Harry Jenkins

I tell kids in the school there is nothing like having your mother. Love your mother and love your father. Once they are gone you are all alone. I have many kids I take care of. I do my best to be the father to them that my father wasn’t to me. It is hard not to have your parents around you. You got to love them all the time like it was your last day.

Harry Jenkins

My name is Mr. Jenkins. I was born December 19, 1962. My mother’s name was Ella Mae Jenkins, and my father’s name was John Loren Jenkins. My mother was born in Chicago, like me, and my dad was born in Texas.

My mom and dad separated. I moved to the south side of Chicago. I lived with my grandmother, Mildred Polk, and my auntie, Celestine Robinson. We went to live there after a man come in our home and jumped out the 11th floor window while my sister and I were watching TV. I was 10 years old.

If the parents don’t want to be together or go separate ways, it puts wear and tear on a kid’s heart. The kid wants to know who his father is. Possibly the mother doesn’t want the kids to know the father. This causes the kids to come up in the world without a dad or anyone to guide them.

I met my father for the first time at the age of 21. When I was a young boy I didn’t know who my father was; but you still have the love in your heart for your father. In high school I played football and was very academic. My 12th year in school was a struggle. There were a lot of fights going on. When you encounter things you shouldn’t be part of, it puts a tug on your life. I joined a gang when I was 16 years old.

Gangs are hard to get out of. I was in for almost 15 years. I was into it to where my position didn’t allow me to just leave and walk away. My mother talked to me for four and half years to get out of the gang. She told me she didn’t want to be standing over me in my grave. I found myself getting out of the gang. I walked away.

My mother got ill in 1992. I moved my family back home to take care of her. That same year my grandmother passed away. In 1993, my auntie died of cancer. I took that deeply because we were close to each other. In 1994, my uncle died. One person died after the next person. Life started getting hard.

I prayed to God to overcome all the hurt and pain I went through. I became a Christian in 1995. When my mother was on her deathbed, she gave my wife tickets for us to fly to Minnesota. As soon as we arrived here, she died. I felt like she was telling me to move on. There was no one left from my family but me.

I started working security at Richfield Middle School in 2001. I’m here doing a diligent job to make sure that kids are safe and aren’t bullied around. I monitor the hallways to make sure the kids are in class and the boys aren’t doing graffiti in the bathroom. I’m watching for gang members and anything coming into the school.

My other job is supervision of the cafeteria. Some times the kids make me laugh; everyone runs back to their seat when I walk into the room. As long as there aren’t any fights, it’s okay. Everyday is a good day for me when 4:00 comes around and all the kids are safe and on the way home to their parents. I take this job very seriously.

My advice to you is to go to class and achieve your education. Don’t be followers. I don’t want you to do what I did. You are the new generation and you guys can achieve your goals. Go to college and be the kids for the world. Things will go better only if you make them better. My grandmother told me that if there ever came a time to leave this world, I had to know how to be safe, and live and to walk right in this world. Show your loyalty to your family.