Basketball Diaries

26"h x 32"w framed acrylic and ink on mixed media panel 2025 signed en verso "It was a classic rumble at the Webster School schoolyard, 8 versus 21. A kid got fouled during a basketball game, who then fouled the other kid. A small scuffle started after both fouls and the first kid said he would come back. Well, he did come back – with 20 kids in tow. There were only 8 kids waiting in the schoolyard. I would have been the 9th person from the neighborhood crew but because I lived down the block from the schoolyard, they didn’t want me to have problems with the other 21 kids who were from a gang in Union City. So, even though more manpower was needed I obliged and watched from outside the chain link fence.  My homies held their own.  One of them had a baseball bat hidden in their jacket, which broke a U.C. kids' jaw. They started throwing bottles and my friends evaded them like a game of dodge balls. Once I heard the sirens I fled into my crib, only to return to the schoolyard the next day and get surrounded by 32 kids.  Lucky for me, one of the gang members knew I didn't participate in the rumble, so I didn't get my ass kicked." -Sean 9 Lugo