Race for Peace uses fun to bring police and community together in peace, not conflict
“In 2016, I looked at my grandson, who was 3 years old then and I wanted for him to have the same relationship with law enforcement that I have,” said founder Andrew Howell.
Could playing together help end police violence?
Founder of Race for Peace Andrew Howell is convinced the answer is yes. That’s why Friday night, Five-O and the Darby Recreation Center All-Stars went head to head on the court at Lower Merion High School for their seventh annual basketball game.
Race for Peace is an antiracist, antiviolence, antidiscrimination organization that brings law enforcement and community members together to help each go beyond stereotypes. The group runs on donations, Howell said, such as use of Lower Merion High School’s Kobe Bryant Gymnasium. The organization’s motto is: “Communication, understanding, and trust are forged during times of PEACE, not during times of conflict and stress.”
For Daren Swain, community engagement officer with the Lower Merion Police Department, the idea is to “build rapport with the community by collaborating with organizations already invested in the community and already at a grassroots level.”
Five-O, which was composed of officers from the Lower Merion and Haverford Police Departments, jumped out to an early lead, but the Darby Recreation team won the first game. The youngest players were divided between the two teams to ensure everyone had playing time.
“I play all the time but not with kids, and I haven’t played with little kids,” said a tired Ryan McByrne, an officer with the Lower Merion Police Department. “It was great. It made us a little more human.”
The basketball game was the last event for 2022, Howell said, and the group will start back up next spring. A general contractor by profession, Howell said the group is like his hobby. “Some people play video games, I do Race for Peace.”
“I didn’t want to beg for money,” Howell said. “[I take] whatever I get from the heart and make it happen.”
The group started with a concern about his only grandson in the light of police violence. Howell was especially shaken by the 2015 death of Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in her cell three days after being arrested for a traffic stop in Texas. According to a 2015 police violence report, 1,105 people were killed in police shootings in the United States that year. Over 480 people have been killed by police this year.
“In 2016, I looked at my grandson, who was 3 years old then and I wanted for him to have the same relationship with law enforcement that I have,” Howell said. “We want to see the positive side of the police.”
Howell’s work with about 10 police departments in the five-county area, including those in Upper Darby, Bensalem, and Radnor as well as Philadelphia, stems from his NAACP volunteer work in the late 1990s, helping organize job fairs that included the suburban police departments and school districts. These contacts have helped him host over 40 events in the last six years throughout the five-county area.
But Howell is no stranger to violence. Race for Peace helped host a Halloween party this year with the 35th Police District at Stenton Park Recreation Center, and it brought back memories of his daughter who overdosed and died on Mischief Night in 2017.
Then his son was murdered in Frankford in 2019.
“My daughter was 27 and my son was 32. They were in the prime of their life. I was going to quit the Race for Peace, but for some odd reasons I enjoy doing it.”
Born and raised in West and North Philadelphia, Howell said he got into minor trouble as a child but nothing that resulted in police involvement.. He played in community and school-based basketball leagues and started coaching basketball about 10 years ago at the Darby Borough Recreation Center. Many of those youths showed up for the game Friday night.
“No matter how you look at it, law enforcement is part of the community and when you separate them, it makes problems,” Howell said, “There are a lot more people who stand with police.”
“It was comfortable and all good energy,” said Quadir Lewis, 24, who has been part of the Darby team for more than a decade. “This shows the police are also regular people.”
“Yes, everybody has different lives, but we’re all similar at the end of the day.”