A basketball game is bringing kids, law enforcement, grieving families, and teachers together in Racine. This is now an annual event, organized by Nakeyda Haymer. She's the violent crime reduction coordinator for Racine County and the state lead for Voices of Black Mothers United.
Weeks ago, reporter Symone Woolridge stopped by Jerstad-Agerholm (J.A), a K8 school in Racine, to meet with Haymer, student Gabriella Bernal, teacher Antwon Oliver, and community connector Johnny Ford.
The group of four is involved in the game, 'Bigger Than Basketball' and can relate to conversations about violence and loss.
Haymer lost her brother to gun violence in 2017. She spends a lot of her time sharing with kids and families, ways to deal with grief and loss.
"You can find a purpose in that, whether it be serving your community, preventing it from other people and just finding a positive way to keep your loved ones' name alive," Haymer said. "When you have a dad or parent who was killed when you were a baby, you're more likely to be traumatized or victimized and I think a lot of that stuff is going untreated until they start to exhibit those symptoms."
Haymer said her job is to stop it before they do.
"She's not a Racine native but the few years she's been here she's done more than people have ever done their whole life," Jerstad community connector Johnny Ford said.
Ford supports Haymer's mission 100 percent, especially because he can relate to what a lot of students and families are going through.
"I wasn't the best kid," Ford said.
There were changes to his personal life— like divorce and loss— that shifted his lifestyle.
"My mother had to go from not working to finding a job and we were kind of raising ourselves and that's like 99 percent of the community today where the kids are trying to get it by themselves, and I get that. I want to be able to help pour into that and be that figure that might not be in their household."
Ford grew up in church and had days where he wish he'd hadn't. But through tough times, his faith has grown tremendously. He is now a pastor and has worked in middle and high schools for over 20 years as a hall monitor and now as the community connector.
This is a new role at Jerstad.
"Something like, if the child is sick and the parent doesn't have a way to pick them up, I will drop them off," Ford said.
Ford has a great relationship with his students. While walking around Jerstad, Woolridge understood the connection between Ford and students. It became clear.
The respect and love was obvious.
"You good?" Ford said as a student walked past him.
"Man, you swear you're fly with all these selfies (you take)," Ford said to another student who swiped through some photos he showed from his cell phone.
"What are you rocking today?" Ford said to a student on his way to class.
These are just parts of some of the conversations Ford had while our camera was recording in the hallway.
The students are comfortable with him.
He said his passion is helping kids, in any and every way. Ford often works with Haymer. She visits Jerstad several times a week. Hamer is trying to reach every kid she can, to really spread the message of peace.
The 'Bigger Than Basketball' game is only in its first few years but it has certainly made a big impact.
"I have had people from the community and people from other schools ask to play."
"They're excited," Eighth-grade capstone teacher Antwon Oliver said. "Every day they're like when is she coming back? Is the game still going on? Is the game still going on?"
This is a new class at Jerstad-Agerholm that Mr. Oliver teaches. The purpose is to get kids involved in the community to learn more about the neighborhoods where their peers live and to share potential opportunities they have after graduation.
"Being from Racine, I have seen a lot of violence. Just from growing up and being here," Mr. Oliver said. "Having lost people, yeah. It definitely hit home a lot."
Gabriella Bernal is one of Mr. Oliver's students. He said she is normally one of his quiet students in class, so when it was time for kids to step up and participate in roles for the game, he was surprised but proud of Brenal for stepping up.
She decided to be the team's spokesperson.
This is something new this year. Haymer said its purpose is to really get students involved in the process so they gain independence, skill, and understanding.
"There is a host when you greet everyone that comes in," Bernal said. "There's a cleanup crew. When everybody leaves they clean after the game. The setup crew, they set everything."
Her teacher, Mr. Oliver will be one of the players in the game. As a former basketball player, he said this is a way he can give back, involving two things he loves— the sport and his students.
"I will for sure be playing in the game," he said.
"You'll be light on the kids?," Symone asked.
No. I will not be light on the kids. No," he joked. "No mercy."
The students will also play with several people who work in law enforcement.
"It's really just to show officers in a different light. To show them as humans, show them as participants, players, and teammates. It's not about the score or anybody winning. It's about us coming together as a community and making a difference."
There will be a moment of silence to honor victims. All funds raised will go towards similar community events and will help other families in crisis impacted by violence.
More of Johnny Ford's story:
The year 2022 is one Johnny Ford will never forget.
"Everybody was screaming and yelling and I'm still standing up I'm getting ready to read the committal to put the young man in the ground and then I heard somebody scream out, 'They shot me.' And then it was some other guns coming down so I hit the ground.
Ford lived to tell his story.
Just minutes after a shooting during a funeral in Racine, Johnny stood up, off the ground and continued what he said God called him to do.
"One of the young ladies asked me she said, "Pastor Johnny, can we still bury my cousin? And one of the police officers said no you can't do that but I knew one of the police officers and he said Johnny how long would it take? I said about three minutes so he fanned the guy off and he let us continue," he said. "I put my hand on the coffin and there was three bullets that had hit the top of the coffin that if I wouldn't of hit the ground they would've hit me in the gut. I might not be here today."
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