This past Saturday, before the football game between Beaumont and Sumner high schools at Gateway Tech, those in attendance saw something remarkable happen. The two teams on the field decided to join together in a tremendous pact.
There in the center of the field the two teams formed a single circle with players from each team standing next to a player from the other team to show their unity, their faith in each other, and a willingness and commitment to changing their lives for the better together.
I know because they told me they were going to do it, and I was there to see it too.
Many of you know it was only recently that a Sumner football player, Rahmel McNeil, was killed by a Beaumont student.
In the days before the game several men including myself, Sultan Muhammad (one of the most amazing resources in the region for reaching at-risk young men), Beaumont principal Mike Brown, St. Louis Public Schools Athletic Director Travis Brown and Assistant Director Martin Jenkins, and the coaches from both schools, met with all of these players.
We didn’t assign blame for what happened; we didn’t know because we weren’t there. We didn’t talk much about right or wrong. We talked about what is. We talked about life and what is at stake for them individually and collectively. We talked about our humanity and our history. Our effort was made to prevent further tragedy related to that incident.
Many of you also saw a picture in The St. Louis American of a young man being restrained from fighting at the funeral of that player whose life ended so senselessly. You know this was potentially an extremely volatile situation with these two groups of young men.
There is something else for you to know now. The same young man in that picture stood up, when we went to Sumner to address his team, and said this about it: “I’d like to apologize to my teammates and my community. That’s not what we’re about. After today I’m going to burn that picture and move on to make something out of my life.”
When we met with the young men at Beaumont, they expressed the same heartfelt wish to make a new community with each other and their brothers at Sumner.
Never lose sight of the humanity in these kids. They want to see an end to the violence and suffering that has shaped so many of their young lives. It is with our time, guidance, and unconditional commitment to helping them that many of them may have an opportunity to see that.
They saw it there on the field this past Saturday, where they led each other in a prayer for our community and for their future. Then they formed a single huddle, as one team, and on the count of three said, “Family!”
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