Ishmeal Sankoh turned 17 on Tuesday.
That same day, he buried his brother, Ibrahim.
Ibrahim was just two years older than Ishmeal and the younger one idolized the older one, who he called “I.B.” I.B. had gone to the homecoming coronation at his alma mater, Banneker High School, on Sunday. He’d joined two good friends, brothers Jerrett and Jaylen Mumford. As the reigning “Mr. Banneker High School” for 2016, it was Jerrett’s duty to crown his successor.
I.B.’s mother, Khadijatu, remembered how her son hurried to leave their home so he could meet up with his friends. But hours later word came that something had gone wrong: A car crash just a couple of miles from the school, along Royal South Parkway and Buffington Road in Union City. Ibrahim, Jerrett and Jaylen, all perished.
Ishmeal ran through the house screaming, “I.B., no! No!” His mother wept.
Through fits and starts, Ishmeal told of his love of his brother at a memorial service for the three boys a Banneker on Thursday evening. All three of the teens had been popular student athletes and were beloved at the school. The home side of the Banneker Trojan’s football stadium, where the Trojans will play the homecoming game against Lithia Springs on Friday, was a place of mourning as twilight fell Thursday night. The stands were filled with students and teachers who cried, but also tried to raise their spirits with gospel songs.
“I need you to survive,” some sang along to the popular gospel song by Hezekiah Walker blaring from the loudspeakers before the Mumford and Sankoh families walked onto the football field. In front of their seats were three huge photos on easels of each young man. On chairs, next to each easel were their Banneker football and baseball jerseys; #70 for Ibrahim, #2 for Jaylen and #54 for Jerrett.
Authorities still haven’t released a cause of the accident or causes of death. For those gathered in the stadium the loss made no sense, regardless of reason. Ibrahim and Jerrett were 18 and Jaylen 16.
“Jerrett, he was the king,” said his older brother Jerrell during a tribute to his brothers. Their sister Jernee stood beside him. “Anybody who knew him, he always wanted to be the freshest, the flyest the coolest. He was larger than life.”
Jerrett had followed in his older brother’s footsteps and was starting his freshman year at Alabama State University. Jerrell said his brother was already making a name for himself on campus. He had been set to return Sunday night.
Jaylen, who’d just transferred to Westlake High School, was the quiet one, wild and fun, Jerrell said.
The boys former coaches praised them as student leaders, mannerable young men who baseball coach Anthony Bazzell implored the other students to emulate.
“Their spirit still runs rampant through those school halls, out on this field,” Bazzell told the crowd. “The spirit of being cooperative…the spirit of hard work. Them boys worked extremely hard. That’s a tribute to their parents.”
Looking on were the parents of all three boys. They listened to the tributes and they watched as the new Mr. Banneker High School returned the crown to the Mumford family, placing it on Jernee Mumford’s head and the sash across Jerrell’s chest. They will bury their brother on Monday.
Ishmeal gave the final tribute, saying how hard it was to make sense of his brother’s death and the pain of burying him on Ishmeal’s birthday.
“A counselor, she helped me understand our brotherly bond had grown that much stronger,” on the day the Sankoh family laid the oldest of the three Sankoh sons to rest. “I will always love you I.B.”
And as the last light left the sky, the crowd released red and white balloons, Banneker Trojan colors, and yellow floating lanterns, their flames bright against the night.
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