- [Interviewer] Jermire, we're here in Chicago,
you're homeless, tell me about it.
(birds chirping)
- First off, what I can say about being homeless,
is it's not a good feeling.
You know, part of being homeless is being lonely,
and that's one of the worst feelings in the world for me,
you know and I can say for anyone else.
Being homeless in Chicago is life-learning experiences.
You learn things out here,
and I'm glad that I can make it through the bad things
that was happening out here in Chicago, being homeless,
but, you know, it's not a good lifestyle,
and I'm 19 and I can really say, stay in school,
focus, and reach for somethin'.
Stay focused, don't get, don't get thrown off track,
with trying to live a rough lifestyle,
because when you actually live it,
it's not pretty, you know,
and being homeless, man, it's just a hard struggle,
seein' everyday people homeless.
That's all you can do.
You know, you think like, how can I make it out?
So, yeah.
- [Interviewer] How long were you out on the streets?
- I've been homeless since I was 13.
- [Interviewer] What was your first day like?
- Whoo, my first day being homeless,
I remember like it was yesterday.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
It was like, I seen it comin',
because I never had my parents in my life.
I was raised by, you know, just different people.
You know, all the time, never understood,
why things was goin' on, but me being homeless,
really gave me a wake-up call to life.
I'm a senior in high school still.
If fittin' to push it out, graduate, May 27.
- [Interviewer] Good for you.
- And, I really must say, my experience being homeless,
you know, it wasn't great, but hey, if I can do it over
again, I wouldn't change anything, because I learned a lot,
even through the bad things that happened out here
in the streets of being homeless.
My first day being homeless was very hard,
didn't understand anything that was going on.
Yeah, you know, just turned to the streets, you know,
when I got homeless, because, hey,
I never had anything in my life,
so I tried to make a way.
- [Interviewer] So now you're goin' to school.
- Yes sir.
- [Interviewer] And you're goin' to school homeless?
- Yes sir.
- [Interviewer] I mean, how do you make that happen?
I mean, 'cause - Whoo!
you ain't popular, you know, school's all about
being popular, you know what I mean.
- Yes sir.
- [Interviewer] And homelessness ain't popular.
- Yeah, well --
- [Interviewer] I mean, I give you credit man.
I mean, huge props, man.
That's huge.
- Thanks, thanks, but goin' to school
and being homeless, you know,
I was on varsity since freshman year.
I go to Proviso East in Maywood, you know, shout that out,
but, you know, I was really popular though,
and kids didn't really find out that I was homeless
until my last year which was this year.
- [Interviewer] You don't tell 'em, right.
- No sir. - Ohh!
You know being homeless at school,
it's a good feelin', like, I don't know how crazy
that my sound, but it is, because it shows you
how different you are from other kids.
You know, kids that have their mother and father,
at least one parent at home, that's caring for them,
and they still have somewhere to go.
So, like I said, being homeless, goin' to school,
it was hard.
It was a hard struggle.
Some days I didn't eat, sleepin' outside, you know.
I mean, it was hard.
Don't get me wrong, I cried, you know,
but at the same time, all that made me a man,
and I'm glad that I'm the person that I am today.
You know, like that, being homeless and going to school
build character, shows your character,
show you who you are, have a strong mind out here.
These streets ain't nothin' to play with in Chicago,
and, yeah.
- [Interviewer] So what's your future like?
I mean if you can survive high school homeless, man,
you can do anything!
- Well, you know, I just really just started
settlin' down and thinking about my future,
and where do I wanna go
and where do I see myself in five years?
Well, I see myself in the future, you know,
being somewhere, owning somethin', not settlin' for less,
striving for more, you know, just pushing it out the end.
You know, 'cause there's only one way out,
and that's to die, and I think I'm not scared
of doin' that anyway.
I think I done been through the worst out here in Chicago
bein' homeless, so...
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes, what would they be?
- Ah man, three wishes.
That sounds good, but three wishes for me,
you know, to have more shelters like Solid Ground,
in Chicago for youth,
because that did change my way of thinkin',
and my style to life, and the way I look at life,
because without Solid Ground, I was really like,
hey, whatever, but now I'm here, learned more,
focus, a good place to be, rather than the streets,
so my first wish to have plenty, a lot of Solid Grounds
throughout Chicago, and throughout
a lot of homeless places,
and second wish, to be successful so I can come back
and help people that's in my situation,
or at least talk to 'em, and let 'em know,
like don't ever give up, you know.
Third wish, man, my third wish, you know
I'd give it to someone that need it.
- [Interviewer] Thank you very much for talkin' to me.
- Thank you.