One of New York’s most successful streetball teams year after year is the Sean Bell All-Stars, coached by Jamaica, Queens native Raheem “Rah” Wiggins. Decorated new short film, Bring your namereminds viewers of the story behind the team’s name.
Sean Bell was a former high school baseball star from Queens who was celebrating his impending marriage in November 2006 when he was shot by plainclothes police. He died that night at the age of 23. Wiggins was a childhood friend of Bell’s who was inspired to become a basketball coach by New York area legends Jimmy Salmon and Tiny Morton. Wiggins was already competing in streetball tournaments under the name DDN (Dat’s Dem N—s), but he renamed the team in honor of his fallen friend. And the team, not a high school AAU squad but a collection of seniors, often with professional experience like Lance Stevenson or Tyshawn Taylor, has been a powerhouse ever since.
“We’re the best team in town,” Wiggins says in the film, which takes you up close to the game at Brooklyn’s Gersh Park. “People ask when I’m going. As long as I’m losing, people are making a big deal out of it, I’ve got to come back.” Later he adds about the importance of the team name. “It’s my job to get (Shawn’s) name out there.”
Bring your name Directed by Raafi Rivero, the filmmaker and artist behind the sequel An unarmed projectwhich exists “in memory of black victims of police violence”. Rivero also worked on an upcoming docu-series surrounding the 2024 NBA postseason that will air on ESPN.
Bring your name will have its world premiere at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia in August. From there, Rivero hopes to screen it at New York’s basketball court as well as other film festivals. And what does Rivero want viewers to take away from the film? “I hope they are inspired,” he says, “by the everyday heroism of people like Rah Wiggins.”
Portraits by John Lopez.
