A golden glow fell over Dallas on the shortest day of the year as South Oak Cliff High School enchanted their city and lit up the skyline.

A 1-mile parade on Marsalis Avenue Tuesday celebrated a football team winning a historic state championship. But it also displayed the full charm of a neighborhood that’s been underestimated and overlooked.

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The authenticity of culture here is unlike any in Dallas. And it’s also a “superblock,” with historically high incarceration rates, as well as high incidence of poverty and violent crime, where communities have had to fight for everything they need.

South Oak Cliff High School is a crowning achievement.

SOC students staged protests against poor building conditions at their school in 2015, eventually leading their community in demands for renovation funding. The new $52-million South Oak Cliff High School, which opened in 2020, has state-of-the art science, dance and music labs as well as a collegiate-level weight room and locker rooms, a basketball gym with stands and concessions, a new track and practice field. There is a hall of honor featuring the school’s many athletic and academic accomplishments, as well as renewed pride of place.

The school’s motto, “Still We Rise,” is now unmissable from Marsalis Avenue.

Here are a few posts from the parade and championship.