(light music) - Welcome to The Newsfeed, I'm Paris Jackson.

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier for America's pastime during the height of segregation in Jim Crow.

And the following decades, hundreds of black American baseball players joined Major League Baseball.

But in the 1990s, the number of black players in the league started dropping significantly.

A new documentary coming to Cascade PBS examines this trend that continues today.

Crystal Garrett, director of "Black to the Big", shares with me how her film is advocating for lasting change.

Tell us about the inspiration behind this film.

- "Black to the Bigs" was inspired by my kids' love for the game.

I wasn't really into baseball until they started playing, and I just grew this passion for the game.

And I came across an article about the decline of blacks in Major League Baseball, and I thought, huh, that's interesting, who knew?

If you look at like 1981, the percentage of black players in MLB was like 18.7%.

Fast forward to 2023, '24, it's below 7%, so that makes you question, okay, is it an issue of access or representation or opportunity?

The idea is to explore the root causes of the decline and shed some light on how we can reverse that trend.

And I think MOB is efforting towards doing that.

There are very few blacks who are GMs, who are managers, who are coaches, and that's a problem because if you don't have people who look like you in those roles, they're not looking for you to participate in the sport.

- Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and back then baseball had a strong tie to black American life, but today things have changed.

What do you think has spurred this change?

- Baseball used to be a hand me down sport.

You had fathers and sons playing the game out in the backyards, developing that early love for the game.

That's one thing, but you also have the rise of basketball and football.

People love the game, it's culturally relevant.

They also give scholarships and basketball and football, 100% scholarships.

Baseball's not the same.

NCAA only gives 11.7 scholarships for a roster of 30 plus people.

And so if I have a child that plays multiple sports, I'm naturally going to say, hey, let's go with basketball or football, 100% scholarship.

- This film examines America's consciousness around race integration and other prominent themes.

Did you set out to do that when you were creating it?

- I wouldn't say that I set out to do that, but you can't have a conversation about inequality or lack of representation without discussing race or bias, so it kind of naturally led to that.

- The film is currently streaming right now, and it's gonna be broadcast on Cascade PBS on Jackie Robinson Day.

What is the significance in that for you?

- Jackie Robinson, when he broke the color barrier, you had this rise of black players coming into the league.

Well, now it's the lowest it's ever been since Jackie Robinson's historic breakthrough.

That's why I thought, I think this would be a great day to start a discussion about this issue.

For me, this was not nostalgia.

This is more about the future of baseball and young black kids feeling like they can play a part in it.

- A recent story examines the impacts of the higher minimum wage in some Washington cities and counties, some of which are the highest in the country at over $20.

Some workers say the pay increases provide stability, but researchers say the higher wages can come with trade-offs and aren't a silver bullet solution to the region's fundamental unaffordability.

To read more about this story and others, head to cascade pbs.org.

I'm Paris Jackson.

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Go to cascadepbs.org for more great local coverage.