Documentary spotlights how Philly nonprofit fights gun violence
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Basketball coach Garry Mills, right middle, huddles with a group of players involved in his nonprofit, Shoot Basketballs Not People. Photo: Courtesy of Memories Over Everything Media Group
Former Philadelphia high school basketball star Garry Mills runs his nonprofit with the same up-tempo pace that he played the game.
Driving the news: The new documentary "Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia" spotlights Mills' decade of work through his nonprofit Shoot Basketballs Not People "to change and save lives" of Philadelphia youth surrounded by an epidemic of gun violence.
- The film — directed by Mills' cousin Kyra Knox and co-produced by Grammy-nominated Mark Mims and Sixers great Allen Iverson — debuted on Fox Soul and is coming soon to Amazon Prime.
- It has racked up accolades, including the Local Audience Choice Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
Why it matters: Knox's documentary puts faces to a pressing local issue, interviewing mothers who've lost sons to gun violence and highlighting her cousin's work keeping kids off the street.
The intrigue: The story follows the paths of three Northwest Philadelphia natives: Kalil Camara, David King and Wynter Bess, who got involved with Shoot Basketballs as kids and are now blazing their own paths.
- Camara is playing basketball at a junior college in Michigan, Bess is playing for the women's team at Eastern University and King is an aspiring rapper with songs on the film's soundtrack.
What they're saying: "I haven't given [Garry] the smallest thing. He took my child and adopted him," Fatumata "Amie" Kromah, Camara's mother, says in the film.
Flashback: Mills, a former standout at Lincoln High School, walked onto Virginia State University's team but left school after the death of his grandfather, Fred "Pop Pop" Caliman, for whom the film is dedicated.
- "There's no regret. I'm doing what I love right now," Mills, who wears many hats as a coach, teacher, father figure, nonprofit administrator and grant writer, tells Axios.
How it works: Mills has ground through 16-18 hour days, working to pay his bills and raise his daughter while coaching, mentoring and shuttling kids all over the region for tournaments.
- The nonprofit is viewed as a safe haven for many of the 1,300 kids it has helped.
- Mills taps his connections and sometimes his own pockets to mentor and feed them and cultivate a love of basketball through road trips to Sixers games and their own playing.
Meanwhile, in her directorial debut, Knox exudes the same tireless enthusiasm as her cousin, Mills.
- It's something they share with their grandfather "Pop Pop," she said, who was himself a community pillar, mentoring neighborhood youth.
- "He's had to fight for everything with these kids," Knox said of her cousin.
- "Pop Pop would have been so proud of both of us."
What we're watching: The film has raised Shoot Basketballs' profile, even attracting an anonymous donation at a recent film festival.
- State Rep. Darisha Parker, a Democrat who represents part of the city where Mills focuses, told Axios she hopes to help him secure state grants to expand his reach and make him a "household name."
- Shoot Basketballs is hosting a middle-school boys tournament this weekend at the Germantown Friends School.
"We felt like we was a rose in the concrete," Mills says.
- "I'm over-the-top ecstatic about what 2024 is going to look like for us."