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Speaker 1: Previously on Weedy in House.

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Speaker 2: You know you kind of feel like, oh, there's something

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Speaker 2: wrong with me if everyone else can figure out how

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Speaker 2: to make this happen, But it turns out they can't.

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Speaker 2: I mean, for one in five community college seems to

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Speaker 2: be in house. Kind of a shocking statistic, but it

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Speaker 2: also doesn't surprise me. Given how much work we have

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Speaker 2: to put in for school, how can we also work

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Speaker 2: a full time job. It doesn't seem like there's enough

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Speaker 2: resources built around this.

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Speaker 3: I'm tired of a lot of me because a lot

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Speaker 3: of people just necessarily like don't care. They carry on

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Speaker 3: business as usual. And we have people that claim that

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Speaker 3: they want to advocate, they want to help, but you

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Speaker 3: have these supervisors, you have these hire ups come into

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Speaker 3: the building, they don't even book the members in the eye.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to we the Young House. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Theo Henderson. First, a few shout outs, A very big

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Speaker 1: thank you to Michael from Rotterdam in the devlence. I

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Speaker 1: was very moved by your letter and thank you for

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Speaker 1: listening all the way from Europe. I hope that Weedy

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Speaker 1: in House can come and interviews the individuals who are

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Speaker 1: experiencing houselessness there in the future. My second shout out

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Speaker 1: is to Steve Samusa, who asks me a question I'll

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Speaker 1: answer as honestly as I can. He asks if there

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Speaker 1: are any churches helping with the unhoused crisis. Here's my

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Speaker 1: feeling there are many organizations who help the house in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles. For the most part, in my experience being unhoused,

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Speaker 1: most religious institutions here have a very heavy handed approach

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Speaker 1: in dealing with the unhoused, which deals with judgment or

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Speaker 1: religious trauma and saviorism. The church is definitely not as

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Speaker 1: helpful as they could be. Thank you for listening in

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Speaker 1: to the conclusion of our three part series, A Blow

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Speaker 1: the Whistle. I hope you find the conclusion as enlightening, inspiring,

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Speaker 1: and a call to action to address the issues that

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Speaker 1: beset houselessness. We have three new guests in this episode,

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Speaker 1: blowing the Whistle on services offered to unhoused folks in

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Speaker 1: the city of Los Angeles. But before we dive right in,

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Speaker 1: let us discuss unhoused news. Our first story, Oklahoma Governor

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Speaker 1: Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill eighteen fifty four making it

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Speaker 1: at a crime to be unhoused and to refuse help.

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Speaker 1: The bill takes effect in November twenty twenty four. If

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Speaker 1: an unhoused person refuses aid, they can be jailed for

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Speaker 1: fifteen days or find fifty dollars. Clearly, unhoused community members

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Speaker 1: have limitless cash to afford such legal consequence. Our next story.

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Speaker 1: In Long Beach, California, residents and neighborhoods are opposed to

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Speaker 1: an affordable housing project. The project is a seven story

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Speaker 1: building with one hundred residential units. After hostile local opposition,

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Speaker 1: the city has since trimmed down the units to seventy

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Speaker 1: residential units. Our next story. Nimby's complained about Kansas opening

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Speaker 1: a low barrier shelter. After hostile vocal opposition, city council

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Speaker 1: voted eight to two to restart the application process to

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Speaker 1: build a low barrier shelter. Nimbi common complaints are the

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Speaker 1: lack of neighborhood input. This argument is used unilaterally and

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Speaker 1: often when dealing with the unhoused getting services they sorely need.

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Speaker 1: Hope faith is the shelter. They will now have to

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Speaker 1: reapply for more than seven million dollars in federal funds,

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Speaker 1: which they originally had from the city before this hostil opposition.

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Speaker 1: In Phoenix, Arizona, ninety percent of houses seniors show signs

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Speaker 1: of dementia or cognitive impairment. As weed in House knows

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Speaker 1: and has reported on, there has been an increase in

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Speaker 1: senior citizens becoming unhoused. This study is important to the

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Speaker 1: discussion of houselessness and shatters a myth that unhoused people

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Speaker 1: don't want help. If senior citizens who are housed are

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Speaker 1: having these challenges, making it a crime to be unhoused,

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Speaker 1: by stating that they refuse to be helped is not

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Speaker 1: going to solve houselessness. And lastly, in New York, more

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Speaker 1: than one thousand unhoused children left their public schools after

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Speaker 1: their parents and families were forced to move due to

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Speaker 1: Mayor Eric Adam's sixty day policy of staying in shelters.

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Speaker 1: And that's un housed news. When we come back, I

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Speaker 1: will be speaking with our next Willsti blawer. Welcome back

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Speaker 1: to Weedian House. I'm Theo Henderson. Our first wistle blower

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Speaker 1: this week is LJ who spoke with me about being

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Speaker 1: in some of the programs that have been touted as

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Speaker 1: being successful in Los Angeles. Let's hear his story. Hi,

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Speaker 1: my name is LJ.

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Speaker 4: I am a participant in the Insights Safe program. I

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Speaker 4: grew up in La You know, I had a regular

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Speaker 4: life before. You know, what did you do before my

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Speaker 4: last job, I was as a consultant for a video

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Speaker 4: game distributor.

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Speaker 5: Oh wow, I mean I've had a lot of odd jobs,

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Speaker 5: you know.

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Speaker 4: I mean I have also gotten into, like, you know,

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Speaker 4: growing marijuana for a while, so that was also cool.

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Speaker 1: How did you become on house? Because I know you

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Speaker 1: just magically, you know, just after doing such an exciting

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Speaker 1: job to say, hey, this is so boring. I just

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Speaker 1: want to live out on one needle. So I know

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Speaker 1: that there have to be some kind of cascade event

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Speaker 1: that let you into that.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I wasn't.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't word on house, but me and my my

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Speaker 4: son's mom had a falling out. You know, I asked

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Speaker 4: for help, and instead of helping me, I was basically left.

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Speaker 5: On my own.

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Speaker 1: What help did you need?

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Speaker 4: I mean, as far as you know, like I was

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Speaker 4: going through suffering through addiction, working a lot, I used

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Speaker 4: it to cheat so I can you know, work and

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Speaker 4: you know, provide for my family, like for my my

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Speaker 4: son's mom and my son. And then it got to

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Speaker 4: the point where you know what, I'm meeking enough. I

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Speaker 4: you know, I don't believe I have to work as

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Speaker 4: hard as I have to and asked for help and

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Speaker 4: I was basically just shut out.

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Speaker 1: And that's capitalism, just belief that you always have to work.

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Speaker 1: It's nothing, it's never good enough and and if you God,

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Speaker 1: for Heaven forbid you just slow down, then you are

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Speaker 1: a failure and it's very difficult to coping. Is that

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Speaker 1: kind of uh dystopian reality.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: And then I was in the apartment like for for

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Speaker 4: a good while, and then I.

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Speaker 5: Can sustain myself.

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Speaker 4: At a certain point, I went to my family and

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Speaker 4: I was told that, yeah, we can find a program

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Speaker 4: for you. And I was like, no, I'm asking you

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Speaker 4: guys for help. I mean, you know, like you know,

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Speaker 4: and my family like I don't really ask for help

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Speaker 4: as you know at all. At this point, I was like,

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Speaker 4: as soon as I heard we can find you a program,

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Speaker 4: I said.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: By so, the next question logically, because I remember the

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Speaker 1: first night I was in house and how much I

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Speaker 1: walked until almost legs fell off, until I went to

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Speaker 1: a hospital to sleep it sleep it off. What was

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Speaker 1: your first night of being literally you didn't feel that

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Speaker 1: you have no family support. You're out there on your own.

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Speaker 1: What did you do and how was you able to

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Speaker 1: manage to survive that first night?

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Speaker 4: My first night, I like you, I walked around while

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Speaker 4: under the round, only had a backpack and the clothes

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Speaker 4: on my back. I remember I walked until I got tired.

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Speaker 4: I think I must have walked in several several circles

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Speaker 4: until I said, Okay, I think this is a good

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Speaker 4: place to rest for the meantime. I sat down on

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Speaker 4: the set of stairs and I remember Sprinkler just waking

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Speaker 4: me up, and I was like, oh wow, it's.

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Speaker 1: So you were staying until you obviously you landed at

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Speaker 1: wat Nita the community there. How was that, you know?

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Speaker 1: Because it sounded like you guys really had a close

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Speaker 1: knit community and for you guys to organize so many

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Speaker 1: people don't know on house people are very aware of

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Speaker 1: community and they rely on community because of the hostilities

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Speaker 1: of law enforcement the city Nimbi's we basically rely on

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Speaker 1: the kindness of our community who understands our struggles. So

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Speaker 1: what's what was the situation with you?

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Speaker 5: Right? Actually?

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Speaker 4: I was I was aware of Wanita. There's several several

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Speaker 4: you knows that I've known them for years. So I

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Speaker 4: go there and you know, just say hi, like you know,

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Speaker 4: pass by every now and then bring some food if

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Speaker 4: I can. What I discovered was that there's this camaraderie

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Speaker 4: that they they've developed and actually one of the cleanest

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Speaker 4: places that you'll see.

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Speaker 1: I actually was there for one of the sweep defenses

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Speaker 1: over one leiter, not recently, but maybe a year and

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Speaker 1: a half ago. They were trying to target and run

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Speaker 1: out the young house over there, and I was over

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Speaker 1: there at running on a live stream. So yes, I

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Speaker 1: do know one in front the path, Yes, the exact

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Speaker 1: same one. And not only is that one path and

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Speaker 1: they were trying to sneak and do another community that

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Speaker 1: was not even on the list. And yeah, yeah, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I'm knowing.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I've been I've been in the house for about

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Speaker 4: six years now, like a little more, you know. But

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Speaker 4: I discovered that, like, hey, you know, like they they

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Speaker 4: were right next to each other, They look out for

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Speaker 4: each other, they break bread together, you know, And I

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Speaker 4: found that like, hey, you know what, even though no

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Speaker 4: matter how tough things are going, you know, people people

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Speaker 4: still have this this instinct to just you know, get

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Speaker 4: along and form this like bond. They have this amazing

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Speaker 4: bond where somehow, even though they don't get along, they'll still.

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Speaker 5: Stop and help each other out. You know.

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Speaker 1: It's called empathy. I mean, and I wish more house

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Speaker 1: people would develop it, but that's that's very difficult for

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Speaker 1: something that's not our society looks upon proms upon. But yes,

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Speaker 1: you're very correct. Yeah, so let's get talking to housing

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Speaker 1: for Juanita. So you were mentioning it earlier, so tell

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Speaker 1: us a little bit about.

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Speaker 4: That Housing for Juanita. It started out from the A

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Speaker 4: B C. Ben I guess it is a news station

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Speaker 4: from from the Philippines. They covered the story and then

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Speaker 4: they interviewed some people. I was there, but I just

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Speaker 4: didn't want to you know, I just stayed behind the scenes.

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Speaker 4: And then I guess several other organizations saw the the

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Speaker 4: coverage and next thing, you know, we have other organizations

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Speaker 4: there that would provide, like they bring donations, bring some food,

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Speaker 4: and then they would actually like, you know, hang out.

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Speaker 4: And I found that a bit surprising, but at the

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Speaker 4: same time, it's like, you know, there there's still some

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Speaker 4: good people out there. And then they were there when

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Speaker 4: we were picked up by the Mayor's people and then

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Speaker 4: brought into the Insights Save program and we've met with

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Speaker 4: them on a weekly basis. They've they've been accommodating. They're

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Speaker 4: actually they supported us as far as giving us resources

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Speaker 4: and knowledge that you know we can help. We can

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Speaker 4: help you, but not in the way you think. You

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Speaker 4: know we can help you by letting you know how

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Speaker 4: you can fight for yourself and fight for others that can't.

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Speaker 4: So it was it was really empowering, you know. They

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Speaker 4: they've they've been there through thick and thin, and they're

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Speaker 4: well aware of what's going on.

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Speaker 5: As far as the staff from path.

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Speaker 1: I was gonna get into that as that tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit about your experiences living and inside safe

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Speaker 1: Well for six months.

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Speaker 4: Now, in two days it will be six months, which

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Speaker 4: is the max that they have. As far as their agreement,

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Speaker 4: We've complied. I've complied. I hadn't never had any problems.

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Speaker 4: A complaint. I'll voice it out and uh usually it'll

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Speaker 4: be it'll be through you know, their fears, What complaints

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Speaker 4: did you have?

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Speaker 5: Okay, to get down to it.

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Speaker 4: After going through the initial agreement that they had a

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Speaker 4: sign they followed none of it.

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Speaker 5: Okay, they've they've violated.

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Speaker 4: Any everything that they have on the agreement that they

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Speaker 4: have that they gave us and we signed when we

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Speaker 4: got there. As far as having staff that treat you

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Speaker 4: with dignity and respect, that didn't exist, okay, staff that

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Speaker 4: would actually help you with your housing. You know, we

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Speaker 4: had we had to talk to the council members, assistant

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Speaker 4: the Board of the Directors from PATH and people from

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Speaker 4: the Mayor's office just to initiate us getting started with

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Speaker 4: a program. This is like five months and I was going.

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Speaker 1: To ask you, because Mayor Bass has been receiving such

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Speaker 1: glowing praise from news outlets like CNN, LA Times and

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Speaker 1: mainstream media as that she's doing miracles and getting a

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Speaker 1: house people off the streets. Her philosophy is getting the

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Speaker 1: airplane in the air and fixing it while you're flying along.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't sound like this is going as well as

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Speaker 1: she's making it out to be. So if you're five

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Speaker 1: months in the programming, you have to have such a

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Speaker 1: line share of management to get basic needs that you

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Speaker 1: are expecting from the beginning, it doesn't seem like it's success.

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Speaker 1: Maybe I'm reading this wrong. What is your inteke on it?

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Speaker 4: As far as he's getting the airplane off the air

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Speaker 4: I mean be from bird's eye's point of view, but

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Speaker 4: if you're an airplane, seems like we're still on the ground.

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Speaker 4: You know, we haven't taken off. They're just making noises

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Speaker 4: outside of the airplanes. They're like pretending to.

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Speaker 1: Be screaming, because if the airplane is not completely fixed.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how calm anybody. I fear. We see

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Speaker 1: the playing movies and you're seeing things the turbulince, you

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Speaker 1: could sell people like freaking out. So maybe that is

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Speaker 1: maybe there is an apropos metaphor, but she probably didn't

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Speaker 1: think they've metaphor through because you know, the people that

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Speaker 1: are in the plane are probably screaming to get back

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Speaker 1: on the ground, so it's just some stability.

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Speaker 4: Well, anybody that would probably give her praise that it's

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Speaker 4: doing well would be anybody that thought that seeing people

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Speaker 4: unhoused is a nuisance, not caring that those are people

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Speaker 4: out there.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 4: My mein Kuirk about this whole thing is that it's

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Speaker 4: supposed to be three months then we get housing. Now

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Speaker 4: we're still there after twice at twice the length of

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Speaker 4: the expected time, which is the max. And I'm thinking, okay,

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Speaker 4: what about the people that's still out there. I mean,

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Speaker 4: now they're they're doing they're doing things with food that

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Speaker 4: if it's if it gets cold, they'll throw it out.

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Speaker 4: And I have, I have, I've brought this up. I said, wow,

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Speaker 4: that's a lot of food, and they go, oh yeah,

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Speaker 4: if it gets cold, it's not good anymore. There's a

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Speaker 4: microwave right there. I'm looking at it like, you know,

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Speaker 4: there's a lot of food. So you know, sometimes I

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Speaker 4: would go with another another participant and bring it to

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Speaker 4: another encampment. So just just because it's a way, why

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Speaker 4: waste food like that, you know.

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Speaker 1: And it's it's so apropos for the moment, because she's

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Speaker 1: now being audited for the and I think there's such

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Speaker 1: this is such the glaring result of mismanagement of money,

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Speaker 1: mismanagement resources. So one of the things I would like

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Speaker 1: to know is, like, it's the food of quality.

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Speaker 4: How is the staff? How does the staff treat you guys?

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Speaker 4: The food is mediocre. I mean, granted it is food.

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Speaker 4: They serve it three times a day. If you call

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Speaker 4: leaving it on the table for us to grab whenever,

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Speaker 4: you know, when it's feeding time. Now up until recently

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Speaker 4: they keep it in a heated kind of like a refrigerator,

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Speaker 4: but you know, heater type, and so now they grab

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Speaker 4: it for us again. So I'm like, wow, cool, now

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Speaker 4: they're serving us, they're doing work. As far as being

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Speaker 4: audited the place where I'm at, I was informed that

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Speaker 4: it was not going to be called or be part

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Speaker 4: of Inside Safe and it will just be referred to

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Speaker 4: as an interim housing, maybe just to avoid being audited

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Speaker 4: because it's initially.

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Speaker 1: But then they try to change the name.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's one of the worst places, like and the

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Speaker 4: staff has told us this, you know, and there's me

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Speaker 4: amongst other people. We've complained and we've voiced out our opinion.

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Speaker 4: We told them we're not, okay, this is what you're

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Speaker 4: going to provide after what you said you're going to do,

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Speaker 4: or this is after the agreement, this is what you're

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Speaker 4: going to present to us.

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Speaker 1: We were like no. And one of the things in

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Speaker 1: other Inside State is just because this is not just

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Speaker 1: an exception that for example, some of the residents have

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Speaker 1: stayed for some time and then after a certain period

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Speaker 1: of time, the staff comes to them and says, what's

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Speaker 1: your exit plan? Because either you're going to come good

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Speaker 1: shelter or you're going to have to find your own

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Speaker 1: way out of housing. And so now and howse people

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Speaker 1: in other areas, it's like, you know, either they self

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Speaker 1: evicting themselves because they just basically listen to you know,

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Speaker 1: sounds like a scare text exactly, oh yeah, to get

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Speaker 1: you to self evict because you know, the staff is

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Speaker 1: either their short staff or they don't have enough staff

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Speaker 1: to be able to support your needs. And you've been

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Speaker 1: there in limbo in which brings up a weird thing.

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Speaker 1: If they could find housing, they wouldn't be in insid safety.

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Speaker 1: They will be trying to get out. They wouldn't needed

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Speaker 1: the programs.

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Speaker 4: Part of the thing is that they require like several documents,

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Speaker 4: you know, just to so we can we can transition

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Speaker 4: on to getting our permanent housing. Even the people that

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Speaker 4: do have everything they need, they still have not started

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Speaker 4: looking for an apartment or spoke to anybody from permanent housing,

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Speaker 4: nor were they encouraged. And I know somebody that's actually

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Speaker 4: given a thirty day right up even though they have

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Speaker 4: all their documents ready because you know, and here's the

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Speaker 4: funny part. He was given a thirty day viction notice

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Speaker 4: because he was helping out a friend that didn't have

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Speaker 4: a place to go to shower, and this case worker

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Speaker 4: went and followed him to his room and stayed on

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Speaker 4: the door and kept on knocking, and she was in

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Speaker 4: the bathroom. My friend was trying to voice out with

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Speaker 4: his opinion, and everything I have a recording of is funny.

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Speaker 4: But because you know, I've grown close to these, to

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Speaker 4: everybody that's there. You know, we've been there for six months.

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Speaker 4: I mean, you know, we have to know, we have

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Speaker 4: to band together. It's the staff, the security. They're more

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Speaker 4: focused on property, not people.

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Speaker 1: Well, speaking of property many times, like the reason I

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Speaker 1: turned down during the COVID because they were going to

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Speaker 1: throw away my essential stuff, like they at the time.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what they changed, but they had you

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Speaker 1: had to have two garbage bags, two clear garbage bags

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Speaker 1: to take into uh to the hotels. And I had

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Speaker 1: more than two bags, you know, because in order to

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Speaker 1: survivee and you know, I mean your personality, your life

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Speaker 1: too bad exactly. But apparently they believed that that was

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Speaker 1: going to be sufficient. Man, it was. It was crazy.

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Speaker 1: Eleven staff members for cop cars to make sure yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: this was during the pandemic. They were trying to evict me,

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Speaker 1: and when I was down in a downtown LA area

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Speaker 1: and I never forgot that. And then two when they

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Speaker 1: started explaining project at the time, room key for the said,

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Speaker 1: there's no way I'm going to be able to do this.

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Speaker 1: I'm not doing at seven o'clock her few But in

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Speaker 1: the beginning of time, they they were really really atal

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Speaker 1: retentive about the making sure there has cars through as

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Speaker 1: they can make it. They did, and like, who was

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Speaker 1: going to willingly unless they desperation, they will just stay

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Speaker 1: on a few months, a few few weeks and then

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Speaker 1: the leave on their own. I said, no, I'm not

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Speaker 1: even going to go through that. And so that's the

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Speaker 1: same thing that a lot of the programs. When you

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Speaker 1: hear like when mayor Bath says what people want housing, Yes,

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Speaker 1: they want, but they want dignified housing. You're not offering

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Speaker 1: dignified housing. You're just throwing slap dash solutions because you

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Speaker 1: feel offended to see in house people out on the

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Speaker 1: street is unacceptable. However, do you understand that's autonomy. There's

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Speaker 1: dignified living in the best situation that they can. That's

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Speaker 1: why they're out there. They're not out there because it's

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Speaker 1: the thing to do, or they just don't have nothing

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Speaker 1: to do. They're there because they don't want to be

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Speaker 1: abused in order for them to get housing or to

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Speaker 1: be forced into a car sceral solution. Yes, Lj's interview

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Speaker 1: was so riveting that I invited him to stay and

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Speaker 1: bring two other guests into the discussion. When we come back,

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Speaker 1: we're going to bring two more whistleblowers in to talk

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Speaker 1: about the city's ineptitude with houselesness. Welcome back to Weedian

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Speaker 1: House for our final interview of the whistle Blower series.

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Speaker 1: I continue to speak with LJ and brought in two

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Speaker 1: other whistle blowers to continue the discussion. Let's welcome Meech

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Speaker 1: and Anya to the discussion.

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Speaker 6: Hi. I'm Aina Inina Morton. I'm an organizer with Gabriella

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Speaker 6: Los Angeles, which is a militant Filipino women's organization. It's

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Speaker 6: actually based in the Philippines. We're based here as a

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Speaker 6: LA chapter, and I've been meeting with LJ and the

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Speaker 6: other folks who used to live on Juanita since September

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Speaker 6: last year, about a month before they got swept.

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Speaker 1: We had heard, you.

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Speaker 6: Know that there was like a large community of like folks,

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Speaker 6: you know, like our own like like kaba byen is

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Speaker 6: what we say, like our own people, right, who are

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Speaker 6: like suffering. When we started meeting with folks really regularly

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Speaker 6: and just hearing about, you know, everything that was going

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Speaker 6: on that they were experiencing on the street, and actually

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Speaker 6: we're what folks as they were navigating, you know, really

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Speaker 6: being honestly like really violently swept and displaced into sweeps

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Speaker 6: violence inside safe program right where they're like, oh, they

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Speaker 6: were putting cameras in people's faces and being like do

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Speaker 6: you consent to the suite?

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Speaker 1: Was the question I would want to ask you because

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Speaker 1: we got to they're still doing that soft Sorry they

405
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Speaker 1: had to. I had a flashback, so I'm sorry, please continue. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: of course.

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Speaker 6: And they had a bulldozer there right, like you know,

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Speaker 6: what's what options are you being given? Right? And then

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Speaker 6: there were folks of course who were like, yeah, I'm

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Speaker 6: like excited to get a space.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 6: No one goes into it trying to create trouble out

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Speaker 6: of nowhere, right.

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Speaker 1: But there's a fear to that. Yeah, when you mentioned that,

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Speaker 1: I was going to mention it as well as you

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Speaker 1: because they pushed the camera because part of the reason

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Speaker 1: is because before they wouldn't do it. They would just

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Speaker 1: unceremoniously just start throwing on house people think is a way,

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Speaker 1: and then you have to make a choice ease they

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Speaker 1: get in or you're going to get your things thrown

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Speaker 1: thrown away. But now they're trying to cover the behind.

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Speaker 1: But they're still doing it with the veil of threats

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Speaker 1: and a fail of intimidation. Yeah, because you got maybe

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Speaker 1: cops not nearby that they can call, because if you

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Speaker 1: turn down project inside safe or whatever, then the cops

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Speaker 1: can come and says, well, you can't stay here, take rocks,

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Speaker 1: or they can do some other tactics. But this I'm digressing.

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Speaker 1: I'm this is your story. Let me finish you, let

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Speaker 1: you do it. But it's trigger made to remember that.

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Speaker 6: So yeah, of course, yeah, I remember reading. Actually, well,

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Speaker 6: now like fast forward, right, it's been almost six months

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Speaker 6: and like shit hasn't been done, and I knew folks

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Speaker 6: who were living in like project room key sites, and honestly,

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Speaker 6: you know, my perspective and talking with folks is actually

435
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 6: inside safe for like inside starving as you're calling it. It's

436
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 6: like so often a lot worse, like something that's happening

437
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 6: been happening in the last months. They've been trying to

438
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 6: double and even triple people up inside of their rooms.

439
00:23:59,600 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 5: They try.

440
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,119
Speaker 1: Oh really, wow, Oh my goodness. I don't know if

441
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,399
Speaker 1: the rooms have gotten bigger, but they were. Now you

442
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 1: turn around, that's the rooms.

443
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 5: You can imagine it, maybe, but no with the big.

444
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: Bugs and you know, that's just yeah, that great. But

445
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to quickly shift to my right and get

446
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,720
Speaker 1: you to introduce yourself and then we'll have a more

447
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: of a relaxed conversation.

448
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:22,840
Speaker 5: Yeah.

449
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:27,879
Speaker 7: So I'm John Zaffrajas. I'm actually a filmmaker and organizer

450
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,000
Speaker 7: as well, and I'm part of the c cloub Media Collective,

451
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 7: which is a multimedia collective of Filipino filmmakers really like

452
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,720
Speaker 7: uplifting stories in the community. And yeah, really, what we've

453
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,640
Speaker 7: been learning as part of the Housing for Wanita campaign

454
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:48,440
Speaker 7: is that houselessness is really something affecting the Filipino community.

455
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,919
Speaker 1: It's not talked about a lot. No, it's not.

456
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,360
Speaker 7: And one of the big questions we're asking is where

457
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 7: is the support from our own government. Some of the

458
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 7: residents in inside starving are actually Philippine Nationals, and the

459
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 7: Philippine government has fundings set aside to their nationals in distress,

460
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 7: but they have yet to reach out or or even

461
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:16,760
Speaker 7: investigate the situation of unhoused Filipinos in Yeah, their their neighborhood,

462
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:17,720
Speaker 7: their district.

463
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 1: And I'm so glad that you guys have chosen to

464
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: come on and bring sound the alarm up or because

465
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 1: of my title is blow the whistle. Of course there's

466
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: double content, but that's what it is. We're still blowing

467
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,920
Speaker 1: the whistle on these real issues. And when you mentioned it,

468
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: I did remember earlier, like when the pandemic there is

469
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: a really unspoken community community Asian communities that are unhoused

470
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,120
Speaker 1: because people don't compute that house business affects them as

471
00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 1: well everybody, everybody at every every stage of life. And

472
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,160
Speaker 1: but also the fact that you, like you mentioned that

473
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,080
Speaker 1: this is not being talked about. You know, there's no

474
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 1: really really push for a solution or even a conversation

475
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 1: that doesn't require carstole or criminalization, because that's always seems

476
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:07,399
Speaker 1: to be the flavor of them, no matter what group

477
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 1: it is, they always have some kind of forty one

478
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: to eighteen or fifty six eleven proposition one or if

479
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 1: they can speak endlessly about some kind of way to

480
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 1: criminalize poor people and housing insecurity or vending vendors, and

481
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 1: they have time for that, but when we talk about humane,

482
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:28,959
Speaker 1: dignified solutions, then they become ghost But I'm sorry, I digress.

483
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:29,640
Speaker 1: Please continue.

484
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 7: Oh no, this is all really great and or not great,

485
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 7: but we're glad you're covering this because I think another

486
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 7: issue is a lot of a lot of Filipinos actually

487
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,440
Speaker 7: come to the US via forced migration, economic displacement and

488
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 7: really face tough working conditions. And we've even seen in

489
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,400
Speaker 7: with some of the residents at Insight Starving that they're

490
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 7: actually caregivers and they're being exploited, paid low wages and

491
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,120
Speaker 7: picked up from the encampment to actually basically experienced wage

492
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 7: stuff My employers in the caregiving industry more like human traffic.

493
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was.

494
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,679
Speaker 1: Literally, but they're just trying to use a little fancy

495
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: your name. But that's definitely disgraceful. Yeah, one of the

496
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 1: things I wanted to point out because I think all

497
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 1: marginalized communities in some facet another have dealt with some

498
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: type of mark bagration. My ancestors, my relatives. I don't

499
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 1: know if you've heard the Great Migration in jury because

500
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,000
Speaker 1: of Jim Crow and the klu Cut plan, lunching them

501
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,400
Speaker 1: and things of that nature. The Filipino community, the Latino community,

502
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 1: we all had this need to leave life and depth situations.

503
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 1: And I think that's could be fair to say. And

504
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: always the conversation that always shifts, and it's so important

505
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,639
Speaker 1: that we may not be in the same boat, but

506
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: we are in the same storm. Some of us are drowning,

507
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 1: some of us are dead, some of us is barely

508
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 1: hanging on to the life wrap, and some of us

509
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 1: trying to jump off the boat in order to something better.

510
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,000
Speaker 1: And with this commonnversation is so important how houselessness has

511
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: a why swathed. It is more than just encampments. There's

512
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:11,440
Speaker 1: people that are in various stages of distrusts and displacement.

513
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 1: And I think it's so apropost if we're looking at

514
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: the conversation, what's going on in Palestine, Congo and other areas.

515
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 1: These are interconnected. This is not it's not in isolation.

516
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 1: To bring the conversation fuller into the issue. Whatever else

517
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,200
Speaker 1: have you seen in the communities that you got I

518
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 1: would start with LJ and I'll take it from the left,

519
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: and I'll do it from the right.

520
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 4: I mean, I've seen plenty being out there for you know,

521
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 4: about six years.

522
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 5: Overall, I believe.

523
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,479
Speaker 4: This is more than just a homelessness issue, that it

524
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,239
Speaker 4: goes beyond that. This is a human right issue. You know,

525
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 4: housing should be for everybody. Like how how can the

526
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 4: United States pay for another country subsidized housing one they

527
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 4: can't even provide for their own.

528
00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 5: It makes no sense to me.

529
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 4: What do we could the court at this point, you know,

530
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 4: and and why you implement these these entities that's supposedly

531
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 4: doing what assisting the homeless of you know, there's supposedly

532
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 4: people assisting at homeless, but they are not even doing

533
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 4: any of that.

534
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 5: You know, we would.

535
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 2: I do.

536
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 1: I have a question for you And and this definitely

537
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: and with my grandparents will say this cooks my grits.

538
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 1: And and I have to say this because everybody, and

539
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: particularly in recent times, is always asking for more police

540
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,680
Speaker 1: or more security or public safety. And it drives me

541
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: nuts that, particularly in Los Angeles, we are over three

542
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: billion dollars that we pay the police. And even with

543
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 1: all of the supposedly financial arrears and all the financial instability,

544
00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: were always find some kind of way to give funding

545
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,719
Speaker 1: for cops, and we're giving funding for the cops from

546
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 1: the city. Other entities like libraries and others are still

547
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,840
Speaker 1: giving money. It's like, where in the world does it

548
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 1: end when we finally says, why are we giving cops

549
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: money to keep criminalizing us? We're poor, we can barely

550
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: support it, and why do we have poor people that's

551
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: really want to keep cheering this nonsense on. It's not

552
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 1: going to change because now they're going to be hitting you,

553
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: and then you're going to be thinking because you're different

554
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 1: and they're going after you. That is not the same.

555
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: But that's one of the things I wanted to talk

556
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: about because now this artor is coming out, but she's

557
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 1: making it sound like the police and the firefighter funding

558
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 1: is not going to be affected. She's offering raises for

559
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 1: the cops, who is not creating or solving the house

560
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: this issue. So why in the world is it that

561
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: we're constantly, at every time that there's a crisis, that

562
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 1: we keep shelling out more money for cops.

563
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 4: And I believe it's for a thirteen billion budget within

564
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 4: the last two years.

565
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:01,560
Speaker 5: I love Grits, by the way.

566
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I don't understand like, there's a two hundred

567
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 4: and fifty million dollar budget for inside Safe alone. Now

568
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 4: there's a propose to one hundred twenty five thousand dollars

569
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 4: per person for the year. We probably see not even

570
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 4: a ten thousand of that, including with an allotted amount

571
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 4: for the room rental.

572
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 5: Whatever. Now, do we really need more police? No, we don't,

573
00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 5: we don't.

574
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,240
Speaker 4: I'm not like I've been out there, Like, I'm not

575
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 4: scared of gangsters.

576
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 5: I'm not scared of like anybody else but the police. Yeah,

577
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 5: I'm scared of the police because they can kill you

578
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 5: and get away with it.

579
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, so, yeah, I'm scared of the police.

580
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 5: They didn't protect and serve.

581
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: And they get cheered on by the most hateful kind

582
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: of communities because they know that they're in their hopes

583
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,600
Speaker 1: that they're probably not going to be affected, but they're

584
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 1: still affected regardless of how they believe. So they're taking

585
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 1: money out of all of our pockets, and they are

586
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 1: taking money to create an environment that is nothing but

587
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: violence and harm instead of creating community solutions. And then

588
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 1: they don't get me started, But I would let you

589
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 1: start on this because I have to get on my soapbox.

590
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think in the context of like policing,

591
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,479
Speaker 6: you know, we would also take it another level and

592
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 6: like talk about like you know, militarism and military budgets too, right,

593
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,240
Speaker 6: both like from the US and also from the Philippines. Right,

594
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 6: Like the US military budget this year is the largest

595
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 6: it's ever been.

596
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:31,400
Speaker 1: It's almost a trillion.

597
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 6: Dollars, which, like I can't even fathom how much money

598
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 6: that is, right, you know, money that's going to weapons

599
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 6: to fund genocide and Israel, and also in the Philippines

600
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,640
Speaker 6: actually where we also see, you know, how there's a

601
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 6: war on the poor here in this country. There's a

602
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 6: huge war on the poor in the Philippines, and that's

603
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 6: a huge part of why so many of our people

604
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 6: are here too. Right, So we're asking ourselves the same question, right,

605
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 6: all of this money going to war, all this money

606
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 6: going to policing, Like where's the money for the people?

607
00:32:58,480 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 2: Right?

608
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,040
Speaker 6: And like why is it also that we see the

609
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 6: war and the police actually be turned out against our

610
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 6: own people, right, Like if you probably don't know this,

611
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 6: but there's actually like a Philippine National Police office here

612
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 6: in Los Angeles, No I didn't that also is actively

613
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 6: surveilling and policing Filipinos here, red tagging Filipino activists here, right,

614
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 6: you got funding for that, but.

615
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, I definitely did not know.

616
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 5: That, just like how the police here have light tanks.

617
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 6: Uh huh exactly.

618
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: Well, you know, also people don't know too the LPD

619
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 1: and other police officers go to Israel to get the

620
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 1: type of training which we see what they do here,

621
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 1: and people don't know that. Of course, with the Palestinian conflict,

622
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,960
Speaker 1: they make it sound like that they are are innocent victims,

623
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 1: but also you know they're creating cop cities. Because the

624
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,480
Speaker 1: conversation is reaching a more of a fever pitch, you

625
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: can there's no way that you can ignore the realities

626
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: because houselessness is affecting everything. Poverty, the idea of people

627
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: arguing for people to have a movable wage, and upset

628
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,440
Speaker 1: because people that work at McDonald's wants not to be

629
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:09,839
Speaker 1: suffering as starving, and the businesses are reacting by upping

630
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: the prices of food in order to create this scarcity narrative.

631
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: So the whole idea is to use those type of conversations,

632
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 1: which is why unification and understanding. The key issue is

633
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 1: is not people that are coming because we all are displaced,

634
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,200
Speaker 1: we all are being harmed by the system. We have

635
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: to understand the enemy is bigger than people that you're

636
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: seeing that's trying to just survive and desperate. Straight but

637
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 1: I digress again, Please, what do you have to say?

638
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 7: Well, actually backtracking a little bit, and you talked about

639
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,400
Speaker 7: how a lot of these programs really try to individualize,

640
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 7: you know, the people needing housing, They try to you know,

641
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,240
Speaker 7: blame them for their circumstances. And I think like tying

642
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,279
Speaker 7: that into also Filipino culture and the history of colonization

643
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:56,399
Speaker 7: in the Philippines, that's a huge issue. That's been four

644
00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:01,400
Speaker 7: hundred years of Spanish colonization followed by US imperialism and

645
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 7: something I think you know that I've seen that's been

646
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,840
Speaker 7: really inspiring about the Housing for Wanita campaign is l

647
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 7: J and Kuyah Jason Quia is kind of like like

648
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 7: elder like uncle, thank you, but I'm not yet. But

649
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,600
Speaker 7: you know, LJ is leading this campaign and we're really

650
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 7: seeing seeing these residents breaking out of even these colonial

651
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 7: mindsets that have been It's it's really hard to tangle

652
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 7: and pull that out of out of you, but we're

653
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:40,239
Speaker 7: seeing them take that lead and and yeah, it's been

654
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 7: really frustrating seeing how carcarole this program is and how

655
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 7: they're being blamed for their circumstances rather than being empowered

656
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 7: and and actually listened to by the staff.

657
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 5: I think you were empowered by you guys.

658
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,880
Speaker 4: You know, you guys showed us strength because now, like

659
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:58,359
Speaker 4: we weren't, you know, we know we can voice out

660
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,319
Speaker 4: our opinion. You know, we can, we can, we can

661
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 4: talk to whoever. We just we just weren't aware of

662
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 4: how to go about it. So I applied, you know,

663
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 4: thank you guys a lot, and we are going to

664
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 4: blow the whistle on it. We are going to blow

665
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,319
Speaker 4: it out of proportion because it's it's too much. It's

666
00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,280
Speaker 4: like they're not doing anything to help. All they're doing

667
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 4: is just they created a system that's designed to fail

668
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:20,759
Speaker 4: on itself, and at the same time, it's making the

669
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:23,320
Speaker 4: people that are already down and out look even worse.

670
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 5: So where's the funding here? Where's the money?

671
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 1: You know?

672
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 4: Why are they so greedy with the money. It's like,

673
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:32,919
Speaker 4: when is enough ever going to be enough?

674
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 1: You know, I was going to say to one of

675
00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,760
Speaker 1: the things that I applaud which is I'm so excited

676
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,919
Speaker 1: that you guys on the show is also to show

677
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,640
Speaker 1: other house communities how we can have these kind of

678
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 1: movements that necessary. It is not always house or Sabers

679
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 1: centered or it's like it's most importantly one of the

680
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,120
Speaker 1: things that I'm proud of, Like I definitely extended them

681
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 1: an invitation because it's this June is I have cre

682
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,279
Speaker 1: called it's a memorial called can You See Me? And

683
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 1: if you don't know what that is, how it started

684
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,279
Speaker 1: was I was sitting and at the time I was

685
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,560
Speaker 1: eating something in Little Tokyo and an unhoused person at

686
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,319
Speaker 1: the time, I was running to run to an errand

687
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,400
Speaker 1: and I seen another oron house person. He spoke to me.

688
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,239
Speaker 1: I spoke to him. I didn't really get a chance

689
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:22,640
Speaker 1: to say enough, and I just kept right on going.

690
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: And that very next night he passed away. And the

691
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 1: thing it is is that the treatment of how this

692
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,120
Speaker 1: man was treated, he was laying there, he was passed away.

693
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,960
Speaker 1: They threw a sheet on him. People were still touring, laughing, joking,

694
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 1: taking pictures. It wasn't no one really took the moment

695
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:46,839
Speaker 1: to understand because which is a very unique contrast as

696
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:49,360
Speaker 1: why I see such of the outbreak when you see

697
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 1: the atrocities over in Palestine and how people are just moved.

698
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 1: They're showing pictures, they're showing videos, they're telling you not

699
00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,879
Speaker 1: to look away. But while it's really under your nose.

700
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:05,720
Speaker 1: Here the slow genocide, the hidden, the invisible genocide of houses,

701
00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,680
Speaker 1: people from not only out on the streets, in hotels

702
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 1: like what happened over in Project Home Key, which is

703
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 1: properly happening, I'm sorry, starving and the other facets of

704
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: instable housing. And it made me create this memorial, which

705
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: is I've been doing it now close to four years now.

706
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,799
Speaker 1: It's called the can You See Me Memorial? And I

707
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:26,919
Speaker 1: tried to do it twice a year, which is coming

708
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,600
Speaker 1: up in June. I do it at city Hall. I

709
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:33,480
Speaker 1: have a coffin, and I have a coffin with a

710
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 1: white sheet where we write the names of unhoused people

711
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: that have passed away from all over the world. It

712
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,200
Speaker 1: doesn't mean just Los Angeles. And two responses that I

713
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 1: got that when people see it, or people that you

714
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,800
Speaker 1: would not have gathered at a house, that were embarrassed

715
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:51,640
Speaker 1: to talk about their brother that ode that was unhoused,

716
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 1: or they didn't know that their father was in house

717
00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: until someone called and tell them they had to collect

718
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 1: their things, or they got into the movement because they

719
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,200
Speaker 1: didn't realize that their father was on house, or they

720
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 1: had a favorite uncle and their uncle who has suffered

721
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 1: from mental challenges and they found them on the street

722
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:12,520
Speaker 1: and the family was embarrassed. But he created a many

723
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: memorial form because of the shame of mental health. So

724
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,919
Speaker 1: this conversation is like which I am extending a hand

725
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 1: an invitation to you guys to join me. I'll give

726
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 1: you further details, but also to the listeners to reach

727
00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 1: in and come and to learn. It is just as

728
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 1: equally as important as the Palestinian conflict. It is happening

729
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: in your own backyard. And it's important that you show up,

730
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:39,840
Speaker 1: yes as you showed up for the Palestinian Congo and

731
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 1: other conflicts, to show that there are humans that are

732
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,359
Speaker 1: dying in these various and diverse type of environments. And

733
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,320
Speaker 1: the conversation needs to be had just equally as the

734
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:52,320
Speaker 1: conflict that we have in overseas.

735
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,439
Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you, Yes, yes, absolutely.

736
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:58,560
Speaker 1: Did I forget anything? He wise wants to mention.

737
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 4: I mean said everything is relevant. The relevance is just

738
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 4: it's in front of our face, you know, like we

739
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:06,799
Speaker 4: got to just get over ourselves and just you know,

740
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 4: be human to everybody. Yeah, you know, that's there's no

741
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,200
Speaker 4: other way, you know, like why not?

742
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I think my I don't know, maybe my

743
00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:18,880
Speaker 6: like call to action for people also, right is like

744
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 6: you know, for people who do have that type of

745
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 6: like privilege, come from a higher class upbringings, or like

746
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 6: our house, right, Like, we all have an obligation to

747
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,879
Speaker 6: really work very closely and do all that we can

748
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,400
Speaker 6: for people who are you know, our friends, our family

749
00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:39,480
Speaker 6: or comrades in this fight. Right, Like LJ said such

750
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 6: nice things earlier, but really we have like a learned

751
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 6: so much and been able to build out and further

752
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:46,640
Speaker 6: like our our struggle, right, which is you know, not

753
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:47,760
Speaker 6: just a housing struggle.

754
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:48,760
Speaker 1: It's much larger.

755
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 6: You know, it's also about wages, right, but it's also

756
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,120
Speaker 6: even about like all of our own people's liberations, right,

757
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 6: And Gabriella, we you know, are fighting for like national

758
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,000
Speaker 6: democracy in the Philippines. We see this is you know

759
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:02,960
Speaker 6: an extension of that of the way that our people

760
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 6: are exported for cheap labor by a country that's been

761
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 6: collaborators with the US for a long time, and this

762
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,840
Speaker 6: system just turns people out abandons them on the street.

763
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,880
Speaker 6: So you know, we are all called to build together,

764
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 6: stand in solidarity with each other.

765
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I think that's it. Is there any way

766
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:24,440
Speaker 1: for anyone to reach out to donations or volunteer to

767
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,680
Speaker 1: you guys as cause please educate us, illuminate us in likeness.

768
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,920
Speaker 7: Yeah, actually, well we have our It's easy to find

769
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 7: us with the Housing for Juanita on account on Instagram,

770
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 7: and we are yeah, we are accepting donations because yeah,

771
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,360
Speaker 7: we actually we all meet together in the park behind

772
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 7: the Hollywood in Lake Street Park, Lake Street Park, and

773
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 7: every Sunday we have discussions with the residents and just

774
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 7: really listen to what are the conditions they're experiencing, and

775
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,520
Speaker 7: we learn from them. And we'd love for more people

776
00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,040
Speaker 7: to actually join us in person, because there's nothing like

777
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:02,320
Speaker 7: actually just spending time with the folks in the program

778
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 7: and learning from them. They're the experts of their own conditions.

779
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 4: Absolute.

780
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:08,840
Speaker 7: And one more thing is that, you know, Karen Bass

781
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:13,160
Speaker 7: has been really open sadly that this program is meant

782
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,640
Speaker 7: to get votes essentially to look good for voters. Absolutely,

783
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 7: they don't want bad press around this they they won't

784
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:21,400
Speaker 7: change anything.

785
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,120
Speaker 1: Like I said, you know, oh my goodness, I look

786
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:25,600
Speaker 1: at that.

787
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,680
Speaker 7: So yeah, that's why we need people to actually show

788
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:32,200
Speaker 7: up and really like share, share the posts, share with

789
00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:37,640
Speaker 7: the residents stories that are online, just really elevate their experiences.

790
00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:40,879
Speaker 7: And that's the only way we're going to at least

791
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,440
Speaker 7: force them to like make changes.

792
00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 1: I don't know absolutely, and like I say, I do

793
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,880
Speaker 1: this podcast for primarily to get the voices out to

794
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 1: blow the whistle, but also to give a call to

795
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,880
Speaker 1: action for people to start to spread WI and House

796
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:59,399
Speaker 1: to other places that need illumination. Like like I said,

797
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:03,080
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot about the community conversation here, and

798
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:04,960
Speaker 1: if I have learned it, I know that there is

799
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 1: many people that do not know what's really going on because,

800
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 1: like sometimes houselessness is created in this binary that you know,

801
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:16,640
Speaker 1: there are the bad minorities. Unfortunately they called most black

802
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,600
Speaker 1: and brown community members does the bad minority. So it's

803
00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:23,319
Speaker 1: easy to keep us in that kind of negative But

804
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:28,920
Speaker 1: understanding that houselessness is a big it's a expanding balloon

805
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:30,840
Speaker 1: that is soon is going to pop. It's going to

806
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 1: be everywhere, and it's if it's not already so it

807
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,160
Speaker 1: is yeah, and it's it's going to be in a

808
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:39,920
Speaker 1: way that you can't look away, you can't reason away.

809
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:44,239
Speaker 1: It cannot be. Everybody cannot be personally irresponsible that they

810
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,799
Speaker 1: decide to want to live out in disastrous or displacement

811
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:53,240
Speaker 1: environments or desperate kind of situations. So in two that

812
00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:58,200
Speaker 1: that day happens, that we are in a state of education, empathy,

813
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,000
Speaker 1: and enlightenment. I think you all all for tuning in

814
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 1: and listening. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you

815
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:11,960
Speaker 1: to all the guests that were gracious about being interviewed

816
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 1: on their experiences with what the city offers the unhoused community.

817
00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:20,600
Speaker 1: And this concludes our three part series on Blow the Whistle.

818
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:23,560
Speaker 1: Please like and subscribe, and if you would like to

819
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,480
Speaker 1: share your story on Median House, please reach out to

820
00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 1: me at Medianhouse dot com, median House on Instagram, or

821
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:35,120
Speaker 1: email me at Weedianhouse at gmail dot com. Our next

822
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 1: episode will take a completely different direction and talk to

823
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:41,320
Speaker 1: a mutual a group that has been around since the

824
00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:44,440
Speaker 1: early pandemic. Thank you again for listening, and may we

825
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 1: again to meet in a light of understanding. Whedianhouse is

826
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 1: the production of iHeartRadio. It is written hosted and created

827
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:59,240
Speaker 1: by me Theo Henderson, our producers Jbie Loftus, Ailey Fager,

828
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:03,840
Speaker 1: Katie Official and Lyra Smith. Our editor is Adam Wand,

829
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,520
Speaker 1: and our logo art is also by Katie Official. Thanks

830
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:08,040
Speaker 1: for listening.