them employees.

Underlying the excitement and prestige of the multi-billion-dollar thoroughbred racing industry are an estimated 77,000 essential backstretch workers, most of whom are Central American immigrants. But when the Trump administration shifts policy, the need for immigration and visa reform reaches a fever pitch.

Amid growing concern over state leadership and historic momentum in the fight towards racial equity, players on the WNBA's Atlanta Dream join their fellow athletes in using their platforms to speak out against injustice, spearheading an unprecedented effort to drive their audiences to Georgia's polls in the 2020 election.