The Wrongful Firing of a Public Employee
And the "politician" who smiled for New York Times cameras.
Full Court Peace has repaired over 200 basketball courts worldwide. We work in Jordan with Syrian Refugees, in Cuba, in the Dominican Republic, in Wyoming with Natives, in Austin, Denver and Petaluma, all over Connecticut, and of course, in the toughest parts of New York City.
This is our second year working in a particular Bronx neighborhood. It’s also our last.
We are often approached by politicians who want to use our work to bolster their reputations. Our policy is to ignore their requests; our mission, founded in Belfast, is to not take sides, but to instead do good work directly for people who love basketball.
It was our honor to repair Rucker Park in 2020. It put us on the map enough that we did three other NYC courts soon thereafter.
In 2022, we received a call from a councilman representing a big housing project in the Bronx. He told us how grateful he’d be if we could push his court to the front of the line.
A compassionate and kind NYCHA employee did everything in his power to get us permission to do the work. We donated the backboards, and two paint jobs. We sponsored their uniforms, too, which were not cheap.
We were happy to do it, as the court’s centerpiece personality was motivated to boost his community’s social capital. He’s a local hero.
That NYCHA employee was fired. Why? It apparently took too long for us to get the green light to do the work.
Would it have been done without his help? Consider this:
The councilman didn’t do much compared to the NYCHA employee in order to make it all happen. He didn’t show up to paint, he didn’t donate any funds to help our small organization, and he never even once said ‘thank you.’ But today you’ll find him smiling in a robustly circulated newspaper, taking all of the credit.
He’s no hero. The local people are, and the former NYCHA employee is the one that made it all happen by cutting through red tape, working overtime and paying attention to details.