Building Bridges Through Basketball

Working to build reconciliation between people is what Chicago West Side Christian School has been about for many years.

Last week, this took the form of a basketball game between students at the school and some members of the Chicago Police Department.

The game occurred at a time of festering racial tensions in the community following the release of a video late last year showing a Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke, shooting Laquan McDonald. a young black man, 16 times.

I had a chance last Friday, on the day after the game, to visit the school for a project I am working on. And I happened to be there as teachers and students were smiling and excited that the game had made it on three local TV stations.

“Everyone is really happy about it,” said Mary Post, co-principal of Chicago West Side, which is affiliated with Lawndale Christian Reformed Church, whose congregation meets in the school auditorium.

“This is an example of the things that our school has done over the years — we want to do what we can to help heal problems in our community,” said Post.

Located in the low-income West Chicago neighborhood of Lawndale, the school emerged from a struggle that began 50 years ago, when black parents attending Lawndale CRC tried to enroll their children in Timothy Christian School, an all-white Christian school in the nearby suburb of Cicero.

For various reasons that are complex and cause pain even today, the Timothy school board refused to admit the children. The issue eventually went before the CRC’s Synod 1968, which declared the board’s refusal as a form of racism and called the action sinful.

The matter was batted back and forth and even landed for a time in a U.S. federal court.Things were eventually settled — if you can call it that — when the Timothy board closed the school and moved it to the suburban community of Elmhurst, where Timothy already had a high school.

Again, it was a very painful time, and people in the CRC were deeply divided over what happened. But out of this came West Side Christian School.

The school itself struggled for several years as classes were held in the basement of Lawndale CRC, which met at that time across the street. But parents persevered, refusing to give up, believing deeply that a Christian school was needed in this part of Chicago.

In the early 2000s they held a fundraiser, and in 2004 they opened the new school — a living example that the struggle of so many years had taken the form of a modern, two-story facility with classrooms and space for the nearly 200 students now attending.

During my visit, I talked with Shelia Brooks, who is now an elder at Lawndale CRC and who raised three sons in the neighborhood. The basketball game, she said, was a great way to show people that this school and the church are all about making a way to create reconciliation between different sides.

“It wasn’t easy for me raising my sons in Lawndale,” she said. “There were times when the police weren’t anyone’s friend, but then there were times when you saw them save someone. I can say that they made a safe pathway for my sons.”

She appreciated the fact that the police were willing to show up for the basketball game and to see what is going on at the school. “I believe the church and school have done good things for Lawndale, and this was one way to let people know about that.”

James Wolf, pastor at Lawndale for nearly 30 years, told church members during a recent service that, regardless of what happened,  God loves both Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer, and McDonald, who was shot.

That comment, like the game itself, reflects the inclusive qualities of the church and school. Pastor Wolf told me that the basketball game offered the police a “soft landing” — an opportunity to show a different side of themselves in the current climate of distrust and protest.

“They didn’t have anyone screaming at them when they came here. It’s an example of how we function, of reaching out to people and working to build bridges,” he said.

During a break in my day, I wandered the halls and checked out an amazing display showing projects that students had done explaining how cells work in the human body.

One after another, the exhibits were creative and informative. I wondered which teacher had assigned this project.

I soon learned that it was Karen Trout, the eighth-grade science teacher. She also happened to be the person who coordinated the basketball game. “Our heart has been torn over all of the negative energy that came from that shooting,” said Trout.

The shooting occurred not far from the school. When the video of it appeared, protests broke out across the area. Trout, who has lived in Lawndale for 20 years, took part in some of them.

But she also grieved the fact that police officers who work hard in often difficult circumstances were being shown in a bad light.

Already having a connection at the local police district station, she contacted them to see if her eighth-grade students could come over and talk to the police, asking about the challenges of their work.

“They gave us an hour of their time,” said Trout. “They couldn’t talk about police procedures, but they shared openly and were vulnerable.”

Two days after the meeting, the basketball game was held in the large gymnasium of the school.

“It was really great. There was a mad love for these cops when they walked in the door,” said Trout. “There was a vast sharing of joy. There were lots of high fives.”

The kids and the cops played three-on-three at first and then ended the afternoon with a full-fledged, full-court game with students and police officers on each team.

Officer Jamil Brown, who works for the Chicago Police Department, told one of the TV stations, “You want to have CPD show the community that, You know what? We care.”

Near the end of the day I talked to Clarence “Doc” Taylor, who was practicing keyboard in the auditorium for the upcoming Sunday service. His sister is a Chicago police officer. He told me it’s important to remember that there are always people who do bad things — and sometimes that person is a cop.

He helped me realize that when all is said and done, it is all about grace; it is all about realizing we are all capable of sin. We all make bad choices and fall short.

The good thing is that there are places like the school and the church where we can learn about the God to whom we can turn and who offers comfort and forgiveness in our lives — especially in times of turmoil and trouble.