Jim Brown: Initiating Social Change

By Seth Rubinroit

Photo by Sam Rubinroit

 

            Jim Brown became famous by knocking people down. As a fullback with the Cleveland Browns who was named NFL MVP three times and inducted into both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame, he was known for his punishing running style that would leave would-be-tacklers sprawled on the field. Now, as the CEO of the Amer-I-Can Program, Brown has earned the reputation as someone who helps people up.

            The Amer-I-Can Program has given Brown the opportunity to create significant social change. The program consists of a 60 to 90-hour curriculum that teaches people life-management skills, and to take responsibility for themselves. Over the past twenty years, people ranging from gang-members and criminals to police officers and corporate CEOs have experienced positive changes in their lives as a result of the lessons taught in the Amer-I-Can Life Management Skills curriculum.

            “The reason I started [Amer-I-Can] was because of the gang violence,” Brown said at a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Amer-I-Can program at his house, which is nestled in the Hollywood Hills. “I decided I would do something about it. One night, I had a group of gang members from different gangs up here, and I found out that most of them wanted to change their lives. Then, I had more meetings and more gang members would come up, and we would work on peace between them, and we developed the academic curriculum.”

            In addition to the Life Management Skills curriculum, Brown started the Amer-I-Can Foundation for Social Change to raise money to fight crime in low-income communities by helping people improve their lives and exercise self-determination. To achieve this goal, Brown has partnered with Rudolph “Rock” Johnson, a former gang member who spent two terms totaling 17 years in jail before Brown helped him turn his life around. Johnson now runs a club basketball team in association with Amer-I-Can for high school students who otherwise would not be able to afford the cost of a traveling team, which gives the student-athletes the opportunity to display their basketball skills and hopefully earn a college scholarship.

            What separates Brown from other philanthropists is his belief in change rather than charity. Rather than throwing money at society’s problems, Brown has dedicated his time and energy to fixing them. For example, Brown has hosted rival gangs at his house to discuss peace between them, and personally intervenes to guide those who need his help.

            “[People] love to do charity because you can give someone ten percent of your income, and you are done with it,” Brown said. On the other hand, “change takes every ounce of everything you have in your body. But change is what is going to make the major difference. That is what is going to affect our kids.”

            In addition to his work with the Amer-I-Can Program, Brown is Executive Advisor to the Cleveland Browns, with whom he spent his entire NFL career. Brown commented on the situation with Brett Favre, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback, who recently joined the New York Jets after changing his mind about retiring from football.

“I was saddened by it because I would have hoped that [Favre] would have stayed in retirement and let his legacy stay intact,” Brown said. “[Favre] is a great player, and evidently is a decent human being. But, this pursuit of the game, to me, has gone to an extreme. However, he is within his rights. I left because I wanted to leave my legacy intact. I left at 29 years old. I was the MVP of the league, and we won the world championship in 1964, so I wanted to be able to tell you that 40 years later. Sometimes, an athlete stays around too long, and there are more things to do than just athletics, and there is a time to leave. But, if he wins a Super Bowl, we will all be wrong. ”

Brown, who retired after playing only nine years in the NFL, says he was never seriously tempted to return to football.

“When you have a cause bigger than sports, you do not think about going back and playing sports.”