Justice For Jelani Day; 'I Said What I Said, And I'll Say It Again, Thank You'
Mostly, I learned to withhold my tears until after writing my story. With Jelani I could not. His was the first story I ever cried through as a reporter, wiping away my tears before, during and after.
Editor’s note: The backstory here is that following John Fountain’s series on Jelani Day, which ran in September and October of 2021 in the Chicago Sun-Times, he wrote the column that appears below, prompted by what he believed was a direct dig at him by another Sun-Times columnist.
That writer’s column, which ran after Fountain’s series on an unrelated topic, began: “Some columnists hobbyhorse an issue, hitting it again and again and again. Me, I try to be a one-and-done kind of guy. Why? Because if I bump into Jesus Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount in Grant Park, and decide to stretch that into a two-parter, with a third column for reader reaction, by that last day, I promise, you'll be thinking, "What, again with Jesus?"
The aim of the dig, at least to Fountain, was clear. At least it seemed hardly coincidental that Fountain’s series had recently concluded.
The Sun-Times editorial policy under the previous Editorial Page editor prevented columnists from writing about each other, though no editor, to Fountain’s knowledge, called out the writer for the comment. Fountain chose not to address the issue or the other writer directly in his follow-up column, which ran three days later. He chose instead to focus on the heart of the matter: justice for Jelani Day and justice for all of those whose voices and stories too often are forgotten.
For Fountain’s writings on Jelani Day, he won in 2022 numerous awards, including 1st place in the Chicago Headline Club's Peter Lisagor Award for Best Column or Editorial From a Large Print/Online Publication.; 1st place National Association of Black Journalists’ “Salute To Excellence Award” for Feature News Series for newspapers under 100,000; 1st place in Social Justice commentary from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists; and 1st place for column writing for the Illinois Press Association Media Editors newspaper contest.
“But the greatest award,” says Fountain, “is the opportunity to use my gift to tell the stories of those not heard. To shine the light on hidden corners of society. To try and help bring justice to a young man whose life deserves it.
Fountain’s column below mostly appears as it ran but has been slightly updated. (Also See read last week’s republication of the full series)
‘I Said What I Said’
By John W. Fountain
PERU, Illinois, October 31, 2021—I said it once and I’ll say it again: “Justice for Jelani.” And just in case you still can’t hear me: “Justice for Jelani.”
I said, “Justice for Jelani.”
For the life of a young Black graduate student whose body was found floating in the Illinois River in this historic sundown town, 60 miles north of his college campus, and whose death remains shrouded in mystery, I echo the words of hundreds of protestors who gathered here this week to declare: “Justice for Jelani!”
Some stories are worth repeating—over and over and over and over again. Jelani Day’s is one of them.
In more than 30 years as a reporter, I had encountered many cases or death, murder and tragedy involving countless Black young men and women over the course of my career, maintaining my composure no matter how inhumane or disturbing the details. Mostly, I learned to withhold my tears until writing my last words and filing my story. With Jelani’s story, I could not. His was the first story I ever cried through as a reporter, wiping away my tears before, during and after.
In the more than 4,000 words I wrote in a recent series titled, “Justice for Jelani,” the aim was to humanize him. And I’d write 4,000 more words to bring some measure of solace to a grieving mother’s heart and soul. To give voice to Jelani, 25, and to his mother’s cry for justice for her baby boy in a world where the mainstream press remains often devoid of empathy or compelling interest in covering the stories of missing or murdered people of color: Black women, Black girls and also young Black men like Jelani.
I seek to shine some light. To be a conduit for the voices of the unheard, for the invisible, for the neglected and downtrodden.
And sometimes, columnists, like any good preacher worth their salt, return to essential sermons time and time again. Some even preach a series when the weight and message of the subject are critical and necessitate more than the allotted space or time.
I usually get 600 words weekly. The more I reported Jelani’s story, it became clear to me that I needed more space—and time. My esteemed editor, Tom McNamee, now since retired, agreed and granted me both.
Tom trusted my journalistic judgment—and for that reason alone, I hold him head and shoulders above any editor I have had in more than 30 years as a journalist. (But that is a different story for another day.)
I returned to Peru this week, having ended my series two weeks earlier and with no intentions of writing again so soon about Jelani, but drawn by the case’s momentum and a rally here by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and Rainbow/PUSH.
A multiethnic, multigenerational crowd of hundreds gathered peacefully near the river where Jelani’s body was found. Among them were members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity to which Jelani belonged, and also others in the Divine Nine (Black fraternities and sororities) who came to call for justice for one of their own.
Marchers toted signs and echoed Carmen Bolden Day’s demand for a federal investigation into her son’s death, and for answers, one day after the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office announced the cause of Jelani’s death to be drowning.
“None of this stuff adds up,” Bolden Day told the protestors this week. “I want answers… I need answers. I deserve answers. I need justice for Jelani.”
Rev. Jackson led the crowd in a chant. “Jelani will live, as long as we remember him, fight for him. Keep fighting for him, until eternity…”
I vow to keep writing for him.
How many words or columns are a good young man’s life worth? Every single one.
So here’s another one. And I’m still not done.
Justice for Jelani.
#JusticeforJelani
Email: Author@johnwfountain.com
