Clippers' Davis vies for Emmy for gang documentary

Dear Emmy voters, Baron Davis regrets to inform you that he won't be able to attend the awards ceremony for his documentary film on L.A. gang life.

By then, he'll be busy with his other passion.

The Los Angeles Clippers point guard will already be at training camp when the Emmy awards for news and documentaries are handed out in New York City next Monday.

From afar, though, he'll be rooting for the film "Crips and Bloods: Made in America," which is up for best documentary. Davis served as executive producer, putting up the money and providing entree into a world that he escaped from - largely because of basketball - but hasn't forgotten.

"This is very prestigious," Davis said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We've really been able to tackle a subject that's kind of been picked on, but we've been able to tackle it and really shed some light on it from both sides of the spectrum. We want to let people formulate their own opinions about what's going on in this country and in the impoverished communities."

The 31-year-old Davis longs to be more than just a star athlete. He believes he can be an agent for social change, which is why he decided to form a production company, Verso Entertainment, and pushed to make the film about two of America's most notorious gangs.

He hopes the documentary, which was first released in 2008, sheds light on the root causes of gang life, a world of hopelessness and despair that often leads youngsters to believe they have no other options. It is narrated by Academy Award winner Forrest Whitaker and includes interviews gang members and NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown - who works with inner-city youngsters.