Now, he worries that his boy won’t find a good job in the dis- mal economy. “They say we don’t have enough black boys getting degrees,” John Leatherman says, still speaking in the cadence of his days as a preacher. “He did it. Now, he needs someone to come to his aid. He’s graduating on the 28th and needs to be working on the 29th!” White, Nesbit’s dad, arrives wearing a black suit. He hugs
Leatherman’s relatives and takes his seat several rows be- hind the family. White was once evicted after he used his rent money to pay for prom and a graduation trip for Nesbit and his older brother, Ricardo. But things are looking up for White, who moved to Manassas and developed his own busi- ness, selling motivational DVDs. Leatherman’s name is announced. He strolls across the
stage to accept his diploma, and hears his father’s chant in the distance: “JACHIN! JACHIN! JACHIN!”
But he feels sweaty in the suit, and wishes Nesbit were at his side. How would he relate to these students, he wondered: as the Ballou Jachin — or as the big brother who just graduated from college? Would the students dismiss him as an irrele- vant old head, like those ninth-graders at Ballou? He walks to a corner, grasping the blue folder containing
his speech, and stands alone, uncharacteristically solemn. Moments later, he is standing before the room full of strang- ers. He puts down his speech and takes a breath. “When I received a call from Ms. Jones some days ago
asking me to speak here tonight, I was overwhelmed,” he says, looking up from his script. “My only question was, ‘What will I say?’ ” Tell them how you made your way from Southeast to the
head of the class at Ballou to a college graduate, he says Jones told him. And that’s what he does, looking more relaxed as he eases into his story. “It was a big deal for a male to graduate from Ballou as the valedictorian because for many years previous, the female students were the only ones academically inclined,” he says. Heads nod in agreement. It was such a big deal,
he says, that commentator Tavis Smiley interviewed them on his radio show. “It is beyond exciting to me to know that these students here will have the same opportunity as I have had,” he tells them. The crowd applauds, and Leatherman steps aside, greatly relieved. But for Leatherman, the evening is about to get
even better. Jones and principal Branch talk about the “New
From left: Wayne nesbit (laughing) and Jachin Leatherman (back to camera), with friends in a dining hall, and walking across campus in april at the College of holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
As Nesbit’s name is called, his name also is chanted. This
is the third graduation the best friends have shared, John Leatherman notes. The two didn’t finish at the top this time. No matter, John Leatherman says. They made it through.
JaChin LeaTherMan Looks unCoMforTabLe, shifting from leg to leg as he scans the room full of teenag- ers and parents amid the bundles of blue and gold balloons. Dressed in a blue pinstriped suit, he finally spots Ruth Jones, the Ballou administrator who invited him and Nesbit to this reception at a blue-chip law firm to speak to 21 high achiev- ers in Ballou’s Class of 2010. But Leatherman is solo. When he strolls across the room to greet Jones, he explains that Nesbit is working at a temporary telemarketing job. Jones gives him a rundown of the program and encour- ages him to mingle with the students over the next half-hour.
Ballou,” a campaign to transform the school into a place of high academic achievement. They discuss a $600,000 gift, made last year by an anonymous donor, for scholarships. The school already has made several leaps forward, Jones says: There has been at least one male among the top two students in every graduating class since Leatherman and Nesbit left. Leatherman’s face breaks into a wide smile. He feels like
a proud big brother when Jones enlists him to hand out $5,000 awards to five scholars and $1,250 to 16 others. He notices that half of the recipients are males. Among them is Jonathan Parrott, a bulky football player who is said to be just as proud of his academic achievements as his athletic ones. Like Nesbit and Leatherman, Parrott opted for Ballou
over other high schools with better reputations. By the end of the program, Leatherman is practically
giddy. He puts the events of the evening on a continuous loop in his mind as he walks out of the room. He can hardly wait to give the rundown to Nesbit.
In the months since then, Leatherman and Nesbit began full-time work outside their fields. Leatherman is in a management training program at Rite-Aid; Nesbit is in a management training program at Enterprise car rental.
V. Dion Haynes is a Washington Post staff writer. He can be reached at
haynesd@washpost.com.
october 24, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 23
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