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Speaker 1: Previously on whedy in House.

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Speaker 2: It is something that like was sort of a dream

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Speaker 2: from the beginning. And during that time, I was watching

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Speaker 2: a lot of CNN being very angry and there was

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Speaker 2: a lot of similar stuff going on. It was a

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Speaker 2: time of George Floyd and I was really really angry

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Speaker 2: and I felt like nothing was changing. So to me,

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Speaker 2: CNN was about Everyday Action having a platform to grow.

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Speaker 2: You know, we're a grassroots nonprofit that's always spot for funding,

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Speaker 2: so I saw it as a platform for us to

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Speaker 2: be able to get recognition and more of everything, more volunteers,

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Speaker 2: more donations. I think that everydy Action is a really

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Speaker 2: scalable platform. I am excited because I want to tell

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Speaker 2: people to put their phone down and listen, and I

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Speaker 2: think it's important and I think if we actually did that,

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Speaker 2: there would be an epic change.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to whedyan House. I'm your host, Theo Henderson. People

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Speaker 3: make a big deal with remembering veterans and celebrities, replete

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Speaker 3: with reefs, flowers and candles. The unhoused in mainstream society

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Speaker 3: do not receive the same energy, effort or care when

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Speaker 3: discussing their deaths. In this uncertain climate, most people wish

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Speaker 3: to zone out and drink at celebratory New Year's drink.

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Speaker 3: To put it more simply, people forget about the unhoused

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Speaker 3: exiting from this earthly coil. A new year has dawned,

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Speaker 3: But on December twenty one, twenty twenty five, we came

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Speaker 3: out to honor the Longest Night, also known as Houseless

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Speaker 3: Remembrance Day. The sad reality is that here in Los

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Speaker 3: Angeles it would buy with Hartley and Murmur. Thus, the

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Speaker 3: cold fact remains that the n house are quickly forgotten

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Speaker 3: and dismissed in their existence and their exit. Weedian Howes

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Speaker 3: will not be in this number. This episode is called

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Speaker 3: Can You See Me? Twenty twenty five. We revisit this

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Speaker 3: moment every year, honoring and remembering so many unnamed and

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Speaker 3: unremembered people who passed away while unhoused. It was inspired

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Speaker 3: by an unhoused member's death in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles,

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Speaker 3: who was robbed of his name, life and dignity of

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Speaker 3: death in twenty twenty one. As we begin this year,

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Speaker 3: we remember the lives we lost in twenty twenty five

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Speaker 3: and prior the same way we remember veterans' lives. It

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Speaker 3: goes without saying that veterans lives matter, as does the unhoused.

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Speaker 3: Special memorialm to Cindy, Jessica Mendez, Benito Flores, Terry Kendrick

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Speaker 3: samo Urias, Tony Goodwin, Angeline Swan, Michael Flores, Mike Flow,

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Speaker 3: and the names go on. Thank you for being part

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Speaker 3: of this episode. When we come back, more from people

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Speaker 3: at the houses remembrance events.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Willian Howes. I'm THEO Henderson.

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Speaker 3: Today's episode, we're in the field reporting on the House's

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Speaker 3: Remembrance Day event. This evening is December twenty first, twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty five. Another year has elapsed, and this is the

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Speaker 3: day that they are designated for the Unhoused remembrus called

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Speaker 3: Homeless Rememberance Day, but I usually alternate the term. Right now,

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Speaker 3: I'm under a bridge in Los Angeles, near Westville, and

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Speaker 3: I'm here to celebrate the longest night with a couple

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Speaker 3: of friends and activists that have came together to remember

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Speaker 3: the house that we've lost this year and in the

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Speaker 3: previous years during the War on poverty and the war.

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Speaker 1: On othering people in the community.

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Speaker 3: We have one of the organizers that's going to tell

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Speaker 3: us a little bit about the events and it put

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Speaker 3: us off the speed on what's going on with the

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Speaker 3: sweep situation.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, my name is Dundy Kitongo with Puma or Palms

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Speaker 4: and House Mutual Aid. And so today is the longest

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Speaker 4: night of the year and we usually gather places where

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Speaker 4: we go do outreach and where there have been encampments

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Speaker 4: before to just honor people who've died unsheltered and housed

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Speaker 4: and to just remember them. And so we used to

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Speaker 4: meet somewhere else. But part of the reason we can't

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Speaker 4: do that today is because CD eleven has fenced it off.

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Speaker 4: In CD five, that's the council district, they fenced it off.

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Speaker 4: They swept people and they put them into this program

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Speaker 4: called inside Safe. We call it inside unsafe for inside

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Speaker 4: starving because people are mostly languishing there without community. But

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Speaker 4: it's not even just that. It's lack of food, lack

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Speaker 4: of medications, lack of services, lack of care.

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Speaker 5: And quite a few of the folks.

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Speaker 4: Who we know from that site are here today because

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Speaker 4: they never received housing. So it's just a scheme for

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Speaker 4: our elected officials to pretend that they're doing something, and

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Speaker 4: they put up fences to banish people. They put up

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Speaker 4: fences and signs and pass all of these laws, but

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Speaker 4: very inhumane laws, laws that have nothing to do with

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Speaker 4: human beings flourishing.

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Speaker 3: I was gonna say, I had just spoken to another resident, Gigi,

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Speaker 3: who's speaking as praises, but she's just been there since October,

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Speaker 3: and I was trying to gauge is it like a

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Speaker 3: slow realization that this is not the program that you

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Speaker 3: say think it is?

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Speaker 1: Or is it one?

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Speaker 3: It doesn't sound like it's instantaneous thing because she mentions

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Speaker 3: bad experiences from shelters.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean, one thing I will say about

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Speaker 4: the program is sometimes pople are enthusiastic because you're getting

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Speaker 4: a hotel room. What's not clear to you is you

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Speaker 4: don't know where the hotel room is. So a lot

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Speaker 4: of our folks are now in South LA and other

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Speaker 4: places far away from us in community, so we don't

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Speaker 4: know where they are. We've since had people die alone

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Speaker 4: through poisonings and overdoses. And at the beginning, I will say, yeah,

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Speaker 4: sure there is optimism, but there really is a honeymoon period.

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Speaker 4: We were at the very first Insights Safe and that's

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Speaker 4: been two and a half years. We're talking about people

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Speaker 4: still living in a crumbling hotel after two. The novelty

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Speaker 4: wears off fairly quickly that we found, and the novelty

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Speaker 4: really wears off when you're trying to find your doctor

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Speaker 4: or whoever. You can't have people visit you. You know,

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Speaker 4: there's a lot of isolation. It's extremely expensive to not

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Speaker 4: house people.

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Speaker 3: Well, here's the thing too, what's going on with the city,

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Speaker 3: with the country now with the president and also the

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Speaker 3: attack on Snap as well as medicaid is gonna premiums

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Speaker 3: is going to rise.

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Speaker 1: I think that's gonna.

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Speaker 3: Even be much more difficult for people to house because

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Speaker 3: he's also attacking the housing vouchers and continuing care different contracts.

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Speaker 1: Do you see there's going to be a spike in

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Speaker 1: house business outside?

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Speaker 5: Absolutely?

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Speaker 4: When Snap was in that really if he placed a

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Speaker 4: couple of weeks ago, we saw a lot of people,

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Speaker 4: even people who were inside technically had found a housing voucher,

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Speaker 4: which we meet ever so few of them. Even they

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Speaker 4: were like, do you have food? Like we can we

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Speaker 4: come to outreach, can we get a little bit of something.

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Speaker 4: It's a really absurd thing to me that on a

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Speaker 4: pretty regular basis, we're trying to support people who are

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Speaker 4: technically housed. That's absurd to me. So the federal government,

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Speaker 4: state government, and our local governments all kind of colluding

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Speaker 4: to take.

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Speaker 6: Away the few.

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Speaker 4: Services people have is actually going to be pretty detrimental.

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Speaker 4: I think it's going to be deadly. I think it's

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Speaker 4: going to be really painful. And I also think too

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Speaker 4: that the fact that they want higher standards of proving

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Speaker 4: your poverty. It's not just undocumented people, it's everyone who

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Speaker 4: has a hard time showing their papers, which is pretty

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Speaker 4: much everyone.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, very true. I was going to say, do you

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Speaker 3: have any one you want to remember on howse flis?

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Speaker 7: Remember?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to remember Shown. Our friend Shown lived

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Speaker 4: at Venice and Globe. I knew her for six years.

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Speaker 4: She was displaced to inside safe and as far as

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Speaker 4: I'm concerned, she died as a victim of state violence.

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Speaker 4: She died alone in her room. We are the ones

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Speaker 4: who had to find her family members inform her. So

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Speaker 4: it's the disrespect in life and the disrespect and death

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Speaker 4: that's very painful. So I do want to remember Shown,

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Speaker 4: but there's many others.

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Speaker 3: Well, Nindy, thank you very much for your time. And

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Speaker 3: is there anything that I missed that you want to say?

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Speaker 4: No, I appreciate this podcast if I hadn't asked or

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Speaker 4: something I want to learn is to support unsheltered downhouse people.

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Speaker 4: All of us who are in housing struggles to do

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Speaker 4: more of this kind of stuff where we're talking for ourselves,

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Speaker 4: because I don't think if you are here you actually

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Speaker 4: get what it is. People think there's just free stuff

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Speaker 4: or or just tow the line and there's something at

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Speaker 4: the end of it. There's no rainbows here. It's a

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Speaker 4: community taking care of each other.

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Speaker 3: Is there any way that they people want to contribute

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Speaker 3: to your organization?

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Speaker 1: Can they? How can they do that?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: We need volunteers all the time. We need people to cook,

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Speaker 4: we need legal support, we need all sorts of people,

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Speaker 4: all sorts of abilities and ages. We're on Instagram so

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Speaker 4: palms and house mutual Aid or Puma and yeah donations

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Speaker 4: give people cash and also beyond us, think about your

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Speaker 4: own local community and support those grassroots efforts.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much.

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Speaker 3: Just to see you on Henderson For Winnie House, I'm

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Speaker 3: going to continue to mill about their program will start

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Speaker 3: shortly and then I will be recording portions of that

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Speaker 3: as well for the episode.

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Speaker 1: Thank you again.

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Speaker 6: Hi.

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Speaker 7: My name is Crystal I was a resident on and

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Speaker 7: off of Cottner. Over the last two three years, I've

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Speaker 7: lost a lot of people, Ray, Charles Vetti, Jean Janie

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Speaker 7: CC who passed away from leukemia, God bless him. And

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Speaker 7: some of these people don't have anybody, and so it's

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Speaker 7: up to us to say goodbye and see them off.

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Speaker 7: And this is not a sad time. This is just

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Speaker 7: to see you later and we'll see them later.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for remembering them as well.

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Speaker 3: I was supposed to want to ask you more questions

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Speaker 3: about what's going on here today because I noticed there's

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Speaker 3: the signs and things, and I saw also some gifts

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Speaker 3: being out there.

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Speaker 7: Yes, they have a winter clothing drive, which is what's

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Speaker 7: going on here.

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Speaker 5: Plus they're doing harm reduction.

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Speaker 7: There's food, there's hygiens, shoes, socks.

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Speaker 6: You name it, they got it.

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Speaker 7: And they're giving us things to write down how we feel.

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Speaker 7: And you see a lot of like abolish forty one eighteen.

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Speaker 1: And would tell us what you in your eyes, what's.

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Speaker 7: Forty one eighteen is where they turned something into a

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Speaker 7: special zone and we can't be there. We can't have

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Speaker 7: our tents there, we cannot sleep there. They're criminalizing homelessness.

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Speaker 7: They are making it to where somewhere along the line.

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Speaker 7: When we lost our housing, we lost our civil rights.

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Speaker 7: And I don't remember signing away my civil rights when

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Speaker 7: I lost my housing.

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Speaker 3: You know, it gets me fired up here and you

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Speaker 3: say that, zich Oh, how long have you been been displaced?

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Speaker 7: Like I said, on and off for about three years,

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Speaker 7: I was in a very violent, very toxic relationship, and

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Speaker 7: I kept going back. And when I wasn't back, when

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Speaker 7: I would run from the abuse, I would go to Cottoner,

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Speaker 7: to the people of Cottoner, because they would take care of.

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Speaker 5: Me and they knew me.

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Speaker 7: And even though it was you know, there's bedlam, it's crazy,

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Speaker 7: but they cared for me and they care me and

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Speaker 7: they built me back up.

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Speaker 6: A lot of them like.

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Speaker 7: Tim who I call Twin, Robin amber Lp. These are

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Speaker 7: all people that have known me for years and they

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Speaker 7: are the ones that even though they don't have nothing,

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Speaker 7: they would take me in. They would feed me, give

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Speaker 7: me my issue, whatever it was I needed, and give

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Speaker 7: me that little bit of love that I needed to

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Speaker 7: get through.

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Speaker 1: This is wonderful. Oh.

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Speaker 3: Is there anything that you wish that the city to

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Speaker 3: know about the unhouse community.

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Speaker 7: We are just a symptom. We are not the disease.

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Speaker 7: We are the symptom of a broken system. And I

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Speaker 7: don't know what the answer is because it's not one

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Speaker 7: once I fit all. What's wrong with me is not

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Speaker 7: what's wrong with fifty, and what's wrong with fifty is

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Speaker 7: not what's wrong with LP. And we all have our

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Speaker 7: different issues heyday, but what we do all have in

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Speaker 7: common is that we are American citizen type baby American

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Speaker 7: citizens who just happen to be unhoused for whatever reason

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Speaker 7: there might be, whether it's mental health issues, whether it's

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Speaker 7: addiction issues, whether it's DV situations, the sex trade. A

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Speaker 7: lot of us have run from that, a lot of vets,

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Speaker 7: a lot of vets of PTSD that don't want to

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Speaker 7: go to the VA. You know, we have everybody, and

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Speaker 7: we have some people here that are the most industrious

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Speaker 7: hustlers you have ever seen in your life. And they

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Speaker 7: can straunge together what other people throw away and make

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Speaker 7: a living, you hear me. And we are in one

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Speaker 7: of the richest cities in the world right now. We're

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Speaker 7: sitting here Westwood, one of the richest cities in the world.

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Speaker 7: So why are we here on the side of the

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Speaker 7: road being treated like we're vermined.

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Speaker 3: And we can get our twenty billion dollars to Argentina,

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Speaker 3: who was not in in America. You can certainly can

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Speaker 3: put out money here. It's a healthy young house community.

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Speaker 7: You know, let's get biblical with it. What was it

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Speaker 7: that it said in the Bible and the Good Book?

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Speaker 7: It says do not cast your eye on the splinter

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Speaker 7: in your neighbor's eye and ignore the plank in your own.

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Speaker 7: You can't say to Argentina when y'all are fucked up

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Speaker 7: when you have people sleeping on the streets right here,

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Speaker 7: when you have people that their rights are being are

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Speaker 7: being taken for granted and taken from them right here

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Speaker 7: at home, it ain't right.

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Speaker 6: It ain't right.

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Speaker 7: What can we do, I don't know, start looking at

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Speaker 7: each other as humans first me kind, because you don't know,

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Speaker 7: the average American doesn't understand that they are what three

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Speaker 7: paychecks away.

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Speaker 5: At this point, huh. At this point it's more like you,

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Speaker 5: you're right, you're right.

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Speaker 3: They're also affecting people's snaps. So yeah, that's that gets

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Speaker 3: it even more serious.

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Speaker 5: Now, Oh, I know, I know, believe me.

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Speaker 3: Well, thank you very much for your time and I

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Speaker 3: will hope to talk to you soon.

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Speaker 1: Thank you absolutely.

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Speaker 3: Well, Sebastian, this is THEO Henderson from Willian Howse. We

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Speaker 3: spoke a while ago, but we're gonna catch.

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Speaker 1: Up with each other. So tell us what you've been

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Speaker 1: up to.

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Speaker 8: Well, I've been volunteering with Puma, doing a lot of

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Speaker 8: organizing on the Mutual Laid front, trying to make sure

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Speaker 8: to get basic emergency supplies out to people on the street,

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Speaker 8: just building community, building connection and trying to do our

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Speaker 8: best to advocate for people and help them empower themselves.

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Speaker 3: So what's going on today? I notice you have a

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Speaker 3: projector out here. What's going on right?

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Speaker 8: Well, today is a homeless Person's Memorial Day, so we're

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Speaker 8: here just honoring the people that we've lost.

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Speaker 1: Any shout outs of people that have passed away the

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Speaker 1: team rumor.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely in order Laura, Karina, Showan and RT.

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Speaker 3: These are different people of course, and they passed away

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Speaker 3: doing on the streets here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 8: You know, I first started doing a lot of this

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Speaker 8: community building like a couple of years ago, and I

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Speaker 8: started to get to know you know, people really well,

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Speaker 8: like after a couple of years, and that's really when

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Speaker 8: like I started feeling the impacts of people passing away.

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Speaker 8: So it's been terrible. Even the people like I just

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Speaker 8: hear about, you know, it always breaks my heart. And yeah,

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Speaker 8: I wish and I push for like a different kind

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Speaker 8: of world.

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Speaker 1: Definitely, I noticed this.

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Speaker 3: It was I was brought to my attention, and I've

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Speaker 3: seen them for myself that there's been an increase in

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Speaker 3: being swept over here.

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Speaker 1: I can talk on there.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, I am not like a regular in

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Speaker 8: this particular community, but I do drive by this place,

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Speaker 8: you know, on my way to work almost every day,

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Speaker 8: and yeah, these people are just getting pushed around. It's

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Speaker 8: it's pretty much for harassment. You know, where else are

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Speaker 8: you supposed to be if you need shelter and you

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Speaker 8: don't have a house right under a freaking freeway Like

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Speaker 8: that should be just a given that people can occupy

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Speaker 8: these public spaces just for basic survival.

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Speaker 1: That shouldn't be an issue.

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Speaker 8: And I don't understand why they're doing it like that.

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Speaker 3: Is there anything would you like to send to the

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Speaker 3: city and the listeners of with your house?

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Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I would like to tell the city

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Speaker 8: to change their fucking game and provide services with dignity

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Speaker 8: and to realize that the systems that they've built have

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Speaker 8: been flawed from the start and don't serve anyone, and

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Speaker 8: we shouldn't be putting the failure of the system on

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Speaker 8: the backs of the people that are supposed to serve.

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Speaker 8: Thank you so much for the time.

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Speaker 1: This is ste Or Henderson.

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Speaker 3: We're milling about and we are getting the impressions on

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Speaker 3: what's going on and their feelings with and a raw

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Speaker 3: and heartfilt ways, without further ado, we'll have our next

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Speaker 3: guests introduced them. So gg okay, Gigi, what can you

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Speaker 3: tell us about your circumstances today?

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Speaker 1: How do you feel about this gathering today?

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Speaker 6: I feel that everybody.

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Speaker 9: I'm glad that everybody's coming together to help others.

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Speaker 3: How long have you been displaced? How long have you

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Speaker 3: been out here?

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Speaker 6: Well?

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Speaker 9: I was on the streets and a lot of places.

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Speaker 9: I was recently on the streets October and things happened

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Speaker 9: to me and things I got harmed.

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Speaker 6: And I don't know what else to say.

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Speaker 1: When you got harmed, that you leave or did you

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Speaker 1: go to get help if you reported it? What happened?

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Speaker 1: Did you stay on the streets or did you leave?

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Speaker 6: I left?

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Speaker 3: Did you stay in any programs that the city had

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Speaker 3: or you had shelters. How was those experiences? How do

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Speaker 3: you feel about living in shelters.

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Speaker 9: I feel like the people that work in the shelters

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Speaker 9: should understand and not try to kick us out on

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Speaker 9: the streets for you know, four o'clock to nighttime because

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Speaker 9: it's dangerous.

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Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 3: I remember it when the Union, you have us out

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Speaker 3: three in the morning, get up, and then leave us

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Speaker 3: out in four, you know, to be on our own

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Speaker 3: until that people people don't see us when the morning,

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Speaker 3: or people don't see us at night. So it was

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Speaker 3: kind of a weird, very strange environment. Did you leave

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Speaker 3: the shelters or you're still staying in these shelter.

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Speaker 9: I left the shelters, but I'm in the hotel.

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Speaker 3: Are you in an Inside Safe program or did you

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Speaker 3: put money together stay in the hotel in your.

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Speaker 6: Own inside Safe program?

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Speaker 1: What do you feel about the Inside Safe program?

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Speaker 6: It's great.

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Speaker 1: What are the things that are great about it?

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Speaker 9: They're understanding, They help you out, and that's all.

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Speaker 1: What are the things that they help you out with?

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Speaker 6: Housing?

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Speaker 9: Get your an apartment, They help you out with clothes

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Speaker 9: and food and shelter.

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Speaker 6: They give you a bed.

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Speaker 9: Hopefully everybody can get off the streets and get into

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Speaker 9: a hotel like me.

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Speaker 1: So how long have you been with the Inside Safe

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Speaker 1: since October? So you just recently? Okay? So are they

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Speaker 1: working on your housing?

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Speaker 6: Yes they are.

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Speaker 3: So what's the estimated daytime that they're gonna get your

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Speaker 3: house again?

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Speaker 6: I have no clue.

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Speaker 1: Are they working with the staff program as well? Full?

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Speaker 6: I think so. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I guess well, you used to have answers quite a

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Speaker 3: few questions and I'm going to let you get to

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Speaker 3: enjoying get some food as well. This is THEO Henderson

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Speaker 3: from Wheedy House. We are milling about with different other

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Speaker 3: houses community members to talk to them about the experiences.

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Speaker 3: We will meet again in the light of understanding. You're

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Speaker 3: hearing from organizers with Palms and House Mutual Aid or PUMA.

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Speaker 3: More from their event when we come back, along with

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Speaker 3: voices we've lost this year and the prior. Welcome back

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Speaker 3: to Weedy and Howes. I'm THEO Henderson. Here's more from

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Speaker 3: the event.

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Speaker 5: Hi, I'm Vitty.

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Speaker 10: I'm with Palms and House Mutual Aid also known as PUMA.

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Speaker 10: We do mutual aid distribution for on house folks who

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Speaker 10: live on the West Side. Today, we're in the Culver

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Speaker 10: City area. We're at an encampment that's faced a lot

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Speaker 10: of harassment recently. Wessely in general has been doing massive

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Speaker 10: sweeps and kind of consolidating people into a few encampments.

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Speaker 5: Over and over.

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Speaker 10: Wessely has like a habit of breaking up encampments and

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Speaker 10: kind of they just end up regrouping. You know, people

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Speaker 10: have nowhere to go. They're not giving them housing, and

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Speaker 10: this is one of those encampments that people can come

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Speaker 10: back to every single time and still they're being harassed.

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Speaker 10: This just this week, there were two back to back sweeps. Yeah,

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Speaker 10: like one day and then the very next day to

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Speaker 10: the point where there were multiple police officers.

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Speaker 5: This wasn't just a casual just sanitation comes.

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Speaker 10: There were two days in a row where there were

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Speaker 10: police officers or massive trucks. And you guys can't see

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Speaker 10: it from here, but this is under and underpass. It's

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Speaker 10: like a very busy, quick moving street. So they were

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Speaker 10: able to prioritize shutting the street down to do a sweep.

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Speaker 5: And they they apparently don't have money into house people.

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Speaker 11: They don't.

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Speaker 5: It's the logistics are too hard.

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Speaker 10: But you have the logistics to what like shut down

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Speaker 10: a huge, massive busy street to do sweeps two days

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Speaker 10: in a row.

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Speaker 5: So we're here supporting folks.

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Speaker 10: A lot of these folks we've known for a long

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Speaker 10: time and we've built relationships with so it's been really great.

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Speaker 10: I wish you guys could see what's going on, but

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Speaker 10: like we have folks, we're working together, you know, house

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Speaker 10: and unhouse folks, and we've like talked through and like

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Speaker 10: one thing I like to say is like everybody knows

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Speaker 10: their own oppression. Everyone here knows just as much as

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Speaker 10: the house people who have access to whatever like internet

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Speaker 10: information that we have.

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Speaker 5: These folks are just as updated on their struggle.

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Speaker 10: We learn from them, and you can see like we're

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Speaker 10: making signs and like folks are joining in and like

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00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,720
Speaker 10: doing political education through their signs as well. So it's

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Speaker 10: really beautiful and I hope people get what they need,

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Speaker 10: and like it's really nice to even see them reconnect

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Speaker 10: with each other after a long time.

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Speaker 3: Due to this being a memorial day for the house

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Speaker 3: that have passed on, are there anyone names that you

445
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:56,240
Speaker 3: want to remember at this time?

446
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 10: I am really fortunate to have not known anyone who

447
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 10: has yet. There will be a lot of people here

448
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:03,480
Speaker 10: who I've heard from who.

449
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 5: Have had someone who they love pass away.

450
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:07,960
Speaker 10: A lot of times it's from overdose and up to

451
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,679
Speaker 10: things that are really gruesome, like because a lot of

452
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 10: these encampments have to be where people can't see them,

453
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 10: they're not safe spaces.

454
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:15,440
Speaker 5: People have been hit by cars, so.

455
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 10: Some really like very sad and like even horrific stories.

456
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,399
Speaker 10: Everyone here has their own story of someone they've lost.

457
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,560
Speaker 4: Meetings. Everyone, thank you for joining us. My name is

458
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 4: Dandy with Puma or Palms and House mutually. We're here

459
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,439
Speaker 4: because it is the longest night of the year and

460
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,120
Speaker 4: it's when the honor of all of our friends who

461
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 4: pass the way and sheltered and house and without community.

462
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,239
Speaker 4: So I don't have much more to say except we

463
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,800
Speaker 4: have candles and chalk their messages and you can add

464
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 4: names to this. We have clothes, we have some food,

465
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 4: and after this we also have a projection if you

466
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,159
Speaker 4: just walk like handful of feet that way. But the

467
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 4: first thing we're going to do is hear from our

468
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,439
Speaker 4: friend Hell with web End House and he'll let you

469
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 4: know about himself. And then after that, if anyone wants

470
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 4: to share about someone who they wants this year.

471
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 2: Will do that.

472
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 4: But beyond that, we really don't have a program beyond

473
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:29,399
Speaker 4: getting together and.

474
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 5: Just having this today digital thank you, thank.

475
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 1: You all for inviting you.

476
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 3: I created a program to discuss and see updoes.

477
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,160
Speaker 1: Of house people get you both.

478
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 3: Before House is Remembrance Day because I was concerned when

479
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,679
Speaker 3: someone was un house near Little Tokyo, when people were

480
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,639
Speaker 3: walking over, taking selfies and basically stripping the erasing the

481
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 3: person's humanity. For today, we want to remember this year

482
00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 3: has been particularly hard for all of us in our

483
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 3: to communities. We have a horrible president that has taken

484
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 3: a view to attack us as houses, people trying to

485
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,959
Speaker 3: primalize us. We have a state department that's trying to

486
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 3: increasingly speak with us and erase our existence as well

487
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 3: as people passing away and as collateral damage or fallout

488
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 3: as the horrible policies that have been in place. So

489
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 3: today we want to remember if many of our community.

490
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,359
Speaker 3: I'm going to take a particular moment to remember Cindy

491
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 3: from Sealer's community. I'm going to remember Shorty and Sunday

492
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,639
Speaker 3: from my community in Little Tokyo, and people from Chinatown

493
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,440
Speaker 3: all over Los Angeles and also all over the country.

494
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 3: I want us to remember one of the things that

495
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,439
Speaker 3: as a human that connects us, no matter how we

496
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 3: look at it, services the rent we have here on earth.

497
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 3: In order to look at each other, to be seen

498
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 3: as human, we have to look at each other as human.

499
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 3: We only have different symptoms, but we may be suffering

500
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,440
Speaker 3: from the same medical complaint, and that is the lack

501
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:01,919
Speaker 3: of com and that is the lack of empathy for

502
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 3: people that we don't understand. And as long as we

503
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 3: continue to do that and create to identify or dehumanize

504
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 3: one or other, we could criminalize it as people that

505
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 3: are living on the street.

506
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:13,280
Speaker 1: We don't need.

507
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 3: And to have a second example of why that is

508
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 3: so impossible, look around us. We come from all walks

509
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 3: of life, all types of challenges, and one thing that

510
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,120
Speaker 3: we have in common is that we are dehumanized as

511
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 3: the subject as the problem of society.

512
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 1: And once we understand that, and once.

513
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 3: We looked at that, we must not be divided by

514
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,320
Speaker 3: what we look like or when we speak on how

515
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 3: we live, on how we cope with the challenges of

516
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,919
Speaker 3: their white supremacy, patriarty, houselessness, and the other problems that

517
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,360
Speaker 3: we face, we can look at looking at humanity as

518
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 3: then we can look at each other and be able to.

519
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:53,719
Speaker 6: Solve the problem of houses.

520
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 3: I don't want to.

521
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 1: Hold you long, but I think I said enough, thank.

522
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 3: You, and now we're going to shift gears and hearing

523
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,160
Speaker 3: their own words from the people we have lost. Many

524
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 3: people attribute on house death to substance usage, but we

525
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 3: all know that there are many factors that make people

526
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 3: vulnerable on the streets. Our three friends we're honoring today

527
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 3: all have the commonality of being on house, but they

528
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 3: differ in age, walks of life, health circumstances, and more.

529
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 3: Cindy's life was sprinkle with theater and a deep knowledge

530
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 3: of old Hollywood.

531
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 1: Is maybe publo.

532
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 12: I'm the operations manager for CELA Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, and

533
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 12: I'm honored to be here memorializing Cindy McAllister, who was

534
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 12: a beloved sela participant and volunteer. We're here at CELA

535
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 12: just sort of, you know, remembering Cindy and just trying

536
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,680
Speaker 12: to keep her memory alive. And we were so grateful

537
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 12: to have her as a participant, as a volunteer, as

538
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 12: a member of our community. I first met Cindy when

539
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 12: I started at Cela about a year ago, and at

540
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 12: the time of Cindy's passing, I would say she had

541
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 12: probably been a part of the Sela community for about

542
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 12: two years. And Cindy was just really special. She just

543
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 12: had one of those smiles that lit up a room,

544
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 12: and everybody loved Cindy. I was really happy as a

545
00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 12: trans non binary person to see Cindy, who was a

546
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 12: trans woman so openly welcomed into the community and we

547
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 12: got to share some special conversations. Cindy shared with me

548
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 12: that she actually used to be a drag queen and

549
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 12: I'm a drag queen, and so that was something that

550
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 12: we were able to bond over, and I was really

551
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 12: excited to hear about her her storied history and how

552
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 12: you know, she was an actor and she actually acted

553
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 12: as a drag queen in movies. She told me that

554
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 12: she made a cameo in an early two thousands movie

555
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 12: called Not Another Gay Movie, And so I'm excited to

556
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 12: rewatch it to think about Cindy and keep her her

557
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 12: memory alive.

558
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 1: Cindy was more of a person who experienced houselessness.

559
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 13: Hi, my name's Rachel Sanov. I'm the volunteer engagement manager

560
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 13: here at Cela. So the things that are just Cindy

561
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 13: the person. She had such a fun sense of humor.

562
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,440
Speaker 13: She had amazing styles, Like every time I saw.

563
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 5: Her, I cannot wait to see what she was wearing.

564
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 13: Always color coordinated, always accessories. She was very spiritual, and

565
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 13: she was very open about her spirituality and also means

566
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 13: very open about anybody's spirituality. I know that her ability

567
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 13: to speak to that part of her life was comforting

568
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 13: to a lot of our participants who also were as

569
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 13: spirituals her.

570
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:17,000
Speaker 14: She used to text me just the silliest, sometimes dirtiest jokes,

571
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,120
Speaker 14: and I mean we text it every day, and I'm

572
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,520
Speaker 14: going to miss that so much. I'm also really going

573
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 14: to miss her sense of style. I think she may

574
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 14: have talked about this in her interview, but Cindy was

575
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 14: defined by her fashion. You know, she's a trans woman

576
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 14: and she will forever be a drag queen. She loved

577
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,959
Speaker 14: her style, and coming to Cela, she was you know,

578
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 14: she always wanted to pick out her clothes, and she

579
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 14: always wanted to help other people pick out clothes. You know,

580
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 14: she was like, she loved her fashion and I will

581
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 14: miss her style. She always rocked in wearing the most

582
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 14: incredible pants, and yeah, I think I'll just miss I'll

583
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 14: miss her light. She was wonderful.

584
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 12: I was able to look at some of her longings

585
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,479
Speaker 12: after her passing and just seeing some of her little

586
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 12: knick knacks and Chochke's, and it just sort of really

587
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 12: revealed a part of who she was. And I felt

588
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 12: very fortunate to be the receiver of one of her

589
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 12: articles of clothing. It was a blue button up and

590
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 12: it had all of these patches of Divine the drag

591
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 12: Queen all over it. It's a really really cool piece

592
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 12: of clothing and so I'm honored to be able to

593
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 12: keep that and you know, to be able to remember

594
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:31,720
Speaker 12: her by it.

595
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 3: Cindy had a friendly, welcoming personality, one that was demonstrated

596
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 3: when she sat at the front of the Seala Neighborhood Coalition.

597
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,360
Speaker 14: Cindy was a really special member of our community. Cindy

598
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 14: is a representation of what we really try to practice

599
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 14: here at SILA, which is true community. So she was

600
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 14: someone who started coming to SILA as someone in need

601
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,320
Speaker 14: of services, someone who we identify as a participant in

602
00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 14: our programming, and then became a volunteer, and you know,

603
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 14: we supported her with getting into permanent supportive housing for

604
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 14: the first time in decades. And once she was settled,

605
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 14: she came and started working the front desk and really

606
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 14: gave back to her community here. So I got to

607
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 14: know Cindy through that housing process, helped her move out

608
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 14: of a tough situation and into her permanent supportive housing.

609
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 14: She radiated light. You could just see people were drawn

610
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,960
Speaker 14: to her. She was truly a center. I used to

611
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,800
Speaker 14: joke that she would hold court when you would come

612
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 14: into a program and you would just see tons of

613
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 14: people around a table, and it was just you knew

614
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,160
Speaker 14: Cindy was in the center of it.

615
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 3: I hope people realize that Cindy did not just become

616
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:42,800
Speaker 3: unhoused one day.

617
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 14: She was loved by her mother and she was loved

618
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:47,959
Speaker 14: by her sister, both of whom lived in Arizona. She

619
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 14: came out here to follow a dream to be a

620
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 14: performer and was injured on the job and financially just

621
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 14: wasn't able to sustain herself. Ended up like many people,

622
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 14: being prescribed pain medication and fell victim to the same

623
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 14: cycle that a lot of Americans fall prey to. And

624
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 14: she worked really hard to pull herself out of that

625
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 14: cycle of addiction. She passed in her sixties, and it

626
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 14: wasn't until her late fifties that she actually started living

627
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,080
Speaker 14: as Cindy full time. She was living as a gay

628
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 14: man for most of her life, and I just think

629
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 14: it took so much bravery, And again, it's like all

630
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 14: of that courage, all of that love, the depth of

631
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 14: that story, everything that went into that life, you don't

632
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 14: see when you see someone pushing a shopping cart down

633
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 14: the street, And I just I think that that is again,

634
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 14: Cindy is more than a symbol, but she is just

635
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:45,040
Speaker 14: a really clear example of why we do what we

636
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 14: do here at CELA, because she is just one person,

637
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 14: and every person here has a story that is just

638
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 14: as dynamic.

639
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 3: Cindy lived a very interesting life. She was also an

640
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 3: actress and performer.

641
00:33:57,720 --> 00:33:59,680
Speaker 14: I think, you know, it wasn't that many years ago

642
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 14: that some one would have seen her walking through the

643
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 14: streets of West Hollywood pushing a cart and thinking putting

644
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:09,040
Speaker 14: all sorts of things onto her right, making assumptions, thinking

645
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 14: they knew where her story was, and not realizing that

646
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:16,280
Speaker 14: she had had this incredible vibrant life, Like she had

647
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 14: an autograph book where she had met like every TV

648
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 14: star from the sixties and seventies. She was at one

649
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:26,400
Speaker 14: point like an incredibly prolific drag performer in West Hollywood

650
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 14: who was just known. She once was a personal shopper

651
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 14: for share She helped John Waters design his own toy

652
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,319
Speaker 14: like she was just She was iconic in so many

653
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,520
Speaker 14: ways and prolific. And it was a series of things

654
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 14: that took her to where she ended up living on

655
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 14: the street, and some of them in her control and

656
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 14: some of them out of her control.

657
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 3: Fun Fact said they'd never let her flare with the

658
00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,320
Speaker 3: arts die down even when she was unhoused.

659
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,239
Speaker 14: Like I said, you would have seen Cindy walking down

660
00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 14: the street pushing her cart, and what you wouldn't have

661
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,480
Speaker 14: known was in that cart were crystals Like you would

662
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 14: have seen crystals and wigs and performing outfits because it

663
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,200
Speaker 14: was who she was. She was deeply connected to spirituality

664
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 14: and her faith.

665
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,400
Speaker 3: Cindy also wanted to be an example to other people

666
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 3: affected by houselessness that there is a light at the

667
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,400
Speaker 3: end of the tunnel. Here's a clip of our interview

668
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:23,439
Speaker 3: from earlier this year.

669
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,200
Speaker 15: Well, my name is Cindy McAllister, and I listed transgender

670
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,839
Speaker 15: man to a woman I've been coming to sea Let

671
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 15: for about a year and a half now, and sea

672
00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 15: Let people are so welcoming, yourself friendly. I don't know

673
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:40,279
Speaker 15: my time here, and I try to just be a

674
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 15: friend to everybody who I know who comes here. I

675
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:45,920
Speaker 15: try to be a positive attitude, and I'm a collass

676
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 15: of friends just because I'm a nice person.

677
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 3: Up until her passing, Cindy was in her community, volunteering,

678
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:58,040
Speaker 3: referring friends to services, joking and enjoying time with her friends.

679
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,359
Speaker 12: One of the reasons that it really hurt finding out

680
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 12: about Cindy's passing was we were actually supposed to have

681
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,720
Speaker 12: an outing with her the very week that she passed.

682
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,800
Speaker 12: We had plans to go to drag Bingo together and

683
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 12: then we didn't hear from Cindy that week, and we

684
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,120
Speaker 12: started getting really worried, and then we had found out

685
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 12: that she had passed away in her apartments, and so,

686
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 12: you know, that was just really hard to deal with.

687
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,320
Speaker 12: After her passing, we set up a little makeshift memorial

688
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:33,240
Speaker 12: at our Saturday program and literally the very first person

689
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 12: that walked into the program saw the framed picture of

690
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 12: her and the candles and they just gasped and they

691
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:42,960
Speaker 12: were like, oh my gosh, what happened to Cindy? And

692
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,560
Speaker 12: I witnessed this over and over and over, just everybody's

693
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,279
Speaker 12: shock and sadness about this very valued community member that

694
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,280
Speaker 12: we lost.

695
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 15: I'll stay at the dusk and I'll sign people in,

696
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 15: I'll help, you know, donate my time, and sometimes we'll

697
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 15: come here like today just to hang out with my friends.

698
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 3: Queenie's life was outspoken with a deep lived experience of

699
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,760
Speaker 3: being in house as a young person and as an adult,

700
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,480
Speaker 3: being forcibly removed from Eco Park Lake by then council

701
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 3: member Mitchell Farrell in March twenty twenty one. On May tenth,

702
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, after being hospitalized and house activists, Jessica

703
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:46,000
Speaker 3: Queen Mendez passed away. She is survived by her mother,

704
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 3: five daughters, one son, and one granddaughter. She was thirty

705
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 3: five years old.

706
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,239
Speaker 16: I'm calling on all the mothers, and I said it

707
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 16: wasn't I'm gonna say again, I'm calling on the mother,

708
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:03,360
Speaker 16: the sisters, the daughters.

709
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 1: I had to sit this for my mom.

710
00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:07,240
Speaker 17: While she's sold corn for sixteen years.

711
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 6: Hopefully, hopefully, if we.

712
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,600
Speaker 17: Would have enough to save up for the man and

713
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,840
Speaker 17: maybe a couple of little soup as.

714
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:14,400
Speaker 5: We were growing up.

715
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 11: Now I'm a fully grown woman and.

716
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 16: That's all my kids and I show my kisses and

717
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:19,839
Speaker 16: so we can want to fight because of.

718
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:21,960
Speaker 5: They say I was your neighbor. I was a neighbor,

719
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,960
Speaker 5: I was a resident, and I still won't be.

720
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 17: Echo Park is a family in the community ever since

721
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:26,759
Speaker 17: I grew up.

722
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 16: That's how it's really, that's how it's gonna be.

723
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 1: Echo Park isn't saved hen.

724
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 17: It's a place where no matter what happens, where you are,

725
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:35,719
Speaker 17: where you come from, what gender you are, if you're white,

726
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,880
Speaker 17: your lactual's Panic, you're aging unity, does it matter you

727
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 17: need help.

728
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:41,160
Speaker 5: At the park.

729
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 1: That's what it's known for her.

730
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 17: If we don't show humanity and compassion for our neighbors, which.

731
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,320
Speaker 1: That's what Echo Park was built on.

732
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 16: I remember many nights when my mom didn't have money,

733
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 16: we barely so hold enough corn.

734
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:55,319
Speaker 17: The lady too little Malleys would come and say here

735
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:56,280
Speaker 17: so you can have dinner.

736
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,439
Speaker 16: That's community, that's family and not displacing people without telling

737
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 16: them what the hell is going on. I'm not telling you,

738
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 16: I'm promising you things that they're not going to keep.

739
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 16: We're not a pond in a chess gameing Echo Park

740
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 16: Hole no longer and refused this to be upon you

741
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 16: want to resign in Echo Park and you want to use.

742
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 1: Echo Park to boosy phblicity socially high up because you've been.

743
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 16: Promising for far too now when we haven't seen any

744
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,080
Speaker 16: gaming of where you bombing us tonight today and from

745
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,480
Speaker 16: now on this we're not going to give up. Why

746
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:32,680
Speaker 16: people are not going to give up. We want antich

747
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 16: if you want chess racy, and we want long lasting solutions.

748
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,960
Speaker 3: This was a clip of Queens speaking out against police

749
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 3: occupation that was removing her home in Echo Park Lake

750
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,799
Speaker 3: back in twenty twenty one. For further context on this time,

751
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 3: been Los Angeles Council member Mitchell Farrell and the LAPD

752
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 3: in the Parks and Recreation Department conducted a military style

753
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:12,360
Speaker 3: occupation and raid of the park. The question you're probably

754
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 3: asking is how did Queen call Echo Park her home.

755
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,920
Speaker 3: The answer is Queen had moved to Echo Park Lake

756
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 3: on February fifteenth, nineteen ninety one, at three years old.

757
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 3: She was the daughter of a Yaqui woman from Sonora, Mexico.

758
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,680
Speaker 3: Her mother remembers Queen would always help her.

759
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:32,640
Speaker 1: Make ants meet.

760
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:36,879
Speaker 3: From that age selling corn, it was clear that Queen

761
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,680
Speaker 3: was a leader and a community mover and shaker. What

762
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 3: many had started to learn was that Queen was a

763
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 3: dynamic speaker. Here is another clip from March twenty twenty

764
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:49,840
Speaker 3: one where she speaks about the situation.

765
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,480
Speaker 18: I'm Arazidan. I've not the point for thirty years. I've

766
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 18: been leaving in a test for three months, quayant because

767
00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:59,360
Speaker 18: I had a call to you, the colin over me.

768
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 18: I had my career as an attrician. I'm an electrician.

769
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 1: I used to work with the three three two zan Jose.

770
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 6: I have six kids, six beautiful daughters.

771
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 18: I don't get no he I don't get no even

772
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,280
Speaker 18: see no wor for some pandemic belief.

773
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:13,920
Speaker 6: I don't qualify for any of that.

774
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:16,360
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of people, Mexican.

775
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,319
Speaker 11: People, hard quorking people that will not qualify for any

776
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:23,080
Speaker 11: of these programs. And to be honest, it's true project

777
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,359
Speaker 11: it works for some people, but it's not gonna work

778
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,840
Speaker 11: for everybody. And if the city sen a kid was something,

779
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 11: let it not be conditioned.

780
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,040
Speaker 6: Because I don't know about you guys. I have a

781
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:31,879
Speaker 6: grown ass woman.

782
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:37,560
Speaker 5: I don't like being told, well, who I get talk

783
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,760
Speaker 5: to me? Who I can I have over?

784
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,600
Speaker 11: What are socialized? Who can I can be with? I've

785
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,400
Speaker 11: seen this place change from what it was. You couldn't

786
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 11: pay back in the day to enter eco part. Not

787
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 11: even the police would come worse than la worst this hero.

788
00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 6: But this is one of the cleanest parts that we have.

789
00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 4: We take care of our.

790
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:03,880
Speaker 3: Own eco park. Who truly missed the vibrant force of

791
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:12,000
Speaker 3: nature that was Queen. Rest in peace, Queen. And finally

792
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,960
Speaker 3: we have reclaimer Benito Flores, who was the last reclaimer

793
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:21,480
Speaker 3: fighting to stay and I reclaimed abandoned house. He too

794
00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 3: was facing hostile eviction when he passed away. Benita flores

795
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 3: legacy will be remembered as a person who required dignified

796
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:39,120
Speaker 3: housing and was not going to be dismissed with past measures.

797
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:44,839
Speaker 19: My name is Benita Flores. I am seventeen years old

798
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 19: and I'm living with the Avetis. I am here. You're

799
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:56,840
Speaker 19: watching Tistel because Jenny Ifs evicted me right now, so

800
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 19: I don't give up. I were received in a very

801
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 19: strong way and a very creative way.

802
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,439
Speaker 3: Benito passed away a few weeks ago at the age

803
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 3: of seventy one, fighting the good fight. City officials hastened

804
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 3: to go on record that they tried to help a needle,

805
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 3: but he was service resistant. Benito did not want to

806
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,640
Speaker 3: return to houselessness. He offered for housing for four years

807
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:28,759
Speaker 3: and to be seventy five years old and to be

808
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:29,680
Speaker 3: in house again.

809
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 1: It's not a solution.

810
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:35,719
Speaker 3: The Needle's position was that he was already housed, why

811
00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 3: not extend him services there instead of being involuntarily displaced.

812
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:46,320
Speaker 1: They created a homeless. Then they weren't happy with that.

813
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,960
Speaker 19: They created forty one nineteen to the homeless. So the

814
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:56,919
Speaker 19: retimers came and say, the houses retimers have that verty.

815
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:02,319
Speaker 19: Then the house is only that they invented that two

816
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:06,200
Speaker 19: year vidio. When we went to take these houses, we

817
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:09,520
Speaker 19: didn't pay for two years. We take for permanent housing.

818
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:12,040
Speaker 19: The low SALARYSS stay the same.

819
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:13,680
Speaker 1: The rent is high.

820
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 19: We cannot go and get a java and get a house.

821
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 19: We cannot do that because you cannot pay the rent

822
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:24,799
Speaker 19: with the minimum. Waves you want to find a job,

823
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,520
Speaker 19: you are going to make sixteen dollars an hour.

824
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:30,360
Speaker 1: You cannot pay the rent. You need to live in

825
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:30,759
Speaker 1: the three.

826
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 3: Benito was the last founding reclaimer making his last stand,

827
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,680
Speaker 3: he remained unwavering in his position on dignified housing.

828
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: The city, however, had different plans.

829
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:48,720
Speaker 3: Their solution costs forty million, six hundred and nine thousand,

830
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,960
Speaker 3: five hundred dollars the care plus and voluntary removal of

831
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,840
Speaker 3: unhoused community members. Imagine where that fund they could have

832
00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:01,320
Speaker 3: gone to help Benito stay in his house. Benito was

833
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,480
Speaker 3: not born unhoused. He became unhoused. He worked for many

834
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:09,480
Speaker 3: years as a self employed carpenter. However, his health issues

835
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,320
Speaker 3: made it difficult to maintain employment. As time went on,

836
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:15,520
Speaker 3: he began living in his van. Prior to the pandemic,

837
00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:20,239
Speaker 3: Benito and other reclaimers saw an opportunity once they observed

838
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:25,040
Speaker 3: decaying buildings in El Serno and thus began to occupy

839
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 3: or reclaim them. During the pandemic, they were successfully able

840
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 3: to stay in those houses until the city began eviction proceedings. Undeterred,

841
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:37,359
Speaker 3: Benita was not going out without a fight.

842
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:41,480
Speaker 19: Are you ready to die as a martyr to cause that?

843
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:50,000
Speaker 19: Attention to this weekend pass, to this publicated cases. It

844
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:55,400
Speaker 19: is not a creasious it's a planification. It's an organizers

845
00:45:55,480 --> 00:46:00,719
Speaker 19: plan equise landlords have risen the rand and the politicians

846
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:05,640
Speaker 19: are alowing the rent of rise. So that's the reason

847
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,439
Speaker 19: I'm going to fight. Help and if I have hem

848
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:11,800
Speaker 19: to die like a martyr.

849
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 4: Agree.

850
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:18,240
Speaker 19: But I don't release this this house. I don't accept direction.

851
00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:47,760
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you to all the people who graciously

852
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 3: spend their time talking to Willian House, and thank you

853
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 3: for listening to the words of the department. You can

854
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 3: learn more about Palms and House Virtual Aid at the

855
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:02,040
Speaker 3: link in the description. Finally, thank you for listening in.

856
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:04,880
Speaker 3: If you have a story you'd like to share, please

857
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:07,520
Speaker 3: reach out to me at Weedionhouse at gmail dot com

858
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:13,320
Speaker 3: or weedion House on Instagram. Until then, may we again

859
00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:18,200
Speaker 3: meet in the light of understanding. Whedian Howse is a

860
00:47:18,239 --> 00:47:21,880
Speaker 3: production of iHeartRadio. It is written, hosted, and created by

861
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:28,400
Speaker 3: me Theo Henderson, Our producers Jamie Loftus, Haley Fager, Katie Fischel,

862
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:33,320
Speaker 3: and Lyra Smith. Our editor is Adam Wand, our engineer

863
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:38,359
Speaker 3: is Joel Jerome, and our local art is also by Katiefiicial.

864
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:40,640
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening.