The Walkout: A Florida baseball team's battle - against itself. (Full Documentary)

#Documentary #InvestigativeJournalism #espn

Fort Myers High School baseball players staged a walkout on their own teammates six weeks after an assistant coach sent a text message to the team that included a racial slur. The culture wars playing out in Florida schools over the teaching of race and culture, book banning and more, are in full effect in Lee County, and they exploded in real time during the 2023 baseball season, tearing the team apart.

The fallout continues, with the filing of two federal discrimination lawsuits, including one by former Major League Baseball player Michael Tucker, whose son is on the team. Using exclusive interviews, cell phone videos, public records and body camera footage from police, ESPN senior writer Howard Bryant and director Nicole Noren explore what led to the walkout in this investigative documentary. It’s a film about the players, parents and program who were affected and what this situation can teach about divisiveness in America and its effect on young people.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction to Madrid Tucker and Tate Reilly
2:35 The Text
14:09 The Walkout
20:33 The Aftermath

***Content warning: This program contains descriptions of hate speech and content that some viewers may find upsetting. Viewer discretion is advised.

To learn more about this story, please go to the report by Howard Bryant on ESPN.com: https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/...
ESPN Daily podcast episode: https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/...

Copyright @ 2024 ESPN, Inc. All rights reserved.

Credits:
Reporter/Producer: Howard Bryant
Director/Producer/Writer: Nicole Noren
Editor: Jessica Foster
Sr. Executive Producer: Chris Buckle
Executive Producers: Rayna Banks, Jena Janovy
Associate Producer: Lyndsey Armacost
Cinematography: John Paluzzi, Pete Gill, Sara Swan, Tommy Bartlett
Camera Operator: Josh Therriault, Michael Olszewski
Production Audio: Randy Sparrazza, Jack Neu, Daniel Gomez, Steve Nelson
Motion Design: Nick Waligorski
Research Manager: John Mastroberardino
Photo Editor: Jessi Dodge
Sound Design and Mixer: David Jaunai
Legal: Peter Scher
ESPN Creative Studio: Emeka Anene, Michelle Bashaw, Robert Booth, Nick Galac, Kady Lawson, Eric Paul, Renata Sedzimir
Video/Photo Courtesies: WZVN, Amanda Inscore – USA TODAY Sports, MLB Network, Getty Images, Fort Myers High baseball parents and players, School District of Lee County (FL), Fort Myers Police Department

#CultureWars #Florida #FortMyersHigh #YouthSports #HighSchoolBaseball

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