Remembering Jacquian Charles

By Roderick Clanton, Green Corps member at the Alliance for Affordable Energy

December 10 - My friend and fellow classmate, Jacquian Charles was murdered last week. Jacquian was a great person and a great friend to myself and everyone at Green Corps Alliance. One of the things I admired the most about Jacquian was that he always talked about his future and where he wanted to be years from now. That motivated me, and made me think about my future a lot more.

Jacquian liked measuring and cutting wood. That was one of the things I hated about the job, but he would always say to me, “It’s easy, bra, Ima show you how to do it.” Of course I would always reply “I’m straight” and he laughed every time I said it.

I was shocked and hurt when I heard Jacquian was killed. I was shocked because I knew his intentions. He was nothing at all like the newspaper article described him; in fact, he was the total opposite. The Jacquian I knew had plans on getting his GED at Green Corps and hopefully go on to college next year. His dreams were to do insulation work or become a carpenter, but those dreams were taken away from him after a very short time on earth: Jacquian was 25 years old.

Jacquian had five children and I know he loved his kids, because he would talk about them 24/7. Sometimes, he would put his daughter on speaker so that we his fellow classmates could say hi to his baby girl.

These were my thoughts, feelings and memories of Jacquian. Here are some thoughts from other classmates who also built a relationship with Jacquian while attending Green Corps.

“After receiving his certificate of completion of the Day Reporting Center, everything was positive for him,” says Jarred Williams. “ He learned how to handle certain situations and react to different things. He knew how to walk away from stuff also. The biggest thing down here is that you have people who don’t feel like walking away. What about the next guy? He might not want to avoid confrontation.”

Cornelius Ferrande says “The biggest thing down here in the city is not what you feel, but you don’t know what the next man feels. You don’t really want to kill nothing, but you feel like you have to protect yourself.”

“Jacquian used to shake everyone’s hand when he got to school,” adds Ferrande. “He probably didn’t know half the circle, but he still shook everybody’s hand. He was a good listener. He would sit there and listen to whatever problem you had, even though he probably had a million problems of his own that he wasn’t even talking about. Just by him listening, that lifted something off you.”

Jacquian, being the nice guy that he was, gave Cornelius a ride one day to Claiborne and Earhart after school. Cornelius said he remembered telling Jacquian to be safe before getting out of the car after getting his ride. That same day Jacquian was murdered. Cornelius said every time he goes back to the corner of Claiborne and Earhart, he still remembers hopping out of that truck. Cornelius said that Jacquian told him a story about a guy who wanted to fight him, but Jacquian said he didn’t want to fight. The guy kept pushing, but he wasn’t thinking the guy was going to get killed behind it. No one knows when their time is up, and a situation such as this proves it.

“Jacquian was a hard worker,” says classmate Calvin. “When this happened, everybody was devastated. I work with Jacquian also and I must say, he was one of the good guys. I don’t know what Jacquian was doing outside his curfew, but I know it was nothing wrong because I know Jacquian. The guy who who wrote the article on Jacquian doesn’t know him. I’m a good person and a kind-hearted person, but I’ve been on house arrest before. I never came inside on time, but I wasn’t doing anything wrong either. It’s crazy that one can assume that Jacquian was selling drugs because he didn’t make curfew. I know he wasn’t doing anything like that.”

Jacquian’s children motivated him to do good. He often stated that his reason for joining Green Corps was because in order to assure his children a good future, he had to make one for himself. He would not have risked his children’s future by selling drugs. All he talked about was his kids. He not only worked for his kids, but to help his sister with money for needed surgery. It was very easy to tell that Jacquian's family was close and that he loved them all.

Jacquian came to work every day, on time, and he worked very hard, on whatever we were working on . If Jacquian wasn’t learning, he felt that you were depriving him of something. He didn’t mind getting dirty on the work site; he didn’t mind going into houses, or going into their attics. He was very flexible, and an all-around good worker and friend. So to Jacquian’s mother, sisters, and brothers, I speak for the whole Green Corps when I say we are sorry for your loss, and we miss Jacquian just as much as you.