Young people and law enforcement — including the Dallas police chief — faced off at South Oak Cliff High School in a yearly game of basketball Friday night. In the bleachers, portraits of loved ones who had been lost to violence stood in rows. The crowd was celebratory.
“This is what community looks like,” said Dallas City Council member Maxie Johnson, who represents District 4 in the South Oak Cliff area.
On its fifth anniversary, the annual game hosted by nonprofit No More Violence is meant to form connections between youths and law enforcement, while also creating a space for those grieving a loved one lost to violence. With the tradition started in 2021, officers and youth were tied, each having won two times in the years prior.
Johnson was among the attendees to have lost someone. His 22-year-old son, Christopher, was killed in 2019. You don’t get over it, he said, but he understands how parents feel.
“We say that our children are supposed to bury us,” Johnson said. “We’re not supposed to bury our children. But being a leader, you have to heal sometimes … I want them to know that I’m still here.”
The game brings together not just those from South Oak Cliff High School, but also community members from other southern Dallas schools and several organizations. The game comes at a time of year when violent crime tends to rise nationally. This year, the MVP trophy was dedicated to Dallas officer Darron Burks, a former math teacher who was fatally shot in a brazen attack last summer while sitting in his patrol car at For Oak Cliff, a community center.
Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux donned a No. 31 jersey — as he became the 31st Dallas police chief in April — and took to the court with other officers, including the team’s coach, Assistant Chief Catrina Shead. Law enforcement lost the game, with the community team taking the win 71-59.
In a statement, the chief said playing in the game “meant everything,” adding that sometimes being present means lacing up his sneakers.
“Community engagement is about building trust and making sure our encounters with our communities aren’t only negative ones,” Comeaux said. “We came out tonight for the connection, not the competition. I had a blast, even though my team lost!”
The chief is “the ultimate piece to this game,” allowing the officers to play, said Derrick Battie, a South Oak Cliff graduate and star of the high school’s state championship basketball team. He and his brother both have played in the NBA.
When Battie returned to Oak Cliff, he began advocating for reducing violence in his community, including serving on the Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities. The environment of basketball could help everyone feel more comfortable talking with police about ideas and solutions to reducing violence “without the badge, without the gun.”
Officers make mistakes, and sometimes youths do as well, Battie said. That becomes a problem when there isn’t a relationship between the two. The game is a better way to get to know community officers, rather than through traffic stops, family arguments or other encounters, he said.
“Let’s be honest, many of these youths don’t have that positive experience with law enforcement, for whatever reason, and you stand on the line that everybody’s created equal,” Battie said.
The games were put on and started after Patricia Allen, who founded nonprofit No More Violence, reached out to Battie. The nonprofit is aimed at helping families by pointing them to resources and community when they are dealing with an unexpected loss.
Allen started it after fellow church member April Richardson lost her son to violence. Allen said she hopes young people can see that there are officers who want to make an impact in their communities.
“There are some good officers out there that care about us,” Allen said. “They’re really concerned about us. They’re really going to have fun and enjoy the time that they have in their presence.”
The game also brings people who’ve lost loved ones together, and families who don’t know each other can be connected at events like the game, Allen said.
“Now, they have someone that they talk to, they call, they see and that’s a good benefit to know,” Allen said.
Phyllis Payne, who’d been helped by No More Violence, sat with several of her grandchildren at the game. She waved and greeted others she said had dealt with a loss. Payne said her son was killed in a shooting in 2018, leaving behind eight of her grandchildren. Allen was the one to answer her calls.
Now, she and others had built a network. Not only were they getting to relax and enjoy each other’s company, but her grandkids were getting to build a relationship with police, she said.
“It does not go away,” Payne said of her grief. But now she’s able to relate to others who share a similar pain. She also hopes the community sees the impact of violence and how it multiplies.
“People don’t realize the multitude of people that they hurt when they kill that one person,” Payne said.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.