Green loss and green hope: Both young men in training were at the crossroads. One jumped aboard a new career but the other was felled by ghetto violence before he could leap.
Jashon Gadlin, 23, was working on a car---and training for a green collar job in Richmond, California --when he was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Mother Jones Magazine writer Kristina Rizga tells this tragic story in MJ's May 2011 issue . But the writer also tells a hopeful tale about Jashon's classmate, Ali Thompson, aged 20.
Learning how to retrofit homes for renewable energy and conservation became Ali Thompson's 's ticket to a full time job. The experience has also grounded his aspirations for a college education. He now wants to go to business school.
Going green has meant home Thompson can bring home the green.
The picture (courtesy of Mother Jones) shows Lawrence Albert "Jahon" Craig Gadlin with his partner, Latina Cash, and son, Jahon Jr.
