CROSS POLLINATION: Pete Kalenik
What makes you stop and interact with the kids in North Lawndale?
It’s obvious that you’re a genuine person and a cool Chicagoan, but
why make the extra effort?
PETE: I interact with young people in North Lawndale because it’s the right
thing to do. It’s the right thing to do with respect to modeling positive adult
behavior as a former AmeriCorps teacher on Chicago’s south side. It’s
the right thing to do with respect to cultivating relationships that decrease
violence, which I learned in the military as a Civil Affairs Team Sergeant.
But really more than anything else, it’s the right thing to do with respect to
embodying the “Golden Rule.” If I were a young person, I would want my local
police officers to engage me in a shared experience that treated me with
respect.
Do you see beauty in Lawndale?
PETE: Serving North Lawndale is an amazing experience as a police officer.
As opposed to waiting for a student to perform well on a test as a former
AmeriCorps educator to gauge my effectiveness as a teacher, being a police
officer allows me to gauge the level of service I provi H