Jeremy

During my time here in the States, Jeremy has been perhaps the most tragic person I have met. I met him in the place where sadly many of America's down and outs tend to congregate: the local Greyhound bus station.

As I finished up my contract with the Obama campaign in New Mexico, it was time for me to go stay with a friend in Colorado for a few days before flying home. Despite advice from the friends I have made over here, I chose to be adventurous and experience a Greyhound for real. Supposedly, a few months back a sleeping man was decapitated by a knife-wielding psychopath on a Greyhound in Canada. This didn't scare me a huge amount but it definitely kept me on my guard!

When I arrived at Albuquerque's Greyhound station, my bus to Denver was running a two hour delay so I decided to get some fast food from the crummy bus staion restaurant. There I met Jeremy, a 17 year old kid who was experiencing a 13 hour delay on his bus to Farmington in upstate New Mexico. He seemed pleasant and quite eager to make conversation.. so I sat down beside him with my pizza while he ate his burger and chips.

Jeremy had a lot of stories to tell. He started by telling me where he had been - visiting his pregnant fiancée in Roswell in southern New Mexico. His journey had been cut short on the advice of his fiancée because of a death threat from a 15-year-old gang member down in Roswell. The reason he wanted to kill Jeremy was because he was jealous of his relationship with his fiancée. Jeremy took his girlfriend's advice but queried whether she was cheating on him.

According to Jeremy, neither he nor his brother were allowed set foot again in the state of Missouri because a good few years ago his younger brother got into a fight with a kid and pulled a gun on him. At a young age his parents seaprated. It was unclear where his mother was but his father seemed to be around but Jeremy wanted nothing to do with him. Previously he had been living with his aunt until she had him committed to a mental institution. He certainly had no fond memories of that place. He assured me though that he had been released long ago and had been off his medication for over six months.

Now he was living with his friend and her mother and couldn't wait until he was 18 so that he could "go out on his own". When I asked him where he had met his fiancée, he told me "through my group back home". The way he was talking, it didn't sound like a religious Christian group to me but moreso what the media like to brand as a gang. He also seemed to have a disposable income not consistent with his means. He claimed not to have a "proper job" but was decked in the latest brand names and had a top of the range mobile phone.

When I started talking to Jeremy, I was naturally a bit nervous as he told me about his chequered life. I began to fear what he might do to me and whether he was capable of just turning on me. The more I talked to him though, the more I realised he was a very nice, genuine guy who had had a rough time growing up with very little support from either his family or the state and had got caught up in this gang lifestyle.

I could only imagine the world he lives in. While I was there, he was consoling a friend who had texted him saying that a gang was after him and that he mightn't get to see Jeremy ever again. He instructed Jeremy to look after his fiancée. Meanwhile, I got a text from a friend recounting the previous days in Ireland: rain, boozing and work. Hardly comparing like with like.

And what I found saddest about Jeremy was that he is the tip of a very large iceberg in the States. As part of the campaign in Albuquerque, I visited the Robert F. Kennedy Charter School, a last chance saloon for high school dropouts to graduate and go on to third level education. The kids attending the school were extremely deprived and quite difficult individuals. The hard work and stamina of the staff there was second to none but they really are fighting an uphill battle.

Obviously, a lot of kids like Jeremy get lost in the system. This poster I saw in the Greyhound station is testament to that, if nothing else.

At the Obama rally I attended, Governor Richardson stressed the importance of education for the USA going forward. Obama even paid lip service to it in his rousing speech. I just hope the Democrats get in and follow through on their promises. Jeremy is living proof that George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act has not worked.