Jaime

Jaime wasn’t a bad kid.

You hear that all the time when something like this happens. Family and friends come to the kid’s defense repeating phrases that attempt to save his or her reputation.

But Jaime really was one of the good ones.

Jaime was one of six teens who enrolled in a youth journalism program offered by The Gate, a newspaper in his neighborhood of Back of the Yards the summer after he graduated eighth grade. He was rather tall for his age, about 6'2" with long arms and a heavy-set frame. His clothes were always two sizes too big, and he wore his hair in a fade, topped off with his favorite Chicago White Sox cap — his way of keeping up with neighborhood fashion trends.

His teacher had encouraged him to sign up for the program after reading some of his work. He was good, but really it was a ploy, an effort to get him to stay away from his uncle, a well-known gang member in the neighborhood. Because Jaime didn’t necessarily volunteer for the program it was hard to get him to take it seriously. For the two hours the program ran, he slouched in his chair, rolled his eyes and cracked jokes whenever the opportunity presented itself. Every assignment was a chore and he made sure everyone knew it.

But it was all an act.

Truthfully, Jaime loved the program. When his first article was published in The Gate, he ran home to his mother with a big smile perched between his chubby cheeks and proudly showed her the page where his name was printed. “Jaime. You see that mom; it’s my name. I wrote that,” his mother later recalled him saying. His admiration for the program was also noted when he was given a camera to borrow and told to document the hip-hop event he and other youth were attending in the neighborhood park. Jaime took over 100 images. “This is so cool,” he said.

The program ended in August, a week before Jaime was to begin his freshman year of high school. The youth said their goodbyes and were encouraged to keep in touch, to keep writing and to visit the program whenever they could.

But Jaime never returned.

A couple of months later, Jaime was gunned down and killed on his way home from school. It happened in broad daylight, a couple of blocks where he had spent the summer. A couple of steps away from his home.

He was only fifteen.