Okay, so what I've gotten from Jahmal has always been,
wanna do better. Not sure how.
I mean, this is when I met him.
Just, he wasn't sure how,
but he knew that he needed to do something.
When Jahmal comes to an impasse, I've seen him look
at what may be the most convenient, easiest way
and what's the right thing to do, that's the harder way,
and I've seen him choose the right path,
being in the right, not just right.
When I see him, I'm always inspired.
Like, everything I see him do is always for other people.
He has a view and he's put his stake in the ground
to try to make a difference.
And he's not on the sideline complaining
about what's not happening.
He's in the arena trying to make something happen.
To me, Jahmal represents Chicago in a real way.
Even with the dark cloud that hovers sometimes,
you cannot, you know, keep the sunlight out.
So last night I couldn't sleep.
And, you know, it wasn't because we don't have heat.
We just heat the house with the oven.
Not having heat on my block, that's regular stuff.
I still couldn't sleep last night.
And it wasn't because I heard gunshots.
I hear gunshots all the time.
I tell myself they firecrackers, I go back to sleep.
Hearing gunshots on my block, that's regular stuff.
I still couldn't sleep last night.
Wasn't even because I saw helicopters.
I mean, helicopters fly up by my house all the time.
They fly in threes.
When they go up and down, they float like dragonflies.
Rattle the house.
Still wasn't why I couldn't sleep.
I couldn't sleep 'cause the lights from the helicopters
were shining through my window at 3:00 AM.
They had the whole block lit up.
You can see every bullet casing on the ground at 3:00 AM.
I couldn't sleep because of it.
Hey look, my name is Jahmal Cole.
I thought it was important to start off and tell that story
because the more we're separated as a city,
the less empathy we have for each other.
Because I do so much work in the community
I neglect cleaning. That's like my-
That's a bad habit I have.
I don't cut the lawn,
I shovel people's snow,
I don't shovel my snow.
I'm more motivated to do stuff for other people than myself.
I wouldn't recommend being like that.
Man, I don't even know what an activist is anymore.
Like honest to God, like-
it's a path that you walk
and you get so deep down
that you forget you even in it.
And by the way to be good at
being a community organizer and activist,
you have to be involved.
You have to be so involved sometimes
that it becomes your life.
So yeah, your own family can be neglected
and feel neglected.
Meanwhile, you got other families feeling supported.
So, I am guilty.
I'm guilty of that for sure.
35 after the hour,
right here on The Talk of Chicago 1690AM WVON.
You're listening to real talk, real views-
- So our last guest tonight is a.
Chicagoan who's making quite a name for himself.
He's the driving force behind the organization.
My Block, My Hood, My City.
Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together,
for the one and only Mr. Jahmal Cole.
What's up Chicago?
Thank you for having me, man.
It's a pleasure, how are you?
Man, I'm doing better than some,
worse than others.
- Okay. - Can't complain.
How do we say, you know, this city is for everybody
go and enjoy it,
but don't go act a fool?
50 years after the march on Washington,
Chicago remains America's most segregated city.
I believe to truly make our city better,
we need more people
to explore communities outside of their home.
So I started taking kids
on educational field trips around the city
and I call it My Block, My Hood, My City
'cause I wanna expand their worldview
from being their block and their hood to being their city.
How do you attract, recruit these students?
How do you find them?
I have an appetite for adventure.
I go up to the schools,
knock on the door and I say,
"Hey, you know what?
"I'm Jahmal Cole.
And I'm looking for teenagers that are most disconnected
and I wanna connect them to more opportunities."
Cole's group is designed
to get Chicago area kids
to experience the world outside their own neighborhoods.
He says, kids on the South and West Sides
might never get to China,
so he brings them to Chinatown,
they might not go to Greece,
so he brings them to Greektown.
How many schools were you in then?
How many are you in now?
Yeah, so last time I was here we were in two schools
serving 30 students.
Now we're in seven schools, serving 120 kids a month.
Definitely proud of that.
You ask them what they wanna be,
they say they want to be a rapper or a basketball player.
Well, if I can take them 10 minutes away
to Pepsi or Gatorade
and they learn about consumer engagement,
they never knew that job existed
prior to that educational field trip.
So I wanna expose that to as much as possible.
Nobody getting no burgers.
We trying something new.
And you gotta step outside your comfort zone
and try something new.
I think exposure is key to preventing violence in Chicago.
If you show somebody better,
they're gonna do better.
If they don't know no better
they're gonna choose what's available to them.
- No. - It ain't that bad.
You got it, all you gotta do is push off a little bit,
push off.
What I wanna say about Jahmal is I like your joyfulness,
how you always come with a positive attitude.
Also I like your integrity,
how you always stick to your word
when you say you're gonna do something you do it.
So you...
You definitely feel like you can count on him?
- Yes. - And you're learning a lot?
Yes a lot.
Alright, back to you guys.
You can tell this a great group of kids.
- Absolutely. - Yeah.
They got a great leader.
Yeah.
And Jahmal we've had you here before.
The last time you were on the show
I think there's a stereotype or a stigma
that goes along with the young African-American kids
who are from Chicago
that they're hooligans or they're heartless
or they're soulless,
or that they were born to be criminals.
And I just know that that's not true.
I think it depends on who's in their life,
who they're around,
who's leading them,
who's guiding them,
who's raising them.
- How you doing? - Good.
Y'all looking good.
I didn't know y'alls gonna wear the same hoodie.
What's going on?
Nothing much.
You know family to me is not just blood.
Family is those who we share the same purpose.
Jahmal is an uncle,
he's a brother,
he's a cousin.
It is his duty to help raise the children.
What's going on with you, man?
He's always been a dreamer,
always been about service
in different capacities,
but it was always about service.
That was the core of, you know, whatever plan
that he was trying to, put together
and bring into fruition.
You know, to do what he does,
it's not a job,
it's not even a passion,
it's his life.
And he has chosen to create a life
around helping kids
in his neighborhood.
It is constant reinforcement
that these young people matter.
Show them their worth
and you stay connected with them.
What's up with Kendell?
Man, I ain't seen him in a minute.
They talkin' about they don't want him
to go on explorations.
I gotta go see him.
He too much.
He needs to get his act together.
- He just got back in Collins. - He do.
Yeah he got kicked out.
He got kicked out of school?
Yeah 'cause he just got back.
He was threatening the music teacher, I guess.
He was so good.
He showed so much progress last year, it was-
- He did but he changed now.
He doing those stuff he don't got no business doing.
I can't wait to talk to him when I see him.
They talkin' about they don't want him
to go on explorations, but I do.
I think explorations will be good for him.
Get back around peers doing positive stuff.
Anyway.
Go crazy.
- Go crazy. - Okay.
Hey Grandma, go crazy.
No you need a long coat go past your butt.
What?
It's open down here, air gonna go up there.
You need something come down here.
Now find some coat, a right coat.
You see my coat?
You trying to be me like me.
This a Tommy Hilfiger.
I feel real heavy.
You keepin' that one you got on?
This the one? Oh, this one right here?
Nice.
Try and choose between that one and the red one?
No, this my momma's coat.
Okay, cool.
This mine right here.
Beautiful.
You like it, see?
Swagged out.
See and I got my sweater on.
I'm going to school like-
- Nice. Nice.
Your receipt.
Jahmal has had the program come a long way
from when it first started and it's doing great things.
Not only with just the Explorers program
but on the community side too.
He's really created an environment
where people are gonna look out for each other,
know how to connect to each other
and know how to get in touch with each other.
And a block like that is a much warmer, safer place to live
than a block where the neighbors don't know each other
and all they do is tell you what you can't do.
My boys are strong minded, that's one thing I know.
I don't bend them words ever, they strong minded.
Deontae is the mentor, a leader.
He rank number one out of a class of 80.
I'm a big leader in school, everybody look up-
A lot of people look up to me.
Like when people need help they come to me,
when people wanna know should they play their sport
they come to me.
Everybody just love that child.
It's a good thing.
Everybody that see him they fall in love with him.
My twins, those is my backbone right now.
'Cause all my kids they left home.
They are my oldest granddaughters.
It's their senior year.
It's real big for them.
That's all they talked about the whole summer.
So I know they prepared for it.
I would like to see my babies go to college
and they pushing toward it.
And I think it's a great thing.
Ooh, this is our last first day.
Ooh, this is our last first day, y'all.
We went to Indiana, it was.
It was peaceful, it was clean
and it was real like real big streets
but like we look on the streets,
ain't no trash out there.
It's quiet in South Bend, Indiana.
No violence out there like my mama out there.
So she be telling me like,
don't no polices, come around.
You don't have firefighters trucks every day, every second.
And she was telling me that don't nothing go on down there.
It's very quiet down there.
The dichotomy in the city of Chicago is astounding
and I don't think people really fully understand that.
When you pass by a vacant house every day,
when that's your experience of your neighborhood
when you walk by and see a boarded up
or there's crime going in there,
it changes your whole view of your neighborhood.
Your neighborhood isn't something
that gives you strength and support anymore.
It's something that can be a liability
and that's gotta change.
How do you see outside of that immediate environment?
It's a prison in and of itself.
And so how do you make your way out of that?
Especially as a young child.
Okay, I will.
See all up in here? This all the quiet area.
And then further down, that's like all the drama at.
He got a nice little one minute walk to school.
Wish I had that.
Chicago segregation is, you know,
an old story about American racism
and the maintenance and legacy of white supremacy.
I usually refer to it as not as a Tale of Two Cities
but decades of a tale of two investments.
One invested and the other one divested.
Because Chicago has been segregated for so long,
the outcomes that we're seeing right now
are the outcomes that we would expect to see
as it relates to what you do to diminish people's success.
Good morning, everybody.
Good morning, welcome back for the first day.
Good morning coach.
Get the word out, we've got practice.
Okay, we got practice.
This is the pernicious nature of segregation.
It breeds the very lack of familiarity
that then perpetuates its whole existence.
Because we don't feel that we have a connection
with human beings that live so close to us.
And that's how it continues unabated.
We always by each other, you know that?
Where you at?
142
142? We are not by each other.
- We close to each other. - Look! We right here.
Most people who hear about the South Side,
they hear about the guns,
they hear about the murders, the drugs.
They don't think about the manicured lawns,
they don't think about the community pride
and the soul of the South Side, right?
The history of Chatham used to be Block Club Associations.
It was the epicenter for African-American entrepreneurship,
Black home ownership.
It's just a community of people that work together towards
doing something positive.
Chatham is like Cosbyland almost.
If you say, "What part of Chicago do I wanna live in?"
And you're Black, you're African-American guy,
you like, "I'm moving to Chatham."
We is a black family, my wife and I, we is 24 years old.
Instead of having a big wedding, we had $16,000.
So we was just like, "You know what,
"with this $16,000 let's get a house."
I met Jahmal at a club.
And as soon as we got into a corner and started talking,
he just let everything go.
He was like, my mom does this, my dad does that,
my sister's here, my uncle's here.
And everything about his family.
So the whole conversation was about his family.
And then the next day
I went to meet his family.
Yeah.
He has a very strong personality
and his characteristics and his background is very strong
and him having a good connection to what it's like
to be in poverty and what it's like
to not have food on the table,
what it's like to not have a dad coming home every night
and him having to go through
and see that kind of abusive situations
is something he can relate to with a lot of his kids today.
Pops, you know this don't work, man.
Throw the key!
So no joke,
this is how I was raised.
I was raised in a place just like this every day of my life.
Every day of my life all I saw was art
and books and philosophy books.
So I don't know what people think but I was raised
just like what you see right here
is just how I was raised every day.
When I first took Jahmal to Texas, he was with me.
Then his mother came and took him back up here
and they spent two years without me.
That was the first time
I ever had extended period of time without my son.
So when I found out he was down in Texas that night
I didn't know he was down there.
He had got jumped on the bus
and he sitting in Dallas overnight.
So I called to him talk to him and his mother said,
"No, he's down there."
I said, "What!"
I said, "You put a nine-year-old
"on a Greyhound bus by his self?"
So I'm shocked now. I call the Greyhound bus.
They say, "Yap, he's on the bus."
I said, "When did the bus arrive?"
They said, "It arrived at 1:00 AM the night before,"
I hopped on the train, rode all the way
over to Dallas/Fort Worth.
And he had spent the night
in this fricking bus station downtown.
It's all good.
I admire Jahmal's ability to be optimistic
and empathize wholeheartedly with the weak.
Now the paradox I find with that is that I'm more selfish.
I would rather he do it all for himself.
This is why I disagree
is because everything I learned
about teaching kids in the hood,
- I learned from you. - I know.
Like from when you was buying weed
from kids on the corner, you was...
I was schooling their ass out.
Exactly they loved you.
I would tell them to go to college.
You treated them.
Them dudes love you, to this day they love you.
And I think,
so I was always thinking like
in my head I was like watching you become a teacher
to these kids in the hood.
When I graduated, I was like,
"Okay, I'm gonna do the same thing."
Me, I've told you since day one, Senator.
Now he told me he's gonna be governor on his own.
It's funny you say that yesterday, I wrote something.
I was talking about you yesterday,
I made this song.
It was not really a song yet
but I was just writing some lyrics yesterday.
I said uh-
- I want all my albums about you jiving.
I said.
Listen to this.
I said, let's see if I can say it right.
I said,
Hold up.
I said, "Pop..."
Anyway, that's all I got but...
That's what its all about see, reality.
I said, you used to drink them Old English cans.
And fell down the stairs?
Ladies and gentlemen,
I'll be your operator for the day.
My name is Phillips.
We're en route to South Bend.
Basically just get comfortable, sit back and enjoy the ride.
And thank you for traveling Greyhound.
Thank you for traveling Greyhound, love it.
I told Greyhound one day I was like,
"Man, I was born on the Greyhound bus."
And I really was like not literally,
but I was reborn on it.
My mom and my dad would separate, my dad would storm out.
He would leave, just be gone.
A couple months later my mom would just send me down to-
to Fort Worth, Texas to stay with my dad.
You got two people that are trying to make it work
in this world together with three kids in poverty.
It's hard, man.
You don't have no money.
The lights go off, you heat the house with the oven
light the house with the candles, food stamps,
cousins coming to stay with you
when their parents go to jail, it's hard, man.
It's hard when you ain't got no money it's hard.
My dad chose to like go to the jazz club, buy art
do different things, besides pay bills and when that-
And my mom being the person that she is,
being the woman that she is, she wanted more stability.
And my dad never was really able to provide that stability.
So it caused a lot of friction.
If she wouldn't have sent me down there
I wouldn't be the person I am today.
Like, you know what I mean, I wouldn't.
I came back man at 12.
You know what I mean, when I was 11, I had seen it all.
I remember getting to Texas and being by myself
'cause my dad didn't know I was there.
So I was just sitting in the train station
or bus station by myself for like all day.
My dad didn't come till like three in the morning
and I hadn't seen him in like years.
And you know, I hadn't even heard his voice in a long time,
but you never forget your dad's voice, you know?
And right when I seen him, he told me that
he was like things aren't gonna be sugar coated
when you're down here.
I remember that. That's the first thing he said to me.
He's like, things aren't going to be sugarcoated.
And I spent like the next six months homeless, like.
I didn't even get a chance to grow up.
I had to grow up then like right away.
That trip was like the last time I was a kid.
Look at all these people running in the morning.
They're healthy.
Long way away from North Lawndale.
Yeah, a long, long, long way.
In order to inspire people
you have to have provided them
with a certain amount of hope.
We spend a lot of time being frightened of everything.
So regardless of where you come from,
you're gonna be frightened until you actually get there
and experience it and feel it.
When someone comes in and says,
"Have you ever been to this place
"or this area, this neighborhood?"
I think it kinda opens not just their eyes
but their minds, their hearts, their souls.
And I think that is extremely important
and not enough African-American kids have those experiences.
We have to instill in children from a very early age
what their trajectory can and should be.
When I first started My Block, My Hood, My City,
I had no experience working in schools
or really being around teenagers.
I think what I didn't expect is that I would fall in love
with my Explorers.
I love my Explorers, right?
And programs are programs but those relationships,
that's why we have such a high retention rate
of our program, the kids keep coming back.
I'm Jahmal man, I got a teenager.
What's your name?
Mo.
Mo? I got a teenager of mine.
He wants me to come pay his phone bill.
He's in my program called My Block, My Hood, My City.
His phone went off
and he said I gotta come back here and pay for him, so.
Oh okay.
Yeah so that's what I was doing.
- Let's go. - Thanks bro.
33.
Ain't bad.
It's back on now?
- Yeah. - Oh, wow.
Good looking out, man, I appreciate you bro.
Nah, it's all good.
Now Deontae, he got a game coming up Friday too,
his homecoming game so-
Take care man.
This will be my second year with them.
Before that they've had a different principal every year.
I'm the first returning principal in six years.
So they've had a lot of instability.
And so the student body was poised and primed for new.
For most of the young people that I serve
and I continue to serve like education is the only way out.
If the educational system is defunct
or if it is not serving kids well
then where are those kids going?
They're going to jail.
They're going to a grave.
Or they're going to be trapped in a cycle of poverty
that is almost impossible to move out of.
I think the student body is awesome.
I just love their tenacity and grit
and because a lot of situations and environments
that they come from we wouldn't necessarily think
that such lovely, bright smart children would come from
because they do have to overcome a lot of adversity.
Neighborhood schools for the last 30, 40 years
have been woefully under-resourced and neglected.
And as a result, the narrative around neighborhood schools
has been, get out, get out don't stay in your neighborhood
go some place else or better schools.
You are not no Matt!
Please remember, let's get in class on time.
Please don't be in my hallway.
Tuck it in.
It's just hard overcoming years
of what was not good.
Define gentrification.
Oh, define gentrification.
Gentrification is, you know, like when-
- The rich people move the poor people out.
Gentrification is when like they.
What's that called?
They take down buildings and stuff
like project buildings and stuff,
and they rebuild them for people of higher income.
Hmm people of higher income?
I like how she didn't say
just white people move the poor people out or rich-
So it kinda doesn't matter, right?
It's the economic status, right?
So the economic standing, if you have the money.
Then you can move in.
You know, yeah.
I think everything comes down
to like equity and access
and that we have to stop thinking about like fair is equal.
So like, the funding formula that happened in Chicago,
Public Schools where like, it's like you get your $5,500
per kid and every kid gets the same.
You know, it's just.
It's ludicrous.
The way that our schools are funded
is that the state gives a certain amount of money,
and then a certain amount of money is collected
from property taxes.
In those neighborhoods in high poverty areas
whether they be African-American or not,
that difference does not get made up.
Due to Chicago's segregation by neighborhood,
you gonna see schools that struggle
because of the socioeconomic status that lingers
and that has been lingering for years, decades.
Money.
It's just money.
We are the fifth largest economy
I mean the state of Illinois in the country.
We have a GDP of $700 billion.
And we spend dead less in public education.
This partnership with My Block, My Hood, My City
has taken the vision that I've had for Collins
and made it into reality.
This is what partnership is.
This is what community is.
What he's done is provided opportunities.
And now I can see the possibility.
And when a kid has vision
when the kid has aspirations,
Wow, you know, now I know that something else is possible.
How you been doing?
Good.
They hold him in such high regard.
And it's because he's always there for them.
I wish we had more people like that.
Maybe we can get you a job at like a clothing store
- or maybe something like... - That's what I'm trying
to do clothing store, shoe store...
What's up, how you doing?
Walmart or something like doing stocking.
Okay.
Yeah something like that.
Okay.
Be safe out here, man.
For real, bro
'cause don't have me coming looking for somebody.
I don't-
like, we love you, man.
Like, we don't want nothing to happen to you.
Definitely gotta be safe.
That's why I be...
Yeah man.
You said two of your peoples got shot in the last week.
Last weekend,
before school started back.
What's up? That's crazy, man.
How are you doing?
Good.
It's good to see you. You going on the trip today, right?
Man, bro.
Put my number in your phone, bro please.
'Cause I don't know if you have it or not
but if you ever need anything, man
I still got your card at home.
Okay, all right, cool.
If you ever need me, man hit me though, I'll be there.
What's up, y'all? How you doing?
When you start something and you say,
"Hey teenagers on the South and West Sides of Chicago
are not connected."
Chicago's not a level playing field. It's not fair.
Teenagers are disconnected.
They don't have access to the same opportunities.
When you say you wanna change something like that
I want to give teenagers from the hood
access to opportunities.
Yeah, it sounds good. People-
they recognize that sounds good
but they're not really willing to put no dollars behind it.
So if you wanna actually do good
you have to have money to do good.
And the only way we get money to do good
is selling hoodies and selling t-shirts.
Until we can afford to get a shop
this is what we gotta do.
Yeah, I do it all myself.
Like, I'm with the teenagers-I'm doing-
I got a great team, don't get me wrong.
This my man, Mony Mone, he always with me
he's been with me since day one.
So I got a great team.
But like this is really a hands-on
it's a mom and pop non-profit.
Boom! This where the magic happens.
When we first started off,
we was like chickens with our head cut off.
Jahmal was using everything he had.
We used to do everything ourselves.
We was using our own personal vehicles,
putting the kids in, going to where we needed to go.
And this is before we even got in schools,
we just didn't have the funding to
get a lot of things started.
But Jahmal is articulate.
This is our holiday hoodie.
It say My Block, My Hood, My City.
Got a couple reindeer on it.
That's Blitzen.
That's Mony Mone.
That's funny.
It took a lot of hard work.
And I know he may not say it,
but just me being around him and knowing it.
I know sometimes he wanted to give up,
but he found out a way.
That's why I rock with him so hard is because
he put it all on the line to make sure the dream
that he had about this program and everything gets started.
Like he was like, I fail and lose everything before I just
give up on the program.
And he done that.
He stuck with it and the program
is doing pretty good right now.
You see what you build,
like if you got kids and you raise them up and you see
from where you started, that kinda makes you feel good.
Once you start doing stuff for your community
and get outside your box, you'll feel better.
So that's why we try to get the kids around
and be like man,
all you ever seen was your block, nasty, dirty
just things going on.
But once you start helping out, you'll see the change.
You gotta put it together so every weekend
we're pretty much doing something in the community.
If it's putting up block clubs signs,
helping you clean up your community,
when it's cold outside shovel your snow.
Crazy thing about it is,
he really enjoy doing all that.
Another day in the office.
It's a full blown blizzard,
with howling Northeast winds that
are only going to get stronger tonight
and into the morning we'll have some gusts
of 40 to 60 miles per hour.
This is a giant atmospheric wind machine
whole host of weather advisories.
And the numbers will only go up.
It's a snowstorm right now in Chicago.
The city is clearly overwhelmed, not just right now
but all the time when it comes to the South side
we the last people to get our alleys shoveled,
our street shoveled.
You know I'm getting all kinds of
emails from seniors, with asthma or on oxygen tanks
and them saying, hey, they can't get out there.
They got, neural palsy in both hands.
They can't do, they got issues.
So I'm not about to let our seniors struggle.
So I put out a call on Twitter and I said,
"Hey I need 10 volunteers to show up.
"I got hoodies, I got hats, I got shovels."
The tweets we got "liked" 31,000 times.
It got retweeted maybe 10,000 times.
And I got maybe 75 emails from seniors in Chatham
and, South side it was like,
"Hey, they need support.
"So really man it's anybody wanna show up?"
Yeah.
We'll see how many people show up.
10 people will be good.
How you doing?
How's it going?
Now much. Let's go over here.
We going in here?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - How's it going?
You guys all here to volunteer shovel?
First of y'all, I wanna thank you guys for coming,
like straight up, thank you guys for coming.
A lot of people you look around they'll say,
they gonna always say what's going on the city,
the city is messed up.
The weather is messed up.
The politicians is messed up.
I think their philosophy is messed up
'cause instead of complaining,
we could ask ourselves what's something simple we can do
that's going to have a positive impact in our block?
One of my favorite people in history was Robert Kennedy.
And he says that "Each time a man stands up for an idea
"or he strikes out against injustice.
"He creates a tiny ripple of hope.
"And when those ripples come together
"they can create a wave that will knock down
"the mightiest walls of oppression."
That's the same thing we do right now by
shoveling your neighbor's snow.
That's going to create a ripple
and we're gonna create a wave throughout the city.
And more people are gonna do it.
How you doing?
I'm Jahmal Cole.
No, don't be sorry.
Don't come out here
but we gonna shovel your whole block, okay?
If you've ever had to dig out after heavy snow,
you know, it is not an easy job.
This is terrific man, this is terrific man.
We could call them snow angels.
A neighborhood group is coming to the rescue
of those unable to shovel snow for themselves.
I appreciate it, man.
Jahmal Cole, with the community group,
My Block, My Hood, My City, organized the army
and they came from all over the city.
They hit Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
tweeted thousands of times.
If you love what you do, you organically
build relationships through your passion.
Passion is what brings people back.
Let's go get to work.
What could you make yourself do today.
That'll have a positive impact on your block?
And I don't care how small it is.
- My Block. - My Block.
- My Hood. - My Hood.
- My City. - My City.
Your block is a reflection of who you are
and you have a responsibility to what your block is.
And I don't let them, this is a, my block.
I'm gonna do something about it.
You could say what's something simple I can do
that'll have a positive impact on my block?
Thank you guys for having me.
Thank you for giving back, congratulations.
Any leader doing this work,
know this work is not quick.
It's not an instant shot to fame.
It's not, you know, you get a million dollars
and the next thing you know
your whole community is together.
This is the small victories that you have to celebrate
every moment of the way with challenges, with barriers
and you just keep going.
Whose little baby is that over there?
This is my daughter Khammur.
Oh Khammur got smart father. She's learning a lot.
Yeah, this is Mother Wade, so-
- What did you get for her,
little seven dollar pancakes?
She wanted some waffles and some eggs, that's
I like that. Touch your neighbor!
All right and you're comfortable?
Yes, we good.
This is a life commitment.
When you commit to this work
you're putting your not only your entire self
be your family into it.
And out of that can come a lot of health issues,
mentally, physically
spiritually, financially, like you will struggle.
I wrote a song about what I say, I said this morning
that I took a quarter out my daughter, piggy bank.
I used it for bus fare to try to get on a train.
I had 15 books in my backpack, I'm headed downtown.
If I don't sell them I can't get back.
And that's like my life, like I didn't have no money.
So I had to find change in my daughter's piggy bank
to get on the I train, to go downtown and sell my books
in front of Foot Locker.
And if I didn't sell no book, I couldn't get back.
That's motivation for your ass.
You'll sell books if you don't have no money,
like-what's up?
I put it back, baby.
I put it back.
She like-
- Wants bank back.
Yeah exactly.
So, I put the money back, but good looking out.
You're giving so much of you, so much of your thoughts.
So much of your opinions.
So much of your strategies to others.
If you're not getting poured back into,
it can really be draining.
A lot of times, social media can make things seem so shiny
and you only really post about the highlights
and the accomplishments,
but there is a lot of tears in the corner
that come with doing this work.
For me to be able to afford,
to take teenagers on trips.
I stopped paying mortgage, and um-
120 kids having access to opportunities.
And now aspiring to be more than
dope dealers on their block.
That's why I do it for, so no, it was never um-
You know, I don't got go around telling people,
"Oh, you know, I'm gonna lose my home,"
or I don't have to do all that.
You wanna move somewhere you wanna stay in Chatham?
Yeah.
I'll stay in Chatham.
I guess we stayin' in Chatham.
Right now we're in University of Chicago.
It's like a community center
that we won. Codi can to tell you more about it.
She's the one that works with them majority of the time.
It's the UChicago Accelerator grant.
And we received a certain level
that gave us access to coworking space.
So we get to use their printer.
Yes, it's for two years.
We come here once a week to meet as a team.
The whole team is here, so
that's Jen, that's Mony Mone, Codi.
Bam! Good, now.
This what happens when you get 400 orders in two days.
It's a good thing.
When you are only from Chicago
and you only ever known Chicago.
You think that everything that goes on Chicago
is innately what the world does
and that is not realistic.
So I want them to get a sense of what it is to be out
and to explore, to get all those wonderful things.
And I want them to know that we're always here.
We're gonna be right here.
And I plan to be here for awhile.
You can always come back,
but at least get the opportunity to go see
but ultimately I would love for them to return
to Chicago just so that kids can
feel their story and see their story to be inspired about
what it takes to come from Chicago,
from the West Side of Chicago
to be successful to come back and to give back.
You guys got six minutes to get to class, get there.
Get there. Tuck in your shirt.
Look, I was under the influence this whole weekend.
Under the influence?
You mean you was sick.
Under the weather. I mean, under the weather.
You wasn't under the influence
because you haven't been doing that.
This year going good.
I'm still number one in my classroom.
So, it's gonna feel like home.
I'm proud of my girls, they call me everyday.
Hi Mom!
We just got accepted.
There's a trip today.
To another college.
Yeah.
Yeah they do, they show me letters.
They real loud when they get their letters.
Yeah they have a smile from ear-to-ear.
Okay, so this gonna be my 14th college.
This gonna be like my 10th.
They want me.
They want you?
Let's get it!
They want me!
Indiana State, they said,
"South Bend Indiana wants you as a student next year
and then my tuition is $10,000 per year
academic.
We got the same thing, so Indiana South Bend.
They love My Block, My Hood, My City.
That I'm glad that they get to experience
a lot by them being a teenage,
'cause it's hard for teenage girls they age
to, you know, go out there
and experience the world. It's hard.
So, right now we are headed back to the place
that I got shot at two days ago.
Jesus Christ, let's do it fast.
I'm gonna leave the car running.
Leave the doors open too.
He say, when he came back out,
he was parked around the corner.
So when he came back out,
he walked around the corner,
he seen't a group of guys in the car
and they roll past him.
And then they came back around.
I was walking here
and I seen the car pull by and I saw it.
It still fucks me up bro,
look at this, there's a dead rat right here.
It's still there, it's been there for a long time.
And that's when I start hearing the shots
and I fell to the ground right here.
And I took off running this way.
Like I'm running and I'm-
I'm running as fast as I can.
And I get to the corner.
I hit a left and I just dart down this alley this way.
I just dart down this way.
'Cause my car was parked right here.
And I just dart down that way, man.
And that's what happened.
I don't think it was directed toward him.
It could have been wrong place, wrong time.
But we wanted to reach out to them brothers,
know what I'm saying?
Let them know like man, you almost took a good brother
from a lot of people on some foolishness.
If it was a mistaken identity
or whatever it was, it was foolish.
Woo, that gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Yeah, that's what happened to me man.
That's what happened.
Luckily I escaped with some bruises.
It kicked it in overdrive.
After initial shock, it just made him go harder.
It just made them be like man,
I got to have a real good connection with these kids.
And I have to have a real good connection
with the community.
How many times you gotta see yellow tape before you say,
oh, well this one yellow tape right there? Man!
How many shots do you have to hear
before you become desensitized?
You tell yourself they firecrackers.
How many times you gotta walk by a vacant lot,
full of trash before you just become disengaged?
You don't even notice the trash is there.
Something's wrong.
And if you are walking by a vacant lot
full of trash and you've got a stroller,
and you pushing a baby in a stroller,
does the baby grow up thinking the trash is regular?
The answer is yes, they do!
You go to the doctor.
The doctor hits your knee with a reflex hammer.
It there's no knee jerk reaction,
there's something wrong with your central nervous system.
If you walk in front of your crib
and it's trash in the front yard,
you don't pick something up, something wrong.
Something wrong with the community's nervous system, man.
Man you ever been to somebody's house you watching TV
and a mouse went right out in front of the TV.
It happened so fast.
You can even act like you ain't noticed and you say, "dang!"
And the person's house that it is,
they're so used to have mice,
they ain't got no reaction.
There's no jolt of fear, no shame or embarrassment.
They have no physical reflexes at all.
Couple of minutes later, the mouse come back out,
this time it bring his friends with him.
He said, come out, y'all. It's safe.
They don't mind.
They're used to things being decrepit.
That's the same thing that drug dealer says
on 79th and Cottage.
Right in front of Happy's Liquor.
He serve his drugs all month.
Next month he say,
"Come on out here y'all, the store owner don't mind."
He ain't got no physical reflexes.
He used to things being decrepit.
We can sell all the drugs we want.
That's what the police officers say man,
come to the community, shoot a kid 16 times they don't mind.
It's not regular.
It's not regular to have to order your food
through three-inch bulletproof glass windows every day.
If y'all just ate your cheesecake
through a bulletproof glass window,
you'd be traumatized.
It's not regular for every billboard in the community
to promote cheap divorces
and $6,000 tax advances.
It's not regular for there to be 15 currency exchanges
and no banks.
How am I supposed to save, man?
It's not regular for there to be a liquor store
on every other corner, I might as well get drunk.
It's not regular for there to be Paddy Wagons
parked outside the front of the high school.
You have to take off your belt, take off your shoes,
go through a metal detector, just get in high school.
It's not regular.
So final data collection, just put on everyone's radar
that we're gonna be in late May.
And then most of June we'll be
Jen and probably myself will be going to the schools
to have kids fill out the post survey,
so we can do all of our end of the year data collection.
We're also looking-Jen's been putting together
a survey for liaisons.
So getting some feedback from school staff and whatnot
to be able to include with our data.
I don't want to be treating our students like lab rats.
I don't want them to feel like,
Oh like, "It's the end of the year.
"Let's take all this data.
"I don't really have a relationship with Codi.
"She don't come on Explorations,
"but I know Mony. He's here."
I think-ask this question to yourself,
"how are we making a difference right now?"
Like if you think about Danyel or Marquell, anybody
what do you think beyond the attendance in school?
Like how would you say you're making a difference?
Given the demographic, given that we're talking
about level three schools
which is a different markation
from some of the other programs
that might do, something similar,
data collection and success might need
to be reported differently.
Smaller nonprofits don't have a whole evaluation team.
Like they don't have folks that are worried about the data
but they're so important
because when you're talking to funders
or you're submitting these, creating these impact statements
like the numbers matter so much.
What are the measurements and what are the goals?
And what is your logic model
and what is your theory of change?
And all these like things that
have a nonprofit leader jumping through hoops
to try to explain, it's the relationship.
Like how could you like,
look, if they want to eat
they could come over and eat.
I'm not trying to get funded for that.
This is just the reality of some of our young people.
We as a team and potentially like
potentially with our board, need to sit down and say like,
what are our goals for our kids?
By like participating in the program, like, what are we
what do we want for our kids?
Is it we want them to be more engaged in their community?
Is it, we want them to have jobs outside of their community?
Is it, then we need to like figure out what we want?
How do you know what we did is right?
What do you mean?
Like the surveys and whatnot.
I mean, we don't,
we're just trying to collect data to have data.
I mean, right now we just don't have any good data.
I'm telling you, man, the people that I see that is
getting all these grants,
it's not because of their data.
Like they're literally like they have relationships
you know what I mean?
And this is like, I'm not saying we
don't have to have any data,
but what can we do to set ourselves apart?
How is My Block, My Hood, My City different?
Are we gonna put something together and say,
"Hey our program boosts attendance rates by 10%,
"our program boost graduation rates by 15%."
And that's gonna be so compelling that we're gonna get
a $500,000 grant.
Or can we do something where
we utilize our strengths a little bit more to say, um-
- Those things are not, I guess, measurable
in the world of funding, but the impact is so significant
that it's no way we can express that on paper.
The nonprofit community has been set against one another
competing for funding.
I've seen programs that really didn't reach kids,
but was funded.
It sends a message that we can be led
but we're not allowed to get the funding
that comes from our tax dollars to lead our own communities.
You want to make sure
you're having an impact on young people.
You're having an impact on families
but constantly having to worry about
if you're gonna have enough funds to do so is stressful.
When you've got that much responsibility
on your shoulders,
it's a burden to carry.
And he has created a program that has a life,
like it's his life what he does.
You gonna be famous or infamous, huh?
That's how I'mma be one day, just like Harold.
Be like Harold running.
Love it.
When I identified board of directors, I chose them.
They're very, very intelligent.
We got lawyers, we got doctors
we got people that work for foundations.
We got people that work as heads of banks.
We have very, very sharp people.
So where I needed help with accounting, legal fee
I just got people that can handle that on my board.
Now we're having growing pains
because they're implementing policies.
So technically I can't drive the van
for personal use no more.
I can't go pay Deontae's his phone bill no more.
I can't take the Twins to get their hair done no more.
I can't take Danyel and pay her,
turn the lights back on in the house.
I can't just say here's a laptop 'cause you graduated.
I can't do those things, that's technically illegal.
They're right.
They are right.
That ain't right but they're right.
Mr. Jahmal Cole.
I don't talk spreadsheet talk.
I'm not good at it, but I got to learn because
this is the challenge of my life.
If I can't do it with them, I can't be in politics.
Good.
And I wanna come off ungrateful
'cause I am grateful to what they've done
but at the same time, I don't feel excellent.
I feel like I wanna go home.
And I feel like I wanna go home
and write about how depressed I am.
That's what I wanna do
'cause it will be a release,
but I'll fake smile, and do whatever I gotta do,
but I'm going through a lot.
So this is what I get,
probably once a month once every two months
I filled this out 10 times at least over the last two years.
The games that the banks play is every time I fill this out
I send it to the bank.
They send me back and say,
"Hey, you're missing some documents."
And then I send it back into the bank
and I never hear from them for two months.
I've done this 10 times.
Like it's like 10 things you need to fill out.
They want check stubs.
They want your taxes.
They want a letter of hardship.
They want a five-4506 Form.
I mean, I know by heart, I've done it so many times.
I've done this 10 times. In March-on about March 5th, 2015
our mortgage went into default.
So that was my decision.
And I was like what, man,
I need the money.
I need the money to start my program.
I'mma bet on myself.
I'mma risk it all.
And my $2,000 a month
I put into my mortgage,
I'm put $2,000 a month into my program.
I can't be the only person
that's going through financial issues.
I might be one of the only people that's sacrificed so much
but at the same time it's worth it, I'd do it again.
I would, I do it again.
Hey what's up.
Good, I didn't know you were coming.
My name Dimetriana Chambers,
I will be attending Benedict College in the fall.
For real.
You know! I will be majoring in biology.
With a full ride.
My name Deontae Lewis,
I'll be attending Harris Stowe University
on a full ride scholarship to a major in.
Mortuary Sciences and Culinary Arts.
My name Dominetrius Chambers in the fall of 2018.
I will be attending Benedict College.
I will be majoring in Criminal Justice
to become a prosecutor and with a full ride.
What's up.
Why, you building a train?
No, I'm building a castle.
Nice, sorry I hope I didn't mess with your castle.
Do I think the bank could have done a better job?
Yeah, but I shouldn't be in this situation, that's the-
So.
I'm always preaching one Chicago,
77 communities but only one Chicago.
My Block, My Hood, My City gets love everywhere.
I love people everywhere.
My mantra is I'm gonna be Mayor of Chicago one day.
So it's only gonna help me to
to live in another community area.
And just like I did Chatham.
Figure out the history of that area.
What are the community groups?
What do they care about?
Yeah, it's gonna-
It's a, man-
When I think more about it though, it's going to suck.
Not being so South, but.
I'm gonna stay connected obviously, you know.
I'm just not the type of person, to like, to lay down.
Yeah I'm just not, I'm not about that like,
when people that are spreadsheet thinkers
try to box me in to say,
"Oh you're an idea person" like that-
Ideas change the world.
You know what I mean, it's not, that's ridiculous to me.
Like you're an idea guy.
Like you just wake up one day.
I have a great idea, man-
they don't see me going to the coffee shops.
They don't see me shaking the hands, kissing the babies.
They don't see me running the 5Ks.
They don't see me paying the light bills, the phone bills.
They don't see me spending eight hours on a weekend
going to six different block clubs
and talking to them about organizing for speed bumps.
How many signatures did it take to get a stop sign?
Oh, why don't you like the new LED lights
or do you want the fluorescent lights
to light up your porch?
You don't see me talking to block clubs about
how to incentivize people to recycle.
So I get ideas from going to the community.
It's not, I get my stories from the community.
So when somebody says, Oh, you're an idea guy-
It's like, like no dumb fuck, like I'm a hard worker.
That's how I get the ideas.
Like you can't get ideas by just waking up with a good idea.
Like this is ridiculous, man.
So don't let nobody tell you that you,
that a spreadsheet is going to change the world.
Ideas are going to change.
That's all you need is a good idea.
And then you got to have the faith to see it through.
Everybody's perfect.
Ain't nobody perfect.
Oh my god, you're so mean, nobody is perfect?
I'm not perfect?
Ain't nobody perfect.
- I'm not perfect. - That's an illusion.
You are perfect to me.
Why you say you not perfect?
Well I'm not, but you better than me.
Then why you say in front the stage
with that camera your face, are you famous?
Yes get that through your head, you are on TV
- I'm not famous. - You're on TV.
I'm definitely not famous.
When you look back at this documentary when you get older
you be like, "man, daddy was, I saw you.
I just saw you on TV right now.
Yeah I mean being on TV don't make you famous.
No I just saw you on TV right now so,
- I just saw you TV. - I'm not famous.
Yes you are, I just saw you on TV, how come?
Well, I'm surviving.
Actually, I'm doing better than that, I'm living.
Then how come-
Turn your phone on. I have to show you something.
Some in my eyes.
Go get up, put your face off in-
- No, that's gonna make it run more.
So you might just leave right now and come over?
'Cause we not even ready.
So said we do we are ready.
We are ready but.
All right.
Y'all look great.
What's up?
Waiting on Demaje to get here.
Who's that?
You know, y'all gonna do your thing.
Do your thing, Sisters.
Oh, y'all want to come out to Drip.
Yeah, but hey, y'all can still come out Drip.
That's y'all's song?
You look so pretty!
Thank you.
You look like a princess.
Thank you.
Oh, you guys look so cute!
They say the city is messed up.
The weather is messed up.
The economy is messed up.
We know their philosophy is messed up.
Hey, what's something simple you can do to have impact?
Hey, how you guys doing?
We're looking for volunteers to sign up for
organized for block clubs on the South side of Chicago.
My Hood, My Block, My City.
Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, y'all have a good day, man.
What's something simple you can do,
to have a positive impact on a block?
It's a healthful exercise for me. I'm depressed.
So this is the only way I can get back to like,
to stayin' humble.
Things aren't going well, I'm taking it back to the basics
'cause that's what I wanna do.
I'm willing to be out here with the people
'cause that's who I am.
And so somebody has got to do something
instead of just talking about it.
They say, we need a new mayor.
I think we need new philosophies.
I gotta go.
I gotta go too, I wouldn't be out here
if I didn't love y'all, we need volunteers.
What could you make yourself do tomorrow,
that'll change everything in the city?
What?
What could you make yourself do tomorrow
that change everything in the city?
Rahm just did it.
He just announced he ain't running again.
We don't need a-
- Best news we- best news all day.
No, no, it's not.
We don't need a new mayor.
The mayor-changing the mayor is not gonna do anything.
We're still gonna have the same systemic issues.
We don't need a new mayor.
We need a new philosophy.
Hey, what is y'all perception of me?
Do I look like I'm struggling?
I don't look like I'm struggling?
I am actually. My home is in foreclosure,
everything's going bad,
but I'm on a block trying to help out.
Doors closing.
My baby.
Don't know why you ain't wearing your onesie.
We all gotta be in gear, every day.
Every day we get it.
Every day we gonna be in gear, right?
She like, "I don't wanna be doing that."
I'm starting my own brand, that's what Khammi told me.
That's all I'm saying.
She's just like her mom, she's really witty,
I'm not witty, you are quicker than me already,
but-I don't like it.
Why?
'Cause I'm the authority figure around here.
You see?
She get that from her mom.
And tell-who is we talking about in the car the other day?
Fred Hampton.
What did Fred Hampton do?
He said, if you make fun of black people,
you're stupid
and if you make fun of white people you stupid.
Exactly. All people are the same, you know,
racism is not real.
It's all about your socioeconomic status and money.
What?
It's all about the money.
Oh my goodness, yeah.
She learning about Fred Hampton and Angela-
- Yeah, I was-
- Thank you for calling Freedom Mortgage.
I see you are calling from a phone number
listed on your account,
to access your account using this phone number, press one.
To access-please enter the last four digits of
I know it by heart I do it every day, so
like I know exactly-
- You entered-
- Thank you for calling Freedom Mortgage
this is Brenda. Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?
My name is Jahmal Cole.
I'm sorry, what was that?
My name is Jahmal Cole.
Okay Mr. Cole, how are you doing today?
I'm doing better than some worse than others.
How are you doing?
You know, I livin' the dream here.
Cool.
Just couldn't be doing better.
I'm telling you that right now.
March 1, 2015 payment total due as of today,
$62,236.21 total.
Does not include attorney's fees
and costs. The reason for delinquency
is unemployment, correct?
I'm not an employed anymore.
Well, it was the original reason, right?
Yes, that was.
Okay.
All right, so what can I do to assist today?
I've been calling for the last month in regard to
the loss mitigation department and getting my home modified
and I've submitted the requested documents.
And I wanted to know has a decision been made
on postponing the sale of my home tomorrow,
which is-the date is tomorrow.
Today.
Excuse me.
Today, hold on.
Obviously it's postponed in that-
from what I'm looking at right now.
Obviously?
I think-yeah, yeah.
Obviously from what I'm looking at
you can't see what I see,
but they did postpone it yesterday.
So this is the good news.
They've postponed it.
So no, it did not sell.
Great.
Yay!
I'm trying to just be composed here.
Yes, I'm gonna decompose you.
They did not sell your home today.
Thank God, okay cool.
I'm just like, I'm looking through the notes,
I'm like, I know what he's calling about, like.
They did not sell this house because I can see your notes
right now and I'm gonna let him finish,
I'm gonna let him finish.
Why are you doing that to me?
That's crazy.
'Cause I didn't want to interrupt.
Oh thank you, okay so what's the-
- 'Cause it's rude!
Oh man well, okay, cool. Good looking out.
What's the good news? What's going on?
They're assigning you a single point of contact.
And it looks as though it's going to underwriting.
Brenda you done made my day, that is amazing.
Thank you, Brenda.
I'm never going to put myself in this position again.
I would tell you that. I'm never going to do that again.
You struggle, and you struggle, and you struggle,
and you keep hoping things get back together.
That's mean so much though.
I love this community and I love my home
and I don't ever wanna sell my home or even be moved out so.
Well, I'm very glad I can put a smile
on your face.
You have yourself a great night
and Mr. Cole just go enjoy your family.
All right, peace Brenda.
Good morning, parents, graduates and staff.
Welcome to the class of 2018 graduation.
My name is Dominetrius Chambers.
It's a joy to have-to honor to introduce the speaker.
He proved to us that,
our future has no restriction and no limit.
Please join me in welcoming Mr. Jahmal Cole.
Today, I brought everybody that's graduating a journal,
on the cover of those journals, says the words,
"My success story."
And I want you guys to take really good notes.
When you guys graduate from college four years from now,
I'm looking forward to reading your success stories, okay?
If you can make it in Chicago,
you can make it anywhere in the world.
If you can make it in Chicago
you can make it anywhere in the world, okay?
We know its true, 'cause every time I turn on Instagram
I see a rapper that comes to Chicago.
What's the first thing they do?
The first thing they do is they go live.
They say,
"Hey, I'm walking around.
"I'm walking around, I thought it was bad here.
"I'm tough, I'm walking around."
But you guys, y'all actually had to walk around every day.
Y'all order your food through bulletproof glass windows
like it's regular.
German shepherds sniff you on the train like it's regular.
Helicopters fly above your home like it's regular.
This is not regular, but y'all made it.
How many of y'all have a list of goals
in your iPhone right now?
Like, having a list of goals will change everything for you.
'Cause having a plan, not only tells you what to do.
It also tells you what not to do.
If you can make it in Chicago,
you can make it anywhere in the world.
Congratulations to the class of 2018.
Keep on doing more than people expect, I love y'all.
Dominetrius Chambers.
Dimetriana Chambers.
Deontae Lewis.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the class of 2018.
Hey baby, what's going on?
Hey.
You all right?
Yeah.
What's going on?
Yeah, I'mma come back
to get you on Friday morning for school. What you mean?
You gonna be ready?
Well because tomorrow- well, first of all
I don't have a car right now.
Somebody on my team has the van, so I don't have the van.
And then tomorrow your sister has a hospital appointment.
So your mom is going to take Kennedy to the hospital
and you got to go to school.
You just like your mom, very witty.
Listen, no, I didn't forget to bring my car.
My team member has my car.
But anyway you need to focus on your reading
and leave the iPad alone. That's what you need to do.
So tomorrow we gonna read six more pages okay.
No, no Friday we're gonna read six more pages
and then we're gonna go to-on Saturday
we gonna go see grandma, okay?
I'm staying in a hotel.
What's wrong?
I'm gon-baby, Daddy gonna come back.
You know, you gotta be strong for your little sister
and I love you
and I'm definitely gonna come back.
You could always call me if you need me
and I'm gonna see you, okay, this is not forever.
This is just for a while, a little while okay.
Okay.
All right, I love you.
I love you too.
All right.
Yeah man, I am in a hotel room in Streeterville
because I've, I mean.
I think I've been incredibly selfish since I've been 22.
And I think that I always like been tunnel vision
and tunnel focused on what I wanted to do in my life.
I want to be mayor.
I want to bend history, I wanna do this.
And when I met Tiff,
I never really asked her what she wanted to do.
Yeah, all the public life and all the political events,
all the interviews.
I think me focusing on that and my drive
made her feel like I didn't-
like I love that more than I love her.
And in my mind I was,
how could you not love me if I'm doing it?
It was that.
So, yeah anyway, I think you do that for some years,
for 12 years
and it-starting this organization has put me
into financial debt.
I've almost lost my house now I've lost my family.
You don't-
Yeah, it's impossible to create change in Chicago
without sacrificing your life.
And you-I don't know if this could have been
another way I could have done it, but yeah.
That's why I'm in here, man.
I'm in here because.
I refuse to see her not happy no more.
And I want her to be happy
and I know I don't make her happy.
That's why I'm here, so.
For him to accomplish what he's accomplished
in the way that he's done it.
You know, you have to be able to put any type of fear, worry
or concerns to the side and just go do it.
It's not that he's this big, bad dude.
And he's not scared of anything
but he's committed to his mission, committed to his purpose.
And it's by any means necessary.
He starting the story.
He starting to change those negative stories
but we have to help him complete it.
We just have to keep moving forward in order
to have all those who are following us,
to move forward.
And that's a lot of, lot on your shoulders.
It's an empire that you have to continue to build
for the people, for your communities.
And we didn't get here overnight.
And we definitely can't get out of it overnight.
Is it worth it to sacrifice everything
for what you believe in?
Well, what is everything worth if you believe in nothing?
Some people might say it's not worth it.
And some might be, might people say it's priceless.
I personally think it's priceless.
And I think Jahmal certainly thinks it's priceless.
I think what Jahmal is doing is extremely important.
Some people may think, oh that's a very small gesture
or what's the big deal?
It's huge, it's invaluable.
It's hard work, it doesn't get a lot of notice.
But the work he's doing is what leads to real change.
Sometimes it's slower than it should be
but it's real change.
Are you ready?
Oh, strike one.
Strike two.
Last strike?
Last strike.
It's a good throw though.
Kid's got an arm.
Hoo-I got this!
I got to teach you how to run bases now.
See, she can hit.
My daughter hitting like Mickey Mantle.
Oh! You gotta run the bases.
I'm gonna get you.
Home Run. You played me on purpose. Good job.
Okay.
What up, man?
How you doing, bro?
You ready, bro?
Okay, okay, okay.
You need some help with some stuff?
Yeah, probably. Yeah.
How are ya? I'm fine.
You gotta be proud.
Yes, I'm very proud.
I'm gonna miss you.
Miss you too.
Be good.
I will.
Hey, you amazed.
You gotta feel good.
The first part of the journey is done.
I know. I did it. I know.
The first part is done.
Now we gotta support them from afar.
Right?
Yeah, he gonna get all my support, everybody's support.
Good to go.
Yeah, he love his Ma.
I love my baby too.
'Cause I know he's he's going to do great.
I never had no doubt. I knew he was gonna do excellent.
I'm so proud of Jamal.
He did everything
he said he gonna do from this journey on
and that's a man of greatness.
What's going on?
Hi Jahmal.
How are you doing?
Good.
Is that y'all's bags?
Good morning, y'all!
How's it going?
It's okay.
I'm good. My babies leaving me.
Give me a hug, you got to be proud.
I wanted to go with y'all but I appreciate y'all.
All right. It's early.
You're 17 years old and you going to a whole 'nother state
and you from Chicago.
It's like, you don't know what to expect,
but you don't realize that after two or three days
in South Carolina, it's going to be, it's gonna be lit.
They gonna be finding friends,
they playing pool with, ping pong, eating pizza.
You ain't never going to want to go back.
That's what I don't understand, why people
don't want to go to college.
It'll be a culture shock.
It will be a weather shock.
It will be a climate shock.
It will be a class shock.
There'll be a lot of shock, but.
That's a good thing, man.
Hopefully it's like-it defibrillates them having some hope.
This place right here is-it's good for you
but man, only so many boarded up windows you can see.
I'm tired, y'all!
I don't know what to say.
I don't know how to act.
I'm proud.
I can't put it into words.
All I know,
I'm happy and sad
at the same time. I thought I wasn't going to cry.
I must have fooled myself.
My babies gone.
I don't know what to say.
I don't know how to act, but I'm proud of I'm proud.
I think I'm more happy, proud than I am happy-
sad they gone, but I'm proud of my babies.
I appreciate everything he did.
He got them through it.
If you want to be great, you gotta read.
You gotta volunteer.
You gotta live it.
Ain't no other way.
There's no shortcuts in it.
It's not.
It's lonely.
And it sucks, but there's no other way.
And you can't do it any other way.
That's my life, so.
Fightin' out of the Chatham corner
for the last ten years, we got Jahmal, activist in Chicago.
Y'all wanna rumble?
Let's do it.
I'm alright, I am, I'm alright