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Speaker 1: Previously on Weedy in House.

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Speaker 2: Your able body and sound minded status.

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Speaker 3: It's temporary.

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Speaker 4: I just wish people would understand that accessibility for people

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Speaker 4: like me, if it were included everywhere, would grant access

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Speaker 4: to everyone.

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Speaker 2: It's not top down structure.

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Speaker 1: It's helping hands across the board when the systems in

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Speaker 1: place fail to serve us.

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Speaker 5: And that's very much what I see here with our

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Speaker 5: queer folks is just like the in house helping in house,

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Speaker 5: we all help each other.

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Speaker 4: The bottom line is there needs to be more fruit

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Speaker 4: solving immediate crisis. It's just not there. At most. It's

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Speaker 4: a band aid and they can keep you alive, and

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Speaker 4: that's good, but there needs to be so much more.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Weedy in House. I'm your host, Theo Henderson.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to start out this week with a quick

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Speaker 1: shout out to one of our listeners who reached out

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Speaker 1: from Minnesota. Thank you Meg for listening and offering to

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Speaker 1: be interviewed for the show. I will reach out and

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Speaker 1: fellow listeners look out for her story. This week. I

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Speaker 1: went down to Long Beach, just half an hour south

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Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, but a world completely unto itself. That's

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Speaker 1: especially true when it comes to how the unhoused are treated.

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Speaker 1: We're going to be hearing a few community members experience

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Speaker 1: being a houseless in the area. In turn, we're also

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Speaker 1: going to learn about some creative solutions that they offered.

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Speaker 1: But first, let us cover this week's Unhoused news. A

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Speaker 1: very special thanks to journalists Zorena Carzada a Spectrum News

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Speaker 1: for covering my relaunch of we in House and the

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Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. To watch the full interview, please hit

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Speaker 1: the link and description of this episode. Our next story

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Speaker 1: is about mental health and the fact that is weaponized

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Speaker 1: against the vulnerable population. Mental health and illness are buzzwords

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Speaker 1: in house and unhoused communities for many of the unhoused.

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Speaker 1: Mentally ill. Articles that state the obvious is, like the

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Speaker 1: one published in the Los Angeles Times on March thirteenth,

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Speaker 1: is synonymous to pointing out the fact that water is wet.

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Speaker 1: Here's the story. According to a report by Disability Rights California,

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Speaker 1: people with mental illness who are in conservativeship are being

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Speaker 1: held in jail even after their criminal charges are dropped,

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Speaker 1: and even if the doctors have agreed it's safe for

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Speaker 1: them to leave the waiting lists are long and full.

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Speaker 1: The Border Supervisors solution to this crisis has approved four

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Speaker 1: hundred million dollars for more locked facilities. This is a

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Speaker 1: developing story in other news. In Brooklyn, New York, on

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Speaker 1: March seventeen, twenty twenty four, hundreds of protesters swarmed the

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Speaker 1: streets of Bensonhurst and vocal opposition of a houseless shelter opening,

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Speaker 1: citing more crime and open warfare from longtime house residents.

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Speaker 1: Michael Wong voiced, we are concerned that the houses will

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Speaker 1: affect the safety of children. It is important to note

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Speaker 1: that when he says children, he means house children. There

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Speaker 1: are plenty of unhoused children going to school as well.

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Speaker 1: Our last story this week, Ventura County has promised to

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Speaker 1: expand the services for the county's unhoused population. This comes

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Speaker 1: after the death of Brian Asham, the six years old

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Speaker 1: who passed away during the cold and rainy season of

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Speaker 1: February twenty twenty four. His neighbors reported that he was

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Speaker 1: sleeping under a wet blanket. And that's un housed news.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back with a look into the unhoused

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Speaker 1: community in Long Beach. Welcome back to Weedian House I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Theo Henderson. Our first guest is Lee Charles Richmond,

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Speaker 1: who I spoke to about as many challenges being an

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Speaker 1: unhoused veteran in the LGBQTI community. His accountant. Truly, I

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Speaker 1: opened it. I learned a lot from this conversation, and

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Speaker 1: here it is.

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Speaker 3: Hey, how's it going. Thanks for coming to Long Beach.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Lee. Tell us a little bit about how

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Speaker 1: you got involved in advocacy. Tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: about your stort.

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Speaker 3: When I arrived at Long Beach, I was homeless myself.

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Speaker 3: I traveled around the country, living in my car, trying

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Speaker 3: to find a place that I fit in. So I

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Speaker 3: was in Minnesota, Virginia, Tennessee, Atlanta, Dallas, everywhere. I went

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Speaker 3: to thirty eight states, and I finally decided that Long

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Speaker 3: Beach was gray weather. I had a shot and kept

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Speaker 3: getting a lot of help and great weather beaches. So

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Speaker 3: I decided if I was going to be homeless anywhere

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Speaker 3: in the country, i'd be here in southern California.

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Speaker 1: What caused you to be homeless anyway?

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Speaker 3: I went a little crazy working at a law firm.

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Speaker 3: I had just finished getting my second a college degree.

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Speaker 3: Worked at a law firm, working eighty hours a week

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Speaker 3: in the lawyer that I was working for one state

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Speaker 3: senator in the state of Louisiana. If you've ever worked

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Speaker 3: on a political campaign and eighty hours. My family was

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Speaker 3: very conservative, very religious. Being a gay Southern guy, it

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Speaker 3: was soft. So I kind of lost my mind.

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Speaker 1: So when you say lost your mind, that was they.

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Speaker 1: Obviously your family were pretty tough to accept you. What

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Speaker 1: was the precipitating event that will got you into your car,

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Speaker 1: because being in the house one day, you just don't

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Speaker 1: become on house. It's a spiral event.

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Speaker 3: Well, actually, I had money in the bank. I knew

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Speaker 3: that I didn't want to be in Louisiana anymore. I

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Speaker 3: had to leave, and so I took off, and I

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Speaker 3: took off north and I just stopped in Nashville, Tennessee,

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Speaker 3: met some people, and that just wasn't for me. Then

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Speaker 3: I went to Kentucky, definitely not for me. Illinois was amazing,

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Speaker 3: but it was very expensive and overwhelming. So I kept

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Speaker 3: going north to Wisconsin, then Minnesota, and I landed in Duluth, Minnesota,

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Speaker 3: and there was a bord tex of cold. Then I said,

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Speaker 3: heck no. So I didn't ever think I was homeless

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Speaker 3: living in my car, believe it or not. Even though

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Speaker 3: I was, I was.

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Speaker 1: Gonna say, what was it like that first night living

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Speaker 1: in your car? Conversely living in a building.

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Speaker 3: For the first week, it was freeing knowing I didn't

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Speaker 3: have to pay rent, I didn't have any stress. I

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Speaker 3: had a rooftop. I looked at the stars, complete and

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Speaker 3: utter freedom. But then that my car, which I felt

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Speaker 3: was like a traveling home RV, became kind of like

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Speaker 3: a prison to me. No sleep, It was rough.

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Speaker 1: Why were you having sleepless nights?

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Speaker 3: Because then I was like, what the hell am How

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Speaker 3: am I going to get out of this? What have

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Speaker 3: I just done? You know? I was just kind of like, OMG,

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Speaker 3: and where am I? What am I doing? And I

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Speaker 3: started coming to saying, oh my gosh, gas is expensive.

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Speaker 3: I was going state to state. Now you have different states,

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Speaker 3: and that raises a red flag. My car was trashed.

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Speaker 3: I was, you know, panhandling for money. It's pretty pretty frightening.

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Speaker 1: So it sounds like you went through a wide spectrum

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Speaker 1: of things that just didn't happen, Like it wasn't that

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Speaker 1: honeymoon period that you had, and then all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden you come crashing down to reality. So what kind

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Speaker 1: of things that you were able to do the cope

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Speaker 1: with distress, because being in house is stressful. It sounded

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Speaker 1: like it was stressful living in your car. So what

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Speaker 1: was that, right?

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Speaker 3: Well, I was homeless with two college degrees and I

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Speaker 3: had a BMW, and so I learned to go to

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Speaker 3: a gas station to pretend that I had lost Mike ballet,

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Speaker 3: and people would give me one hundred dollars. People look

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Speaker 3: at the cover of what you're driving. I'm a white,

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Speaker 3: gay male driving a BMW. Getting money was no problem.

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Speaker 3: They didn't know it was homeless. I could walk in anywhere,

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Speaker 3: do anything. It was just quite amazing. When I went

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Speaker 3: to gas station, Oh honey, I'm so sorry, here's one

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Speaker 3: hundred dollars. And so I'd go to five gas stations

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Speaker 3: Mike five hundred dollars, and that got me plenty of

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Speaker 3: gas to go around the country.

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Speaker 1: That's impressive in many other individuals that struggles with panhandling,

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Speaker 1: that don't have those kind of success stories.

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Speaker 3: Great, Well, it quickly changed. It quickly changed because well,

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Speaker 3: as you start living in your car, you don't sleep,

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Speaker 3: you don't take a bath, your clothes, you smell Actually

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Speaker 3: I began fitting the bill and per se right, and

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Speaker 3: I became more desperate. So yeah, it was good for

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Speaker 3: a little bit, but then, you know, living in a car.

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Speaker 3: Then I was starting to hit rock bottom and I

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Speaker 3: was like, oh my god, what am I gonna do?

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Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. So living in a car

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Speaker 3: after a while, I started feel like in a prison

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Speaker 3: to me. But I couldn't just leave my car because

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Speaker 3: I had everything I owned.

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Speaker 1: I was gonna say, that's one of the difficulties. Suit,

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Speaker 1: Were you afraid they have your car? Told?

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Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, well, something even worse happened to my car.

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Speaker 3: So how did I get to Long Beach. I was

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Speaker 3: driving here and they had elected the first gay mayor,

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Speaker 3: so I thought, cool, you know, maybe this is where

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Speaker 3: I need to go. Right on the other side of Dallas,

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Speaker 3: my Tacata airbag exploded and it knocked me unconscious. A

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Speaker 3: lady watched it, flipped my car twice, put me in

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Speaker 3: the hospital. There goes my home, there goes everything. And

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Speaker 3: I had money, so I was coming to Long Beach,

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Speaker 3: so I took a one way flight, used my military discountant,

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Speaker 3: took a one way flight and landed at lax actually,

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Speaker 3: but now what, I've never been here before. I'm in

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Speaker 3: downtown LA, no money, nothing, had a broken toe, and

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Speaker 3: they told me that I need to get to the

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Speaker 3: VA Long Beach Hospital. So that's how I got here.

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Speaker 3: You were a veteran, worked, Yes, I'm a Navy veteran.

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Speaker 1: Correct How long did you serve?

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Speaker 3: I served in ninety two to ninety four and then

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Speaker 3: he kicked me out for do Nast Hotel.

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Speaker 1: Oh oh yeah, I didn't know that.

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Speaker 3: I thought, yeah, oh man, yeah, they kicked me out.

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Speaker 1: Were they able to because some of the because of

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Speaker 1: the harsh of harshness of that rule, some of the

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Speaker 1: active service members were able to get honorable discharge? Were

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Speaker 1: you able to get that?

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Speaker 3: I'm going to be in the newspaper too, say I'm

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Speaker 3: the first veteran to get homosexual off my DD two

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Speaker 3: to fourteen. I got a letter from the Secretary of

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Speaker 3: the Navy that they've corrected it and I have an

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Speaker 3: honorable discharge. So read the LB post next week.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's great. Great, So you became a veteran. Are

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Speaker 1: you eligible for the Indie benefits for being a veteran?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? So when I got here, Kamala Harris, I reached

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Speaker 3: out to her because I didn't qualify for benefits. I'm

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Speaker 3: a veteran, but other oth was on my DD two

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Speaker 3: fourteen and homosexual other than honorable, which is called a

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Speaker 3: paper discharge General distard worse OTCH means you did something

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Speaker 3: really bad, and in my case, I was gay and

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Speaker 3: that was a sin and it was terrible and it

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Speaker 3: says it. So when you're an RI four, they don't

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Speaker 3: even classify you as a human in the military. And

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Speaker 3: so when I went to the VA Patient Advocate and

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Speaker 3: they saw I was homeless, I was a veteran. They said,

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Speaker 3: I don't care your status. I don't care. We're going

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Speaker 3: to take care of you. And they said, how long

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Speaker 3: have you been homeless? And I said, I've been traveling

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Speaker 3: the country for three or four years. So then BA

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Speaker 3: Long Beach said, Long Beach doesn't have any shelters. So

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Speaker 3: they raised, they got money and they took me a

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Speaker 3: taxi cab to South LA that checked me on Friday,

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Speaker 3: and uh, that was my first introduction to being homeless

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Speaker 3: in a Los Angeles and a homeless shelter. But I

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Speaker 3: I quickly realized that I'm in Long Beach and they

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Speaker 3: don't even have an overnight shelter or they're very minimal.

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Speaker 3: So then I went to the shelter. Then I found

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Speaker 3: a way to the train to come back, and that

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Speaker 3: was a challenge. That was a challenge.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And then so then never being in La here homeless,

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Speaker 3: lost everything, cover, broken toe, have a cast, and then

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Speaker 3: made it back to Lombush. So here in Long Beach

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Speaker 3: they have a free clothing and a free store when

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Speaker 3: the hospital's open Monday through Friday. Okay, so it's called

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Speaker 3: Viola's and some other stuff. Right, Well, that's a cario.

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Speaker 3: This nurse. This nurse is like, mister Charlie, you're back,

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Speaker 3: and she goes, I just can't stip by. So she

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Speaker 3: raised money and got me a hotel room in Long Beach,

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Speaker 3: a really motel. Right, And then the VA staff said

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Speaker 3: we got to help this guy. So they went to

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Speaker 3: patient advocate. They found my record because when I got

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Speaker 3: kicked out, not only did I get kicked out, they

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Speaker 3: put my wrong social on my charge. Then they found

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Speaker 3: my records. Then they said I do qualify for health

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Speaker 3: basic health care and if you're a veteran, that you

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Speaker 3: have access to civilians don't have. And as a veteran

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Speaker 3: if you want help. There's villages. A century village is

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Speaker 3: a cabrio, and yeah, we were there, and you get

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Speaker 3: on a waiting list and there were six weeks waiting list,

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Speaker 3: and it's it's it's like a temporary, temporary place. It's

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Speaker 3: own little city for veterans. And I got put on

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Speaker 3: the wait list. So then they just told me to

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Speaker 3: go by the river bed. There's it's safer there. So

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Speaker 3: I lived along the river bed in Long Beach, right

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Speaker 3: by Drake Park. I lived there. It was there, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: mets the people and there's still people there that were

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Speaker 3: there when I was. There still people there. But I

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Speaker 3: don't know what you would say about advocate. I lived

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Speaker 3: the life. I was homeless, unhoused, and then I've not

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Speaker 3: only do I know the struggles what it's like being

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Speaker 3: a civilian, but also there's struggles in the military in

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Speaker 3: that system being a veteran as well.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask one quick question is because it's important

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Speaker 1: to know because everyone's experience of being on house is different.

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Speaker 1: It's your story is very different than mine how I lived.

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Speaker 1: I interviewed some of the people at Frek Park and

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Speaker 1: one of the things that was really striking for me

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Speaker 1: was the fact that their bathroom had was welded shut

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Speaker 1: and locked. And in Los Angeles we don't have baptoms,

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Speaker 1: and they always have the excuses like you know, you

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Speaker 1: don't get the quarter potty. But here was resources that

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Speaker 1: they already have a bathroom. They don't have to create

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Speaker 1: a bathroom, but they had welded it shut locked it

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Speaker 1: to prevent people from using the bathroom. And it was like,

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Speaker 1: and what I heard from other people were that were

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Speaker 1: not on the house was saying that they are not

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Speaker 1: able to use the bathroom. They were they had to

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Speaker 1: have their children use the bathroom out on the street

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Speaker 1: and the bushes.

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Speaker 3: And things like that they could let me had a

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Speaker 3: heat strug.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was interviewing her where she passed out. So

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Speaker 1: it was like it was very It's it's a very

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Speaker 1: interesting Each place has their own way out they treat

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Speaker 1: on house people. So what is your insight on how

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Speaker 1: they treat on house here. I think race has a

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Speaker 1: lot to do with it and gender and age. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if many people are going to talk about this, but.

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Speaker 2: I think that.

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Speaker 3: To me, I felt like when a case manager or

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Speaker 3: a quality of life would look at me, They're like Okay,

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Speaker 3: this guy's white, he's smart, he hasn't been homeless long.

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Speaker 3: I can get a good number with this guy if

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Speaker 3: we take him over someone that's on house for ten years,

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Speaker 3: because I can probably get him in the temporary housing quicker.

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Speaker 3: And so I noticed that people kept coming to me

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Speaker 3: and I'm like, no, no, no, no no, there's people

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Speaker 3: that have been here twenty years. They would say, no, no, no,

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Speaker 3: they're high risks.

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Speaker 1: What does that mean to be labeled high risk?

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Speaker 3: High risk? In my opinion, going through the system is okay.

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Speaker 3: If I take mister Charlie and I put him in

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Speaker 3: temporary housing, and then how fast will he get a job?

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Speaker 3: How fast can he get a foodstamp's income and get

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Speaker 3: approved for HUT right or Section eight? I would say

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Speaker 3: it would probably take six months for Charlie. This person

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Speaker 3: over here needs to be rehabilitated. They've been on the

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Speaker 3: streets for ten years. They need medical, they need mental,

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Speaker 3: they need all these things before It'll take them two

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Speaker 3: years to get where Charlie is right now. So I

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Speaker 3: think I want my numbers to look good and my

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Speaker 3: nonprofit to make money, and the city wants the good numbers.

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Speaker 3: So I think I know This happens a lot. If

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Speaker 3: you go in along the river bed. I think they

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Speaker 3: go up and down and like who's the quickest that

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Speaker 3: we can get the best numbers for.

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Speaker 1: Sounds similar to like in Los Angeles with this inside,

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Speaker 1: starving safe kind of thing they're doing. May Bass is

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Speaker 1: trying to toeut that she's doing such phenomenal work. Even

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Speaker 1: the media has been falled. Mainstream media has fallen this

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Speaker 1: way with it. But you know, an audit is on

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Speaker 1: our rising now there's really show that it's just a

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Speaker 1: show basically, and this is really a good illustration of

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Speaker 1: a connection there.

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Speaker 3: It's actually appalling because they might think it's a show

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Speaker 3: and it's all about numbers. But we're human beings absolutely,

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Speaker 3: And I don't care if you've been on a homeless

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Speaker 3: one day or thirty five years. You're homeless and it's tough,

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Speaker 3: and I don't know how many people get killed murdered.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's a doggy dog world. And I learned

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Speaker 3: being homeless. The only rule is there are no rules.

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Speaker 3: Being out in the public. You get judged. The nimbies

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Speaker 3: will look at you and they'll spit on you. They

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Speaker 3: will laugh at you. They have no idea that I

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Speaker 3: have two college degrees, sipped in a BMW and almost

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Speaker 3: died flipping, you know what I mean. And so also

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Speaker 3: I learned in the box, especially in Long Beach, is

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Speaker 3: it's kind of a class system. It's like, I don't

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Speaker 3: know how to say. It's just if there's a Hispanic,

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Speaker 3: a white, and a black person, I know I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: be white power privilege and they're gonna help me first.

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Speaker 3: Or if it's a younger black man maybe in his

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Speaker 3: twenties and I'm a sixty year old, we're gonna take

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Speaker 3: the younger. Or if it's a Latino woman that thirty

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Speaker 3: years old, it's pregnant, then then they get her housing quickly,

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Speaker 3: but we're gonna take her, and then they won't come

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Speaker 3: back for a while either. And then of course it's

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Speaker 3: all these photo ops. It's all the show. So I

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Speaker 3: feel like it's performative and it's showtime and it's a

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Speaker 3: photo op. I mean, right now, there's probably four or

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Speaker 3: five people that have died on the streets as this

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Speaker 3: as we just started this, I guarantee five people have

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Speaker 3: either died for overdose, suicide, or violence, and we don't

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Speaker 3: hear about that either.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing too, because we have a statium in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, like we have now like six or seven

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Speaker 1: on house people die a day, and it's bad and

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Speaker 1: particularly as you know, we had a bad batch a

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Speaker 1: while back of fentanyl and a lot of unhouse people

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Speaker 1: were passing away from that. And then two we've had

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Speaker 1: some inclement weather and I don't know if you know,

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Speaker 1: we got like a really bad range to her her quake. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and we had a lot of unhoused people pass away

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Speaker 1: because of the weather conditions. And the fact of the

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Speaker 1: matter is these inside stays kind of statistics do not

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Speaker 1: tell the old story because they deliberately tried to off uscate. Conversely,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to point out something that happened recently in

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Speaker 1: Chinatown during the rain. They were literally sweeping unhoused people. Now,

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Speaker 1: according to care Plus, you're not supposed to sweep onhouse

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Speaker 1: people during inclement weather. They felt that because they do

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Speaker 1: inside starving, they can still do the same harmful practices

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Speaker 1: and then get away with it and not say it's

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Speaker 1: a sweep dear of trying to put people in temporary shelter,

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Speaker 1: which is not all because of how they've been treated.

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Speaker 1: There's a larger discussion to be had. But these are

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Speaker 1: the performative acts that not only transcend Los Angeles. But

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Speaker 1: I hear now that Long Beach is not far behind

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Speaker 1: in the same thing.

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Speaker 3: I think with Long Beach we have I don't know

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Speaker 3: if they have this. It was called Project Hotel Room Key. Okay,

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Speaker 3: So we have three of those and they're all three empty.

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Speaker 3: And the city I believe, purchased these three hotels and

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Speaker 3: then during COVID they use them and now there's to

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Speaker 3: be renovating them.

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Speaker 1: For two years.

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Speaker 3: All three of these hotels are all they get. No

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Speaker 3: work's been done. So you have three city owned properties

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Speaker 3: and for Project home Key and nothing like for two years.

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Speaker 3: But yet we have a homeless crisis. Yeah, but I

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Speaker 3: mean we have a housing crisis. We have all this.

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Speaker 3: But to get back to your question about advocacy, you know,

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Speaker 3: I think some people that are in house want to

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Speaker 3: play the victim and woe is me. But I think

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Speaker 3: a lot of them don't want to hand out. They

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Speaker 3: want to hand up. And so many people.

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Speaker 1: But the conversation, the narrative is always painted unhoused people

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Speaker 1: is lazy. Yeah, and people are dealing with trauma. I

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Speaker 1: always have to interject because I tell people that are

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Speaker 1: suffering and having these challenges, it is a stressful condition

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Speaker 1: no matter where you are, and you have to find

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Speaker 1: the way to navigate it. But the reality is people

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Speaker 1: are quick to judge on house people when they don't

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Speaker 1: understand the burdens that they have. It's like Sisyphus having

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Speaker 1: the rock going up and then you get to the

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Speaker 1: thing and this rolls back down and you have to

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Speaker 1: go back, And that's the that's the metaphor I use.

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Speaker 3: So you want to talk about how tough it is

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Speaker 3: being housed for one day, First of all, you wake up,

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Speaker 3: you got to build your shelter. You got to protect

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Speaker 3: yourself from being raped, from being robbed, You got to

399
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,800
Speaker 3: protect yourself from rats and bugs and vermint. Then when

400
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Speaker 3: you wake up, you got to search for food. Then

401
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,639
Speaker 3: when you do that normally, you got to try and

402
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 3: find a way some kind of income like recycling or

403
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,919
Speaker 3: doing something or doing whatever. Then it's and then it's

404
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,520
Speaker 3: the hunt for lunch. Then it's the hunch for safety

405
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Speaker 3: for dinner. It's a twenty four to seven job being homeless.

406
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Speaker 3: You don't get a minute, you don't get a second off.

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Speaker 1: So anyone is training exhausting. That's so when people see

408
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Speaker 1: unhouse people at a lowess EBB, or they're distressed, or

409
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Speaker 1: they're are in depression because people don't realize it is

410
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Speaker 1: a depressing thing. It's not because they don't want to help.

411
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Speaker 1: It's like it's very difficult to navigate when you have

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Speaker 1: so much of the world against you.

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Speaker 3: I agree there is a rise in crime, and I

414
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Speaker 3: think that the un house is a big kind of

415
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Speaker 3: maybe part of that. But it seems like if there's

416
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Speaker 3: ever a crime mentioned, the first people they point to

417
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Speaker 3: is in house. A guy on Friday night, Oh, it

418
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Speaker 3: was an unhoused a business got run. It's a dui.

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Speaker 3: You know, unhoused.

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Speaker 1: And we don't hear about the serial killer that was

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Speaker 1: killing unhoused people. And you don't hear them say their

422
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Speaker 1: housing status. That's another thing that I really pushed back against.

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Speaker 1: When I hear it, I'm like, Okay, you don't know

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Speaker 1: their housing status unless they if they're unhoused, you're gonna

425
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,800
Speaker 1: know it. But if you have a serial killer that's

426
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Speaker 1: out there, like for example in San Diego, were running

427
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,399
Speaker 1: over unhoused people's encampments, it's not mentioned. But that's the

428
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Speaker 1: bias that mainstream and journalists have because they believe that

429
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Speaker 1: they are the paragon of facts, and anything that's independent

430
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Speaker 1: or anything that's dealing with vulnerable people, then it's easily

431
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,680
Speaker 1: a lie or it's just easily dismissed or disregarded. And

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Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons why I created Unhoused News,

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00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,000
Speaker 1: because I got really annoyed with that.

434
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 3: I can't speak to which is one of the largest

435
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 3: cities in the country, in the world maybe or the country. Right, so,

436
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,879
Speaker 3: Long Beach only has a population of four hundred and

437
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:11,680
Speaker 3: seventy nine thousand, But I feel like the general sentiment

438
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,560
Speaker 3: after it is COVID, no one saw anything. Everyone was

439
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 3: locked up and now they're just now their eyes are

440
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 3: kind of open, right number one. Number two is in

441
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 3: Long Beach, the very wealthy city, and I think the

442
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:28,200
Speaker 3: general sentiment is they want help. And there we have

443
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 3: all this money, we have the Tideland's Fund, we have

444
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 3: all this money, we have hotels to buy up. But

445
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:39,760
Speaker 3: it's your elected officials. Where is that money going? Where

446
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,359
Speaker 3: is it going? And I think that Long Beach is

447
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 3: getting more and more frustrated as the city of Long

448
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 3: Beach has gotten over forty million dollars and we're getting

449
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:51,399
Speaker 3: ready to get our point in time count. And you know,

450
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 3: I think the state of emergency in Long Beach was

451
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,879
Speaker 3: just ended a couple of weeks ago. So there's what

452
00:23:58,119 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 3: was that all about?

453
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,359
Speaker 1: What was that for? We're going to take a break

454
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:10,320
Speaker 1: and we will be right back. We're back. We don't

455
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,560
Speaker 1: connect the dots because the increase of houselessness and housing

456
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 1: insecurity lies in a lot of the wage where we're

457
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 1: in an inflation war right now and now, so the

458
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: wages are stacked so and housing costs are exploding because

459
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: we have no poor regulation of it. Developers are driving

460
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: or dictating the market. So when you see a lot

461
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 1: of the in the house right now, recent or the

462
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,399
Speaker 1: more recent ones are the ones that are on their

463
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,959
Speaker 1: way to be in house, it's one of those reasons.

464
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,880
Speaker 1: So when we have these tipperary or these band aid

465
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 1: type solutions, we're expelling a lot of money that is

466
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: not showing a return, me a return, a moral return,

467
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,800
Speaker 1: or a return that's going to be with dignified housing.

468
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 1: Because we have an issue that's in Los Angeles is

469
00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 1: that when they say housing, it has to have a

470
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,919
Speaker 1: carrot stick approach. It has to be carctro, it has

471
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 1: to be such a debase way of doing it. For example,

472
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 1: is a rainstorm and they're creating these solutions called tiny sheds.

473
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:09,640
Speaker 1: But those tiny sheds are flooding or they're becoming breaking apart,

474
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: but they still are saying that this people are a

475
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 1: solution to it.

476
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 3: So the West Lava had one hundred tiny shed village

477
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 3: and half of them caught a fire. So you're talking

478
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,480
Speaker 3: about the brain what about one hundred degree temperature. There's

479
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,359
Speaker 3: no security, there's no insulation, there's no fire system, and

480
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 3: people just burned to death.

481
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,920
Speaker 1: Yes, or even worse. Because remember in La West, La

482
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: and Los Angeles they had an empty building because a

483
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,639
Speaker 1: lot of the military vets were very upset. They had

484
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,239
Speaker 1: literally had empty building and would not put them in there.

485
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 1: They would put them tiny sheds outside. Yeah, yeah, it was.

486
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: It was so ridical. Yeah, it's civil ridiculous. Like, you know,

487
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,359
Speaker 1: you can't say that you've got to build a building.

488
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,159
Speaker 1: You have a building. Why haven't you used this building

489
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 1: the house people? Why are you housing unhoused veterans out

490
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,160
Speaker 1: here in the elements in a tiny shed?

491
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 3: Yeah? A tiny shed, Yes, is a nice terminology for right.

492
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 1: More dog dog house or whatever.

493
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 3: They Yeah, I mean even a jail sale has a

494
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 3: running water and a toilet, not a tiny shed.

495
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 1: Exactly, but some up. So the last time I had

496
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 1: interviewed you, you were running for office. What would you

497
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 1: run for?

498
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 3: So me running for office blew a lot of people's

499
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:20,600
Speaker 3: minds that I was homeless and I have the receipts,

500
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:22,639
Speaker 3: and they're like, no way in hell you're running, No

501
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 3: way in hell you're you're homeless. And I was like,

502
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 3: see anybody, I said, I'm a success story, and anybody

503
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,879
Speaker 3: in the riverbedch and run for office. Anyone with the

504
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,439
Speaker 3: right help and the right support system could get out

505
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,800
Speaker 3: of homelessness. In my opinion, honestly, I feel my campaign

506
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,399
Speaker 3: message was I was a white, privileged college degree and

507
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,040
Speaker 3: look I could run for office. I think I got

508
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,399
Speaker 3: better help than about ninety percent of people. It's like,

509
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,399
Speaker 3: yes is the answer, Now what's your question? And I

510
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:52,639
Speaker 3: feel like when you go to ninety percent of the

511
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 3: un housed, ninety nine namely ninety five knows the answers

512
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 3: the question. And so that was an issue for mine.

513
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 3: You didn't keep me a voice of the voiceless. I

514
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 3: didn't win. I actually got a lot of flak for that.

515
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:08,879
Speaker 3: People called me a liar. I wasn't homeless, I'm not

516
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 3: a veteran. People were really angry at me because I

517
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,400
Speaker 3: was homeless and I'm running for city council and they said,

518
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 3: they just that's impossible. I've never had so much anger

519
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,679
Speaker 3: before for running for office being unhoused. Like, people were

520
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,399
Speaker 3: very angry and I'm a success story. You should be

521
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 3: proud of that and excited. And it's the total opposite

522
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 3: because it threw it back in their face.

523
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 1: You know. I had a lot of the frustrations similar

524
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 1: not because I ran for office, but one of the

525
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 1: similarity things is I too, am college educated and I

526
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:40,920
Speaker 1: was an educator. And so the thing with it is

527
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,640
Speaker 1: is that when they heard me communicate and speak, they

528
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:45,360
Speaker 1: were like, no, there's no way that you're in house

529
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:46,879
Speaker 1: or you want to be out here because I have

530
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,200
Speaker 1: friends literally right now. Really still, after all of the

531
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 1: conversations the education, they believe that many other unhouse liked

532
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 1: to be out here and yeah, and it's like it's

533
00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 1: very hard to eradicate that pernicious type the leef system.

534
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 1: And then two when I told them about my disabilities,

535
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,239
Speaker 1: they still believe even though you're disabled, you still need

536
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 1: to work. And I said, well, there's visible and invisible disabilities,

537
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean that. You know, I'm very fortunate

538
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 1: that this is a creative position for me to do

539
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,359
Speaker 1: a podcast. It's not a nine to five. I have

540
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,199
Speaker 1: to literally be on my feed or have to expel

541
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 1: a lot of things. But this is one of the

542
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,159
Speaker 1: things that I always tell them, like, not everybody is

543
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 1: able to work. It doesn't mean a house people that

544
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 1: are unhoused, that they don't want to work, or they're lazy.

545
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 1: There's a whole myriad of reasons why they're houseless. And

546
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,920
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be that you have to be you know,

547
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: God helped those that help themselves philosophy.

548
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 3: Or hey women, Okay, so let's say you're working a

549
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 3: shift and there's thirty people and that one person can't

550
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,400
Speaker 3: barely stand up, they can't pull their weight. Then you're like,

551
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 3: why the heck did you hire that person? So maybe

552
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 3: they can get a job, but it's then you hire them. Look,

553
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 3: look what happens when they get a job, right, So

554
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 3: it's kind of like catch twenty two.

555
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 1: Yes, Unfortunately, is there anything that I missed that you

556
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 1: want to point out.

557
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 3: I think that I appreciate you coming to a long beach.

558
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 3: I think unhoused is only getting worse, not better. I

559
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 3: think bringing light to that flashing the light where it

560
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 3: shouldn't be shown. But I'm just a person where and

561
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 3: anyone listening is how can we make a difference? How

562
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 3: can we help? And for me, it's not necessarily giving

563
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 3: someone a smile, you know, God, there's just so much

564
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 3: you can do right If you see someone struggling with

565
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 3: a bus ticket, if you see someone struggling with food,

566
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 3: donate to a nonprofit, donate to organizations or people that

567
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 3: do something.

568
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 1: I have a different take on that. I believe because

569
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 1: there are more mutual A groups out now, so I

570
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,440
Speaker 1: think more you would do much more beneficial work donating

571
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: mutual as because nonprofits I only deal with people that

572
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: are in their system or in their constellation where the

573
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: people they claim that want the help. Oh, but we're

574
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: so many of the young house that want to help

575
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: but are not getting it, And the mutual aids fills in,

576
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: It comes in, it fills in the gap. So I

577
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,719
Speaker 1: would say, instead of the nonprofits, why don't you donate

578
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 1: to the mutual aids? Because they are doing the Lord's

579
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 1: work and they don't have the nonprofit status and it's

580
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: very hard to fundraise. And this is you know, directly

581
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,880
Speaker 1: they are going to gift to help to the people

582
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 1: right then and there. They don't have to go through

583
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: any means testing. They don't have to jump through any hoops.

584
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: If they need a tarp, they get the tarp. They

585
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: need socks they need to they get the socks. If

586
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 1: they need some at tenth because it's going to be

587
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: raining or whatever, they get it right directly. They don't

588
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: have to go through a long survey, they don't have

589
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: to be judged or they don't have to be turned away.

590
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 1: So the Mutual AIDS is where I would suggest, Yeah,

591
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,000
Speaker 1: and I think that would be an amazing podcast or

592
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,959
Speaker 1: maybe even a video to show track where's your ten

593
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 1: dollars go to this nonprofit?

594
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 3: And where does ten dollars go to the mutual aid Yeah,

595
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 3: so you know what I stand corrected, you gave me

596
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 3: Chelsey said that because that's a misconception I think the

597
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 3: most of us have is if I donate to a nonprofit,

598
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,320
Speaker 3: it's actually the Mutual AIDS. And I wish we would

599
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 3: have like a list of all the mutual aids that

600
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 3: we could kind of think.

601
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 1: And because this is long beach, I do because I

602
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 1: was out here interviewing some of the young house and

603
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: I brought my mobile power up to the river bed

604
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: and I would help the unhouse charge their phones. And

605
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 1: they were like literally stunned that this was this resource.

606
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 1: And I was like, well, this is something that we

607
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,040
Speaker 1: do in Los Angeles every Saturday. We have a mutual aid.

608
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: In Little Tokyo we do and I felt because I

609
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 1: was on the road, I noticed a lot of unhoused

610
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 1: people were just getting the short stripped. I said, why

611
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 1: don't we do a mobile mutual aid to some of

612
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: the areas where we can do the power ups, we

613
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 1: can brew food, which we did to food and basically

614
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 1: simple things like socks or because everyone always needed to

615
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 1: change or underwear and socks house or unhoused, and it's

616
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 1: much more difficult to keep cleaner socks, undergarments or delicate

617
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: where because of the challenges of being in the house.

618
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,760
Speaker 1: So that is one of the things that we can

619
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 1: do start offs. And also for the women, because I

620
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 1: need to put this out there. One of the unhoused

621
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 1: women that I interviewed I think house men and women

622
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 1: forget that unhoused women are still women. They have periods

623
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 1: like everyone else. For some reason, is forgotten by house women.

624
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: You know, the challenges of having a period in the house.

625
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,120
Speaker 1: The same things go on with unhoused women, and a

626
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 1: lot of times that they get they don't get that

627
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:28,120
Speaker 1: type of direct love or care or sensitivity. And I

628
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: wish to open the conversation to that too.

629
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's in summation to what we started off with,

630
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,360
Speaker 3: is why am I an advocate? I just I can't

631
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 3: sit by and watch someone suffer. I do my part

632
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 3: and maybe one person that here's my story will know

633
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 3: that there is hope. That it's not easy, but there

634
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:52,719
Speaker 3: is hope, right And I wish we could get more

635
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 3: of a network in people like we the un housed

636
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 3: all around the country that lifts everybody up, and we

637
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 3: all hold hands to lift each other up. But right now,

638
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 3: I feel like it's a tug of war. It's where we,

639
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 3: the un housed and advocates are pulling the cope and

640
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 3: then the government and the officials and the wealthy white

641
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 3: people are pushing us. And it's a tug of war.

642
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 3: And that's where I feel like we are right now.

643
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,560
Speaker 1: Thank you very much you giving an insight. This is

644
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: a story that I will stay on top of like

645
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 1: other places I go to. It's is not a one

646
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 1: and done type of episode, and this is not a

647
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:32,240
Speaker 1: one and done type of show. Thank you, Thank you

648
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: Lee for your courageous story. We look forward to having

649
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 1: you back on the show. Our next guest is a

650
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: warrior fighting a different battle. Please welcome Letitia, who is

651
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 1: another resident of Long Beach and let's hear her story.

652
00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 6: I'm my name, government official name is Letitia Marie Dorsey mm,

653
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 6: but my street name is I could go by a

654
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,400
Speaker 6: lady or Diesel, Lady see or Diesel.

655
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 1: How long have you been out here?

656
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 7: Well, I've been born and raised out here all my life.

657
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 6: But I've been out here in the streets like on

658
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 6: and off for a few years since two thousand ten,

659
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 6: really cause I had a struggle between my money situation

660
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 6: between that society situation, like got cut off. So I've

661
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 6: been hustling. I used to get a thousand dollars a

662
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,800
Speaker 6: month a month, but now it's every nickelpenny I g

663
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,799
Speaker 6: get to uss on. It been hard, it been real,

664
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 6: and it got me why is it gonna walk me up?

665
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,520
Speaker 6: A lot more about things. Back in two thousand ten,

666
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,720
Speaker 6: I was shot twice in my head because I wouldn't

667
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:38,759
Speaker 6: s my brother getting shot shot in front of me

668
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 6: in the head, and he died right in front of me.

669
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to hear that me too.

670
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 6: I missed up every day. But after like during the fact,

671
00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 6: like during that all I didn't have kids. But now

672
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,479
Speaker 6: after that I was able God bless me to able

673
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,919
Speaker 6: to receive two k two little girls in my life.

674
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 7: But call their names are Blessing and.

675
00:34:58,000 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 5: The van.

676
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,280
Speaker 1: They are with you or are they with your family?

677
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 1: With me?

678
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 7: But but my grandma helps me with them, we struggle.

679
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:07,600
Speaker 7: I will shoot.

680
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 6: You want me to help me get myself together, cause

681
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:11,799
Speaker 6: I still paralyze on the left side of my body,

682
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:13,759
Speaker 6: and it's and I can't smell her, and I c

683
00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:15,279
Speaker 6: it's a lot of things wrong me.

684
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 7: I'm a broken ass bitch.

685
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,800
Speaker 1: Really as a result of you're shooting or you're health issue.

686
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 6: It's a result of my sh being shot to us

687
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,440
Speaker 6: and I paralyzed on the left side, in the right

688
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 6: side of my face. But you'll look at me, I

689
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 6: ain't nothing wrong with her. Sh She blew you out

690
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 6: your mind. Bet something wrong with me, But I ain't

691
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 6: nothing wrong with me like that, cause I can do

692
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,280
Speaker 6: everything with one hand or no hands.

693
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:37,439
Speaker 1: How is it managing out here in Long Bitch?

694
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:37,960
Speaker 7: It's real.

695
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 6: It's a struggle, but Long Bitch will everybody hustle off

696
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 6: each other And it's sad, but it's real.

697
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:46,560
Speaker 7: Make you wake up and look at a lot of

698
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,320
Speaker 7: things like oh nah nah, don't do that.

699
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,879
Speaker 6: You know, stay at school though, you get a good

700
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 6: job in education, so you gotta be on here in

701
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:54,560
Speaker 6: Loan Beach doing what I.

702
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 7: What I went through.

703
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 6: Promise, it's a good thing to stay in school and

704
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 6: get a job. But I used to be before I

705
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 6: was shot twice in my hand.

706
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 7: Excuse me. I was a teacher all sco for all

707
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:07,239
Speaker 7: schools around Long Beach, and it was real. I loved

708
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,360
Speaker 7: that job. I wanted to go back, but I couldn't

709
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 7: cause of my my injury.

710
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 6: I gotta do a lot of therapy. Well therapy got

711
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,320
Speaker 6: me right right like the way I am now. But

712
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,200
Speaker 6: I got to get some one back. Third, because it's

713
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 6: it's real, but it helps.

714
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, what is the best way for

715
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:24,879
Speaker 1: you to get the help that you need in Long Beach.

716
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 7: Oh, I got therapists, I got, I got everything.

717
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,360
Speaker 6: A judge gave me for a gift, uh free on

718
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 6: dental and medical for r a whole life for closing

719
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 6: my case.

720
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 1: Were they able to catch the person that m I

721
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 1: murdered your brother.

722
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 6: He's in jail, but he ain't getting long long time

723
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:42,839
Speaker 6: he got for two two murders into and one timph

724
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:43,239
Speaker 6: of murder.

725
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:44,879
Speaker 7: They gave him only a couple of years.

726
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 6: He'll Basically, I feel like we we we lost the

727
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,360
Speaker 6: case and my brother didn't get his justice or me.

728
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 6: Basically he's from Watson, I'm from Long Beach and my

729
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:58,879
Speaker 6: brother was from Compton. Off side because we're gonna meet

730
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 6: up again, but uh, the Lord, hopefully I'll be on

731
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 6: my toast.

732
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:02,919
Speaker 7: I could be able to run this time.

733
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,400
Speaker 6: God gonna fly me away from him, cause it's a

734
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 6: ugly situation. I every day I'll look over my back.

735
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 2: And see it.

736
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 6: Make sure ain't nobody around me to try to hurt

737
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 6: me over that situation, you know, testifying it over him

738
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 6: and all that scared staring from it. Just imagine it

739
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 6: happened to gonna take your kids to court while you

740
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,759
Speaker 6: testify against somebody protect the services. Scariest thing you could do,

741
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,400
Speaker 6: you know, go through swear I went through that's that

742
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:27,440
Speaker 6: was a scary situation.

743
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:31,840
Speaker 7: I'm so sorry that you went through this, But I

744
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:33,920
Speaker 7: feel sorry sorry for the guy that did it.

745
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 1: Why do you feel sorry for him?

746
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 6: Cause look look where he at it and look where

747
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 6: I'm at. I'm still afree and I'm still beautiful. And

748
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:43,160
Speaker 6: then it was a struggle, but I'm still here.

749
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:46,600
Speaker 1: Is there anything that I missed to aks you you

750
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:47,440
Speaker 1: wanna talk about?

751
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 7: Yes, I am a christian Ian.

752
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 6: I do love lot God with all my heart cause

753
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 6: he know he know what's best for me and I

754
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 6: I I listen to him more and and I pay

755
00:37:58,280 --> 00:37:59,239
Speaker 6: attention more.

756
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:02,200
Speaker 7: And he took me do something so I can learn something,

757
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:05,840
Speaker 7: you know, not just a canna just be be played it.

758
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:07,360
Speaker 7: I been through a lot, baby.

759
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 6: People just used to look at the cause knowing what

760
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,399
Speaker 6: happened to me, they just they'll look at me, said, ah,

761
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:14,320
Speaker 6: she can't do that cause I'm handicapped.

762
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 7: Bad I did it, and some so don't don't. Don't.

763
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:20,439
Speaker 7: Don't judge nobody in life.

764
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 1: I'm not.

765
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 7: I hate people that judge me cause.

766
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 6: I'm a real female, real woman, a queen woman that

767
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 6: I tell you right what's up from right right right

768
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,520
Speaker 6: right than there, cause that's me.

769
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 7: But I'm love. I got a big heart. I help everybody.

770
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:35,239
Speaker 7: I be feeding the homeless too.

771
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,400
Speaker 6: Sometimes I go c go go out my way and

772
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,040
Speaker 6: go steal excuse me by goes steal a male for

773
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:43,439
Speaker 6: my friends, the homeless friends.

774
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:44,399
Speaker 7: So I got no money.

775
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,719
Speaker 6: As I told you, I got cut off, so I

776
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 6: go do what I can and go with my friend

777
00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,759
Speaker 6: house and cook it and give it out for my

778
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 6: heart cause I'm a pissies and.

779
00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:54,919
Speaker 7: We love heart.

780
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 1: Well, Letitia, thank you very much for tell kid to

781
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 1: time to tell me your story. Baby.

782
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 6: Whenever you'all hear again, I got another story. Probably y'all

783
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 6: can tell you about update.

784
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I was gonna say if I come back

785
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,920
Speaker 1: and I get it to I come out here regularly,

786
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,120
Speaker 1: but I've been coming out here for literally every day

787
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 1: during the week trying to get another house person.

788
00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 6: But she's been sending more money, So you better go

789
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 6: re up and get some more money and then come back.

790
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 6: I will try to get a story because I'll give

791
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:20,080
Speaker 6: you a couple of stories.

792
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 7: Well you for having me interview with me.

793
00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:32,680
Speaker 1: Thank you Letitia for your time. We appreciate your story

794
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,480
Speaker 1: and learning more about what the reality of being unhoused

795
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:44,239
Speaker 1: in Long Beach are. Our next guest for SHARD has

796
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: a dynamic story to tell, and I hope you listen in.

797
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 8: My name is Taka, also known as a Shard. I

798
00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:00,560
Speaker 8: work for NASA JPL. My family was kidnapped years ago,

799
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 8: so I live outside and keep my work together.

800
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 1: How long have you been on the streets.

801
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:11,000
Speaker 8: I've been on the street. Well, it's a loaded phrase.

802
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:17,080
Speaker 8: I've been unhoused for four years, and yeah.

803
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,799
Speaker 1: Four years. How is it living on the streets here

804
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:21,880
Speaker 1: in Long Beach? Well, living on the streets?

805
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 5: For me?

806
00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:24,840
Speaker 8: I sleep at City Hall once again. I worked for

807
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,840
Speaker 8: NASA JPL, so I sleep at City Hall and I

808
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 8: spend my days in the library building my programming language arsenal.

809
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: Living near the city hall is it easier? It's a good.

810
00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,840
Speaker 8: Location for me because the train comes straight to the

811
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 8: library and I can keep up with my responsibilities looking

812
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:47,240
Speaker 8: for my missing family.

813
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 1: One of the things I also wanted to ask is like,

814
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,360
Speaker 1: is it has the city has made it easier for

815
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 1: you to get assistance in helping with what you're looking for.

816
00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:01,239
Speaker 8: The thing is when your kidnapped, you're kind of on

817
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:07,279
Speaker 8: your live with the with border patrol everybody, so you're

818
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,360
Speaker 8: on the street kind of as a neutral party.

819
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 1: So sometimes you do have fake cops.

820
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:17,280
Speaker 8: Those do exist, but the biggest problem has been private

821
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 8: security allied you what's the securitasite. They have guns and

822
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 8: there's a sex tourism economy here and they have to

823
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 8: keep people moving in order to keep people's identities protected.

824
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 8: So people who are on house are bullied a lot.

825
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,840
Speaker 8: That that's where the county's failing but making progress.

826
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:45,839
Speaker 1: Wow, thank you again. Is there anything that I miss?

827
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:47,320
Speaker 1: How can we best help you?

828
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:55,920
Speaker 8: Just give my Twitter profile amention so some interested individuals

829
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 8: that can see the story, my CVS on my on

830
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 8: my with us you check me out at Ricoka r

831
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:08,880
Speaker 8: I CEO DOCA th h j ka Ricoa on Twitter.

832
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:18,080
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time. Thanks to mister Prashard.

833
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,080
Speaker 1: When we come back, I'll be speaking with a local

834
00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:27,560
Speaker 1: business that positively impacts and helps the unhoused community, the

835
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 1: Dental Salon of Long Beach. Welcome back to Weedian House.

836
00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:42,480
Speaker 1: This week we've been speaking with the in house community

837
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: in Long Beach about their journeys and struggles to close out.

838
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:49,239
Speaker 1: This week, I want to take time to spotlight a

839
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,719
Speaker 1: business that has gone out of its way to extending

840
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,080
Speaker 1: healing dental hands to the vulnerable community. I caught up

841
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,879
Speaker 1: with the staff at the dental Salon to learn more.

842
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:10,880
Speaker 2: All right, THEO, thanks for inviting us onto your podcast today.

843
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:14,759
Speaker 2: My name is Leslie Jackson and my wife is here

844
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:19,640
Speaker 2: beside me, doctor Francine Jackson. We're the owners and operators

845
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:24,040
Speaker 2: of the Dimsel Salon, which is a general dentistry family

846
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:30,280
Speaker 2: dentistry in Long Beach near Polly High School. And as

847
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 2: you would a test, I reached out to you after

848
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,840
Speaker 2: seeing one of your presentations on I think it was

849
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 2: YouTube or based look or something. You just kind of

850
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:43,920
Speaker 2: came across my screen and U quite notably. You were

851
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:47,280
Speaker 2: doing something that doctor Jackson and I have always endeavored

852
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:49,680
Speaker 2: to do, which is kind of reach out and assist

853
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:53,080
Speaker 2: those that might be in need of a voice to

854
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 2: help further their calls of you know, getting back on

855
00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:00,279
Speaker 2: their feet or doing whatever it is that might need

856
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:03,560
Speaker 2: to be done in order to be more self sustained

857
00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:07,279
Speaker 2: in society. So, as a result, I suppose that's how

858
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 2: we're going to have to be remembered from this occasion

859
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,640
Speaker 2: is we kind of ran into each other seeking to

860
00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:15,440
Speaker 2: do good for the community.

861
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:18,919
Speaker 1: Outstanding, and that's a beautiful story. Before we get into

862
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,560
Speaker 1: the discussion, Hello, doctor Jackson, how are you today?

863
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:24,680
Speaker 2: Hello THEO, how are you doing well?

864
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,400
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for joining us. I would like

865
00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:30,040
Speaker 1: to ask doctor Jackson the first question, if you don't mind,

866
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: sure this may sound misinformed or a bit dumb. The

867
00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:37,120
Speaker 1: first question is is there such a thing as laughing

868
00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:38,279
Speaker 1: gas in interestreet?

869
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,680
Speaker 5: Oh, the laughing gas and nine chest onside? Yeah, they're

870
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 5: nine chest onside gas that relaxes the patient when they're

871
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:46,640
Speaker 5: getting their.

872
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:48,400
Speaker 1: Treatment if they give them the giggles.

873
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 5: I see some people do find it funny and relaxes

874
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,359
Speaker 5: them so much that think just yeah, I think it's

875
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:56,640
Speaker 5: lapping gash.

876
00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:58,960
Speaker 1: Okay, you know, I've always seen them in the movies

877
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: when I'm like, of course, you know, you know, movies

878
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:05,320
Speaker 1: can exaggerate a situation which is not true. But the

879
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:07,239
Speaker 1: last time I went to a dnnist, they had this

880
00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:09,680
Speaker 1: long needle that they were trying to stick in my

881
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 1: tooth and I wasn't laughing, trust me.

882
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:13,520
Speaker 2: Yeah.

883
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: So, mister Jackson, how long have you guys have been

884
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:19,279
Speaker 1: having this practice going on.

885
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 2: What is this? We welcome to practice our own practice

886
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:26,480
Speaker 2: on what day? That was from Lemon right where you

887
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 2: was at two thousand and one, two thousand and six, Yeah,

888
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:32,680
Speaker 2: two thousand and six and Long Beach. It was initially

889
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 2: it was a lease space if you will, over near

890
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,560
Speaker 2: the dialysis place over on Lemon and Pacific Goa's Highway,

891
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:46,360
Speaker 2: next to Little Caesars and one of the dialysis facilities.

892
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 2: And somewhere around two thousand and a twenty ten we

893
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,640
Speaker 2: bond or acquired the property that we're at Dell right

894
00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:56,600
Speaker 2: across from Polly High School. But it's been a total

895
00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:00,360
Speaker 2: of well, this is your twenty sixth year here and

896
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,920
Speaker 2: Danni's yeah, twenty six years in dentistry, twenty three, twenty

897
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,240
Speaker 2: five is our own practice.

898
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:09,759
Speaker 1: Doctor Jackson. I was going to ask you what prompted you,

899
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 1: guys to extend your hand to different communities instead of

900
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:15,920
Speaker 1: like here in Los Angeles. Of course, we have Beverly

901
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,920
Speaker 1: Hills where doctors go to school and then they'll go

902
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 1: and get the expensive what they call it plastic surgery

903
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 1: or other type of practices that may be more lucrative.

904
00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:30,920
Speaker 1: Why why in Long Beach And why did you guys

905
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:32,360
Speaker 1: reach your hand to this community.

906
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,239
Speaker 2: Well, doctor Jackson's nudging me because I'm kind of the

907
00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:40,920
Speaker 2: talking piece, right, so doctor Jackson, Doctor Jackson would like

908
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:46,239
Speaker 2: me to convey, Okay, the following. Here's here's the perspective

909
00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 2: that we have been kind of brought up on being

910
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:50,840
Speaker 2: from the South and just seeing.

911
00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 1: So I'm figuring to interject, right quiet, what part of

912
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:57,279
Speaker 1: the south Texas? Houston? I lived in Houston for a while.

913
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:02,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, Alabama's of the wife and Texas for myself. So

914
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,919
Speaker 2: that's kind of the basis of our roots, right. Okay,

915
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:09,400
Speaker 2: So my career as an entirety has been in the

916
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:13,080
Speaker 2: refinery industry, so the last eighteen nineteen years. I just

917
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:16,680
Speaker 2: recently retired in twenty nineteen and opened another business, which

918
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:19,240
Speaker 2: was is a car wash over off the Pacific Coast Highway.

919
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:25,640
Speaker 2: But we always endeavored to try and give something of

920
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:31,360
Speaker 2: what we were receiving, like back to the community. Genuinely speaking,

921
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:34,120
Speaker 2: we were kind of brought up in the whole concept

922
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,719
Speaker 2: of giving back. So what better way for us to

923
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:40,120
Speaker 2: give back than to give back to those people who

924
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:45,400
Speaker 2: we know need and would appreciate the premium services that

925
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:49,440
Speaker 2: most people would like to get well. Sometimes that's been

926
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:56,440
Speaker 2: screened off from mainstream society. And when I say mainstream society,

927
00:47:56,880 --> 00:48:00,160
Speaker 2: I mean just as I said mainstream society. So we're

928
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,880
Speaker 2: gonna get some services in the hygiene dental hygiene field

929
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:07,160
Speaker 2: versus what you're gonna get Beverly Hills versus any other

930
00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 2: typical office, patas Verdi area versus any of the typical office,

931
00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:15,759
Speaker 2: any high end office versus any other office that are

932
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:17,799
Speaker 2: high end office, You're gonna always feel like you're getting

933
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:22,840
Speaker 2: substantiard treatment. Well, we kind of turn that around because

934
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,600
Speaker 2: this is just how we function anyway. So we found

935
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 2: that we were seeing a lot of different people in

936
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:36,440
Speaker 2: all spectrums, from school board executives to government controllers, refinery managers.

937
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 2: Like I said, the profession outreach is full spectrum problem,

938
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:46,400
Speaker 2: from those that are kind of on a lower spectrum

939
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:49,160
Speaker 2: low society all the way up to those that consider

940
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:54,240
Speaker 2: themselves who have arrived. We've always treated all those types

941
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 2: of individuals at our practice. But then we realized that

942
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 2: there was a gap that people were coming in to

943
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:04,560
Speaker 2: see us to fix stuff that was done at another office,

944
00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:07,600
Speaker 2: and they were in great pain, great discoonference and they

945
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:09,880
Speaker 2: tell a story about how they end up getting it.

946
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 2: So I kind of got those conversations back and forth

947
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:15,040
Speaker 2: from doctor Jackson and our other dentists and our other

948
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,360
Speaker 2: associates and the staff, and we will always just be

949
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:20,279
Speaker 2: talking about it. Now, one day we kind of came

950
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:22,360
Speaker 2: up with a plan, Well why don't we try and

951
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:26,360
Speaker 2: help some of those people that are going elsewhere not

952
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,400
Speaker 2: being treated fairly and in fact being treated poorly and

953
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 2: let them come and see the difference. And that's kind

954
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,520
Speaker 2: of our launtry. You'd have to know us, You'd have

955
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:36,400
Speaker 2: to see our businesses. You'd have to look online to

956
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:39,360
Speaker 2: see our other businesses. We've always been in the twenty

957
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:43,120
Speaker 2: percent giving process, you know, from Poly High School.

958
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:44,720
Speaker 3: To Lobe City College.

959
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:48,200
Speaker 2: We do fundraisers for the little Minor League baseball teams.

960
00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:49,640
Speaker 1: Help me, help you.

961
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:52,399
Speaker 2: You know, we got tons of things online that we've

962
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:55,320
Speaker 2: been doing for as long as we implemented the process,

963
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:58,560
Speaker 2: which we started really aggressively in twenty nineteen with our

964
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:02,360
Speaker 2: other business. So to answer the question that you poposed

965
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 2: to the boss, which is doctor Jackson, I'm kind of

966
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,359
Speaker 2: the mouthpiece. You know. Her gift, she tells me all

967
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:10,760
Speaker 2: the time is her gift is a thinking in her hands.

968
00:50:11,239 --> 00:50:13,560
Speaker 2: So I let her have that, and she said, now

969
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:15,640
Speaker 2: you go ahead and express what it is that we're

970
00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:20,120
Speaker 2: talking about we're doing, rather that be just talking to

971
00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:22,759
Speaker 2: our kids or our family members. I kind of tend

972
00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:24,600
Speaker 2: to be the person to stand up in church when

973
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:25,520
Speaker 2: we have something to say.

974
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 1: You're the spokesperson, the publicist.

975
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:30,719
Speaker 2: You have kind of saw it. I've been designated to spokesperson.

976
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:34,640
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, after hearing your story, what is one of

977
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: the things that you wish you could change in society?

978
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:39,840
Speaker 1: Because it sounds like you saw a need and you

979
00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:42,680
Speaker 1: are guys are trying to do the best you can

980
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 1: with the situation that you have. So is there anything

981
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:47,240
Speaker 1: else that you wish you could change in society?

982
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:50,439
Speaker 2: Well, I guess it would just be one word, any

983
00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:54,360
Speaker 2: quality of society, just across the board, you know, not

984
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:58,800
Speaker 2: just necessarily as it relates to be a house, but

985
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:03,400
Speaker 2: just any qualities of life period. I think if everything

986
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:06,799
Speaker 2: was kind of equal, on an equal footing, then life

987
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:09,879
Speaker 2: would be a lot more promising and a lot more

988
00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 2: meaningful to more people. It would be accessible to more

989
00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:16,720
Speaker 2: people if we got to start off on the same footing,

990
00:51:17,239 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 2: you know, rather that be education. The areas of society

991
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:24,920
Speaker 2: that you're allowed to be educated is speaks volumes to

992
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,360
Speaker 2: how you get to accomplish, you know, your life's dreams.

993
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:30,920
Speaker 2: It all starts with the education. In my opinion and

994
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,719
Speaker 2: my upbringing, that's kind of the paramount thing.

995
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:37,439
Speaker 1: Well, I would add onto that conversational point as well

996
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:41,840
Speaker 1: because of being experienced and being unhoused myself, I was

997
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:46,040
Speaker 1: very well educated and had a personal emergency happened to me,

998
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:49,520
Speaker 1: and then it became a different type of education because

999
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,120
Speaker 1: you can't meet this type of education in the book

1000
00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:54,239
Speaker 1: or school schools is not going to tell you the

1001
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:57,240
Speaker 1: realities of what it's like to be hungry for several

1002
00:51:57,320 --> 00:51:59,800
Speaker 1: days and you have to think on your feet on

1003
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:02,640
Speaker 1: where to go to get the food or how to

1004
00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:07,240
Speaker 1: be able to make the food last longer out without

1005
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:11,480
Speaker 1: the resources of people from house environs. So I think

1006
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,279
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that I when when I

1007
00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:17,480
Speaker 1: created this podcast, I noticed this was a lot of

1008
00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:22,759
Speaker 1: missed conversational momental opportunities with unhoused people and understanding like

1009
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:25,920
Speaker 1: when we are trying to obtain services, that is another

1010
00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:29,160
Speaker 1: education because as you we've already touched upon. But I

1011
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:31,800
Speaker 1: wanted to touch upon it a little more deeper. Is

1012
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 1: the fact that when we go to get services, we're

1013
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:38,600
Speaker 1: not always treated at our best. We are dismissed and

1014
00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:41,920
Speaker 1: the unhoused community and as I believe their stories need

1015
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,920
Speaker 1: to be heard. But also we are worthy of the

1016
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,080
Speaker 1: same kind of equitable treatment as someone that would be

1017
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:51,320
Speaker 1: coming in from like you say, the school board or

1018
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,480
Speaker 1: someone from the refinery and be able to get the

1019
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:57,080
Speaker 1: same quality of understanding and compassion.

1020
00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:01,160
Speaker 2: Exactly I would I would holdheartedly agree with that, but

1021
00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:04,680
Speaker 2: not only from that perspective. Deal, but you know, I

1022
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:07,840
Speaker 2: kind of idea about the whole deal as it relates

1023
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,560
Speaker 2: to being able to take care of your medical needs.

1024
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 2: I mean, if you can't get your personal physical hygiene

1025
00:53:20,719 --> 00:53:24,239
Speaker 2: medical needs fulfilled, then it's very little and you're gonna

1026
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:28,160
Speaker 2: be able to do outside of just existing at some

1027
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:30,840
Speaker 2: point in time. If you don't get rid of the

1028
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 2: russ if you don't get rid of the dirt, if

1029
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:35,040
Speaker 2: you don't get rid of the poor thoughts, if you

1030
00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:37,879
Speaker 2: don't get rid of the negative connotations, if you don't

1031
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:41,480
Speaker 2: do away with that which hinders you, then you can

1032
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 2: only go so far. So I can't say that I

1033
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,480
Speaker 2: could save the world. And my wife and I often

1034
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:51,319
Speaker 2: joke about the idea that it looks like we wish

1035
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:54,080
Speaker 2: we could, but it's kind of jokingly, but it's just

1036
00:53:54,200 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 2: so much that needs to be done that could easily

1037
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:01,520
Speaker 2: be done. You understand what I mean. It's those that

1038
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:05,560
Speaker 2: are in position of power. Something as simple as, uh,

1039
00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:09,680
Speaker 2: someone tried to get on their feed that has a

1040
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:13,960
Speaker 2: broken elbow and doesn't have the means to go over

1041
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:16,880
Speaker 2: to the hospital to get it reset. So when do

1042
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,920
Speaker 2: they ever re enter back into society and do normal

1043
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:22,719
Speaker 2: stuff because they didn't have the means for that, you know,

1044
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:27,399
Speaker 2: mnor degree of medical attention that could have saved the day. Well,

1045
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 2: we say the same thing about what we do have available,

1046
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:34,480
Speaker 2: which is which is extremely well placed dentistry. You know,

1047
00:54:34,560 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 2: if you ever had a problem with your aural hygiene

1048
00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:39,200
Speaker 2: and you were on the way to get it fixed,

1049
00:54:39,280 --> 00:54:40,920
Speaker 2: or you were trying to get it fixed, and when

1050
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:44,279
Speaker 2: you finally got it fixed, it changed everything. That's it's

1051
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:46,759
Speaker 2: kind of where it starts in your mouth. They're not

1052
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:51,360
Speaker 2: comfortable exactly, so they're not welcoming.

1053
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:53,560
Speaker 1: That's why I was going that was what was going

1054
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:55,920
Speaker 1: to have a rejoinder do act exactly it, because I

1055
00:54:56,080 --> 00:55:00,239
Speaker 1: could tell you some examples of being unhoused and being

1056
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:03,200
Speaker 1: turned away. Particularly during the pandemic, they would not see

1057
00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:05,800
Speaker 1: many unhoused people because they were trying to save the

1058
00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,799
Speaker 1: beds for house people. And one guest on my show

1059
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:12,560
Speaker 1: had was burned so badly that he had to go

1060
00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:15,200
Speaker 1: to the fire station and literally collapsed. For them to

1061
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:19,600
Speaker 1: be actually a step to a minute, So that's yes, Yeah,

1062
00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:22,719
Speaker 1: these are stories. This is why it's so important that

1063
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:25,480
Speaker 1: people understand where the Tale of Two Cities is really

1064
00:55:25,719 --> 00:55:29,040
Speaker 1: literally we're living in and people don't understand that this

1065
00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:31,000
Speaker 1: is this is a reality for many people.

1066
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:32,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did agree with death.

1067
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,240
Speaker 5: I've had a lot of patience where I have helped

1068
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:40,480
Speaker 5: them get back into the workplace just by removing the kat,

1069
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:45,120
Speaker 5: providing dentures eyes just made it easy for them and

1070
00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:48,319
Speaker 5: made them feel comfortable. They went ahead and got their

1071
00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 5: treatment done and a lot of them have new jobs.

1072
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:54,160
Speaker 2: To come back. They come back excited.

1073
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:58,239
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was all a new personal way by your

1074
00:55:58,280 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 5: Ston Fipps. It just changes life entirely and it's just

1075
00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:04,600
Speaker 5: rewarning for me for them to come back and thank

1076
00:56:04,719 --> 00:56:07,960
Speaker 5: me and just let me know how I was able

1077
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:10,600
Speaker 5: to help a lot of them in the community.

1078
00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:12,920
Speaker 1: Basically leaving the leaving the world a better place than

1079
00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:15,040
Speaker 1: you found it. And this is what that was. And

1080
00:56:15,920 --> 00:56:17,800
Speaker 1: doctor Jackson, that was going to ask me one of

1081
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:19,480
Speaker 1: those kind of questions, but you beat me to the punch.

1082
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:22,080
Speaker 1: One of the things that I want to also ask

1083
00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:23,960
Speaker 1: both of you, I want you, guys both to think on,

1084
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:28,200
Speaker 1: is that with this, do you guys see expanding this

1085
00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:31,440
Speaker 1: from other than Long Beach? Are you guys going to

1086
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:36,360
Speaker 1: only keep it small or let the momentum lead you

1087
00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:37,160
Speaker 1: where it needs to.

1088
00:56:37,800 --> 00:56:44,839
Speaker 2: Well, we're open to continue our help in hand as

1089
00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:47,480
Speaker 2: much as we possibly can until the end of time.

1090
00:56:48,080 --> 00:56:51,840
Speaker 2: How much of their time, Almighty go out here's allotted

1091
00:56:52,160 --> 00:56:55,200
Speaker 2: in dentistry. I can't really say, because I would I

1092
00:56:55,239 --> 00:56:58,920
Speaker 2: would guess that at sixty plus, we're in the process

1093
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:03,600
Speaker 2: of how these migrating back to tesas for retirement, you know,

1094
00:57:03,719 --> 00:57:06,560
Speaker 2: within the next sixty sixty months.

1095
00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:09,279
Speaker 1: You know, you I was gonna say, sixty is pretty young,

1096
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:11,200
Speaker 1: you know, you guess just starting out.

1097
00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:15,640
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, you know, you know our kids over

1098
00:57:15,719 --> 00:57:18,840
Speaker 2: there and you know all of my stibilings are there,

1099
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,080
Speaker 2: and you know, we're just thinking about moving towards retirement,

1100
00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:24,880
Speaker 2: but as a whole for the rest of the time

1101
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:28,360
Speaker 2: that we're in business, we're gonna only just crank it

1102
00:57:28,520 --> 00:57:31,960
Speaker 2: up and allow as much exposure as we possibly can

1103
00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:34,720
Speaker 2: for those that are on house, those that are in

1104
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:37,520
Speaker 2: need to get some of the same treatment that you

1105
00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:40,120
Speaker 2: get when you come out of some of the higher

1106
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:43,360
Speaker 2: end communities and go get treatment. And then when you

1107
00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:45,760
Speaker 2: go in as an unhoused person or a person that

1108
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:48,400
Speaker 2: may not be as fortunate as the guy that just

1109
00:57:48,640 --> 00:57:50,920
Speaker 2: that just walked in in a nice suit, well you

1110
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:53,040
Speaker 2: get the same treatment at our office. You know, it's

1111
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:57,720
Speaker 2: no difference. You know, our reviews and the comments of

1112
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:01,240
Speaker 2: our clients and the videos and the photo over the years,

1113
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:03,760
Speaker 2: and not just with this business, but with our car

1114
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:08,240
Speaker 2: wash business as well. The desire to give back to

1115
00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:11,520
Speaker 2: the community is just something that works well with us.

1116
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:13,760
Speaker 2: We just feel good in that process.

1117
00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:14,520
Speaker 8: You know.

1118
00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:17,880
Speaker 2: It just feels good to be able to contribute something

1119
00:58:18,600 --> 00:58:20,800
Speaker 2: in a place where you're always win it. You know,

1120
00:58:20,920 --> 00:58:24,360
Speaker 2: we've always won phrase beat alright God, But to be

1121
00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:27,680
Speaker 2: able to contribute something and know that it was appreciated,

1122
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:30,959
Speaker 2: that's the rush. And those that have never experienced that rush,

1123
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:35,600
Speaker 2: well you know, I pity you, because that's a wonderful

1124
00:58:35,680 --> 00:58:39,440
Speaker 2: filling to feed somebody or to give somebody something that

1125
00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:43,720
Speaker 2: they couldn't quite get it together to do for themselves.

1126
00:58:43,800 --> 00:58:46,840
Speaker 2: But now that they've accomplished that, it's a better world

1127
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:49,360
Speaker 2: for them. They have better options, you know, they have

1128
00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:53,440
Speaker 2: more access to society than they did before. They were

1129
00:58:53,480 --> 00:58:56,160
Speaker 2: ashamed to smile. Now that they can smile, that they

1130
00:58:56,200 --> 00:58:58,120
Speaker 2: can look at a person in their eyes and talk.

1131
00:58:58,560 --> 00:59:00,480
Speaker 2: That's kind of a little rush for me to know

1132
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:01,880
Speaker 2: that we had something to do with that.

1133
00:59:02,760 --> 00:59:06,360
Speaker 1: It's so heartwarming and so inspirational. And speaking of inspirational,

1134
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:09,920
Speaker 1: doctor Jackson, what was your inspiration to get into dentistry?

1135
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:11,400
Speaker 2: What's interesting?

1136
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:16,760
Speaker 5: I fell in love really from my childhood and dentist.

1137
00:59:16,960 --> 00:59:18,520
Speaker 5: I just found it fasting.

1138
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:21,760
Speaker 1: Anything your childhood dittrist obviously was pretty cool.

1139
00:59:21,960 --> 00:59:24,840
Speaker 5: Hey, what's cool? Hey, I encouraged me and encouraged me

1140
00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:29,880
Speaker 5: to think higher education, and I just found dentistry interesting.

1141
00:59:30,560 --> 00:59:31,560
Speaker 1: Where did you go to school?

1142
00:59:32,280 --> 00:59:36,280
Speaker 5: I went to UCLA undergraduate and w CLA for dental school.

1143
00:59:36,960 --> 00:59:39,040
Speaker 5: Basically spend lifetime at yin CLA.

1144
00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:41,880
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well, I was the activist in residence over

1145
00:59:41,880 --> 00:59:45,640
Speaker 1: at UCLA in twenty twenty two. So yes, that Long

1146
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:49,840
Speaker 1: Campus definitely. I was like, it's definitely you know, if

1147
00:59:49,880 --> 00:59:52,600
Speaker 1: I needed, you know, more healthcare care, That's the place

1148
00:59:53,120 --> 00:59:55,320
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you to take this opportunity to

1149
00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:57,880
Speaker 1: say have I missed anything or is there anything else

1150
00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:01,720
Speaker 1: you guys wanted to say us, I might ask, yes, please.

1151
01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:06,080
Speaker 2: Some of what we've run into with a lot of

1152
01:00:06,200 --> 01:00:10,000
Speaker 2: the elderly people that have been housed or kind of

1153
01:00:10,160 --> 01:00:15,000
Speaker 2: in between places is their ability to transfer from from

1154
01:00:15,040 --> 01:00:19,840
Speaker 2: one location to our location to alleviate themselves of some

1155
01:00:20,200 --> 01:00:23,520
Speaker 2: terrible pain. So you just imagine and then when the

1156
01:00:23,640 --> 01:00:27,200
Speaker 2: patient finally gets there and you realize how bad that was.

1157
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:30,800
Speaker 2: And they kept saying that they didn't have transportation, they

1158
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:34,240
Speaker 2: didn't have transportation, And once when that happened to us

1159
01:00:34,320 --> 01:00:37,160
Speaker 2: that one time, which was I'm going to say had

1160
01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:41,280
Speaker 2: to be somewhere in the area of two thousand and eighteen.

1161
01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:45,240
Speaker 2: You've been right before COVID, And since that time, we

1162
01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:50,160
Speaker 2: just started making accommodations for those that we filtered through

1163
01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:55,080
Speaker 2: the hustle process and really needed transportation, we would we

1164
01:00:55,080 --> 01:00:58,800
Speaker 2: would accommodate them and getting their transportation to get them

1165
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:00,960
Speaker 2: over to the office and get them at home. And

1166
01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:05,120
Speaker 2: that really kind of is what builds up the steam

1167
01:01:05,200 --> 01:01:08,440
Speaker 2: to say, yeah, it does help the help because so

1168
01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:11,640
Speaker 2: many people come in and say they didn't know they

1169
01:01:11,680 --> 01:01:14,480
Speaker 2: could get those teeth taken out with their medical. They

1170
01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:18,240
Speaker 2: didn't know that they could get brand new teeth with medical.

1171
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:21,200
Speaker 2: They didn't know they could get their teeth cleaned with medical.

1172
01:01:21,320 --> 01:01:24,160
Speaker 2: They didn't know, they didn't know. They didn't know because

1173
01:01:24,200 --> 01:01:27,920
Speaker 2: everybody that always asks them for money. And the driving

1174
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:32,400
Speaker 2: factor behind that is that most places can accept the

1175
01:01:32,920 --> 01:01:37,440
Speaker 2: unhoused payments that are afforded by the different agencies, but

1176
01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:39,840
Speaker 2: they don't want to because they don't want to deal

1177
01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:44,040
Speaker 2: with that caliber of person. If you will, maybe they

1178
01:01:44,120 --> 01:01:46,520
Speaker 2: don't look like they're used to the other people that

1179
01:01:46,680 --> 01:01:49,080
Speaker 2: look coming down the office, and a lot of times

1180
01:01:49,240 --> 01:01:54,440
Speaker 2: they're minorities. So just in changing that whole scenario is

1181
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:58,160
Speaker 2: just it's just paramount. And again, like I said, you know,

1182
01:01:58,440 --> 01:02:00,480
Speaker 2: up to a certain amount, you know, you don't want

1183
01:02:00,520 --> 01:02:03,520
Speaker 2: to try and bring somebody from San Diego all the

1184
01:02:03,560 --> 01:02:05,800
Speaker 2: way to Long Beach to try to get an extraction.

1185
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:08,720
Speaker 2: But if the people got something going on in their

1186
01:02:08,840 --> 01:02:12,440
Speaker 2: mouths that needs some oral attention and they're a hurdle

1187
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:15,000
Speaker 2: is getting to the office. We'll send them a uber,

1188
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:18,120
Speaker 2: you know, or they can have the guy next door

1189
01:02:18,280 --> 01:02:21,000
Speaker 2: bring them and guarantee them that the dental office will

1190
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:23,760
Speaker 2: pay them. Well, the most I've ever paid about twenty

1191
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:26,240
Speaker 2: six twenty seven dollars, so I will say twenty five dollars.

1192
01:02:26,640 --> 01:02:29,680
Speaker 2: If somebody just had an emergency and nobody else will

1193
01:02:29,720 --> 01:02:31,880
Speaker 2: see them, we can at least get them out of pain,

1194
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:34,200
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. If you're walking around in

1195
01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:39,120
Speaker 2: pain and you dealing with an unhused situation, or in

1196
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:43,720
Speaker 2: between employment situation, or whatever the case, it just don't

1197
01:02:43,760 --> 01:02:46,280
Speaker 2: help for your mouth to be hurt, you know, And

1198
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:48,400
Speaker 2: you think you got something that you could get your

1199
01:02:48,440 --> 01:02:51,600
Speaker 2: mouth fixed, but most people telling you that that ain't enough.

1200
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:55,480
Speaker 2: You need sixty dollars, you need one hundred and nine dollars.

1201
01:02:55,600 --> 01:02:57,360
Speaker 2: People come in there that have gone to some of

1202
01:02:57,440 --> 01:03:00,760
Speaker 2: the larger establishments and tell us some of those stories

1203
01:03:01,560 --> 01:03:03,800
Speaker 2: really sound like they were always running some type of

1204
01:03:03,880 --> 01:03:07,040
Speaker 2: game when they would say that. But now after further investigation,

1205
01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:11,800
Speaker 2: I see that they make it very unencourageable for an

1206
01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:15,160
Speaker 2: individual to fix their mouths. Because if you don't fix

1207
01:03:15,240 --> 01:03:18,000
Speaker 2: your mouth it's the equivalence of not fixing your feet.

1208
01:03:18,600 --> 01:03:20,960
Speaker 2: You're not gonna go very far. It's gonna give you

1209
01:03:21,040 --> 01:03:23,520
Speaker 2: a problem. It's gonna shut you down. Okay, who you are,

1210
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:28,720
Speaker 2: how strong you think you are. If you don't take

1211
01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:31,560
Speaker 2: care of your feet, they gonna let you know it's

1212
01:03:31,640 --> 01:03:33,959
Speaker 2: a problem. Well what do you think about your mouth?

1213
01:03:34,320 --> 01:03:36,240
Speaker 2: And it just makes it hard for you to move around,

1214
01:03:36,240 --> 01:03:38,920
Speaker 2: it hard for you to accomplish your goals if you

1215
01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:42,720
Speaker 2: can't you know, express yourself. So we're just trying to

1216
01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:45,000
Speaker 2: make it as easy as possible. Like I said, for

1217
01:03:45,080 --> 01:03:46,560
Speaker 2: the at least for the point of getting them out

1218
01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:52,240
Speaker 2: of pain, we'll provide a limited transportation means for them

1219
01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:53,960
Speaker 2: to come to the office and get them back to

1220
01:03:54,000 --> 01:03:56,040
Speaker 2: the house to get them out of pain, and then

1221
01:03:56,120 --> 01:03:58,400
Speaker 2: from that point we can part them in the right direction.

1222
01:03:58,520 --> 01:04:01,280
Speaker 2: It's a lot of different age sees that we've partnered

1223
01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:05,439
Speaker 2: with that if they need any type of oral medical care,

1224
01:04:05,920 --> 01:04:08,480
Speaker 2: we directly connected and hooked up with those people for

1225
01:04:08,600 --> 01:04:13,200
Speaker 2: all those special procedures that they might need. Then it's

1226
01:04:13,240 --> 01:04:16,680
Speaker 2: a list of people you just got to know, you know,

1227
01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:19,720
Speaker 2: how to get in touch with those those doctors and

1228
01:04:19,800 --> 01:04:23,080
Speaker 2: those different offices. That will take care of us the

1229
01:04:23,200 --> 01:04:25,040
Speaker 2: way that we need to be taken care of if

1230
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:28,280
Speaker 2: we're un housed or if we're you know, in between places,

1231
01:04:28,480 --> 01:04:30,680
Speaker 2: you know, because that's where it starts at self help,

1232
01:04:30,960 --> 01:04:32,720
Speaker 2: self self health, you.

1233
01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:36,960
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, self health and not always people always believe

1234
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:39,320
Speaker 1: down house people don't want to help. But it's such

1235
01:04:39,360 --> 01:04:43,280
Speaker 1: a laborious and exhausting process. I dare say it's like

1236
01:04:43,480 --> 01:04:47,520
Speaker 1: it's tougher than if it's more work to be unhoused

1237
01:04:47,560 --> 01:04:50,640
Speaker 1: than it is to be employed, because you're always on.

1238
01:04:51,080 --> 01:04:53,360
Speaker 1: There's no such thing that you have a place where

1239
01:04:53,400 --> 01:04:56,840
Speaker 1: you can decompress. You are worried about your next move,

1240
01:04:57,240 --> 01:05:01,400
Speaker 1: your next food, your next shower, x laundry, your next

1241
01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:04,120
Speaker 1: health issue. You pray to God it doesn't be so

1242
01:05:04,320 --> 01:05:09,240
Speaker 1: debilitating that you have to find creative ways or destructive

1243
01:05:09,280 --> 01:05:11,400
Speaker 1: ways in order to cope with those things. But that's

1244
01:05:11,720 --> 01:05:13,880
Speaker 1: a conversation for another time. But the long and short

1245
01:05:13,920 --> 01:05:16,400
Speaker 1: of it is that it is so encouraging to hear

1246
01:05:16,560 --> 01:05:20,080
Speaker 1: these kind of places that have opened up the healing

1247
01:05:20,160 --> 01:05:22,880
Speaker 1: hands and hearts to the end house community and other

1248
01:05:22,920 --> 01:05:26,280
Speaker 1: places in between. Doctor Jackson, do you have anything else

1249
01:05:26,320 --> 01:05:26,760
Speaker 1: you do like that?

1250
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:29,440
Speaker 5: Why don't I say that a lot of my patients

1251
01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:32,760
Speaker 5: they do want to work, yes, but they are embarrassed.

1252
01:05:33,840 --> 01:05:36,080
Speaker 2: In their mouths and I think they don't have any

1253
01:05:36,240 --> 01:05:38,600
Speaker 2: too making them stick.

1254
01:05:39,920 --> 01:05:43,000
Speaker 5: And like I still, once we get their mouths fixed up,

1255
01:05:43,200 --> 01:05:44,960
Speaker 5: they know a lot of them go out and make

1256
01:05:45,000 --> 01:05:45,480
Speaker 5: their job.

1257
01:05:46,040 --> 01:05:50,320
Speaker 2: They end up off of the streets. Really, And we've

1258
01:05:50,400 --> 01:05:53,200
Speaker 2: got four doctors on staffs. We have four doctors and

1259
01:05:54,360 --> 01:05:58,640
Speaker 2: eight staff members otherwise, so we've got large accommodations, a

1260
01:05:58,800 --> 01:06:03,360
Speaker 2: variety of specialist us available to whatever procedure the you know,

1261
01:06:03,640 --> 01:06:06,800
Speaker 2: the people might need. So you know, if it's anything

1262
01:06:06,960 --> 01:06:10,680
Speaker 2: that we can do in the oral hygie area, then

1263
01:06:10,880 --> 01:06:13,080
Speaker 2: give us a call. We'll plunge you in the right direction.

1264
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:15,160
Speaker 2: It don't have to come to the office, but we can.

1265
01:06:15,320 --> 01:06:18,800
Speaker 2: We can refer you to people with their proximity of

1266
01:06:18,920 --> 01:06:22,360
Speaker 2: wherever you are, because we already have had to do

1267
01:06:22,520 --> 01:06:25,840
Speaker 2: that on a lower scale. But everybody don't know to

1268
01:06:25,960 --> 01:06:29,960
Speaker 2: call us to ask how we take medicare in Hollywood,

1269
01:06:30,400 --> 01:06:32,640
Speaker 2: you know, don't know where they're at or on.

1270
01:06:33,680 --> 01:06:36,560
Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much for taking the time to

1271
01:06:36,640 --> 01:06:39,160
Speaker 1: talk with me. I know you guys are busy professionals,

1272
01:06:39,240 --> 01:06:42,040
Speaker 1: but it is so encouraging and so inspirational to hear

1273
01:06:42,080 --> 01:06:46,120
Speaker 1: you guys story and mission and trying to, like I said,

1274
01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:48,400
Speaker 1: make the world a better place than we found it.

1275
01:06:48,640 --> 01:06:50,680
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Deal, We appreciate you, brother.

1276
01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:59,480
Speaker 1: Thanks again to the dentist a lot. If you're in

1277
01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:03,640
Speaker 1: house and need to receive their services, their contact information

1278
01:07:03,880 --> 01:07:08,160
Speaker 1: is in the description of this episode. That's it for

1279
01:07:08,320 --> 01:07:11,600
Speaker 1: this week, and thanks to our listeners again. If you

1280
01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:14,720
Speaker 1: have any suggestions or show topics you'd like to hear about,

1281
01:07:15,040 --> 01:07:18,680
Speaker 1: please reach out to me at www dot edianhouse dot

1282
01:07:18,720 --> 01:07:22,280
Speaker 1: com or by email at Weedianhouse at gmail dot com.

1283
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:26,320
Speaker 1: Until then, keeps sharing the show and maybe again meet

1284
01:07:26,440 --> 01:07:32,600
Speaker 1: in the light of Understanding. William Howes is a production

1285
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:36,600
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. It is written, hosted, and created by me

1286
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:41,800
Speaker 1: Theo Henderson. Our producers are Jamie Loftus, Lyra Smith, and

1287
01:07:41,960 --> 01:07:45,840
Speaker 1: Katie Fischer. Our editor is Adam Wong and our logo

1288
01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:48,840
Speaker 1: artist also by Katie Fisher. Thanks for listening.