Between 1967 and his death in 2018, Jimmy Rogers, a unique figure in the UK’s black self-help movement, dedicated himself to the welfare of black young people via basketball. Through Rogers’ own words and oral histories of individuals who knew him, this article traces his path from Liverpool 8, where he introduced organised basketball in 1967, to London, where he established the Brixton Topcats basketball club in response to the ‘riots’ of 1981. Rogers learnt through his own life of hardship – of being brought up ‘in care’ – the need for discipline, self-belief and self-reliance. And he used these experiences and his basketball skills to mentor generations of dispossessed young black men and later women, who found, through his clubs, an antidote to a world of institutional racism, economic hardships, and heavy-handed policing. At a time of drastic cuts in youth services, he showed the importance of alternative community-led youth provision to black working-class inner-city residents.

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“我们可以成为任何我们想成为的人”：记住吉米·罗杰斯

从 1967 年到 2018 年去世，英国黑人自助运动中的独特人物吉米·罗杰斯 (Jimmy Rogers) 通过篮球致力于为黑人青年谋福利。通过罗杰斯自己的话和认识他的人的口述历史，这篇文章追溯了他从利物浦 8 队（他于 1967 年在那里引入有组织的篮球运动）到伦敦，在那里他建立了 Brixton Topcats 篮球俱乐部以应对“骚乱”的历程。 1981. 罗杰斯通过自己的艰苦生活——在“照顾”中长大——学会了纪律、自信和自力更生的必要性。他利用这些经历和他的篮球技巧指导了几代一无所有的年轻黑人男性和后来的女性，他们通过他的俱乐部找到了解决制度性种族主义、经济困难和严厉执法的世界的解药。