Story and photos by Rachel Gittleman
Six-year-old Andrea could hardly wait for the chalk to be unwrapped. Once it was, she fervently began to draw a blue stick figure as she told me about her kindergarten year and birthday.
A little girl nicknamed Ladybug, along with her cousins, Gio and Maria, joined Andrea. They giggled as they traced Gio’s outline on the blacktop. When a moon bounce castle was set up, the four of them disappeared into it, only to reappear when hot dogs were ready later in the evening.
Nearby, teams of three competed against one another on soccer fields and basketball courts. New teams continued to register, coming up with team names such as the Crusty Biscuits. Parents and younger children sat on the bleachers, cheering and chatting. A group of friends sat behind the basketball hoop, resting from their first game while waiting for their next one. Two brothers played Jenga next to a group of girls jumping rope to the beat of the music that filled the park.
This was the scene at Guadalupe Reyes Park (locally known as Boogie Park) on Friday, July 19. The gang violence nearby has caused the park to be largely vacant for the past decade. However, for two Friday afternoons in July, Boogie Park was filled with sports, music, games, and smiles as Pilsen children, youth, and parents took part in the annual Resurrection Basketball League (RBL) hosted by The Resurrection Project (TRP) and local volunteers.
In its 14th season, RBL is hosted in various parks throughout Pilsen every Friday evening of the summer. RBL promotes peace and fights gang violence by taking over gang hotspots in parks and street corners and hosting an afternoon of games, music, food, and friendship.
The need for such programs became even clearer when a 14-year-old boy made his way to RBL with a rock in his backpack. The rock, he said, was to protect himself from gang violence because he worried about crossing from one gang territory into another.
This boy didn’t want his fear of gang violence to keep him or his friends from an event they looked forward to. So he, along with 62 other area youth, created and signed a petition to bring RBL to a park near them. The petitions stated that many youth are unable to get to RBL because it involves crossing gang lines and territories.
“To see the group of young boys walk up to us at an RBL game with sheets of petitions signed by youth and saying ‘We want RBL at our park too’ was simply heartwarming,” says Jessica Alcazar, TRP’s Elev8 Data Coordinator.
As a result of the petition, TRP changed the location of its August 9 tournament from the Zócalo in Pilsen to Throop Park, marking the first time RBL will take place there.
“I find it amazing how the youth of Pilsen decided to petition for such a big move,” says Alcazar. “I strongly believe that we did the right thing by moving one of the RBL games to Throop Park. This goes to show the youth that if you speak out, you will get heard and action will be taken.”
RBL in Throop Park took place this past Friday, August 9, and was a resounding success.
The last RBL tournament of the summer will be held on August16 in Pilsen’s Zócalo (1818 S. Paulina).

Return to Nueva Vida August 2013 here.