Hoop Bus travels across US on mission to inspire children through basketball

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The Hoop Bus is on a mission for justice.

"The Hoop Bus is amplifying the movement of Black Lives Matter and uniting communities to the game of basketball," said Nick Ansom.

The Hoop Bus went from an abandoned bus collecting dust to a basketball traveling machine. This trip from Venice Beach to Washington D.C. has stops along the way including Raleigh.

"We're seeing some change in our country and we're excited to see more and keep momentum," said Ansom. "Fight against social injustice, dunk on racism and hoop for justice."

"For the kids it means the world," said Phree Hester. "For them this is like the biggest pizza party, birthday party all in one package. They are able to come play basketball. Most of them have been locked in the house for three, four, five months now and haven't been able to go outside. We are bringing the basketball courts to them and allowing them to play basketball in a safe way. We have hand sanitizer, we have masks for them."

The Hoop Bus is hoping to inspire kids from a young age to be activists uniting them through basketball, community and art.

"That's the anthem of this tour," Hester said. "Get people to jump on board and to stand with us and understand we're coming to bring for equality and justice for everybody and Black Lives Matter is going to make sure we remember these people's names and we're going to get justice for those people."

Sunday, the Hoop Bus concludes its tour with the grand finale in D.C. - showing off a court they built in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.