on a window, getting her to come out because they had a physical relationship with her. And so, you know, I was in some tough situations where there was nothing I could do. I was helpless to change it.
think that, “Oh, well, she acts like this in front of that person or she acts like that PU MYVU[ VM [OH[ WLYZVU ¹ ;OLYL HYL KPɈLYLU[ [OPUNZ [OH[ `V\ TPNO[ KV KPɈLYLU[S` in terms of the crowd that you’re with, but you always get the same Jil.
Q: Does that drive you? A: Absolutely. I always tell people that’s one of the reasons why I never give up on people until they have to give up on themselves. Even when they give up on themselves, sometimes it takes a lot for me to stop working with somebody and try to help them because I think, so often, people just don’t know what outlet to use, how to connect with somebody, or that there’s any chance of hope. They just never have been told that they can make it, or they can do it. It sounds so cliché. But I don’t care if 55 people tell somebody they can make it, they might need all 55. It may be only one that may actually gets to them.
Q: If you could ask God one question, what would it be? (! >O` KV WLVWSL OH]L [V Z\ɈLY ZV much?
Q: What is hope? A: You know, hope is just, you know, that things will be better than however they are. Even if life is great, you know, hope is that it could be better, that — hope is that, when things go all downhill, and the world is in a chaotic state, and it seems like it can’t get better, hope is that it will. Q: What has made the biggest impact on you, causing change or redirection? A: You know, it still goes back to education. I was fortunate to receive WYL[[` T\JO H M\SS YPKL [V >VɈVYK 0 [OPUR getting out of Atlanta, getting out of a big city, going to a smaller school really changed my life. It opened up the door for me to meet new people and have KPɈLYLU[ L_WLYPLUJLZ 4` ÄYZ[ [PTL NVing out of the country was when I was H[ >VɈVYK )LPUN HISL [V SP]L HIYVHK ^HZ ILJH\ZL VM >VɈVYK :V 0 KLÄUP[LS` [OPUR JOVVZPUN >VɈVYK HUK >VɈVYK choosing me was probably one of the most pivotal moments. Q: What is your authentic self? A: It means being who you are and not changing it for the people that are around you. Whether I am in the hood or the boardroom, what you get is what you see. I’m the same person both places, both ways. I never want people to
8! @V\ ZLL H SV[ VM Z\ɈLYPUN& (! 0 KV 0 KV 0 ZLL H SV[ VM Z\ɈLYPUN 0 ZLL a lot of things that, even though I try to be a change maker and try to impact the world, there’s so much that I can’t. 0[»Z YLHSS` OHYK [V ZLL WLVWSL Z\ɈLY HUK know that there’s nothing you can do HIV\[ P[ ;OLYL PZ [OPZ JVUÅPJ[ ^OPJO PZ another reason why I always read my Bible; it’s all in God’s timing. It’s all the way it’s supposed to be and sometimes it’s really hard to see that. And so I want to know why? Q: What lesson have you learned that you would want others to learn without having to learn it the hard way? A: Don’t try to please people. People-pleasing gets you nowhere. You Z[Y\NNSL ^P[O `V\YZLSM @V\ ÄNO[ ^P[O yourself. You are on this up-and-down roller coaster. It’s all because you’re trying to please other people. You can never please everybody all of the time. :V KVU»[ [Y` Q: If you had one wish, what would it be? A: I swear I hate to sound like this rainbows and unicorn and lollipop-type person because it’s totally not me. But if I had one wish, it would be to probably eliminate racism. Q: Is that a big part of your psyche right now? A: Right now, given everything that’s happening in the nation, really across the world, absolutely. You know, a lot of times people just look at racism from a black/white issue and especially given what’s happening right now with police brutality. But I traveled to Turkey a couple of years ago, and it was right ^OLU [OL :`YPHU ^HYZ HYL OHWWLUPUN 0 JHU YLTLTILY [OL :`YPHU YLM\NLLZ being on the street and begging for TVUL` 7LVWSL ZHPK ¸:[H` H^H` MYVT
Jil Littlejohn also serves on Greenville City Council.
them. They don’t mean you any good.” 0[ ^HZ H KPɈLYLU[ MVYT VM YHJPZT [OH[ 0 OHKU»[ YLHSS` L_WLYPLUJLK ,]LY`IVK` PZ just trying to make it. At the end of the day, I think people genuinely want to be happy. They want to be able to provide for their families, and when you feel like it is being taken away from you, everybody tends to clam up and grab onto themselves and their family and that kind of perpetuates this racism factor. And so if there was a way to just kind of eliminate that. Q: How does that get eliminated? A: If I had the answer to that question, I wouldn’t be sitting here. I’d be some^OLYL VU [OH[ PZSHUK 4VYL KPHSVN\L is needed. I feel like I’ve been talking about it my entire life, and I’ll probably talk about it until the day I die. The more that we open up and talk about not only [OVZL [OPUNZ [OH[ THRL \Z KPɈLYLU[ I\[ those things that we have in common. Again, it goes back to relationships. People tend to be around people that they know and that they like. Even when [OL` KPZHNYLL [OL`»YL Z[PSS ÄUL ^P[O P[ because they know that that person’s coming from a genuine place. And we often tend to stay in our circle or those areas that are comfortable for us. And so one of the ways to help eliminate racism is that we all have to step out of these comfort zones and be a little uncomfortable so that we can get to the common ground. E ELYSIAN
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