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WNBA playerElizabeth Williamsof the Atlanta Dream remembers watching the documentaryWith Drawn Armsin early September in the bubble.
The games resume tonight, the WNBA said in a statement at that time.
The fight for justice and equality never stops.
To hear it from Williams,With Drawn Armsarrived as something close to the perfect film for thatpost-Kaepernickcultural moment.
It was a reminder about why all this started how symbolic it was, says Williams.
There were teams in the bubble that took a knee and raised their fists.
That was Tommie Smiths form of protest.
And its been consistently seen in protests now for a lot of Black people.
With Drawn Arms,however, closes the loop on Smithsheros journey.
Initially intending to re-dimensionalize Smith through art, Kaino connected with the athlete via a mutual friend.
I would see him slip into a talk track that he was conditioned to tell about the story.
I felt, Im hearing the same story that 50 other journalists over the past 35 years have heard.
I really tried to get us into a generative space where we were going to do something new together.
We didnt set out necessarily to make a film about what was happening politically, Shahidi says.
It told us that this was an important story to get back to.
It also features an interview with the late civil rights heroJohn Lewisand the on-camera participation of Colin Kaepernick.
I can answer that question in two different ways, says Kaino, a fourth generation Japanese-American.
I can tell you my credentials fighting for civil rights ever since I was a young person.
Were really trying to tell an intersectional story with an intersectional team.
Adds Shahidi: Were telling the story alongside the man rather than using archival material.
I think Tommie chose us more than we chose Tommie.
