man. it s a program that started in chicago in 2001 to mentor and support boys and young men. how s everybody doing? the idea is to create a place for them to safely and honestly share their struggles and successes. issues at home, in school or on the streets. president obama first joined a b.a.m. circle back in 2013. that s when he met high school students james adams, lazarus daniels, and christian champagne. today in the same classroom they sat in eight years ago at the hyde park academy high school on the south side of chicago, mr. obama is catching up with them again. james and lazarus are now 26. christian is 25. he says talking to the president back then was life-changing. it was so crazy, that first period that i went to class, it was like, i m going to meet the president on my lunch. like, that was the most inconceivable thing you could possibly think of. then my heart was, like, racing, when we were sitting down, he
the idea is to create a place for them to safely and honestly share their struggles and successes, issues at home, in school or on the streets. president obama first joined a bam circle back in 2013. that s when he met high school students james adams, lazarus daniels and christian champagne. today in the same classroom they sat in eight years ago at the hyde park academy, a high school on the south side of chicago, mr. obama is catching up with them. james and lazarus are now 26. christian is 25. he says talking with the president back then was life-changing. it was so crazy. that first period that i went to the class, it was like, i m going to meet the president. that was the most inconceivable thing that you could possibly think of. then my heart was like racing, like when we were just sitting down and he just walked in. it was just like i m forever grateful, and it changed the
trajectory of my life dramatically. [ applause ] that meeting had a big impact on president obama as well. one of the things that led him to launch an initiative called my brother s keeper, which he announced at the white house in 2014. christian, lazarus, and james were there. james, when you went to d.c., that was your first time out of chicago, is that right? yeah. so that was my first plane ride, and that was really my first time being out of my neighborhood. good afternoon. good afternoon. christian champagne was 18 years old at the time. he sat down with us and shared his story, and to my surprise, he was just like me, growing up without a father and sometimes not too concerned with school. [ laughter ] it was like, okay. that s pretty nice that this is a black president, grew up without a father. some of the guys grew up without
i have to think about her. i have to think about her mother, her sister because now i m the man of the house. and everything that i do is pretty much revolved around her. so i want to be that father that s always there. i want to be the one that you come home from school to, that brightens up your day. anything that you need, you can always come to me. i didn t have that growing up. i didn t have a father. like it was one point in time i didn t see my father for like ten years. right. so i want to be there for her, for everything. fantastic. how about you, lazarus? being a father, it s amazing to me. my baby girl got a great big smile, full of energy, full of life, full of joy. bam counselors often act not only as mentors but also father figures to the young men in their group. they check in on their grades, their health, their safety. christian champagne says
but the kids who are right there, sort of in the middle, that can tip in either direction, that if they get an encouraging adult, if they are able to, as lazarus was expressing there, if they can find words to tell their story and express themselves and talk out what they re feeling, they can succeed. and that s part of what i think made this conversation wonderful is, yeah, these kids aren t like sort of one in a million. this is what you just heard was young black men all across this country. that s who they are. it s not the stereotype. these were not prodigies or savants, but they are brimming with potential. so if we have a society that is afraid of them, we need to listen and hear them because they re no different than you or