Gerard Gray, 17, Uptown, Magnolia Projects. Now lives on St Patrick Street. Used to play at Shakespeare Park (covered in FEMA trailers
It wasn’t about making yourself look good, but making your team mates better. I love every moment I play, like a job.
Katrina came and we had to relocate and our team wasn’t winning, some players couldn’t play till January cause we had missed school. Before the storm I used to play in the park, but now they have trailers on our park, and our coach they wouldn’t let him coach anymore so there ain’t no more park ball. I never played for a school before, now after Katrina I’m trying to bounce back and play ball, possibly get a scholarship.
There ain’t no telling what I would be doing out there if I wasn’t at practice. It stopped me from doing negative things. I thank coach for making my life better.
One of my friends is a drug dealer and he wanted to give me drugs so I could sell them. Probably if I wasn’t playing basketball and so into it I would probably be out there like him, where he is, but he ain’t out there right now cause he got caught, he is in jail now, serving time for drugs. If I wasn’t playing basketball I would be in jail with him serving the same time.
The game has been there for me since I was little kid. I try to help little kids with the game, help them with their dribble, so they can be better, so they can play basketball so they don’t grow up in New Orleans doing negative things.
We got a lot of positive things going on here besides the food and music, its not just negative things here. We have overcome a lot, we are bouncing back from Katrina, at first it was cluttered up there was a lot of people who weren’t happy, everyone is friends now, we overcoming a lot, we got put out in Texas but we got a house now here, we got our stuff back from Texas, everyone is coming together as one, we are doing positive things, not the negative things from the past before
Interview by Will Steacy
All photos courtesy of -Wyatt Gallery
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