Jim is the community hero I interviewed. Jim was born in New York in an all African American neighborhood in which he was one of two white families. He had to prove himself to many people because he was white and people though he wouldn't make it because of the hood he was coming from.
Jim believes that without education you really can't become who you truly can become. Jim himself didn't have the best grades in High School but after seeing what some of his friends went through he was motivated to be different.
Jim works in schools and on the streets with “at risk” students which is making our community a better place because it helps young kids realize that school has way more to offer than the streets do. Jim tries to be more of a cool, “take it easy” type of adult to these kids, that way they won't see him as “oh you sound just like my mom” type of adult. Jim said “ All these put downs instead of building us up” was a great line he stated. He explained how even family or friends put kids down with the words they use, how they say it, and how they go about saying things.
Jim thinks the way people go about keeping our community safe is the wrong way of doing it. Instead of gang banging and having a block to hold down why not “Go to school, get your degree, open up shops and businesses, and hold down your neighborhood that way.”
Jim defines a hero as a person who will go “above and beyond”. That isn't selfish and the things they do isn't for themselves instead the things they do, they do for the people and the community, because they care. Personally after interviewing Jim and getting to hear him out I think he himself is a community hero!
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