“Ghetto 101” originated when Mr. Isay was hired at WBEZ radio, NPR’s Chicago affiliate, to contribute to a series of broadcasts inspired by Alex Kotlowitz’s book “There Are No Kids Here: The Story of Two Boys who grow up in the other America”. (1991).
Michael Newman said Lloyd had responded to a pamphlet distributed by Mr Isay, looking for reporters on the ground. Lloyd, he said, “thought it would be fun and something different to do.”
Mr Kotlowitz said in an email that the project had given Mr Newman a quiet confidence and given him a job befitting his character, as an “understated but immensely powerful storyteller who so enjoyed making individual connections often with people whose lives were so different from his own.”
“He was such a generous spirit and such a thoughtful soul,” Mr. Kotlowitz added. “I don’t know if he fully understood the impact his stories had on others, but it inspired so many and challenged them in ways that brought us all closer together.”
Both young people understood the challenges they faced in the other America, the one outside the ghetto.
“When we go into the store, we get the wrong look, like we’re going to steal,” Mr. Newman told Charlie Rose on PBS in 1997. “We are not trusted, and most people feel that way.”
By his own reckoning, Lloyd Newman may not have expected to die of natural causes. In 1997, he listed the most common causes of death in the projects, telling The Times: “People are thrown out of windows, drowned, stabbed, shot. But much of that killing would stop if the government made it livable here. We do not have parks. The swings are broken. People have nothing to do. There’s no fun. Life is not worth living without some fun.”
In the documentary “Remorse”, Mr. Newman and Mr. Jones were on the roof of the council housing building where 5-year-old Eric Morse had been dropped from a 14th floor window by two other young children, or “shorties”. ‘ is the street slang. Looking over the edge, Mr. Jones asked Mr. Newman what would have gone through his mind if it had been him who had fallen to the floor.
