“Coach, we should have a PAL song.”
Those words spoken by a teen girl in 2006, not only would spark a song for Atlantic City’s Police Athletic League, but a video starring some of those kids nearly two decades later.
Longtime PAL Director Michael Bailey debuted the video last month. But it’s the story behind it that tells the true meaning of PAL.
Coach Michael Bailey, top right, with his PAL kids.Topanga Nitketa Hall started going to PAL when she was 11 years old.
“My childhood was deeply traumatic,” she told BreakingAC. “But in the middle of that darkness, Michael Bailey and the Police Athletic League created a safe haven for me and saved my life. They saved so many others.”
So on that day in 2006, the then-16-year-old made the suggestion to Coach Bailey, and even gave him what would be the opening line to “Cops Helping Kids.”
"It’s a place where we can be together. It's a place that's for every girl and boy."
“She even sang the melody,” Bailey recalled. “I took it from there and began writing it and putting music to it.”
The song was put out not long after, and is sung at the end of the day camp shows ever since.
“This song was really a thank you letter,” Hall explained. “It’s a tribute to the PAL and the sanctuary it became. That’s how I came up with my portion of the song. That was the inspiration.
“For many kids from broken homes, struggling with neglect, abuse, addiction, mental health, disabilities or simply navigating life in underserved communities, PAL was more than just a gym or a program it was escape. It was healing,” she continued.
“It’s a place where there’s safety and there’s comfort. We solve our problems; we learn to work them out. We love this place, it’s our safe haven. Our future’s bright, our life is worth saving.
“It’s better to build boys and girls then to mend men and women. This is our motto, we’ll tell the world for all the things PAL has given.
“It’s cops helping kids. That’s what PAL is. They help us to succeed, the Police Athletic League.”
Bailey then wanted to record it, but plans for a session at Chicken Bone Beach studio in 2020 fell through.
He then went to his friend Kenny Moore at KBM Publishing.
“I sent him the song and put the rest of the instrumentation to it — horns, violins, drums, etc.,” Bailey said. “He sent it back, we tweaked it and the music was ready.”
Moore came to PAL with his equipment and recorded the vocals of the kids Bailey chose in 2022.
Then Bailey wanted a video.
He used his camcorder and phone, then got help from friend Zamir Baker, who came to the PAL with his laptop.
Over four days, the friends edited the video, which was presented on the last day of camp last August.
The video features soloists Chace Bryant and Jayniyah Molley, and includes singers A’ziyah Bell, Zaniyah Mitchell, Aalani Adderly, Jasynae Henry, Peyton Chappell, Xavian Childress, Aasir Muhammad, Chasity Bryant and Jamel Gabriel.
It also shows PAL in action, with Atlantic City police officers and kids interacting.
“There are tons of kids who come from stable homes who benefit from PAL, but for a lot of us inner city children, we were quietly fighting some of the roughest, most invisible battles, and the PAL staff saw us, Hall said. “They really saw us not as damaged kids, but as potential. They took time to understand us, to guide us, and to lift us up through sports, leadership and, especially, the performing arts.
“Helping with this national anthem for PAL wasn’t just creative, it was spiritual,” she continued. “A lot of things Michael Bailey does has God first. It was only right to honor what they gave me. They gave me a voice, and now I’m using it.”
