WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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My name

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is James. I was shot and
paralyzed at the age of 15. I am

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now a wheelchair racer. I
see mostly the highway.

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The white line on the
right side of the street.

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I don’t think about the race. I think
about my kids. I think about the bills

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that need to be paid. What home
improvements need to be done. I think about

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everything other than the race. I’m
feeling the hurt, but I try to

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block that out of my mind. I’m thinking
about everything that goes on in my

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life.

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[music]

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I’m form the southwest side of the city of
Chicago. My neighborhood had a little bit

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of everything. You know there
are so many people that

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came from Mexico, and started
with literally nothing.

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Worked hard, bought buildings, invested in
businesses. And there’s a lot of people

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who have become successful and they started
right there in Little Village. Twenty-sixth

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street.

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My mother, she worked for
an airline, and she spent

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a lot of hours at work. My father, he ran a catering
business. And so he spent a lit of time at work

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as well. I wanted to become a

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success, and keep going in my world. And naturally, I was
always taught that if you were success, and you brought your

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success with your family, then
they were success. Jimmy and Tony

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were always together. Probably more than
they should have been because now I realize

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I found out a lot of things that Tony wouldn’t
tell me, or Jimmy wouldn’t tell me because

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they covered up for each other all the time. But they
were always, always thick. The people taking care

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of us, it wasn’t like they were
continuously holding our hands

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or watching what we were doing. It was very easy for me just to get on my bike and
go down the block and you know, get involved in something I shouldn’t have been

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involved in. I had a little
too much independence.

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[sil.]

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Mister Wendel! This Mister Wendel
Mister Wedndel used to take care of me

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when my mom and dad weren’t home on time.
Yeah. For lunch

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I’d run over. He made me soup
right there in the back.

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This is my old kitchen right there. My mom used
to yell at me through the window right there.

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“Quit jumping on the
roof!” I grew up loving

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sports. I played sports in my backyard
every day. You had the park (inaudible)

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My mother and father they got me involved
in a lot of those opportunities. Fathers

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put their sons in the mounds first. My father,
he worked very hard. He couldn’t be there for

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me and put me on the field first. When you’re
out there trying your best at what it is that

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you wanna do. When you’re continuously
put on the side. It just becomes

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frustrating. We were like on the borderline of two
different environments. This used to be like a

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racial borderline. On that side of the street
was always Black. And this side of the street

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was Mexican. And there was always fighting
going on between the two. It was very easy for

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me to be singled out. As I would get
closer to my house, and I had fewer

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and fewer friends walking with me, and I would be
jumped. And there was many times I would come home with

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my nose busted. Maybe I’d end up
with um, you know, scars on my

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head. And then finally I think he took up with friends
to protect him. Things just kind of escalated from

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there. I thought he was a good student, he
likes sports, he played on a few of our teams.

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Uh, and then he was in that coming. Probably about sixth
grade. He didn’t care, you know, and his grades begin to drop

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off. When you see the gang members walking
down the block, five or six of them

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wearing the same colors, when having the same
haircuts, there was a unity of these guys

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all together. It was like, “Man, that’s
cool! I wanna be a part of these

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guys!” Parents are very naive in that area, and I was
very naive. I mean, I came from a little farm town USA in

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Indiana. I didn’t even hear about gangs until
I was in Chicago, and I’m watching the news,

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I’m thinking, “Gee, how terrible.” But of course,
you know, when you watch the news, that’s the news.

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It never happens to you. I think he did
his best to try and keep it away from me,

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but, um. After I got, you
know, older, you know, uh,

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you pick up things in school, and on the streets,
and when you’re with your friends, etcetera. So

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uh, yeah he was being well known throughout
the neighborhood. Rojelio, which is

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\"Baby Sinbad\". He was one of the guys that I was trying to
be like. He was like one of the biggest graffiti artists.

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He would draw them in a notepad first. I’d draw on
my pieces of paper. And we would always compare

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whose was better. Spray
painting murals on the walls.

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Selling drugs. Acts of violence. The
fights. And it all comes down to just

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one thing. Just being known. They used to call the jack rolling.
Where a older Mexican man walking down the street drunk,

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then jump him for his money or his belongings. This could
be our uncle, our grandfather, you know. You’re robbing

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from your own people. First you threaten.
And I threatened and I

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threatened. And then I bribed. Um.

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I don’t know if I can do this.

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Um.

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Then, finally,

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I talked to one of the officers. Excuse me.

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Um, Officer

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Mase came to the house, and told
us about all the troubles he was

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in. Yeah, I knew I was doing wrong.
I didn’t care.

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Once you feel like these are your friends, these are
your guys, these are the guys that you’re gonna

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be with, then you kind of feel
comfortable as to, you know, this is who

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I am now. It was a typical Friday.
Driving around, drinking, getting

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high. Six of us get out. We begin
to walk down the block. And, uh,

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as we can see down in the corner, two guys got
dropped off from the car and are look pretty

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normal. By the time I look back up at the
guys, both guys were face to face with me.

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And they both asked me where was I from. And since
nobody responded they opened up fire on us and they shot

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us. And all I can remember
hearing is all the footsteps of

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everybody running. I couldn’t feel
half my body. It’s the most horrible

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thing to have your phone
ring at two in the morning.

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And they tell you this is the hospital
you’re your son’s here. So I said, “Is it

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serious?” And she says, “I think you better
get here.” I cans till see that morning

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that I went into the emergency room. His
stomach had swollen with internal bleeding.

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And, uh, he was shaking. And
I didn’t think he was gonna

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live. I felt like I was
just very heavy, sluggish,

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like some crazy drug that just
took over my body. I saw Rojelio,

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Baby Sinbad, he was bleeding all over the
place. We were lying next to each other,

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he was grabbing my hand, telling me don’t worry.
He was trying to tell me that I was gonna

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be okay, and that when we – when we get
out of the hospital, that we’ll go back

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and get ‘em. The reality of finding out that he’s
the one who died. I think that that’s what kind of

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hurts more. When you’re eight years old,
you don’t take it seriously. My mom and

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dad finally came home that evening, advising that,
uh, that, “Your brother had been shot.” And,

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the irony behind it was when
he – when they said that,

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the TV in the background was on, and the news
came on, saying that James Lilly, you know,

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15 year-old was shot at this location,
blah blah blah. So then that’s when what

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they’re telling me kind of sunk in when
I saw it on TV. At first I was sad. And

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I was crying that my friend was dead. And
it wasn’t until probably about a week later

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that I was actually holding a
conversation, understanding

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why I couldn’t move my legs. And then
everything kinda started to fall in its

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place. I heard about it at
the police station that

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James had been shot in the city. And
that’s all I knew at the time. And,

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my personal feelings were that maybe he’s not gonna
come back here. You know, not that he would die, but

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maybe that would open his eyes right then. But
he was right back on the streets after that with

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that wheelchair. The focus of my
disability and me being shot was

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glamorized. It really went to my head.
I felt like this is gonna be my life.

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I’m gonna spend the rest of my life becoming deeper and deeper
involved in this organization. Even to some of the older policemen

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now, uh, when you mention his
names they say, “Oh that

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shithead.” You know, that’s, that’s how they refer to him because
he was just a heartless little punk when he was involved

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with those gangs. I did do some time while

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I was there. Some of my own guys broke into my
place to take everything that was in there.

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When I finally confronted everybody,
everybody denied it. I also looked around,

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I realized that, um, all
the so called friends,

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they were stealing and robbing from each
other, abusing other guys’ wives, girlfriends.

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I had a few friends who had gotten
locked up, I had a few friends who

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died. I was living in a dump. My mother, she would sneak
over to my house. You know, she would always wanna make

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sure I was fed. And I think my eyes
started to open a little bit more.

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Yet, when I started to realize how bad it’s
gotten, that’s when I also realized that um,

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you know, for me to get out,
it’s gonna be so difficult.

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So I grabbed a bag of clothes, and I basically was
hiding inside of a basement for about three months.

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Just staying away from everybody.
I started to study for my GED.

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And then, at one of my routine checkups at the hospital,
I met this guy. And he was sharing with me about

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wheelchair basketball, and what wheelchair basketball was
all about. When I really got frustrated with basketball

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was after losing. And we lost a
lot of games. And I had told

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them that I’m just sick of losing.
After several months,

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I came out to talk to somebody within the gang.
They pulled me out of the van and began to beat me.

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The idea was to kill me. This is one of
the ways that they take you out of the

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gang. When I came out of the hospital this time, I went
to stay with a friend that lived in Dallas, Texas.

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And that’s when the new positive
things in my life began to happen.

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I started to go back to school, I got back
into sports, and I’m a very, very competitive

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person. I do not like to lose. And in
wheelchair racing, it’s independent. It’s up to

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you. You don’t need a team to get across
that finish line. I been racing ever

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since.

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[sil.]

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I came back to Illinois to go to school,

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in Champaign, Illinois, which is two and a half
hours from here. But, you know, when I came here to

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Chicago, I came on a weekend, and I
ended up meeting Nora on a – in a,

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in a party, where we exchanged
phone numbers. And, here we

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are. When you first meet James, it’s his

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personality that strikes you first, then the
fact that he’s in a chair. It’s kind of like you

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forget about it. When you’re first attracted to somebody,
you’re just so in love you don’t really think about

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all that stuff. When I was away in college,
really what I wanted to do with my life

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was to come back and speak with the kids,
and keep them away from gangs. I never

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succeeded in getting a bachelors degree,
or anything like that. But, you know,

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to be able to come back to a community
and say, “Hey, this is not what life has

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to be like. You can change.” I
think that means so much more.

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When I see their faces, and
I see that they’re really

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listening, then it makes me wanna
come back and do it again.

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I wanna say thank you so much
for having me in your school

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today.

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[sil.]

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In 1993, I won three gold, one silver, one
bronze, in the international competitions

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in London. But then when I came back, I thought,
“Well, what’s next?” And I thought about the race

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that I had always wanted to compete in. The
world’s longest wheelchair race through Alaska.

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When I read that article about these
guys that were doing 367 miles,

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I thought, “Man, these guys are crazy!
That’s nuts!” But then at the same time,

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that was a type of attention
that I always pursued.

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Yeah, I am excited. I can’t wait to get this
race started. I’ve done this race already three

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times. To be able to say I’ve competed
in a race that is the world’s longest,

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it’s an accomplishment.

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[sil.]

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To have a wife that’s understanding, uh,

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that accepts all this, and supports me with
this, you know, that’s, that’s incredible as

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well. No, Christian, no, no, no.
Sit down and

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eat. You don’t have to talk like that. No, I’m
gonna show my real side. We eat. Actually, mom,

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yeah, you two sit together and let Christian jump on
you like how he normally does. And then I’ll give me

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the Jimmy, like how I normally do. Get
right here kid. You don’t want this to-No,

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the real – the real family’s coming out right
now. It’s very difficult for her, because

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it’s hard maintaining the household by

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yourself. You guys should pretend like the camera’s not here. You gotta
pretend like the camera’s not here. Okay? Turn around. For me to be

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away in Alaska for almost a week and a half, two weeks,
doing this race, and leaving her alone with the kids,

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you know, it’s difficult. But if it weren’t for
her support, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m

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doing. Uh, you need to brush a

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little harder than that. No, no,
brush a little more than that

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. It’s difficult. It’s difficult. But I
know that it’s part of what he loves

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to do. It’s, it’s good for him
too, It keeps him healthy.

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[sil.]

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Hey, you put that on film? How dare you.

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There’s a lot of people out there who
could do this race faster than me.

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I don’t know how many of them are willing to
go the distance. I mean, that is a long way to

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be putting on the mileage. And there’s a lot of wear
and tear on your body, as well as your equipment.

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I had no idea what Alaska

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was like. And I studied in school, I didn’t realize how many
mountains were in Alaska. I didn’t realize the different changes

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of weather that takes place
in one hour in Alaska.

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[sil.]

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The race is called the “Sadler’s
Ultra Challenge”. And it runs

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from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Now
it’s 267 miles over six days

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The first day’s the – is gonna be the
hardest day of the race. Where we

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climb out of Fairbanks, which is basically all
mountains and hill climbs. My weakness is

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my hills. Thomas Gerlach is excellent
on the hills. He’s a very strong

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hill climber. I think if I would have known
that he was one of the athletes I would be

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competing against, I think I would
have done a lot more hill training.

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Damn, why am I doing this?

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[sil.]

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10 seconds is much easier. I won’t
go to hand-cycling just because

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I been wheelchair racing for 13 years and my
focus is to, is to continue on, trying to win.

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Gonna have the time to, to put into hand
cycling, to try to win at hand cycling.

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[sil.]

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I had a flat tire in the very,

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very beginning, coming up
the first couple hills.

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That was in

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the first (inaudible)

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get backed up, but that
kind of took the motivation

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away as far as trying to keep up with Thomas. Because
that that point Thomas was already way ahead of me.

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[sil.]

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That hill took everything out of me. My, my body
was just cramping. My forearms were cramping,

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my god damn shoulder was giving.
Then, the next thing I know, my tire

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goes flat. I was hurting. I was hurting

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bad. How much time do you think to
catch up? About 10 minutes maybe.

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It’s all right. It’s part

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of racing.

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Day one and two were just terrible. I
really don’t know what it was, it was

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
like a stomach virus that I had. And I was
sick when I was pushing. But I couldn’t

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
stop. And I couldn’t go to the bathroom
or anything. I had to just keep going.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
It was very disgusting.
It also took a lot of

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
my heart out of the race.

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
[sil.]

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
Thomas put a big gap on me
on day one and two. Well,

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
a race is a race. Anything can happen. I
figured, I’m gonna keep him within eyesight.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
And if I see that he’s got a flat tire,
or he’s having some kind of mechanical

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
or, or physical breakdown, I’m right there,
and I’m gonna pick it up, and I’m gonna take

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
off, and I’m gonna set the gap.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:18.000
[sil.]

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
It seemed for me like the hills were harder
than they were last time I was here.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
I think they made them steeper. You
think so? Day three, I remember

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
waking up with just a burst of energy. And
coming out of the park, was the first big

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
hill. And I just thought, you know,
“I wanna give him a taste of what’s

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
inside me.” I think I put a big surprise on him, as far
as, you know, what I’m capable of doing. I do remember

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
when he caught up to me, you know, he kind of smiled.
And I remember telling him, “Uh, this is the

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
one day, this is the one stage
you’re not gonna beat me. Go James!

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:08.000
[sil.]

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
James! What?

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
Shit. What’s the time? What
time did Thomas get? Let

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
me check. Anne! Yo, what did Thomas get?
(inaudible)

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
It

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
Was close. Don\'t tell me that!
What was the time? Uh,

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
You were, 29:42.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
Thomas was 29:29. Fuck! I had

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
some money on you, you know?
I had money on me

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
too! How

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
was your race? It was good. Yeah? I just,

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
uh, I wanted to win it. And I didn’t get

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
it. It’s pretty good though, isn’t it?
Yeah, it’s real good. It’s not

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
good enough though. I wanted to win it.
I, I crossed finish line knowing I won.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
I just had it inside me, I was just
like, “Yeah! And I finally got him!”

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
He’s a strong guy, though.
He’s strong, he’s

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
focused. Um, you know, he’s a great
athlete. Uh, you know, this is, this is

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
this got me. I uh, put everything I
had inside this chair today. And,

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
I’m a competitor. You
know, I wake up in the

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
middle of the night to train.
And I don\'t train

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
to take second.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:03.000
[sil.]

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
I don’t cry over being in a wheelchair.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
The only time I cry is when I
see my son say, “Dad I wish

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
that you could walk.” Those are
things that will make me cry. Mostly,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
it’s the inconvenience of living
in a, inaccessible house. But it’s

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
a lot easier for me to run upstairs and grab
things, and, you know. But the kids, I get

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
tired of going back up and down. Maybe it’s taking out the
garbage, maybe it’s taking the groceries in the house.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
It frustrates her, and when it
frustrates her, it makes me sad

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
inside. I try to pretend that
I’m not disabled. Or I try to

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
prove that, even if I’m
disabled I can still do these

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
things.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
We had a difficult year this
year because the cub scouts hold

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
their meetings in the basement of the church. I don’t
feel comfortable crawling up and down the stairs.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Children are cruel. I mean, how many kids
are out there are gonna say something to

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Jimmy in school. Or make fun of him because his father’s
in a wheelchair. The after making a request to the

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
cub scouts to move to an accessible
location, you know, they failed to

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
do so. All his friends at school
are part of this cub scouts now.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
And my son is not part of cub scouts. If I weren’t
disabled then my son wouldn’t have to deal with

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
this. It – it’s funny because sometimes I expect him not to
feel sorry for himself because he’s such a strong person.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
And he never talked about his disability
in a negative way when we first met.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
It wasn’t till recently where he’s – sometimes
he gets down about it and I’m just like,

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
“James, that’s not like you.” You know? “Don’t
do that!” you know? I get pissed off and angry

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
and say, “Damn it why do I have to be in that
wheelchair? This sucks.” But at the same time,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
I was the idiot that chose to do the things that caused
me to be in a wheelchair. So I have nobody to blame

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
but myself.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
[sil.]

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
I love meeting friends.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
But nobody was – nobody was this close.
And there was never this significance

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
between me and him. I was
Rojilio’s mom and dad to know

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
that he has never forgotten.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
You know, there’s many gang members that die. And
after they die, after about a year, all the guys

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
forget him - forget about him.
You know, I made that commitment

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
that, you know, I won’t forget

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
him.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
I guess I’m not too dedicated
‘cause I couldn’t find him quick

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
enough. I think we’re
gonna paint this thing

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
fluorescent orange.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
As far as what I put my mother

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
and father through, I can never replace
the bad things that I’ve done.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
But I always feel that if I could tell them that I’ve
done something positive, and share with them that I’m

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
doing something really good with
myself, I can now make them

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
happy Jimmy, get out of here! Now!
Now how do I go back to

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
it? Go

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
away! Get out of

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
here now! What a beautiful grandma. Would you
get out of here? They, They just feel that

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
my objective is to talk to the camera and say it’s
my mom and dad’s fault that, you know, I got shot.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
That’s not the way it is at all. I, I always say me
and my father never had the greatest relationship.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
You know, we never had a relationship where we
hung out, you know, played baseball. James’ always

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
had a hard head. You know, you
could thump him and, and, and, two

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
minutes later he’s off and running.
I – I can’t say he doesn’t love me.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
It’d be, it’d be out right wrong for me to say
that. How about you, do you love him? Yeah,

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
I do. What, what’s the friction? My mom seems
to think that we’re like, uh, the same

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
type of magnets. We’re, uh, you know, that – that, that’s
it. You know, we’re the two negatives. And we just

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
can’t click. We fought constantly. All the time.
I wish I could have changed some of the things

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
that I did. You know, but it all goes back
to the choices that I chose to do what I

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
did. You know, like, I was telling my mommy, you know, sometimes
in life you don’t get a second chance. You know. I’ll

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
never be able to go back and get a second
chance of walking back out of that parking lot.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
My last days were walking right there.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Go ahead. Are you the only child? Am I the only
child? No, there’s a twist on that. My brother.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
He’s a police officer now. I never knew this
until about two years ago. He said that one time

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
he was asleep, and he heard somebody beating me up.
He said he looked out the bedroom window and he saw

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
it was a police officer. He said that that memory stayed
with him for his entire life. And he wanted to make sure

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
that he were to become a police
officer to be a good police

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
officer. He’s a great dad. Very
attentive with his kids, very

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
involved. Very loving and - but also strict.
I mean, he’s, he’s, he’s a wonderful

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
father. His kids, uh, he’s
trying harder than I did.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
Which I’m proud of him. He’s trying more
family barbeques and things of this

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
nature. He’s set on making
sure that Jimmy and Christian

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
don’t follow in his footsteps. I’m gonna
let him know this is what your father

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
did. Uh, he knows I was a gang member. He knows
I used to sell drugs. He knows I used to

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
do drugs. He knows I got shot.
But my life has

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
changed. Are you nervous?
Yeah, I’m nervous.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:13.000
[sil.]

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
A few of you may remember

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
James Lilly. James was a
very challenging personality

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
when he was a student here at 20 to 25
years ago. James was involved with gangs,

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
and, as often happens, was tragically injured
in a shooting. James has been confined

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
to a wheelchair since this incident. From
time to time, I heard many reports that

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
James has turned his life around.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
He tried to contact me on several
occasions. I resisted those contacts

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
for many years. I was concerned that his new
attitude and commitment to change his life was less

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
than genuine. I was wrong. Life is much too

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
short to hold grudges. Sometimes second
chances are deserved and earned.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
After quite a bit of soul searching, I have agreed
to this visit. I’ll be looking forward to the

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
visit.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
[sil.] It means a lot. It’s been
a long time buddy. It means

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
a lot, it does. Thank you. You better
not show this film till after I retire.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
‘cause I’ll tell you what. They’re gonna think
they got a big baby running this school district

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
here. You know, I think your name was
out here. We finally had it sanded off.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
He was never disrespectful to me. He was
respectful even in his disobedience.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
How are you? This is my friend James.
How you guys doin? Mom and dad work

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
a lot of hours. James was the
de facto babysitter for Tony.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
And I was concerned about with who James was hanging
around with. The teachers are looking forward to

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
seeing him, though. How you’ve been man?
Long time

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
no see. You haven’t changed at all.
You look the

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
same. It’s really an uplifting
and makes me just feel proud,

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
and, and almost choked up to the point to see what
he has accomplished. Because, I remember after

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
um, after he was shot, and, and
seeing him in a wheelchair.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
He still was pretty defiant. And I
remember him being involved with uh,

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
tagging in the building. He came back to graffiti
the building and had somebody lift him out of

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
his wheelchair to do it.
That was the last straw.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Called the cops, pressed charges.
That was it. I said,

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
“Now we didn’t learn something here.”
You remember that day? That’s when

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
I went out for recess every day. Nah, nah, nah. Tell them
later, tell them later. This is going well. Let’s not

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
screw it up. Gifted artist. They told me he drew a
cover for the yearbook once when he was in school

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
here. And he says everybody thought
it was great. I think they ended up

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
using it somewhere in the yearbook. You know, it’s only,
we have after we had eight million of them printed

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
that we found some little gang cra
– oh god were we mad. Oh man.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
It’s a good thing I didn’t find you that day man. I would have
beat the… We would have had a discussion over it, all right?

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
You know? You start thinking, “Well I don’t care if I get
locked up. I’ll spend two months, three months, a year,

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
two years. I’ll come back out. It’s no big deal.” It is a big
deal. ‘Cause that’s a chunk of your life you can never get

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
back. Five, four, three, two.
He then said, “You were shot.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
The bullet’s right here in the middle of your
back.” He said, “As of today, there is no

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
cure for paralysis. You become paralyzed,
you’re gonna be disabled for life.” This is

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
a catheter. Male or female would have to use something just
like this in order to urinate. People coming back out of the

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
penitentiaries, and out of the hospitals,
they’re talking about all the things that

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
they got away with. And that’s what I
mean as far as like, glamorizing it.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
I started giving up athletics because my family, my mom
and my dad, they were not out there enjoying it with me.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
And you gotta do it because you like to do it.
Now I always found myself telling people I took

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
second. I already said I’m a competitive person. I
don’t like saying I took second. I like saying I

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
won. Last year, that last
day, that last few seconds

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
before you hit that finish line. The
emotions that were going through you.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Immediately I looked at the race director and I
said, “The next year I’m coming back, and I’m

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
gonna win this race next year.” I think it I were able to win
the race, I think that there would be some closure. I think

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
I’d be able to say, “Wow, I did it.” I had no
idea if I would ever want to come back and do it

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
again. ‘Cause I’m the type of person that
might wanna come back and win it two times,

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
or win it three times. But to just be able to say that I’ve won the
world’s longest marathon. I think I like talking about it more than

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
I like racing.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
I’m not gonna lie about it. I like talking about
it. I\'m not going to fool with it, no more.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
I tried to get in it right now. The seat
is way too tight. You don’t want me to

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
hit it anymore? No! Jonathan. I’ve known
him since he was a little boy. And, uh,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
just having him here. It just,
it means so much to me.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
I’ve done everything I need to do to prepare for this race.
Just, you know, trying to get up and over the hills, and, and

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
being as smart as I can
so I don’t hurt my body.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
There’s not that much competition
here, but if I blow out my arms out,

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
or I hurt myself physically, then
I literally beat myself out of

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
the whole race. And I came out here to prove
that I, I could come out here and win this

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
race.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
[sil.]

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
Liz Griffiths from Chicago.
I’ll be James’ driver

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
today and for the rest of the week. My job is to keep
him safe in traffic. So I’m gonna be the best driver I

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
can be.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:08.000
[sil.]

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
It was very

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
difficult that it – mostly for the first couple days.
The also the third day we had a lot of head wind

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
that we never had before. I really wished that I
had somebody out there fighting the head wind

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
with me.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
[sil.]

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
I was thinking last year,

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
when Thomas was here, and he and I were out there pushing
together. You know the days went by much quicker.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
I wanna see if I could fetch my body back

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
home. Well, this is my third year
on the race. And I keep coming

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
back for the racers. It’s,
it’s kind of become my fuel

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
I think. Um, How so? It’s just so inspiring
to see another human being do what

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
they do. Today we have three flags.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
The jump(ph) is out there man. I had just enough
time to unbuckle my seatbelt and be like, “Hey,

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
are we okay? You’re coming back and you changed
the tire. We’re like Mario Andretti’s team.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
You know, like I’m hosing him down. I’ve got the water.
He was, you know, like leaned up against the side.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
He’s off. Everybody’s strangers

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
to each other. Nobody knows anybody. And
within three or four days and everyone’s like

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
best friends.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
[sil.] With just two stages to go,
likewise, for Richard Data(ph)

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
and James Lilly hold insurmountable leads in the
will and hand(ph) cycle, and wheelchair division

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
respectively. They finish Thursday?
They finish Thursday night.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
[sil.]

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
It’s so exciting. It’s exciting but it’s sad. ‘cause
it’s kind of like it’s over with now. It’s taken

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
a very long time. It’s kinda like,
“Wow, I can’t believe it’s over.”

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
My mom was on the phone crying yesterday.
They know, you know, how badly I wanted

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
it as well. In first place,

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
a man who says he’s never coming back.
But I don’t

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
believe it. From Rookfield,
Illinois, Mister

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
James Lilly.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:43.000
[sil.]

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
With Alaska, every year, you know,

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
I would say I don’t wanna go back.
But then every year I, I find myself

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
wanting it to touch myself again.
I’m proud of him.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
I don’t think any of us are quitters. Like you said, “Give
up now.” We’d never give up. And I think that you’ll keep

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
pushing.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:18.000
[music]