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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army and normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with Trina Fryerson, right after these brief messages from our

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Speaker 1: Genneral sponsors.

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Speaker 2: So we're in group one day and the intern got

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Speaker 2: sick or something and we need to continue on with group,

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Speaker 2: and they were just in there piddling, and I was like, listen, man,

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Speaker 2: we got to do the group. And so I just

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Speaker 2: picked up group and start let's just talk about relapse.

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Speaker 2: Let's just talk about this. And so that led into

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Speaker 2: something else. I started this three hours relapse prevention program,

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Speaker 2: and so the counselor liked it and she said, hey,

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Speaker 2: we're going to add that to the curriculum, and so

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Speaker 2: I started doing that. Then she started bringing in the

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Speaker 2: judges and DA's and stuff into the jail to see

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Speaker 2: our program, because we we had it was it was

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Speaker 2: the inmates, right, but we were leading our own groups now,

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Speaker 2: and so then they got a hold of it. And

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Speaker 2: then they said, hey, we got this thing we're trying

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Speaker 2: to do. We want to see if you'll come and

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Speaker 2: speak uh to a group of kids. And I was like,

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Speaker 2: what is it? It was like wells that don't follow

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Speaker 2: me program, and I was like, I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I go talk to them. So I'm thinking in my

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Speaker 2: mind that I'm gonna get out and like I get

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Speaker 2: to you know, I know they're going to be around me,

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Speaker 2: but like I hang out to be handcuffed. Man, they

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Speaker 2: handcuffed me, took me to the Boys and Girls club,

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Speaker 2: and I had to speak to those people in here.

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Speaker 1: It sounds kind of like a scared straight thing. They

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Speaker 1: need to see you locked up to understand what that

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Speaker 1: really looks like.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So I got to picture at home.

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Speaker 1: So you liking an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs on.

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Speaker 2: Great, great, great jumpsuit handcuffs. You know the old brown

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Speaker 2: jacket that you used to hunt in or go out

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Speaker 2: in the coal in. You know they got them miss

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Speaker 2: prison jackets now, yeah, the whole nine yards. Yeah, it's crazy.

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Speaker 1: And you're a dressing kids.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah yeah, talking to them and really speaking to

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Speaker 2: them about you know, how I got to where I

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Speaker 2: am today, how I neglected my kids, and I don't

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Speaker 2: get to send my kids to the Boys and Girls

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Speaker 2: right now, somebody else having to do that for me

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Speaker 2: because of my abandoned neglect due to my addiction. So

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Speaker 2: being able to talk about that process of coming up

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Speaker 2: and you know, really I got to express some of

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Speaker 2: the stuff I recall. It is like missing the opportunities

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Speaker 2: to continue the relationship with my mother, to be able

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Speaker 2: to tell her everything. You know. Uh, there comes a

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Speaker 2: point when you start sneaking and eye and in line

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Speaker 2: you break that communication becomes a communication barrier, you know,

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Speaker 2: with your mama, with that loved one that you entrusted

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Speaker 2: so much with and so got to talk a lot

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Speaker 2: about that.

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Speaker 1: You know, I can love you unconditionally and still not

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Speaker 1: believe a word that comes out your mouth.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, definitely.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And so one of the things I know for me though,

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Speaker 2: is that my mom Listen, I knew when she stopped

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Speaker 2: believing or was coming out of my mouth you sing

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Speaker 2: her it's probably nobody language. Yes, yes, I who.

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Speaker 1: Better knows you than your own mama, right man?

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Speaker 2: Knew when it listen. But I tell you what, when

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Speaker 2: I went to jail man that first time, I just

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Speaker 2: felt like I lost my mama. She wasn't even dead,

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Speaker 2: but I just felt like I lost the right.

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Speaker 1: So you eventually get out after this Chances program, God, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you rehab now right, yeah, yeah, now that workout.

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Speaker 2: Oh man, let me tell you. I get out, you know,

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Speaker 2: And they said, just follow the twols, do what you

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Speaker 2: need to do. I did. I went looking for a job,

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Speaker 2: didn't use I went to this kept looking for this job.

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Speaker 2: Don't call us, We'll call you right because you know,

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Speaker 2: I got feelings. And so this last time, this white

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Speaker 2: guy said to me, he said, listen, I don't know

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Speaker 2: who's gonna hire you with all them feelings. I'm just

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Speaker 2: gonna be honest with you. I wouldn't. That shattered me.

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Speaker 2: I got all got back on the bus, and all

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Speaker 2: that was playing through my mind is I ain't got

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Speaker 2: my kids back or nothing. Right. In fact, I done

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Speaker 2: lost all parental rights. So really I ain't getting them

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Speaker 2: back because I lost all parental custody. And so I'm

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Speaker 2: in here and I get in this bus, and after

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Speaker 2: I get off the bus, there's my homeboy standing on

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Speaker 2: the corner. He said, what's up? Training nothing? Man, just

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Speaker 2: got to look for a job. But shoot, ain't nobody

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Speaker 2: finying me. The man just said it. He's like, I

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Speaker 2: don't know who's gonna hire you with all them feelings,

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Speaker 2: I says, I think I got to get back out

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Speaker 2: and do what I do. He said, here, I said, man,

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Speaker 2: I ain't got no money, so you ain't got to

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Speaker 2: have no money I got you. Just get on your feet.

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Speaker 2: So here man cocaine, and I went to work. I

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Speaker 2: didn't last two months out there on the streets.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about stress. There are cidivism right

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Speaker 1: in the United States is eighty five percent, eighty seven percent.

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Speaker 1: I think somewhere in that world, at least in the

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Speaker 1: male population of people that come out of jail, eighty

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Speaker 1: five eighty seven percent of return to jail. And you

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Speaker 1: had the Chances program, you were teaching, the chances you

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Speaker 1: were speaking to kids at the Boys and Girls club.

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Speaker 1: The prison system would not have put you in front

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Speaker 1: the boys and girls if they didn't believe the words

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Speaker 1: coming out of your mouth.

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Speaker 2: And see.

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Speaker 1: Legitimate, real work that you were doing on yourself in

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Speaker 1: prison to try to quote rehabilitate. Yes, but then the

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Speaker 1: real world hits and you're clean for two months. You're trying,

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Speaker 1: but you leave prison with this feeling of I've paid

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Speaker 1: my dues, I've done the right things. Let me get

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Speaker 1: out here and try to do it right. But then

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Speaker 1: everywhere you step the door slav on your face, because

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Speaker 1: a fella can't rent an apartment, and no landlord giving

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Speaker 1: an apartment to a felon. A fellon has a hard

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Speaker 1: time getting any kind of job. They're treated like second

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Speaker 1: class citizens. You still got all this in your background,

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Speaker 1: so you don't even have rice to your children, which

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Speaker 1: makes you feel like hell probably.

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Speaker 2: Oh definitely.

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Speaker 1: And so when people say, well, why do people go

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Speaker 1: right back to the life, It's not like most of

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Speaker 1: them get out that day on Tuesday, and on Wednesday

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Speaker 1: they're back in the life. It's the world hits them

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Speaker 1: right in the mouth and there's and they lose hope exactly.

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Speaker 1: And now you're starving, you've got nowhere to live, you've

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Speaker 1: got nowhere to do it. What else you're going to

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Speaker 1: do until your homeboy handles you an ounce of coke

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Speaker 1: and you back in the hustle just like that, just

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Speaker 1: like it.

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Speaker 2: And I get caught, just like it, and I go

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Speaker 2: back to jail just like that.

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Speaker 1: And with our criminal justice system, you keep piling those on.

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Speaker 1: Eventually you're gonna get some real time.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah. And it's last charge man. Listen,

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Speaker 2: they offered me thirty years. I've been blessed. I'm not confused.

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Speaker 2: I have been blessed.

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Speaker 1: You also do not play the victim card, which I

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Speaker 1: have an enormous amount of respect for you. Take ownership

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Speaker 1: and everything you've done.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, man, it's not pretty.

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Speaker 1: But the fact remains that our prison system prison system

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Speaker 1: population in the last thirty years has grown eighteen hundred

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Speaker 1: percent in the last thirty years. Yes, and most can

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Speaker 1: point to crack, urban areas, the disintegration of the community.

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Speaker 1: And once again, I genuinely believe a well intentioned justice

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Speaker 1: system originally trying to get on top of this epidemic

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Speaker 1: and stiffening prison sentences, thinking that that was going to

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Speaker 1: be a deterrent and what it ends up being is

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Speaker 1: just a way to lock up more poor folks that

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Speaker 1: are on drugs. Yeah yeah, and take away all yeah yeah.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I want to give a shout out

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Speaker 2: to you know, I thank god where Cca and what

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Speaker 2: is that it was? It's now called cour Civic right,

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Speaker 2: and so it's over a lot of the tension centers.

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Speaker 1: It's part of our justice system.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I want to think that for putting in

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Speaker 2: the resource for rehabilitation for residential treatment, right.

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Speaker 1: Am, I sitting here looking at an African American woman

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Speaker 1: from the inner city thanking God for parts of our

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Speaker 1: justice system, because that's an odd thing.

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Speaker 2: Oh listen, you are you are?

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Speaker 1: Why don't you talk about that a little? Because that's interesting.

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Speaker 1: That kind of blows me away a little.

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Speaker 2: I want to thank God for the officer who arrested me,

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Speaker 2: and I thank him because taking me to jail protected

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Speaker 2: my life. It actually saved my life, right. I think

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Speaker 2: me being arrested put me into a protective system so

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Speaker 2: that I couldn't go out there and keep harming myself, right,

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Speaker 2: neglecting my kids. But the justice system had a program

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Speaker 2: called Chances to turn my vision and my views of

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Speaker 2: life around.

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Speaker 1: So even though it didn't take the first time, you

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Speaker 1: at least got a glimpse.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, the first time worked, right, it was society.

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Speaker 1: Now that's interesting, you're saying the justice system worked. It

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Speaker 1: was society afterwards that didn't have a place for it.

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Speaker 2: It's right, it's right.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back. So you catch your what you

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Speaker 1: call your last charge, which you're looking thirty years How

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Speaker 1: old were you?

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Speaker 2: What was I thirty? Right?

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Speaker 1: At twenty nine to thirty, I think, well, I mean

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Speaker 1: you're looking thirty years, that's sixty you're looking basically thirty

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Speaker 1: years as close to a life sentences.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: And so what are you charged with?

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Speaker 2: There was about I can't even remember how many weapons,

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Speaker 2: but I fell asleep in a room, like in a bedroom,

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Speaker 2: and there was a counsel land over there. That's probably

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Speaker 2: eleven twelve weapons over there that, you know, somebody had

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Speaker 2: robbed a pawn shop or something, and so they still

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Speaker 2: had tags and stuff on them. I purchased them and

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Speaker 2: they were in my room.

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Speaker 1: I bought them. Yeah, well you're gonna resell them, oh yeah, yeah, and.

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Speaker 2: So one of the things, but I had a couple

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Speaker 2: of them I was gonna keep myself. But what happened

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Speaker 2: was one of the guns had a body on it,

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Speaker 2: I mean somebody.

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Speaker 1: It had been used in a murder.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it been used in a murder.

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Speaker 1: And so they so what do they forensics proves that

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Speaker 1: as that? I guess, Yeah, I got it all right.

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Speaker 1: So one of the guns that was stolen from the

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Speaker 1: pawnshop that you bought stolen goods from was used to

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Speaker 1: the murder of another human being, and now you own

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Speaker 1: the gun.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And so they want to put the charge on me.

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Speaker 2: You know, but my mom didn't graduate high school. She

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Speaker 2: only had an eighth grade level, right, And so one

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Speaker 2: of the things she told me in life is that

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Speaker 2: if you don't ever understand the document, you always read

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Speaker 2: the italic print.

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Speaker 1: Or the stuff in the box, right, Lord have Mersey.

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Speaker 1: I wish your mama would have told me that before

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Speaker 1: I went into business. I could have saved a lot

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Speaker 1: of problems in the past. But anyway, she's right, look

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Speaker 1: at the fine print, the italics in the boxes are

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Speaker 1: good at putting that stuff on paper. And so, man,

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Speaker 1: when I win, it's hilarious.

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Speaker 2: It's also very true.

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Speaker 1: From an eighth grade education, whip smart.

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Speaker 2: And so when I when I go to look at

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Speaker 2: these charges, man and I look like murder, and I

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Speaker 2: was like no, and I had a public defender. I

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Speaker 2: was like, listen, I'm not taking that. And so you

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Speaker 2: go to jail, you come back, and go to jail

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Speaker 2: and come back, and they're trying to make all these

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Speaker 2: plea deals and then when I come back they knock

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Speaker 2: it down. At fifteen, I was like, listen, I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: take the drug charges. I promise, I'm gonna take all

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Speaker 2: of that but I'm not gonna take that murder charge.

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Speaker 2: I did not kill anybody, and I don't want to

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Speaker 2: be looking into somebody's family's eyes thinking that I murdered

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Speaker 2: their family member when I know I didn't. So you

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Speaker 2: can give me all the drug charges, but you got

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Speaker 2: to take the murder off. And so you know, I'm

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Speaker 2: back and forth to court. It's the last time. He said, hey, look,

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Speaker 2: they got you a good deal. They got it down

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Speaker 2: to eight years and thirty percent. I said, not with

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Speaker 2: that murder charge. And he goes to look at the

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Speaker 2: paper and he was like, hold on, let me go

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Speaker 2: check something. So he goes back, come back. He said, hey,

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Speaker 2: sign this and I was like, no, man, So I

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Speaker 2: go to look at it. He said, it's not on there.

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Speaker 2: He said, it's gone. I was like, said, I looked

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Speaker 2: on that check. Well, Mama told me to check and

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Speaker 2: it wasn't. Now I said, run it right. So I

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Speaker 2: ended up with an eight and thirty right, I don't

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Speaker 2: know what that is. Eight years at thirty.

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Speaker 1: Percent, two and a half years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And so because I had been there a year

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Speaker 2: already waiting, right year and a half, man, he said, uh,

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Speaker 2: I just knew they won't let me out. He said, uh,

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Speaker 2: I order you back to now. I order you the

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Speaker 2: Chances treatment program. I said, whoa, wha, whoa. He said

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Speaker 2: a year. I said, whoa, whoa wah whah. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: already been here you and a half. Wait a minute,

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Speaker 2: he said you have I said yes. I said I

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Speaker 2: talked chances. I said I was an intern. I said

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Speaker 2: you can call him and ask him. He looked at

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Speaker 2: me and said, you talked chances. I said yeah, I

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Speaker 2: created the relapse prevention program. He said you create. I

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Speaker 2: said you can ask some of your colleagues, the judges.

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Speaker 2: I said, I promise you. He said, so you talk chances.

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Speaker 2: He said, well boom, I order you the Chances Relapse

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Speaker 2: Prevention and I don't want you to teach the class.

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Speaker 2: I want you to do the class.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what the judge is, but I love

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Speaker 1: this person.

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Speaker 2: I came out of kicking and screaming and got back in.

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Speaker 2: The counselor said yes, I said, it's Sallyport, and the

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Speaker 2: salaport is like a little room before you go into

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Speaker 2: the population room. So you gotta get security let you

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Speaker 2: in this door and sit in the hall way, and

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Speaker 2: then they let you in another door, and so she said,

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Speaker 2: I get back, and she said, now you come here

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Speaker 2: with your attitude. Listen, just cause the judge ordered you

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Speaker 2: to be in the program, I ain't got to keep

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Speaker 2: you in the program. Now you know what to do.

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Speaker 2: Come on, let's do this time, and we're gonna do

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Speaker 2: it in treatment and we're going to figure out what

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Speaker 2: happened and see how we can avoid that on the

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Speaker 2: next trip. And so, you know, I thank God for

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Speaker 2: this counselor though, because she went the extra step, you know,

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Speaker 2: she went. They called her about the state coming and

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Speaker 2: picking up my kids, and man, she did something that

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Speaker 2: could have jeopardized her life. Man, she went and got

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Speaker 2: my kids and try to put them with other family

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Speaker 2: members so that the state couldn't get them right now.

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Speaker 2: They eventually went in, but she took my son to

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Speaker 2: a place called a Dolum House in Alabama. It's for

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Speaker 2: kids of incarcerated moms, right, And so the hope was

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Speaker 2: is that I'll be able to get him back without

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Speaker 2: going through legal paperwork and all that. But eventually I

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Speaker 2: had to go through it anyway. You know.

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Speaker 1: So while all this is going on, I got I mean, now,

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Speaker 1: this is all supposition Alex did not prepare me for

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Speaker 1: any of this. So, but as I'm hearing your story,

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Speaker 1: the men you had these children with were probably in

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Speaker 1: the same life that you were in. Definitely, So even

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Speaker 1: though you don't have your children, I guess what I'm

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Speaker 1: asking is what is environment your kids are growing up

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Speaker 1: in while you're out here living this life. They got

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Speaker 1: to be right up against it too, seeing it, living

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Speaker 1: it just with other people, right at.

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Speaker 2: Some point, Yes, and I thank God for their aunt.

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Speaker 2: I thank God for the counselor so.

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Speaker 1: You had a few people that were watching after them

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Speaker 1: that weren't in the life.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, their aunt, the two girls aunt, which was

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Speaker 2: the father's sister, got the two girls, but the other one,

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Speaker 2: you know, my oldest daughter ended up in tell A home,

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Speaker 2: in the girls home, right, because she was acting out right,

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Speaker 2: She's missing her mom, right, She's running around the streets

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Speaker 2: trying to figure out where her mom's at. She's fighting

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Speaker 2: our way through school because people calling her mom a

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Speaker 2: crackhead like she's going through.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Scott's just gotta hurt you.

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Speaker 2: It rips me apart.

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Speaker 1: And I think, how do you get better, even in

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Speaker 1: chances and everything else, when you've got this deep regret

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Speaker 1: and shame and sorrow that you really, no matter how

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Speaker 1: well you do in prison, you can't fit. That's got

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Speaker 1: to be just tearing you up. That's got to be

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Speaker 1: tearing women up in jail right now, all day, every day.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, but you gotta know that. I think help

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Speaker 2: is available, and I think again, I go back to therapy.

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Speaker 2: Therapy is my ride of die partner therapy is I

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Speaker 2: was able to get therapy. I was able to bring

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Speaker 2: the kids into therapy. I was able to settle down

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Speaker 2: and like just really, at one point I had to

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Speaker 2: sit on my hands to hear my daughter's truths about you,

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Speaker 2: about me and how it made her feel. And so

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00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,320
Speaker 2: the therapy said, if you're ever going to get better training,

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Speaker 2: she needs to share her truths and she needs you

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Speaker 2: to hear and value her truths.

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Speaker 1: Her pain needs to be validated. Yes, yes, God.

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Speaker 2: That's gotta be hard. Oh it was, I'm telling you,

341
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Speaker 2: And so you think about it. Not not not one child.

342
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Speaker 2: I got three to do this with.

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Speaker 1: And it ain't a group session. Oh no, so you

344
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Speaker 1: gotta go. We went on one, it said, one ride

345
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Speaker 1: of the BROTHERER coaster. That's three different but.

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Speaker 2: You know what what it what it taught me is

347
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Speaker 2: after God blessed me to be able to rekindle those relationships.

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Speaker 2: You know. Uh, I promised to them that nobody ever

349
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Speaker 2: had to tell them my story, that I would always

350
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Speaker 2: be an open book for them. You know. I can

351
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Speaker 2: remember one time my son came home and said, uh, Mama,

352
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Speaker 2: mister such and such said you did such and such

353
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Speaker 2: a such and such. Promly did you do that? I said, listen,

354
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Speaker 2: now you know I smoked some of that stuff back then,

355
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Speaker 2: and my man wasn't quite right. I don't remember, so

356
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Speaker 2: let's just say I did. I said, we're gonna say

357
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Speaker 2: I did it because I don't remember.

358
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Speaker 1: All right, So you get you get back into chances,

359
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: You go through chances, and you get out, and now

360
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 1: you really are not going to get back into life.

361
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Speaker 1: And it begins. I mean, I'm not you're gonna have

362
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:43,200
Speaker 1: to tell me, but I'll set it up for you,

363
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna let you roll with it. It

364
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: begins with you spent your whole life hustling, so now

365
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 1: let's hustle something other than drugs. And so you're gonna

366
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 1: have to piece this together for us. But I know

367
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,479
Speaker 1: you're cleaning houses. Then you're buying house. Then people are

368
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 1: in jail or getting out and reaching out to you

369
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,920
Speaker 1: because they are experiencing your first time out of jail,

370
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,160
Speaker 1: or ain't nobody going to hire them? And I got

371
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 1: nowhere to go, and you start coming up with a

372
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:17,720
Speaker 1: way to go and through house cleaning house that, and

373
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Speaker 1: then somehow this becomes mending hearts, and I don't know,

374
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 1: give me the ten minute story on you finally out

375
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Speaker 1: and you finally find a place to do it right.

376
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 1: But you're using the same hustle as a drug dealer,

377
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Speaker 1: but you're just using it positive.

378
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 2: Oh my god. Hey, a person told me, A counselor

379
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,639
Speaker 2: told me. You know, right now you're working off and

380
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:51,200
Speaker 2: suspicion funds. But if you take the same energy that

381
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 2: you had when you were using and transfer it over

382
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,160
Speaker 2: into a positive account, you don't ever have to use again.

383
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 2: You never have to look back. And so when I

384
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,440
Speaker 2: got out this time, the difference for me this time

385
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 2: was is that I didn't get out with my white

386
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,359
Speaker 2: headed bag and walked to the bus stop and somebody

387
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 2: picked me up, or I called John Blow and say hey,

388
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 2: come and get me. This time, somebody picked me up

389
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:22,440
Speaker 2: and rolled up one and it was a late in

390
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 2: event and she took me to a transitional home where

391
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,679
Speaker 2: there were other women just like me. Those women greeted

392
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 2: me and embraced me. Listen, hey, you got to go

393
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 2: find a job doing this shift. Here's my bus pass.

394
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 2: I don't have to work today, thought them, saying I'm

395
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 2: off on Fridays. I could take you to look for

396
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 2: a job. We have to be at meeans at this time.

397
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 2: And they man, they loved on me, right. And so

398
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 2: I couldn't get food stamps because I got these seventeen feneralties.

399
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,720
Speaker 2: They showed me which food banks to go to. If

400
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 2: you go to this one on Winds you get a

401
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:54,959
Speaker 2: hot meal too.

402
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: Oh you can't get food stamps if you've had the onlyess.

403
00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 2: Oh no, back in the day, you couldn't. And I

404
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:04,639
Speaker 2: was great to be able to work throughout advocating some

405
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 2: of that early on in my recovery. But now if

406
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,439
Speaker 2: you're in a transitional program, yeah you can.

407
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,760
Speaker 1: That makes more sense. But go ahead and keep going.

408
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 2: And so I get to this place where now I'm

409
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 2: in this program, I'm in a halfway house, right, And

410
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,199
Speaker 2: so I got people calling from jail saying tree, now

411
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 2: you really clean, Like if you can do it, I

412
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:27,360
Speaker 2: know I can do it, right.

413
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: I love that.

414
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 2: And then I got the counselor's call and said, hey,

415
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 2: we got a program here. I want to know where

416
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 2: you come back and speak, tell them how your life

417
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,040
Speaker 2: is going. And so I'm doing that, and then now

418
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,160
Speaker 2: I'm getting calls. I've got people writing me training. When

419
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 2: I get out, will you show me how to do this,

420
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 2: this and this, And I literally remember taking an eight

421
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 2: and a half sheet of paper, ripping it in half.

422
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,400
Speaker 2: Right now, when you get out, go to project return

423
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 2: to get your ID. Go to this church right here.

424
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,640
Speaker 2: They got coats and shoes and some clothes. Go here

425
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 2: to get your food. You can get a free bus

426
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,919
Speaker 2: pass for a week right here. And so just writing

427
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 2: it down, meiling it back into them if they're calling phone,

428
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:13,480
Speaker 2: telling them. And then I did came to mind, Trina,

429
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,880
Speaker 2: you need to start a resource center because women getting

430
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,720
Speaker 2: that jail need a resource. And my idea was is

431
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 2: that you're gonna a woman gonna come into this building,

432
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 2: she's gonna get she's gonna take a pizza, Is she

433
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 2: gonna take an assessment. We're gonna have a housing clothes,

434
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 2: food bus pass. You got it right here. You might

435
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,400
Speaker 2: even get to see your probation officer.

436
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,640
Speaker 1: Instead of having to go all over the city having

437
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: a one sposh.

438
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 2: Yes. And so I was writing this uff didn't know

439
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 2: what I was doing because I was a little peck

440
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,960
Speaker 2: on the computer. Ain't got no computer experience and pick,

441
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 2: you know, just learn how to turn the computer on,

442
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 2: you know. And so one of the things happen is

443
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 2: I'm I'm over here and I'm thinking about this, and

444
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,320
Speaker 2: I'm writing it on paper, and I show a friend

445
00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:07,120
Speaker 2: of mine might be and I said, Mike, look, I'm

446
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 2: thinking about starting this program as a resource center for women.

447
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,040
Speaker 2: And he read it. He said, man, you need to

448
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 2: go back and read this. All you're missing is a house.

449
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 2: I said, now, I'm not finished with it. I got

450
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 2: some more stuff to do, but I want women to

451
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,160
Speaker 2: be able to come and stop right here and get

452
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 2: what they need before they go on their journey, so

453
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 2: that they can have a hand up. And he said,

454
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:33,719
Speaker 2: trying to go back and read it, the only thing

455
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 2: you're missing is a house. Well, now I'm in the process.

456
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 2: I got a house because listen, God then gave me

457
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:47,880
Speaker 2: all my church and back without my permission, right, prayers

458
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 2: answered Yeah, yeah, Like I ain't signed no paper to

459
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 2: say I'm advocating to get my churchren back. Like really,

460
00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 2: I'm afraid because I'm neglected and abandon them. I don't

461
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 2: know if I'm worried of being a mother. But I

462
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,200
Speaker 2: got the child over here. They subpoenaed me the court

463
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 2: and I go over here, and for you know it,

464
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 2: I ordered this child back to our mother. Boom boom.

465
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:13,719
Speaker 2: So now I got all these children back and got

466
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 2: a house. But now we don't know what you do.

467
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: Uh, what are you doing for a living to make money?

468
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 2: I'm working at a print shop, I'm working cleaning, right,

469
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 2: So I got the print shop and the cleaning. But

470
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,360
Speaker 2: prior to that, when I was at the halfway house,

471
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,560
Speaker 2: I lied to get a job and told him I

472
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,400
Speaker 2: had a reading problem and I was selling this chemical

473
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:39,480
Speaker 2: that you now that people call me. Said hey, we

474
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 2: got this keme get ink, blood oil off concrete and

475
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 2: all that stuff to disable keep right. Well, I lied

476
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 2: and told them I had a problem, and they let

477
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 2: me work. Right well. I happened to steal some in

478
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 2: a coke bottle one day because somebody gave me some

479
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,960
Speaker 2: donating me some good Nike shoes. When I say good,

480
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,360
Speaker 2: you couldn't even tell they were you. They looked new,

481
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 2: and I took pride in those shoes. In fact, there's

482
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 2: got some more moms. I'm gonna take me a little

483
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 2: this chemical and get it out. Well I did that,

484
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 2: and I got home. The chemical that could didn't work.

485
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:13,360
Speaker 2: And so.

486
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,719
Speaker 1: So now you know you're selling a fadular product.

487
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: Not only am I selling a father probably lied to

488
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 2: get the job. You're lied to get the job training,

489
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 2: you're still coming bathroom cheating. What are you gonna do different?

490
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 2: I quit the job the next day, and now I'm

491
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 2: over here in the factory. I'm on a what do

492
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 2: they call timp service. So I got this job going on,

493
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 2: and I stayed with the job long enough to become permanent.

494
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 2: Now I'm starting to cleaning service because now I got

495
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 2: these children and I need it. I ain't just taking

496
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 2: care of me no more. I got these children.

497
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: So are you saying you're a mom without duds around

498
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: with children working two jobs?

499
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:56,160
Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, I got that from my mama. I was

500
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 2: about saying that interesting got it from my mama. Yes,

501
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 2: something I made at that time. You know, she was helpful,

502
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 2: but listen, we're working two jobs to both of us.

503
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 2: We got a brand new house we done balled back

504
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:15,040
Speaker 2: in ninety eight. That house cost us ninety eight thousand dollars. Right,

505
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 2: but it's a three bedroom, too bath, and we think

506
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 2: we cotton baby. We living good now, but we gotta

507
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 2: work because we got three kids. And so in doing

508
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 2: all that, we realized we stayed there till write it

509
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 2: two thousand and two and I decided to say, hey,

510
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 2: we got to move out of here. We need a

511
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 2: bigger space. So as I get ready to move out

512
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 2: of there, I made at that time say hey, don't

513
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 2: sell this house. This is what you need to use

514
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 2: the ministry for the women. We need to make it

515
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,320
Speaker 2: so that when they come through these doors that they

516
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 2: don't have to worry about paying rent and they can

517
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 2: get on their feet. And I was like, I looked

518
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 2: at her kind of crazy. I'm just being realistic, right,

519
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,440
Speaker 2: I was like, man, I just started making legal money,

520
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,720
Speaker 2: and now you want me to give it away, Like

521
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 2: like I just started getting my coins again, and now

522
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 2: you want me to give it away?

523
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 1: Right?

524
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, she struck me. Everybody knows how

525
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 2: I appreciate and love God, right, and man, she know

526
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 2: how to whoop me with God. She said, if you

527
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:25,800
Speaker 2: take care of God's people, He'll take care of you.

528
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 2: I said, I'm gonna try it, but if it don't work,

529
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 2: I'm gonna blame you. Right, she said, I take that blame.

530
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 2: And uh so we did. But before we moved out,

531
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 2: I was a woman came through from Michigan. She slept

532
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 2: on our couch while me and the kids are still there.

533
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 2: And eventually we moved out. She became a house mom.

534
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 2: In the first three months, we had opened three houses.

535
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 2: The gates just flooded. The prisons at the houses. Good question.

536
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 2: So my first house, I actually bought that house and

537
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,680
Speaker 2: it had with he in it. And so I took

538
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 2: the equity out and put down on another house. And

539
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,720
Speaker 2: then the open and sing these houses. Yeah, the first

540
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:13,240
Speaker 2: one though, right, But then next one I go to rent.

541
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:18,239
Speaker 2: I find this guy who know who knows me. He's

542
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 2: in the program. He said, my auntie got some house

543
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,040
Speaker 2: she might rench you. I said, okay, I'll take them.

544
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 2: I'm just taking what I can, right. And so we're

545
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 2: on this part of town, this part of town, it's

546
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 2: just the two of us. We got a woman calling,

547
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:32,600
Speaker 2: come picking. We're picking a woman up from prison. On

548
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 2: my lunch break. I'm riding down the street, going over

549
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,480
Speaker 2: the ruins of the house with her. My maid worked downtown.

550
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,480
Speaker 2: She's meeting us at the house. She finishing the paperwork.

551
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 2: We meeting them back over there at four o'clock after

552
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 2: we picked kids up. Kids is either in the car

553
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 2: doing work or they sitting on the porch doing on work.

554
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 2: Then we go do a cleaning job. Right, We already

555
00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 2: got meals prepared for the kids, and so then we

556
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 2: go back and do a curfew chick and a meeting

557
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:03,520
Speaker 2: of seven.

558
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 1: And you got all the resources in this one place.

559
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 1: So these folks are cared for getting what they need

560
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 1: and a roof, and you're working to provide it. Yes,

561
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: dragging your kids around on your lunch break off work.

562
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 2: In the middle of the night. When we got a problem. Yeah,

563
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 2: And one of the things happened that we did just

564
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 2: for three years. And a guy, different guy named Mike,

565
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 2: showed me a piece of property over in West and Nashville.

566
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 2: And you come up his street. It's four blocks and

567
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 2: you come up the street and there are people sitting

568
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 2: out on each side of the sidewalk and they're in

569
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 2: lawn shells and they're chilling. Man, it's a good hot

570
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 2: summer day. You know how we do backyard barbecues, you know,

571
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 2: And so they're sitting out there. But you pull up

572
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 2: and and them your money and they hand you the drugs.

573
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 2: This is four blocks of traffic, right, people just sitting

574
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 2: at on the edge of the curve. He takes me

575
00:33:58,240 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 2: up his road and then he pulls over in his

576
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:04,760
Speaker 2: pothole of a driveway. There's six unitque apartment complex here.

577
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 2: He said, I want to show you something, man, to

578
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 2: be good for these women. So when he pulled over

579
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 2: in this pothole of a driveway, I think he's just

580
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 2: stopping and you know, handing somebody something, you know, take

581
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 2: care of client or something. And he looks back and

582
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 2: said come on. I said, well, he said, come on,

583
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 2: this is I said, Nah'm wait in the car. He said, no,

584
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 2: this is it. Come on. I said, dude, you're crazy.

585
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get women off drugs, not on drugs.

586
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 2: Loosen around and we got four blocks of drug activity.

587
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 2: He said, Man, And he probably said one of the

588
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 2: most important things to me that has impacted my life today,

589
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 2: and he said, listen, you got to look past the rubbish.

590
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,680
Speaker 2: Don't look at what it is, now, look at what

591
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 2: it can be. And so I was like, no, man,

592
00:34:55,880 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 2: I went. When I'm telling you, there's six doors. Number

593
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:04,960
Speaker 2: two is the only one that had electricity and water

594
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 2: and it had extension cords and hose pipes coming out

595
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 2: of it to fell through the other units. Oh my gosh.

596
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:17,080
Speaker 2: And so it's a slum the smell and the and

597
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 2: one or two of them ain't got no doors. And

598
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 2: I said, Mike, what am I gonna do with this?

599
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 2: And so I walked and I'm telling you, man, I

600
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:28,800
Speaker 2: did it over for by two or three days, go

601
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,200
Speaker 2: home praying. I don't know if you've ever experienced being

602
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 2: woke up by the spirit man. It was like some

603
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,000
Speaker 2: just touching and woke me up, sent me back over there.

604
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,160
Speaker 2: And I remember coming down the walkway. It's a step

605
00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 2: you step down, and it was like the light came on.

606
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 2: It's like it's one thing that you want to reclaim

607
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 2: and restore the women you serve, But what about the

608
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,959
Speaker 2: communities that you've destroyed. Why do I put these women

609
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,560
Speaker 2: back over here and help rebuild this community? Why not

610
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,240
Speaker 2: allow elders to come back out and sit on their porch,

611
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 2: and kids to ride their bikes up and down the street.

612
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 2: Why can't parents come and walk their kids to the

613
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,040
Speaker 2: bus stop without having weapons to protect them and their

614
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 2: kids at a bus stop? And I said, who I

615
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:22,799
Speaker 2: told my maid about? She said who? Now? Was that God?

616
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:24,440
Speaker 2: Or was that you? I said, I don't know who

617
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 2: it was, but it was clear. It was just clear, right,

618
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 2: I said, I'm telling you I heard it. It was

619
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:35,919
Speaker 2: clear that we need to restore the community. And as

620
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,840
Speaker 2: a result, man, I didn't have no money, and I

621
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 2: told this guy who owned that building, I said, I'll

622
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 2: take it over and I won't call you unless I

623
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:50,800
Speaker 2: have If the roof falls in, the four falls in,

624
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 2: if the HVAC goes out, I said something to that capacity.

625
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:59,880
Speaker 2: I do all the maintenance myself. He said, what about

626
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 2: what's the deposit? I said, my sweat and equity. I

627
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 2: gotta put this place back together. He said, how much

628
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 2: you're gonna pay in rent? I said, well, he wanted

629
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 2: like three thousand. I said, I can't remember, but he said,

630
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:20,240
Speaker 2: I said for the first four months January February, March April,

631
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 2: I'm not paying you anything. And on the fifth month,

632
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 2: for four months, I'm gonna give you a thousand dollars,

633
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 2: and then the next quarter for the four months, i'm

634
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 2: gonna give you fifteen hundred, and then the next quarter,

635
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,560
Speaker 2: i'm gonna get you up to two thousand dollars. And

636
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 2: we're gonna cap it, and then we're gonna lock it in,

637
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 2: and it's gonna be a first rite of refusal, So

638
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:49,680
Speaker 2: if you decide to sell, I have first rights to

639
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 2: it for the life of the project. And so we

640
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 2: locked that in at one hundred and seventy nine thousand

641
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 2: for six units, me and the girls. But I sweat neck,

642
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:03,880
Speaker 2: but I didn't know what I was doing. I went

643
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:05,959
Speaker 2: to home Depot and bought a one two three book.

644
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,160
Speaker 2: And we want to think there was a carpet company

645
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,400
Speaker 2: that gave us remnants of carpet in Lilolium, and man,

646
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:16,680
Speaker 2: we got in that nails and stuff together and painted

647
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 2: some stuff and made it look like a home. And man,

648
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,879
Speaker 2: our humble beginnings were so humble, you know, people criticized

649
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 2: us for, you know, going over there and trying to

650
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 2: redevelop and restore not only the community with women's lives.

651
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 2: Like I got backlash from some of my closest friends.

652
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,480
Speaker 2: But today, if you go over and look at it,

653
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 2: we stand. Not only do we stand tall as any

654
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:50,760
Speaker 2: other house over there, but we are a huge impact

655
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 2: in the community at large. We are the largest female

656
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 2: full continuum of care in the state of Tennessee.

657
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:04,839
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

658
00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:19,000
Speaker 2: We have not only residential treatment, we have a medical detox.

659
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 2: Can you think about a seventeen time fella hiring a

660
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:28,759
Speaker 2: medical doctor? I mean you think, I mean, like, who

661
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 2: does it right? Like you do?

662
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:31,760
Speaker 1: My friends?

663
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 2: So we got nurses, nurse practitioners, rins, case manager, counselors.

664
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:43,360
Speaker 2: But let me say this more importantly, thirty five percent

665
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 2: of my staff is people who have come through.

666
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:50,040
Speaker 1: My program and are in recovery. Well, let's talk about that.

667
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 1: So today, Mending Hearts is a five oh one C

668
00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:59,359
Speaker 1: three and you have I want to get this right.

669
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 1: Start from that one home that was basically your home

670
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:08,080
Speaker 1: that you flipped over, that treated seven women. Yes, The

671
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:14,520
Speaker 1: program now has fifteen homes, yes, and has served over

672
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:20,799
Speaker 1: fifty four hundred women coming out of prison to get

673
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:26,640
Speaker 1: them all the resources they need, the shelter and the

674
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,600
Speaker 1: love and the concern that you didn't have that first time. Yes,

675
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:32,760
Speaker 1: that made you go back.

676
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 2: To your.

677
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:36,960
Speaker 1: Partner that was on the corner when you get off

678
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,799
Speaker 1: that bus. You interrupted because you've lived that, you saw

679
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,840
Speaker 1: the danger in it, and you provided a resource and

680
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:52,799
Speaker 1: a home to interrupt that problem. Because what you said

681
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,040
Speaker 1: is it's not the criminal justice system that got you.

682
00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:59,440
Speaker 1: It was society when you left it right, and you

683
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:06,400
Speaker 1: create a place to transition from that criminal justice system

684
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:14,160
Speaker 1: back intociety. Yes, fifteen homes and fifty four one hundred women,

685
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 1: And in doing it, you're turning uninhabitable dwellings in areas

686
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:28,080
Speaker 1: that badly need investment into beacons of hope in hopeless neighborhoods.

687
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 2: I always tell people they're no longer dope houses. Their

688
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 2: whole houses.

689
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,800
Speaker 1: Just took the h out, but put to take the

690
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,000
Speaker 1: d output the h in there. Yeah.

691
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, one of the beautiful things about it,

692
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 2: you know, when gentrification came, you know, I started the

693
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:52,480
Speaker 2: first development over in that community. But there's a place called,

694
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:59,200
Speaker 2: oh my god, I can't think of it. The nation's right,

695
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 2: but a medium home over there. A medium home is

696
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:10,680
Speaker 2: five hundred and some thousand dollars.

697
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,359
Speaker 1: And so it's unattainable.

698
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so so. But but I'm in the nations.

699
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 2: I took the drug, invested codapidated buildings, and now you

700
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 2: know we we we are forever grateful for our donors

701
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:34,200
Speaker 2: and support us, though we could not have done it

702
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:34,799
Speaker 2: without them.

703
00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:37,719
Speaker 1: Well, one of the reasons you and I know each

704
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:41,960
Speaker 1: other is because of Karen Moore. Oh my god, So

705
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,800
Speaker 1: why don't you tell us about Project Redesign?

706
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 2: Listen? I get emotional about caring for a lot of reasons. Okay,

707
00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:03,320
Speaker 2: my friend Janet Warfare and introduced us, and I remember

708
00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 2: Karen's kids coming over to help at our first.

709
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:13,239
Speaker 1: Project, help actually do the building, not on a volunteer inside.

710
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 2: Yes, and so we had this house before I started

711
00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 2: knocking down and redevelopment building new homes over there. Well,

712
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 2: carrying them came over and they seen how raggedy broke down.

713
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 2: I mean when I say humble beginnings, we ain't always

714
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 2: look like we have, right, but they met us where

715
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:42,200
Speaker 2: we were and they made us look and feel like

716
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:47,360
Speaker 2: other people do because we were taking what you didn't want.

717
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:56,680
Speaker 2: But Karen was bringing us what we needed, right. She

718
00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:00,239
Speaker 2: made that place. Not only did they come and bring

719
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,399
Speaker 2: us the furniture, they set up the furniture, they hung

720
00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 2: the pictures, they matched the curtains. Listen, they gave us

721
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 2: some comforters. I can't even pronounce the name. The vot

722
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,320
Speaker 2: on something. I don't know. It's listen, it's.

723
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,800
Speaker 1: Out of my leave right, some kind of food food stuff.

724
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:21,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I tell those women pick it up, sir.

725
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:24,600
Speaker 2: And I tell those women, I say, you guys are

726
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 2: living better than I do. You don't understand the extent

727
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 2: that these women come in for their heart and for

728
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,960
Speaker 2: every house we have over there. It's been I want

729
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,280
Speaker 2: to say fifteen years. It's about thirteen to fifteen years

730
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 2: that we've been working with Karen, and I feel like

731
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 2: we got blessed through my friend to meet her to

732
00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,920
Speaker 2: come and do that. And so like now, anytime we

733
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,960
Speaker 2: need furniture or makeover.

734
00:44:55,480 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 1: I just called Karen for our listeners. Project Redesign basically

735
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:05,279
Speaker 1: reuses donated furniture and then they come into places of

736
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,400
Speaker 1: need like this and they redesign the house so that

737
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,520
Speaker 1: people can reclaim their life and make a fresh start

738
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:17,360
Speaker 1: a new home. And so what happened is Project Redesign

739
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:22,880
Speaker 1: ended up being the uh, I guess, the interior decorator

740
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:27,160
Speaker 1: they are for mending hearts. They are and once again

741
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 1: more it gives these women a home.

742
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, and let me say that it's caring them maybe

743
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 2: getting donated furniture, but it is so nice. No I

744
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:46,600
Speaker 2: did it. You cannot tell it is donated. And I

745
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:50,200
Speaker 2: just thank them for because it's one thing you could

746
00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:52,960
Speaker 2: bring a truck over and unload and say here you go, right,

747
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:56,840
Speaker 2: But they're bringing a group of women sometime fifteen to

748
00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:58,799
Speaker 2: twenty women over there.

749
00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:01,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not just dumping stuff off. They're coming in

750
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:02,640
Speaker 1: and taking.

751
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:04,920
Speaker 2: Some love in it. And you ought to see how

752
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:09,239
Speaker 2: they individualize these women's room. But the beauty of it

753
00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 2: is is to see the impact of the woman who

754
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:17,520
Speaker 2: gets to receive project redesigns benefits. It's a blessing.

755
00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:22,560
Speaker 1: So fifty four hundred women serve so far. I think

756
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:24,520
Speaker 1: you can serve about one hundred to one hundred and

757
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:28,239
Speaker 1: ten at a time right now in capacity the number

758
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: of people who come to you use your resource, have

759
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 1: this lovely place to stay as a transition to life.

760
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 1: Do you have any inclination of you know, what your

761
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:44,760
Speaker 1: effectiveness is versus status squad?

762
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:49,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, so so national average probably fifty seven fifty eight

763
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:55,040
Speaker 2: percent and we're at a seventy two percent success rate. Yeah,

764
00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:58,799
Speaker 2: and that's on a six month average day. Our women

765
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:00,680
Speaker 2: can stay up to two years if need be.

766
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 1: And you're to be clear, you're not. This shouldn't a handout.

767
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:08,800
Speaker 1: It's a hand up. You're trying to get them to

768
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:11,399
Speaker 1: transition into a place that they can get a job,

769
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:14,440
Speaker 1: and they're un hung, yes, and you transition them out

770
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:16,880
Speaker 1: to make room for the next crop of folks coming in.

771
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 2: It's right and while in my stay though, they can

772
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 2: stay up to two years within ninety days. Because I

773
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 2: think one of the issues we face and putting people,

774
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:35,800
Speaker 2: releasing people back to society is I've been using for

775
00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:39,040
Speaker 2: thirty years and you go put me over in a

776
00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:43,560
Speaker 2: bed and a classroom for thirty days, and you think

777
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:46,640
Speaker 2: I'm fixed. So then you want to send me to

778
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:50,399
Speaker 2: get a job. And I managed to hold a job

779
00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:53,480
Speaker 2: for a week, but you give me that check and

780
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:56,560
Speaker 2: I get the itching. I'm not gonna make it back

781
00:47:56,600 --> 00:48:01,000
Speaker 2: to the halfway house. I'm probably gonna st our barrel buddies.

782
00:48:01,239 --> 00:48:03,719
Speaker 1: Well, your own story would tell you two months and

783
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,360
Speaker 1: or enough and without supportis notun or not? What's your

784
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,920
Speaker 1: daughter's name? Which one the one that got in a

785
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:16,360
Speaker 1: fight because somebody called you a crackhead. Kanisha, Kanisha, Yes, Canisha,

786
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 1: if you're listening, not bad for a crackhead, Not bad

787
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:30,520
Speaker 1: for crackhead. Thank you, Trina, you are a phenomenal human being.

788
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:31,040
Speaker 2: Thank you.

789
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 1: And if you're listening to this and you're sitting around thinking,

790
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:42,440
Speaker 1: I listen to an army of normal folks a lot,

791
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:44,400
Speaker 1: or maybe this is the first one you've listened to,

792
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,480
Speaker 1: and you think, gosh, I really would like to do something,

793
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:52,560
Speaker 1: but you know, can I? Who am I? How do I?

794
00:48:53,360 --> 00:49:04,280
Speaker 1: Where am I? Seventeen fellows an addiction from somewhere around

795
00:49:04,280 --> 00:49:08,200
Speaker 1: the age of eighteen, staring at thirty years in prison,

796
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:14,800
Speaker 1: having completed programs and fallen off the wagon again and

797
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 1: still fighting to find a way. You just heard the

798
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:22,600
Speaker 1: story of a woman who is changing, who has helped

799
00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:25,480
Speaker 1: change fifty four hundred lives and can change one hundred

800
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 1: and ten at a time from the hood. And if

801
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:39,000
Speaker 1: she can do it, anybody can do it. And you

802
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:45,080
Speaker 1: are that inspiration. And I am I just I sit

803
00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:47,919
Speaker 1: here and listen to your story and we've already gone

804
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:49,879
Speaker 1: long enough. I can talk to you for an hour

805
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:53,879
Speaker 1: more about it? But Trina, I just want to tell

806
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:57,200
Speaker 1: you you're really not an army of normal folks, because

807
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:01,839
Speaker 1: nothing about you is normal. But the truth is, that's

808
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:03,920
Speaker 1: what we found out about all our guests is the

809
00:50:04,040 --> 00:50:06,759
Speaker 1: irony of an army of normal folks, the irony of

810
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:10,720
Speaker 1: people you've never heard doing extraordinary things that change lives.

811
00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 1: Is once we hear their stories, we find out. You know,

812
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 1: it's an army of extraordinary people, and you are one.

813
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:18,839
Speaker 2: And I am.

814
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:22,840
Speaker 1: So blessed that I got to hear your story and

815
00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:24,480
Speaker 1: thank you so much for sharing it with us.

816
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,840
Speaker 2: Thank you, and it's honored it just to be in

817
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:31,880
Speaker 2: your company. Man. I was telling Karen, we got to

818
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:35,319
Speaker 2: watch the movie tonight, right, and it's like I knew

819
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:39,400
Speaker 2: I was coming to do a podcast. I hadn't know

820
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:40,719
Speaker 2: I was going to meet with Suit.

821
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:45,719
Speaker 1: Well, that ain't no big deal, Trina. Last thing, I'm

822
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:49,360
Speaker 1: hoping people heard this and think, you know, I'd like

823
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 1: to do that in my community or I'd like to

824
00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:56,640
Speaker 1: I'd like to donate to mending hearts, furniture goods, resources

825
00:50:56,760 --> 00:51:00,359
Speaker 1: or money. And I'm certain if anybody wants to hear

826
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:05,560
Speaker 1: about this and get pointers, how do we get in

827
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:08,719
Speaker 1: touch with Trina Frarson, Sure, go.

828
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:13,160
Speaker 2: To our website mindiheartsink dot org. Are you gonna down

829
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:16,040
Speaker 2: me up? Protect me up six six six eight two

830
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:23,640
Speaker 2: two six zero email yes, Trina F at mendingheartsink dot org.

831
00:51:25,239 --> 00:51:28,200
Speaker 2: You can also reach us at info at mindiheartsink dot org.

832
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:30,719
Speaker 1: That's a website, that's an email, that's a phone number.

833
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,040
Speaker 1: Somebody wants to reach you, they should be able to

834
00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:38,399
Speaker 1: reach you. Yes. Last question, how's your relationship with your kids?

835
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:45,560
Speaker 2: Trana? God has blessed me in more ways than one.

836
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:51,120
Speaker 2: Their friends say, I wish I had a bond with

837
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:54,880
Speaker 2: my mom the way you have one with yours. And

838
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:57,759
Speaker 2: sometimes I have to tell my kids, Uh, listen, y'all

839
00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:01,719
Speaker 2: got to fast some new friends. My mom, your mom.

840
00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:04,400
Speaker 2: You know, it's like, hey, mama, what you're doing tonight?

841
00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:06,800
Speaker 2: Come over here with us? Like, hey, you want to

842
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:07,680
Speaker 2: go to the movies?

843
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:08,080
Speaker 1: And so.

844
00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:13,239
Speaker 2: We have a bond out of this world. One of

845
00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:16,080
Speaker 2: the beauties of it is that I've been able to

846
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:22,799
Speaker 2: take my mess and make it a message, and then

847
00:52:22,880 --> 00:52:26,480
Speaker 2: messaging my kids is sitting around the table at dinner

848
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:29,920
Speaker 2: times talking about real tough stuff, the stuff that we

849
00:52:30,040 --> 00:52:33,719
Speaker 2: don't often talk about. You know the issues in our

850
00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:36,399
Speaker 2: daily lives that go on that we want to tuck

851
00:52:36,440 --> 00:52:38,879
Speaker 2: away and lay on the pillow and you know, toss

852
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:40,719
Speaker 2: and turn with at night. I want to bring it

853
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:43,360
Speaker 2: back to the kitchen table. And so because of that

854
00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:48,080
Speaker 2: in therapy, we have a phenomenal bond with all my kids.

855
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:50,800
Speaker 1: When you said that, I just wrote it down and

856
00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:54,000
Speaker 1: you want to see something really weird. When you take

857
00:52:54,160 --> 00:52:57,400
Speaker 1: mess and you add age to it, it becomes a

858
00:52:57,480 --> 00:52:59,880
Speaker 1: message how beautiful is.

859
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:02,719
Speaker 2: Well?

860
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:06,920
Speaker 1: Trina? Thanks for joining me, No, thanks for having me.

861
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:09,080
Speaker 1: It's an officer. It's been an honor for me too,

862
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:16,560
Speaker 1: And thank you for joining us this week. If Trina

863
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Speaker 1: Friarson or another guest has inspired you in general, or

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00:53:20,719 --> 00:53:24,840
Speaker 1: better yet, inspired you to take action by donating to

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Speaker 1: Mending Hearts, volunteering with them, by starting something like it

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00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:33,000
Speaker 1: in your area, or something else entirely, please let me know.

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Speaker 1: I really do want to hear about it. You can

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Speaker 1: write me anytime at Bill at Normalfolks dot us and

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Speaker 1: I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, guys, please

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00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:48,880
Speaker 1: share it with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast,

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00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:53,359
Speaker 1: rate and review it. Become a Premium member at normalfolks

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00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,160
Speaker 1: dot us. All these things that will help us grow

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Speaker 1: an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see

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Speaker 1: you next week.