Jamaal Magloire is the only Torontonian in the NBA. He's also someone whose brother was murdered. So when Toronto has a flareup of shootings, he's the NBA most likely to be upset about it. According to the Toronto Star's Tabassum Siddiqui, Magloire is doing what he can to make a difference.
Magloire has maintained a busy schedule of community events in Toronto this summer, including leading a band in the Caribana parade, playing in charity basketball games (including an event with police and local youth in Scarborough last night), and making appearances at educational events such as yesterday's graduation ceremony at Centennial. He says he's doing his part to support young people who are making an effort to steer their lives in a positive direction, much as he did at their age.
"I look at myself as a role model. I see myself as an ambassador for this city, so just going out there and leading by example and showing them that violence isn't the way is how I like to approach things," Magloire said.
Getting idle youth off the streets and into productive programs and employment would help curtail some of the violence, Magloire believes.
"They have so many people telling them, `Don't do this, don't do that' they don't need that. They need facilities, scholarships, resources and jobs," he said.
But Magloire adds that the problem cannot be solved without meaningful dialogue between youth and adults alike.
"My message is, work hard, dream big and everything will be all right. Violence is not the answer, and there's other ways to go about dealing with things rather than violence," Magloire said.
"We're only hurting ourselves; I'm talking about the city as a whole. There's other ways of dealing with problems rather than going around with a gun and shooting. That's what cowards do."
