Former Kamloops coach loses relatives in U.S. unrest — Kamloops Community Football reaches out.

Dionte Jelks younger brother and a cousin were driving through an area in south Chicago rockets by protests, rioting and looting.

They had stopped at an intersection where both were shot dead.

Dionte Jelks grew up and lived in Chicago before moving to Canada 10 years ago.

A principal at Skeetchestn Elementary and coach in Kamloops Community Football, Jelks says growing up with it he was desensitized to the violence and systematic racism —- until he took his Canadian wife back to Chicago.

“My wife being Canadian, we lived there for approximately four years, she just couldn’t understand what was going on.” says Jelks. “It did’nt make sense to her. She was like, ‘This is a place I don’t want to raise my kids.’ But I didn’t see it; I thought it was normal. In actuality it wasn’t normal. It took me a couple of years to realize what was going on in the U.S., and particularly on the south side of Chicago —- it wasn’t normal.”

More than 50 years after Martin Luther King spoke these words, the struggle against racism continues.

Will the events of today finally be enough to turn the page on the ugly face of racism? Jelks says it will take change.

“I won’t believe it until I actually see action.” says Jelks. “There’s so many things that need to be done. If you’re not familiar with the U.S. justice system, each government, each state, each city, it’s like their own little micro-government. And you have to dismantle each and every one of those governments in order to achieve equality in the United States — the U.S. was built on systematic racism.”

As an educator and coach, Jelks says he protests too —- but in a different way.

“My philsophy is work with youth, and work with them at a young age to show them what it’s like to love someone, to protect someone, to stand up for someone, they’ll grow up to be fine individuals.”

Dionte Jelks made an impact during his time as a coach in Kamloops Community Football.

When his team’s game was cancelled because the other team couldn’t make it, the coach took his players out to help at a seniors home.

Now, in the aftermath of tragedy, Kamloops Community Football is giving back.

“Anybody who knows Dionte loves Dionte.” says Melisa Dyck of Kamloops Community Football. “He’s done everything for us. So as soon as I watched this, my heart dropped.”

Melisa connected with others in the Community Football Society, and with the urging of players, decided they had to do something to help out.

“Our boys started asking us that we had to do something to help him out. We came up with this idea of just going and collecting bottles so we could help their family through the funeral costs and possibly help Dionte to get both of his nephews up here to live. I was really touched when all I did was put out one post —- and what I got back from Kamloops was all of the bottles they wanted to do. “We’re going to keep doing whatever we can, because to us Dionte is family and we will do whatever it takes to help him. He wasn’t just their football coach. He was their mentor, he was someone to look up to, he was the easiest person to talk to —- he didn’t just teach them to be football players, he taught them to be men, he taught them to respect, to give back and to help wherever they could.”

Anyone wishing to help or donate can go to the Kamloops Community Football Society Facebook page — go to Messenger, say where you are, and Society members will go and pick up your bottles.

by Earl Seitz

Former Kamloops coach loses relatives in U.S. unrest — Kamloops Community Football reaches out.

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