A sociological experiment dreamed up by two Seattle fathers takes place on a High School basketball team and is deemed a success, but 20 years later would the conclusion be the same? Back in1986 the two fathers wondered, what would happen if we mixed inner city black kids with white kids from an elite Seattle private school, on one High School team. In “The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White” author Doug Merlino, who played on the team, returned to find his teammates and tell the stories of where their lives had gone from that experimental season in 1986.
Despite a league championship and a bounty of friendships formed, the questions remained: would exposure to prosperity give the black athletes hope for a life they never thought could be theirs? Would it give the white kids perspective into a different side of life? Would it change them for the long term or just for a season on the court?
“Mindful of the lessons of Du Bois, Dr. King, and others, Doug Merlino shatters post-race fantasies and bears witness to immigrant and African-American struggles, past and present, and weaves them into a captivating, unsentimental and sometimes tragic story of dreams realized, deferred and/or destroyed.”—Nigel Hatton, University of California, Merced
More than just a story about basketball, “The Hustle” takes a look at what happens after the Hollywood ending, deep into issues that continue to plague America.
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