Raymond

I've lived North Chicago for 19 years. My wife, and her family is from North Chicago. My wife's father was ill. So I transferred up here to Chicago from North Carolina. He ended up passing away, and we've been here ever since.

Did you have what expectations did you have on your Chicago moving, moving here?

I never had been here, other than me visiting the suburbs of Chicago. So I know it's got a little bit– we're from the south. Down south, you know, houses might be quarter mile from each other, and people wave to each other and everything. But the city and then you come up here, three houses down, people, they might not even wave at each other. There are a lot of single parents up here. You have few people like me, me and my wife. My wife's a doctor, I'm a manager with FedEx. We live on the outside of Green Bay row. It's just okay. Over here there are a lot of homes where you get a lot of single parents, you know, they moved to a place they can afford.

What are you most proud of?

Most proud of? Coming from being adopted as a foster child, to working my way up to see my daughters become successful, my wife to become successful– And for them not to, you know, have the experience of life I grew up in. That motivation in me is what I'm proud of. It ain't even about me, it's about somebody else. And, you know, and if we had a lot of that, things be different, you know, definitely, you know, these politicians…

I don't see the long term investment happening from the leaders here. And you know– if you don’t see that motivation, and you didn't have that motivation… a lot of people, they don't get too involved in a lot of stuff in the community, they feel like nothing’s gonna happen.

I know, we got to invest in the kids, because you’ve got to look at a future. That's, that's a long term thing. But at the same time, if something needs to be done now, you’ve got to shake things up. What more is needed versus what do you want to do? Don't think about what you want to do- but what you’ve got to do for the community? The leadership in the community, I think that needs to be to be boosted. You got to have a head to do that. People have people have titles and they've not taking ownership. People are not invested in their positions.

What do you aspire to? What do you hope for for your future?

Once I retire, to be able to help more people. You asked me about my accomplishments, but my accomplishment came from my challenges thrown in the way. When my parents left me and I paid the price. And that's what you need. You need to use that as your motivation. I have more strength to get over that.

You can pass that on. As long as you keep passing it on, it'll work.

Edited and condensed, this conversation took place in 2016.