Project Resilience

James

The footage in James' Story is taken from two separate conversations held approximately a month apart - one conducted by Tom Kinney of Attainment Company and the other by Steven Wolin of Project Resilience. At the time of the conversations, James was 16 years old and living in a group home in Madison, Wisconsin. He was born in Chicago and removed from his mother's home by the state when he was one year old. James was first placed with his grandmother and then his aunt. At age 11, while living with his aunt, he joined a gang, the Gangster Disciples. He also began using and selling drugs, and he tangled with the law. By his own description, James accumulated a record as long as his arm.

James decided to leave Chicago after his friend Charles died of a bullet wound to his head that was inflicted in a gang incident. James went believing that he would live in his cousin's apartment in Madison. When he arrived there, however, he found that his cousin could not help him. With no place to go, James lived first in an abandoned car. Then with the help of Joe Thomas, a school counselor, James moved to the group home where he as living at the time the videotape was made.