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Speaker 1: It's a simple truth that we can't escape. Houselessness is everywhere.

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Speaker 1: It affects over half a million people in the United

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Speaker 1: States alone. We try to make sense out of this tragedy,

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Speaker 1: but it is a senseless endeavor. What I'm going to

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Speaker 1: ask of you is a very tall order. I want

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Speaker 1: you to take what you heard about houselessness and I

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Speaker 1: want you to forget it. Are you still with me? Good?

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Speaker 1: Let us have a conversation. My name is Theo Henderson,

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Speaker 1: hosting creator of Weed in House, and I'm going to

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Speaker 1: take you on a journey in this crisis. Being on

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Speaker 1: house is a twenty four hour job, and my lived

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Speaker 1: experience in houselessness is extensive. I was one of over

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Speaker 1: seventy five thousand people experiencing houselessness on a given night

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Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. Now, contrary to ill informed people, I

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Speaker 1: did not grow up and say gee, I can't wait

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Speaker 1: to live on the streets to encounter societal rejection and violence.

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Speaker 1: I don't fit the stereotypes of what news media, movies,

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Speaker 1: and many house people think of an unhoused person. Most

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Speaker 1: on house people don't. Being on house is so often

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Speaker 1: made out to seem like an individual's fault not the

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Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of systematic failures that have to take

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Speaker 1: place to put someone in that position in the first place.

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Speaker 1: Needless to say, the unhoused are not a monolith. My

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Speaker 1: history as an activist has been difficult but unnecessary journey.

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Speaker 1: I drew inspiration on my role as an activist from

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Speaker 1: this quote from Shirley Chisholm. Activism is my rent for

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Speaker 1: living on this planet, which is kind of ironic, isn't

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Speaker 1: it paying with activism to fight for dignity and empathy

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Speaker 1: in an indifferent world? However, the bill must be paid

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Speaker 1: to foster a better world than I found it. My

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Speaker 1: family has tied in activism, fighting in the Civil Rights

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Speaker 1: era and the reelection of the first black mayor in Chicago,

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Speaker 1: mayor Washington, where I was born and raised. Living in

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Speaker 1: Chicago taught me a lot, and Los Angeles has been

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Speaker 1: an entirely new kind of teacher after I moved here.

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Speaker 1: As I made Los Angeles my home, the motivation to

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Speaker 1: speak out against housing and justice became too great, particularly

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Speaker 1: when I became unhoused myself in twenty nineteen. The house

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Speaker 1: world was in complete obliviousness cowles. People were concerned with

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Speaker 1: the humdrum issues of their lives, that pumpkin spice latte,

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Speaker 1: and most importantly, making sure that they don't see the

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Speaker 1: unhoused person sitting in their neighborhood. But for the unhoused people,

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Speaker 1: hell was being unleashed with the new ordnance that was

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Speaker 1: voted in called forty one eighteen. A word about forty

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Speaker 1: one eighteen is touted as the new Jim Crow of

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles. As you have known that from the history,

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Speaker 1: majority of unhoused people are black and brown community members.

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Speaker 1: And what this does It makes it illegal for unhoused

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Speaker 1: or people to sit, sleep, and lie within five hundred

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Speaker 1: feet of a postage sign that has been posted all

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Speaker 1: over the city by city council members, neighborhood councils, and

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Speaker 1: business improved District owners. In twenty nineteen, most people never

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Speaker 1: heard of a show that was going to be made

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Speaker 1: by an unhoused person for unhoused people. Sure they hear

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Speaker 1: the occasion of New York Times in pr or god

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Speaker 1: forbid Fox News broadcasts, but even the good coverage was

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Speaker 1: always presented by house people for house people about unhoused people.

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Speaker 1: I tried to make an SOS symbol with this podcast

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Speaker 1: hoping to find a knowing year and build alleyship between

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Speaker 1: unhoused people and house people. The disinformation campaign about the

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Speaker 1: Inn House is threatening our will to be compassionate and

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Speaker 1: empathetic to each other. We in House is constantly up

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Speaker 1: against a pernicious belief that houselessness is a moral individual failure.

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Speaker 1: Case in point, I have a friend a friend who

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Speaker 1: is adamant that the unhoused community likes being out there.

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Speaker 1: There's no critical thinking required, just quit uninformed sound bites

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Speaker 1: that has being reinforced by mainstream media. I have always

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Speaker 1: believed that if you can demonize a person, then you

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Speaker 1: can criminalize in I wanted to show how individuals are

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Speaker 1: affect by houselessness, and Weedian House does that. I took

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Speaker 1: a figurative and literal breath and created this from scratch.

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Speaker 1: Living outside, I had to utilize the twos I had available.

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Speaker 1: I used a cheap phone. I edited and released episodes

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Speaker 1: with the help of a couple of friends. I would

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Speaker 1: speak with people about their stories, how city hall policies

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Speaker 1: affected them, how the police disrespected and abused them, and

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Speaker 1: how the young house were mistreated throughout the pandemic. It

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Speaker 1: was all from the expert opinion by the people who

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Speaker 1: are affected. Initially, I expected the show to hit local

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Speaker 1: needs audiences. Imagine my surprise at people reaching out to

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Speaker 1: me from out of state and out of the country

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Speaker 1: who were displaced and unhoused and wished that Weedyan House

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Speaker 1: was a part of their experience in their place of origin.

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Speaker 1: This podcast became the lightning rod for the world's moral consciousness.

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Speaker 1: All of a sudden, the mainstream media outlets that had

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Speaker 1: been treating the unhoused as a monolift for all those

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Speaker 1: years were talking about my show, one that finally centered

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Speaker 1: the community they've been misrepresenting for so long. My medium

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Speaker 1: became a diverse attempt to get the message across. The

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Speaker 1: podcast was always just the beginning, as I moved in

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Speaker 1: these circles of people wanting to hear about the unhoused

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Speaker 1: community and their struggles. I was installed as activist and

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Speaker 1: Residents in UCLA in twenty twenty two as a way

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Speaker 1: to awaken the sympathy and empathy that was so sorely

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Speaker 1: lacking in housed and very affluent communities. Then creating a

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Speaker 1: newspaper that highlighted the struggles of unhoused people and being

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Speaker 1: read by unhoused people in twenty twenty two as well

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Speaker 1: and currently in twenty twenty three my newsletter which highlights

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Speaker 1: the struggles that are beleaguering our communities. We in House

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Speaker 1: as a one man product, was an important job, but

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Speaker 1: an exhausting and really heavy lift. More polished shows did

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Speaker 1: not have to continue with the obstacles that I endured.

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Speaker 1: But I pressevered and now we're relaunching the show with

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Speaker 1: a little more polished but the mission of the show

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Speaker 1: is still the same. So why would lost the show now?

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Speaker 1: Housesness did not go away when I stopped doing We

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Speaker 1: in the House and September of twenty twenty two, it

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Speaker 1: has continued and now has escalated. We have a lot

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Speaker 1: to talk about, we have a lot to explore, and

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Speaker 1: we have a lot to do to change the narrative

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Speaker 1: about houselessness and how we look at our fellow human beings.

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Speaker 1: If I told you that anyone that's in a medical

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Speaker 1: emergency is in risk of being thrown from their home,

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Speaker 1: would you believe it? If I told you that there

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Speaker 1: are over sixty eight thousand unhoused children and the Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles Unified School District, would you be empathetic or dismissive.

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Speaker 1: If I told you that the people who picked the

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Speaker 1: fruits to invest in your refrigerator are unhoused even though

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Speaker 1: they are employed, would you be motivated to speak out

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Speaker 1: against this and justice. This is the crux of my show,

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Speaker 1: getting you informed so we can do something about it.

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Speaker 1: The show deals with all aspects of houselessness, not just

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Speaker 1: the obvious unhoused encampments. We the in House will break

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Speaker 1: down terms such as agency and laguage such as nimbies

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Speaker 1: in what they mean to our community, and in every

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Speaker 1: episode will spotlight unhoused news which is crucial to the

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Speaker 1: unhoused community. My goal is to consolidate all things in

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Speaker 1: housed here, educate the community who would be unaware of

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Speaker 1: the nuances of houselessness, and motivate people to do something

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Speaker 1: about this humanitarian crisis. Before we delve deep into this topic,

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Speaker 1: I want you to get to dobing my story sent

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Speaker 1: into houselessness and how I navigated it, through it and

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Speaker 1: out of it. So we're bringing in a good friend

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Speaker 1: of mine at podcaster and her own right, bey, honey,

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Speaker 1: And that's what's up next on Weedia House.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, Hello, it is another beautiful day out here.

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Speaker 2: In La, Hollywood, California, to be exact, and I am

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Speaker 2: interviewing an advocate for the homeless in LA. Somebody that

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Speaker 2: is making a lot of big moves, somebody that is

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Speaker 2: really out here doing things to really change the trajectory

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Speaker 2: of LA and the homelessness because we do have a

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Speaker 2: high homeless rate. So I would like to interview this

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Speaker 2: amazing man over here, the man with the plan. So

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Speaker 2: I'm going to have him actually say his name and

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Speaker 2: state what he's been doing and how long he's been

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Speaker 2: in this business.

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Speaker 1: Well, every time I hear someone introduce me, and I

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Speaker 1: guess I have to thank you, Bey Honey for introducing

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Speaker 1: me so warmly. I always think it's someone else to

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Speaker 1: talking about somebody's really something extraordinary individual, But I'll take

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Speaker 1: the compliment. My name is Theo Henderson. Behaney has been

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Speaker 1: kind enough to interview me as a guest on my

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Speaker 1: Median House show. I'm going to let BEHNEI ask me

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Speaker 1: some questions and you know, we're just going to have

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Speaker 1: a conversation, just talk about some of this stuff in

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Speaker 1: my life that how I got to this point.

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Speaker 2: Yes, let's have that conversation and let's have a real

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Speaker 2: conversation because a lot of people like to sugarcoat, especially

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Speaker 2: when they've been through things, they kind of like to

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Speaker 2: skip over. So what we're going to do is we're

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Speaker 2: going to get into detail about it. So when did

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Speaker 2: you first experience homelessness?

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Speaker 1: When I experienced houselessness or homelessness because I used the

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Speaker 1: monocule or the agency houselessness and unhoused, And it's okay

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Speaker 1: that some people use homelessness and things like that. That's

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Speaker 1: not that's not deters me. When I truly was delving

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Speaker 1: into houselessness, I had spent short amount of times on

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Speaker 1: house and I able to get out because I had

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Speaker 1: the financial wherewithal I had support. But when I consider

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Speaker 1: the true time when I became in house is when

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Speaker 1: I had a deep medical emergency that relied me to

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Speaker 1: be hospitalized for several months, requiring me physical therapy, occupational therapy,

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Speaker 1: and things of that nature, while living in an apartment

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Speaker 1: during the Great Recession, and unable to pay the rent

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Speaker 1: in order for me to make sure that I get

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Speaker 1: all of the medical treatment that I needed. At the time,

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Speaker 1: I was an educator, and I don't know if you know,

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Speaker 1: educators do not make a lot of money they do not,

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Speaker 1: so the struggle is really real. I'm telling you, Yah,

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Speaker 1: It's like I didn't have a wife, I didn't have

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Speaker 1: any kids to come and look in on me, and

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Speaker 1: I had siblings that had financial and family responsibilities that

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Speaker 1: theyselves had to take care of. So I didn't have

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Speaker 1: that kind of cushion that would be able to get

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Speaker 1: me on my feet that I needed to. And I

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Speaker 1: am a diabetic and I am ashamed to say that

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Speaker 1: when I was diagnosed with diabetes earlier on in my career,

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Speaker 1: in my life, I did not expect to get into

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Speaker 1: ambdical emergency at a young age, and I did not

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Speaker 1: take care of myself. I was stressed out a lot.

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Speaker 1: I stressed eight by insulin level was off. To change

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Speaker 1: my sugar level with it was ridiculous. And at the time,

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Speaker 1: I'm ashamed to say that average meal for me when

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Speaker 1: I would go into a class early to prepare the

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Speaker 1: lesson plans or prepare the class was a dozen donuts.

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Speaker 1: I know, it's Craig, A dozen, Yes, a dozen donuts.

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Speaker 1: I would for lunch have a two liter Coca Cola

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Speaker 1: and I would eat like a half a bucket of chicken.

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Speaker 1: And if I you know, like again I stressed. Eat

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Speaker 1: when I'm stressing, I'm more depressing. I would uh, and

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Speaker 1: I'd embarrassed to say I would eat a whole large

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Speaker 1: Dominoes pizza with top of the wings or those Yeah. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So I was eating and my doctors was warning me, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is not good eating, and you know,

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Speaker 1: and they were watching, and I would always promise. And

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Speaker 1: I have to say, it's very difficult to keep my

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Speaker 1: way down and stay healthy, but I always promised I

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Speaker 1: was curb off of it, and I was to take

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Speaker 1: a day or two not to eat it, and then

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Speaker 1: I will come back with avengance and then a dozen

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Speaker 1: and a half of donuts or those kind of things.

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Speaker 1: And that kind of bad eating caught up with me

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Speaker 1: because I was stressed a lot and dealing with the

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Speaker 1: students and challenges of teaching and things like that. And

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Speaker 1: I had a medical emergency and I went into a

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Speaker 1: coma and I had a minor stroke. So I had

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Speaker 1: to do a long, difficult road of recovery. I still

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Speaker 1: marvel how I did it, but the fact is that

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Speaker 1: it was. It was like I still, if you listen,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you can hear when I slur words because of

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Speaker 1: the after effects of the stroke, because or if I

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Speaker 1: stuttered someone's other words, that's because of that. But I

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Speaker 1: had to do a lot of speech therapy to just

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Speaker 1: not sound like when I was trying to look work

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Speaker 1: like I was inebriated. Because when I did try to

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Speaker 1: find jobs, people thought I was on substances or it

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Speaker 1: looked like I was stumbling because I didn't have the

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Speaker 1: balance like I used to. Yeah, So those realities that

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Speaker 1: when I really opened my eyes to the fears of

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Speaker 1: living out in the street, how was I going to

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Speaker 1: survive living in that new reality? And it was a

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Speaker 1: new reality. It's one thing to be able bodied and

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Speaker 1: living on the street, but it's another damn thing to

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Speaker 1: be disabled and living on the street. That's a whole

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Speaker 1: new fear. You know, you can't defend yourself. There are

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Speaker 1: times that I didn't really be able to defend myself

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Speaker 1: adequately because you know, my reflex time is not what

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Speaker 1: it is, you know. I mean, you know, if someone

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Speaker 1: jumps off or acts crazy, you be able to you know,

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Speaker 1: be able to run or defend yourself or something. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but with that disability, that really put you in

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Speaker 2: a position to where you were kind of not even

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Speaker 2: kind of you were helpless. You really were out there,

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Speaker 2: and like you know, people are not the nicest towards

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Speaker 2: people that do not have housing. People are not the nicest.

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Speaker 2: There are people that literally will get drunk, take out

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Speaker 2: there anger. I've had. I've had people that I follow

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Speaker 2: that live, you know, that do not have housing, and

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Speaker 2: they have literally had people drunk people come and try

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Speaker 2: to fight them, throw bottles at them and things like that.

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Speaker 2: It's very dangerous and people don't understand. People are very

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Speaker 2: insensitive towards it because I feel like that could be anybody.

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Speaker 2: It could be one medical emergency, it could be one

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Speaker 2: pay check, it could be literally one thing that will

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Speaker 2: just set everything off into a snowball effect that could

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Speaker 2: put you in that position. So it's not that all

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Speaker 2: people without housing are lazy and don't want to work

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Speaker 2: or on drugs. Sometimes it's just hard times, and especially

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Speaker 2: with the pandemic that's happened and the recession that's happened.

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Speaker 2: I mean, let's be honest, if you were born anywhere

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Speaker 2: from nineteen seventy and to like nineteen ninety, you survived

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Speaker 2: a recession, You survived the COVID nineteen which we're still

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Speaker 2: having after effects of that. So we're still everybody hurting

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Speaker 2: right now. Everybody's pocket is hurting, even the big companies

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Speaker 2: pockets are hurting. So right for somebody to be without

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Speaker 2: housing because I don't want to say homelessness, because I

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Speaker 2: don't want to offend anybody, but without housing, because anybody

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Speaker 2: could be in that position. I was in that position.

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Speaker 2: Won't wait, We'll get into that a little later. But

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Speaker 2: some people are embarrassed to say, hey, I did not

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Speaker 2: have a home and to be able to say you

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Speaker 2: were disabled, yeah, while living in that So what type

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Speaker 2: of challenges? What type of violence did you face going

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Speaker 2: through that?

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Speaker 1: Thank you for saying that, because you've hit on a

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Speaker 1: really clear topic And it took me many years to

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Speaker 1: come to terms with my disability. I because so many

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Speaker 1: people do not know that I'm disabled because I present

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Speaker 1: as a I'm not trying to brag. I present as

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Speaker 1: I can speak well, I've educated, of course, I'm educated

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Speaker 1: at yeah, my undergraduate and master's. But the fact of

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Speaker 1: it is is that I still had disabilities before I

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Speaker 1: became on house. But it's that when I became unhoused

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Speaker 1: and the violence that I had. When you mentioned like

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Speaker 1: there was a time when I was living near in

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Speaker 1: little Tokyo and right across the street you was this

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Speaker 1: bar and three people inebriated came and you know, as

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Speaker 1: people don't understand, they always blame unhouse people as attacking

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Speaker 1: house people, but you could be just mining your business

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Speaker 1: and going to sleep like I was, and they thought

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Speaker 1: it was funny to start throwing And it's hard to

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Speaker 1: attack and kick and attack me now, mind you, I'm

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Speaker 1: still recovering in order for me to live and try

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Speaker 1: to get back myself back on my feet. But these

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Speaker 1: were three able bodied people attacking me for the simple

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Speaker 1: fact that there was no one around. I was on house.

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Speaker 1: I was not going to be believed, and they could

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Speaker 1: have been able to do what they wanted to do,

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Speaker 1: and they could disappear into the night. And if it

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Speaker 1: wasn't for me having a weapon of myself, I was

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Speaker 1: able to scare them enough to get them to run

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Speaker 1: off because they did not know that I was away.

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Speaker 1: The second event that I had was I was stabbed

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Speaker 1: five years ago out in a park where I was

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Speaker 1: living at and someone was trying to steal my belongings.

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Speaker 1: And I tried the same kind of wolf tickets. As

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Speaker 1: we say in Chicago, we used to sell wolf tickets,

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Speaker 1: and that's dating myself. But when we say in the

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Speaker 1: hood about we're selling wolf tickets is like we're the

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Speaker 1: big bat wolf and we're gonna blow down your house,

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Speaker 1: and you usually run and leave. But you know, some

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Speaker 1: people don't buy those wolf tickets and they just you know, okay, fine.

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Speaker 1: And I engaged into a very ten to fifteen minute

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Speaker 1: life and death struggle where a guy was trying to

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Speaker 1: stab and kill me. I eventually stabbed me, and I

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Speaker 1: had some after effects of that. I had to have

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Speaker 1: my part of my colon remove, I had to have

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Speaker 1: some of my intestine. I had to have some part

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Speaker 1: of my intestine state a state put on. There's different

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Speaker 1: after effects, like, for example, I feel it enduring colder weather.

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Speaker 1: I feel that when I move, I can always feel

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Speaker 1: with the attached where I was stabbed at. And then

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Speaker 1: I have these long, disgusting scars and this is going

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Speaker 1: to follow me into until the lights come off in

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Speaker 1: my life or I have to live with those new

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Speaker 1: realities and news dis disabilities. I can't eat certain foods

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Speaker 1: because it would cause my stomach to become upset and

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Speaker 1: it helped me realize how precarious it is to live

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Speaker 1: out on the street. To be on house is that

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Speaker 1: you're putting literally your life in hand for house people

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Speaker 1: to abuse it and to you did not really get

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Speaker 1: any justice on.

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Speaker 2: It, yes, and I understand where that's coming from, because

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Speaker 2: there are people that will really they see you as

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Speaker 2: a target, especially being a person of color out on

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Speaker 2: the streets. They really do see you as a target.

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Speaker 2: And as far as you touched on a topic like

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Speaker 2: if you did not have that weapon with you, you know,

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Speaker 2: it probably would have been your life. And I've been

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Speaker 2: in situations like that to where I'm going to share

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Speaker 2: a little bit of mine. I experienced a brief homelessness

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Speaker 2: back in two thousand and fourteen, twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 2: and I had left a situation where it was not

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Speaker 2: in my best interest safety wise, And you know, I

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Speaker 2: was in my car. I had nothing but my little

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Speaker 2: Chevy Malibu, and I was going all the way from Louisiana,

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Speaker 2: all the way to Las Vegas, you know, to go

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Speaker 2: see my family because I didn't have anywhere else to go.

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Speaker 2: I didn't have money for a hotel, I didn't have

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Speaker 2: money for anything. So I was sleeping in my car.

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Speaker 2: I was sleeping at truck stops. And I don't know

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Speaker 2: if you guys know them. Truckers are either very thirsty

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Speaker 2: and you know they think that you're a lot lizard

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Speaker 2: when you're attractive female. There was a time where I

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Speaker 2: was sleeping in my car at a gas station. I

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Speaker 2: stopped sleeping a gas I started sleeping in like grocery store,

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Speaker 2: parking lot and stuff like that, but with like the

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Speaker 2: lights and stuff. But I slept one time at a

359
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Speaker 2: gas station and I had went in to go go

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Speaker 2: use the restroom, go wash up because you know, had

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Speaker 2: a little wash up things, did my little wash up,

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Speaker 2: grab some snacks, and sat in my car. I'll sleep

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Speaker 2: in my car. One of the truckers had seen me

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Speaker 2: from inside and decided that he wanted to try to,

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Speaker 2: you know, right, make his move, make his move. But

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Speaker 2: I'm Caribbean, so you know, had that thing on me.

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Speaker 2: You know, he backed away. But if I wouldn't have

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Speaker 2: had that on me, if I wouldn't have protected myself,

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Speaker 2: I probably could have been in a situation where I was,

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Speaker 2: you know, essayed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, as you point out a very real

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Speaker 1: reality for women that are out here on the streets.

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Speaker 1: They face another layer of houselessness that I do not face.

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Speaker 1: And so they do definitely face the reality of that

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Speaker 1: kind of assault, that fear. They having to keep their

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Speaker 1: eyes open and they have to make sure that the

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Speaker 1: intent of the gentleman or why I won't say gentlemen

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Speaker 1: or the miscreants do not take advantage of them. So,

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Speaker 1: you're right, it's a very different reality, and which is

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Speaker 1: why houselessness. It's a layered onion. It's not just one

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Speaker 1: plaque and white thing that people don't want to work

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Speaker 1: or they like being out there. Yeah, we're going to

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Speaker 1: take a break and we will be right back. We're back.

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Speaker 2: Most people that are out there don't want to be

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Speaker 2: out there, but you know, it is some people that

386
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Speaker 2: are out there by choice. Unfortunately, I have family that

387
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Speaker 2: has been out there for years. I have a cousin

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Speaker 2: since I was like twelve years old. I'm churty one now,

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Speaker 2: so I was twelve years old. She'd been on the streets.

390
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Speaker 2: She don't want to leave the street. She liked the streets.

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Speaker 2: But most of the people that I've met outside of

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Speaker 2: that don't want to be in that position. They don't

393
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Speaker 2: want to it's just circumstance, And honestly, I'm just grateful

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Speaker 2: because it really puts the perspective of what you take

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Speaker 2: for granted.

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Speaker 1: Also, I want to point out too, because I do

397
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Speaker 1: know a few people that have explained to me why

398
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Speaker 1: they like to be out on the street. And one

399
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Speaker 1: of the things that I do like to offer is

400
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Speaker 1: because initially they did not, but because of them having

401
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Speaker 1: their hopes dashed a lot, or they having such a

402
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Speaker 1: severe trauma. Like of the woman that her husband was

403
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Speaker 1: looking for her and she tried to get on her feet,

404
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,280
Speaker 1: and she would go into the domestic shelters and he

405
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,040
Speaker 1: would always for find her, and it calls her to

406
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:15,240
Speaker 1: delve deeper into her substance usage drinking, and so she

407
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 1: felt that the easiest way that he won't find her

408
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 1: is just to stay on the street, because she can

409
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,400
Speaker 1: always leave a different area of the corner. But if

410
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Speaker 1: you're staying at a stationary domestic place or mesic shelter

411
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Speaker 1: and you come out, then he's laying in wait for

412
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Speaker 1: her and the kids, or taken the kids or whatever.

413
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Speaker 1: It's a little bit different. So a lot of times

414
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Speaker 1: that people that are out here, they have resigned themselves

415
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Speaker 1: like The Gentleman where his wife was dealing with terminal

416
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Speaker 1: cancer and he just basically just gave up his will

417
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Speaker 1: to live and he wants to live on the street

418
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Speaker 1: because his wife is gone. Those kinds of conversations are

419
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Speaker 1: not always delved into or a bored because this is

420
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Speaker 1: why you know, he lived literally he was super across

421
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,359
Speaker 1: the street from the building where and his wild wife

422
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 1: were together. He took all his savings and tried to

423
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Speaker 1: save her life. She passed away. He couldn't support the

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Speaker 1: stay in the building, so now he lives out across

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Speaker 1: the street. I mean. And these kind of stories never

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Speaker 1: get told by mainstream media. It always the beginning and

427
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 1: end his personal responsibility. People like to be on the street,

428
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Speaker 1: or they have mentally ill or their substance uses, and

429
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Speaker 1: that's the end of it.

430
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Speaker 2: But there's so many.

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Speaker 1: Layers exactly, which is why I'm so glad that you

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Speaker 1: came in to talk on it, because there is so

433
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 1: much of the conversation that I want to have and

434
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,360
Speaker 1: the show, and this show is so important for us

435
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 1: to explore it even further. There's so many facets of houselessness.

436
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,239
Speaker 2: Now, I'm just grateful that you even are speaking on

437
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,119
Speaker 2: this and you're giving it a platform because there are

438
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:49,879
Speaker 2: so many stories that are untold, so many stories to

439
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,879
Speaker 2: where it's like you never know what somebody's circumstance is,

440
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 2: So before you judge somebody for their circumstance or what

441
00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,439
Speaker 2: you see on the outside, really like, have you had

442
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,440
Speaker 2: a conversation with that person? Do you know how they

443
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 2: got to that position, because you never know? And honestly,

444
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,679
Speaker 2: I want to dig into when did you start doing

445
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 2: advocate work for the houses?

446
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I really I looked on like

447
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 1: my family members that did the advocacy kind of thing,

448
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,119
Speaker 1: and I listened to Yes, you've probably grown up in

449
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 1: the families in the black community too. You've heard the

450
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: stories about the civil rights. Yes, you've seen about Emmit Well.

451
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: I grew up in a time where they would show

452
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 1: about MBTIL. I literally was educated about imatil. And then

453
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 1: I listened to a lot of the historical references. I

454
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: lived in Chicago when the first black mayor was. I

455
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,679
Speaker 1: saw the election and the challenges that my parents were

456
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 1: going out there getting people activated into the community. Having

457
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: these like my mother used to got rest the soul.

458
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,280
Speaker 1: Have these I'm going to date myself tupperware parties, and

459
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know my mom and them, yes,

460
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: that is if you If it was especially it was

461
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,639
Speaker 1: like the church wars would have this big thing. I

462
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 1: can see it now. My mother would get these candy

463
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 1: corn and the peanuts and make this little mixed thing

464
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 1: and she would make this like this tuna salad, and

465
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 1: then she would make she would make this whole of

466
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,920
Speaker 1: a fried chicken. She would make the whole big thing,

467
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,800
Speaker 1: this big kool aid punch of kool aid and things

468
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 1: like that, and the ladies would come in with tupperware

469
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,359
Speaker 1: pots and bands and things. They were organized, but they

470
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,360
Speaker 1: were gossip and of course I was always ear hustling

471
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: and learning how they were doing organizing things. They were

472
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 1: talking about the church that they would go to on

473
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,639
Speaker 1: the other side of the west side, and there's members,

474
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: how they get them to come to speak, about getting

475
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: new school books in the areas that they were in,

476
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: how they were looking to support each other, how they

477
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,440
Speaker 1: were looking to raise money because somebody's kid they didn't

478
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: get their food stamps or something. They wanted to put

479
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 1: money together so the kid could go to a school

480
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 1: trip and not feel left out. And I mean those

481
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: small things that I look at and listen to, like, oh,

482
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 1: that really was organizing in their way and without black women.

483
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 1: Is particularly in the civil rights and in the activism,

484
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: where the movement would never have moved to the great

485
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,239
Speaker 1: limbs and heights that they have. There's no way around it,

486
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:18,360
Speaker 1: because they just had an innate understanding how to broker

487
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,679
Speaker 1: relationships with people that were may not be in the

488
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 1: same having the same issues, but they always kind of

489
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 1: was able to connect or use the connective tissue to

490
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: unify people to go and fight for the same cause.

491
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 1: Like for example, there was a lot of teacher strikes,

492
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 1: there was a lot of parent things going on that

493
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,439
Speaker 1: they would get together and to consolidate to speak on

494
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: to really improve the lot for all of the children

495
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 1: at that time, or the people that they need, like

496
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 1: the slumlords forcing them to put on turn on the

497
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,000
Speaker 1: heat during a cold spell, on those things. So when

498
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: I look back on that and it was like almost

499
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: my organic DNA to get into activism. I didn't figure

500
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,879
Speaker 1: a way to really get into activism until I learned

501
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,359
Speaker 1: from my own experience, but also to start talking to

502
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 1: other unhoused people and looking at like you said, getting

503
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 1: to hear their stories, like the gentleman with his dying

504
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 1: wife or the youth that like there was a story

505
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,680
Speaker 1: that really really affected me, and I never really got

506
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 1: to talk to them. But there's two brother there was

507
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: a brother and sister. They were crying unconsolably, and they

508
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,120
Speaker 1: came to the park that we're in, and we didn't

509
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,320
Speaker 1: and we didn't know what was going on. We knew

510
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 1: they were young, and we knew that they were not

511
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 1: on house at the time, so we said, you know,

512
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: why are you out here? And their parents were killed

513
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,719
Speaker 1: in a car accident and they had nobody else and

514
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: they were afraid that they were going to be separated

515
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: by the state, and they didn't know what to do,

516
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: so they just ran away. And those kind of stories

517
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: resonate and stays with me and really says, you know,

518
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: I'm really tired of having close friends of mine say

519
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: that unhoused people like to be in out here. They've

520
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: been on crack. They they have every destructive and most

521
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: vile reason, yeah, stereotypes to use to justify that callousness

522
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 1: or dismissiveness of a very delicate and nuanced and layered conversation.

523
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: So I initially before I got into doing podcasting. Was

524
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,240
Speaker 1: going to write a book about my own living experience,

525
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 1: but then I started hearing about the advent of podcasting.

526
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 1: I was on a podcasting show. It was suggested I

527
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 1: did one, and I took it from there. I created

528
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: my podcast literally living on the street. At the end

529
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 1: of the night I did my episode, I would sleep

530
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 1: down in the sleep down, bed down in the park,

531
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: get up in the morning, go and do my research,

532
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 1: go to the library, or go to another encampment somewhere else,

533
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 1: or have someone drive me to another place. Where encampments

534
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 1: was to get to know people, and for the most part,

535
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:54,000
Speaker 1: the most shopped people and really more warm of the

536
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 1: warmness of people were unhoused people. They wanted people to

537
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,200
Speaker 1: know that they were more than the stereotype exact and

538
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: that really gave me the fire to motivation to continue

539
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: to do that.

540
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 2: And honestly, I want to give you your flowers because

541
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 2: of the fact that you had that determination, because listening

542
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,320
Speaker 2: to your story, there should be no excuse for anybody else.

543
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,520
Speaker 2: You are disabled, houseless, and you managed to get yourself

544
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,000
Speaker 2: up out of that, and you managed to create a

545
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 2: podcast speaking on your story in other people's stories and

546
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 2: reaching out to health the community, even when you didn't

547
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 2: have it yourself, you reached out to help. So for

548
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 2: anybody that's out there looking for motivation to get up

549
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 2: off your you know what, please listen to this. Please

550
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,160
Speaker 2: listen to this man, because it takes determination, especially in

551
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 2: a state like that. You could have easily just been

552
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,479
Speaker 2: depressed and gave up. You could have easily gave up,

553
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 2: but you didn't. And another thing you touched on which

554
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 2: I really appreciate was when you were talking about your

555
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 2: mother at the tubbleware parts and how they all came

556
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 2: together and make sure that, you know, make sure another

557
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 2: child that wasn't even there was straight made sure that

558
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 2: that child had everything they need could not feel excluded.

559
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 2: And I feel like that's what we're missing right now

560
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 2: in the community in general, but especially in the community

561
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 2: of black people and people of color, because we really

562
00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 2: don't have that togetherness anymore. It's just more like crabs

563
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,680
Speaker 2: in a bucket, Like it's kind of like even if

564
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 2: I could and there's and here's the thing, there is

565
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 2: more than enough for everybody to eat. But for some reason,

566
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 2: we have been placed in this scarcity mindset to where

567
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 2: it's like if this person wins, that means I can't win.

568
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 2: But that's not true. We got we gotta lift each

569
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 2: other up and breaking the next person down and neglect

570
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:45,720
Speaker 2: gatekeeping from the next person is not going to assure

571
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 2: that you get what you get. That's not gonna take

572
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,240
Speaker 2: away from you if they win. I feel like if

573
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 2: I can say, God has specific things for specific people,

574
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 2: So it might not be your time yet, it might

575
00:31:58,080 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 2: not be your time to shine, it might not be

576
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 2: that might not be what God wants for you. But

577
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: everybody can eat.

578
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:05,360
Speaker 1: I have to say I have to agree with because

579
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 1: you're I needed to pass the collection plate. But the point,

580
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 1: but the boy, what I wanted to say too, is

581
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: that it is true that I created this podcast, but

582
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: it took me a long time. I had to go

583
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 1: through my time and the wilderness as well to find

584
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,320
Speaker 1: what my purpose was because I had to deal with

585
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 1: the embarrassment and had to deal with the judgment of

586
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: people that did not know my story. And which is

587
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 1: why I get on those type of individuals, because the

588
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 1: power of life and death is in the power of

589
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 1: the tongue. And when you do those things and when

590
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: you make those snap judgments about people and you demonize

591
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,239
Speaker 1: individual because they are dealing with systemic things. This is

592
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 1: not a personal failure. These things happens to people all

593
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 1: the time that just want the best for themselves in lives,

594
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 1: in their life, and it just happens. And what we

595
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 1: do is a community like what you touch on, and

596
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,640
Speaker 1: we have left that we don't have have that same

597
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 1: empathy that is needed. But when I look at a

598
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 1: person like Inty, another housed individual that does a mutual

599
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,240
Speaker 1: aid every Thursday, getting to know the community and feeding

600
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 1: food and secure people that are living in houses and

601
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: they cannot afford the food because the rents are expensive,

602
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 1: this is the type of kind of fabric that we

603
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 1: need in our community.

604
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 2: Yes, oh, especially in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a cold, cold,

605
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 2: cold city. Yes, absolutely absolutely, and honestly, wo man, my

606
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,200
Speaker 2: heart really goes out to those that are unhoused right

607
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 2: now because I've been in that position. You've been in

608
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 2: that position at one point, You're gonna be in a

609
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,920
Speaker 2: similar position, which is why it pays to have compassion.

610
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,040
Speaker 2: It pays to have compassion. So next time you guys

611
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 2: see somebody that's on the streets or oh my goodness,

612
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 2: I had an experience where I actually broke down a

613
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 2: cried in my car. I had just moved to La

614
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 2: It was like during the pandemic, and and you know,

615
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 2: I was literally one check away from being you know,

616
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 2: on the streets with my daughter because the person that

617
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,160
Speaker 2: I was with at the time, he wasn't working. He

618
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 2: was doing extracurriculus. Let's say that he was doing extracurriculum.

619
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 2: So it was just me holding everything down. So it

620
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 2: was literally if I hadn't got that one check like

621
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 2: that when to work that night and got that one check,

622
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,399
Speaker 2: we would have been out on the streets. And kind

623
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 2: of was just like by the grace of God, because

624
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,400
Speaker 2: I literally was driving down the street right after I

625
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 2: paid my rent and I seen this woman, she like

626
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 2: she was my age. She had a little girl with her.

627
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:34,879
Speaker 2: You know, I had my little girl. Little girl looked

628
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:36,800
Speaker 2: around the same age. And then she had another little

629
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 2: girl in a stroller. And she has said, just got evicted.

630
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:46,040
Speaker 2: This is during the pandemic. Just got evicted, need money

631
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,880
Speaker 2: for a hotel to stay. And I had just so

632
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 2: happened to have, like I say, like twenty extra dollars

633
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,400
Speaker 2: in my pocket. But it just it brought me to tears.

634
00:34:55,440 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 2: Because it was like that could have been me. So

635
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 2: I gave her like twenty dollars and I gave her

636
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 2: some snacks in my car and I talked to her

637
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 2: for a little bit and it was just like She's like,

638
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:07,879
Speaker 2: I was just one check short. I was just one

639
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 2: check short. And it's literally people don't understand how close

640
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 2: you can be to that. Regardless of where you come from,

641
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:18,439
Speaker 2: there are people that were superstars, ball players that were

642
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 2: freaking celebrities or CEOs that have been brought down. So

643
00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 2: it always pays to be humble. So I want you

644
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,840
Speaker 2: to kind of touch on what is it that exactly

645
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 2: you do? What services do you offer for people?

646
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 1: They're a couple of things. Someone asked me this question,

647
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: and I'm going to answer yours. Intertwined with this question

648
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,360
Speaker 1: is that what do you want your legacy to be.

649
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 1: I have been very proud of creating with you in house,

650
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 1: but one of the things that I want to be

651
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:54,280
Speaker 1: remembered for is creating a platform where unhoused people's voices

652
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:58,759
Speaker 1: are heard. And it was a groundswell of empathy that

653
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: followed afterwards, people who were motivated to do something. The

654
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 1: second thing that I do and I do this constantly.

655
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:12,440
Speaker 1: There's an African saying that people died twice the physical

656
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 1: death and when no one speaks to person's name. There

657
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,799
Speaker 1: was one woman that was embarrassed that she found out

658
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 1: her father was on house. She had no idea, and

659
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 1: the shelter called to come collect this stuff, and so

660
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,560
Speaker 1: she had to go down this rabbit hole because he

661
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,279
Speaker 1: and her mother, you know, she's working, she's with her

662
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:32,719
Speaker 1: I don't know she was married at the time, but

663
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 1: she had a kid. You know, she's going through the

664
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 1: regular life, you know, just thinking about that, and she's

665
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 1: got to come to terms with finding out her father

666
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,760
Speaker 1: was in house and learning and going backtracking and finding

667
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,479
Speaker 1: out where did things go wrong. She remembered that there

668
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 1: was a rocky marriage between him and his mother mother,

669
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,880
Speaker 1: but she didn't understand the challenges and the deaths that

670
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,760
Speaker 1: he went through to be in house and the level

671
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,839
Speaker 1: of efforty high hid from it because they were in

672
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: contact with each other. Of course, he never said, oh,

673
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:03,680
Speaker 1: by the way, darling, I'm on house. I can you know?

674
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,800
Speaker 1: Or can I stay with you until I get on

675
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,720
Speaker 1: my feet? And that was never a conversation. And there

676
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 1: is like the guilt involved or the family member. There

677
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 1: was a gentleman that had a favorite uncle and the

678
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 1: family threw him out because he had a mental breakdown

679
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 1: and they never really conversated on why he's not at

680
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 1: the family gatherings, and he's finding out that he passed

681
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,960
Speaker 1: away because he was out on the street for untreated

682
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 1: mental health issues. So these kind of stories people house

683
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 1: and un house would reach out to me because the

684
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 1: stigma we have so often about houselessness is sold by

685
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 1: mainstream media by people that have like snap judgments, and

686
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:48,399
Speaker 1: people that you say these things too, are feeling either

687
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 1: guilty or they in order for them not to be judged,

688
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 1: they won't even mention it or don't even want to

689
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,680
Speaker 1: talk about that goat family members in our house because

690
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:57,920
Speaker 1: you know they don't want to be looked on like

691
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: you know you your problem, or you know you may

692
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,760
Speaker 1: become on house, or you know your family is damaged

693
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,239
Speaker 1: goods and things like that. So, like I said, the

694
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:07,920
Speaker 1: power of life and death is in the power of

695
00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,720
Speaker 1: the tongue. But those ripple effects when you throw those

696
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,520
Speaker 1: harsh stereotypes about unhoused people. One of the things too,

697
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a quick detour is like when

698
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: you see people out here in the heat wave, we

699
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,040
Speaker 1: can go into an air conditioned room. But if unhouse

700
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 1: people deal with most of the environmental injustice environmental issues,

701
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 1: if you are sleep deprived and you're having to stay

702
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: up all night to make sure your things are not

703
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,360
Speaker 1: taking or harassed by house people and things, your behavior

704
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:37,680
Speaker 1: is not going to be as lucid. And it doesn't

705
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 1: always mean that they're mentally ill. They may be having

706
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:45,399
Speaker 1: a reaction CCSD sleep deprivation is real, or they're being

707
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 1: dumped by hospitals they haven't been able to be treated

708
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 1: for the medication because there's a lot of hospital dumping

709
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 1: going on. And so it's more than just what people

710
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: just make the snap judgment or when you see unhoused

711
00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 1: people and I just wish if there's anything to be

712
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:04,000
Speaker 1: remember is this podcast as well as that and the

713
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,960
Speaker 1: mutual aid I do every Saturday with Jaytown Action and

714
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:11,640
Speaker 1: Solidarity and helping providing charging services for unhoused people's phones,

715
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: harm reduction supplies, clothing, food, different things for unhoused people

716
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: that basically charities thats only touch on, but we need

717
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 1: a lot of that type of empathy, empathetic kind of

718
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,839
Speaker 1: services instead of just thinking one institution does all of it,

719
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:31,560
Speaker 1: which some formed people believe in.

720
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 2: So'm sorry, I got I'm getting a little emotional because

721
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 2: it's like when you touched on that, most people are

722
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 2: very embarrassed. Most people are very embarrassed to be in

723
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:47,920
Speaker 2: that situation. I know I was when I experienced it.

724
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,320
Speaker 2: I didn't actually say it until our interview. Nobody knew

725
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:53,920
Speaker 2: because it was just like I was so embarrassed, but

726
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 2: it just it really touched on it, because it just.

727
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:02,360
Speaker 1: What was your most embarrassing time, because I have mine

728
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,560
Speaker 1: was like when I'm not able to get to the

729
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: showers in time, or I had to plan to go

730
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,400
Speaker 1: to the doctor and I couldn't get to the places

731
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:11,359
Speaker 1: that had the showers because there's a big, long line,

732
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:13,600
Speaker 1: and so I knew I was going to end up

733
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 1: not smelling as fresh as I would like, and I

734
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 1: having to encounter go on to public transportation and it

735
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 1: gets hot, then you got to like trying to navigate

736
00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,239
Speaker 1: run to a bathroom, but then there's the public bathrooms.

737
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,720
Speaker 1: And so that was my embarrassing saying what would be yours?

738
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:35,000
Speaker 2: Mine was when my only shelter of my car actually

739
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 2: was almost totaled.

740
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 1: Oh no, on the.

741
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:44,200
Speaker 2: Way too Las Vegas. I ended up. It was in February,

742
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 2: so it was a February. I was in Decatur, Texas,

743
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 2: and people in Texas don't really know how to drive,

744
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:50,879
Speaker 2: and there's a lot of black ice in Texas. So

745
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 2: I was going up the railway and my Chevy Malibu

746
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:59,319
Speaker 2: and my Malibu lost control, hit the curve wheels turned in.

747
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 2: I thank goodness. I was able to get some money

748
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,160
Speaker 2: to get a hotel for a couple of days. But

749
00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:08,759
Speaker 2: the first day, I was like I had to sit

750
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 2: in the lobby. I was sitting in the lobby, I

751
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:12,840
Speaker 2: couldn't take a shower. And as a female, and it

752
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,760
Speaker 2: was that time of the month too, so as a female,

753
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,200
Speaker 2: I didn't have merely anything with me. Like I was

754
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:22,239
Speaker 2: just I was sitting there and they were nice enough

755
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:23,759
Speaker 2: to let me sit there. They're like, okay, you know,

756
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:26,960
Speaker 2: we'll give you a night. My dad wired some money

757
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 2: to me. He didn't know I was going through that.

758
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 2: He didn't know. He just like, okay, let me just

759
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,279
Speaker 2: wire this to you. And I was able to get

760
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 2: the shelter. But it was like that first, like twenty

761
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:38,200
Speaker 2: four hours after I had crashed my car, decater I

762
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,719
Speaker 2: was in the middle of Decatur, Texas. I never been

763
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 2: to Decatur, Texas, and I didn't know whether it was

764
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 2: a sundowntown or not exactly, especially in the sun was

765
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 2: going down. I had no car. I'm in the middle

766
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:52,640
Speaker 2: of a so sotarm I stink, I am, I haven't eaten.

767
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 2: My stomach's beatboxing. It was just it was so embarrassing

768
00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 2: because it was just like I've never been the tight

769
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:03,400
Speaker 2: to be helpless or to feel like I was helpless.

770
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 2: So in that position, I was completely helpless. And I

771
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,880
Speaker 2: remember I was talking to the ex that I had

772
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,000
Speaker 2: left at the time because I don't know why. Like

773
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,239
Speaker 2: me and Myles we're still cool, but at the time

774
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:15,880
Speaker 2: we just we just weren't good for each other. So

775
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:17,040
Speaker 2: I was talking to him. I was like, yeah, I

776
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:18,759
Speaker 2: crashed my car. He's like, maybe that's a sign you

777
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 2: should come back. I was like, over my dead body,

778
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:25,120
Speaker 2: you know. So I kept I kept trucking. I mean,

779
00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:27,000
Speaker 2: we cool now. Shout out to the shout out to him,

780
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,600
Speaker 2: he's doing great job. But at the time, it was

781
00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 2: just like everything was going wrong and I was like, dang,

782
00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 2: maybe I should go back to Louisiana. I was, but

783
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,959
Speaker 2: I was just like everything inside of me was like no, no, no,

784
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,879
Speaker 2: like So that was super embarrassing for me because I've

785
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 2: never been in a position and I hate stinking. I

786
00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:46,560
Speaker 2: hate not smelling good. Anybody knows me, knows I smell

787
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:50,800
Speaker 2: good every time I control, but that time it was horrible.

788
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 2: I know, deodorant, I ran o deodoran. Oh that was

789
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 2: abrac Yeah.

790
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:59,439
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the major difficulties. Second major

791
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 1: embarrassing things is one is like that and like I

792
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,640
Speaker 1: hated two things when it got too hot or it

793
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:08,920
Speaker 1: was like, for example, when we have in Los Angeles

794
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,960
Speaker 1: when it gets rainy and too cold and I have

795
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:15,560
Speaker 1: you have to change your clothes and the water because

796
00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,239
Speaker 1: it starts to mildle your clothes and it calls. Even

797
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:20,560
Speaker 1: though matter if you wash them or not, you steal

798
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 1: those clothes smell. You could take a shower, but those

799
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:27,959
Speaker 1: clothes smell ripe. And that was a major another embarrassment

800
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 1: because it is not that easy just to get up

801
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,440
Speaker 1: and just dry your clothes like other people do. And

802
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,360
Speaker 1: I know, like and Los Angeles is not meant for walking.

803
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:39,760
Speaker 1: They got all these long as hils and I'm already

804
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,799
Speaker 1: disabled and all the things out, So you cannot just

805
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:44,759
Speaker 1: get pick up all your clothes and just go to

806
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,800
Speaker 1: a laundry mat. You've got to you have to coordinate

807
00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 1: your time and calculate your time, especially you know some

808
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,879
Speaker 1: of the places, like I would try to sneak in

809
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,160
Speaker 1: those laundry places to dig a shower, but then they

810
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,560
Speaker 1: have people in then to try to deter on house

811
00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,279
Speaker 1: people going and they're showering, they'll come burst in the

812
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,759
Speaker 1: door while you're either Chinese restroom or get all of

813
00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 1: those kind of those kind of tactics that they use

814
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:12,240
Speaker 1: to always let you know that you were not welcome

815
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,920
Speaker 1: in places you were not welcome, You were not allowed

816
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,359
Speaker 1: to have dignity. That's one of the things that I

817
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 1: have to say that it's one of the driving forces

818
00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: about these ordinances, this way that people treat on house people.

819
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:29,120
Speaker 1: You are not allowed to have a dignified existence. And

820
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:32,439
Speaker 1: that is something that I knew that I would love

821
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 1: to tend to your legacy to reinstall our empathy and

822
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:39,400
Speaker 1: an empathetic well spring of good, good will and kindness

823
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:42,200
Speaker 1: of people, because we all deserve to be treated decently.

824
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:44,440
Speaker 1: You know, nobody wants to get up in the morning

825
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,640
Speaker 1: and smell right if they have no choice normal, you

826
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:52,000
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Nobody want, you know, and if

827
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,640
Speaker 1: you see people sneaking in places like that, it tells

828
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 1: you they don't like it easier. And we don't have

829
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 1: the bathrooms for people to have the dignified to go

830
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:03,200
Speaker 1: to the bath they're trying to be as dignified and

831
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,640
Speaker 1: have there's some kind of self esteem and we're taking

832
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 1: it from them with all of these ordinances, hostile architecture,

833
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:14,280
Speaker 1: no bathrooms or these signs that's in restaurants, no public restrooms.

834
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:17,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, everybody goes to the restroom. If you don't

835
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 1: have places for the bathrooms, it stands to reason that

836
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:21,800
Speaker 1: you're going to find creative solution.

837
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 2: Yeah.

838
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,759
Speaker 1: I hate to break up just such a riveden conversation,

839
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:28,759
Speaker 1: but we have to take upbreak. We will be right

840
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:39,520
Speaker 1: back and we're back.

841
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,799
Speaker 2: By stayed in k Town. When I first came out here.

842
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:46,440
Speaker 2: Where I was at was on eighth in New Hampshire.

843
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,640
Speaker 2: I had an alleyway where the you know, the houses

844
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:50,839
Speaker 2: would stay and have their meetings and stuff. I don't

845
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 2: know what they have means about, but you know it

846
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:54,839
Speaker 2: was right in the alley that my place was at,

847
00:45:55,120 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 2: and I remember there was one houseless man that actually

848
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 2: had passed away in the alley and the way that

849
00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:06,839
Speaker 2: people like discarded of him, even when I was with

850
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:08,439
Speaker 2: my ex. I was with my ex at the time,

851
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:11,160
Speaker 2: and you know, I seen it. I realized like, Okay,

852
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,440
Speaker 2: I'm like, he's not moving, he's not breathing. Like I'm

853
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:15,880
Speaker 2: driving past in my car and I'm like, yo, like

854
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:19,319
Speaker 2: maybe we should like call somebody, you know, come get him,

855
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:21,879
Speaker 2: go to call the hospital something. And remember my ex

856
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:24,120
Speaker 2: was just like, nah, nah, nah it don't don't worry

857
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:25,480
Speaker 2: about it. I was like, no, it looks like he's

858
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,720
Speaker 2: because you know, when you pass away, you avoid your bows. Yeah, exactly,

859
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 2: So he voided his bou. I was like, yo, like

860
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,600
Speaker 2: I think that, you know. Yeah, he was just very like,

861
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:37,799
Speaker 2: you know, stuck up towards him, like oh, anyways, they'll

862
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 2: come get him, they'll come scoop him up. And I

863
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:41,200
Speaker 2: was just like, well we should call it. I kind

864
00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:43,319
Speaker 2: of low key called and I was like, hey, like

865
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:46,000
Speaker 2: there's somebody out there, you know. I called like the

866
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,359
Speaker 2: attendant and I was like, hey, like, you know, there's

867
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:49,920
Speaker 2: somebody out there. I don't know if he's alive, he's

868
00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:52,239
Speaker 2: not breathing. He avoided his bowels, you know, and in

869
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,799
Speaker 2: the military they teach you the signs. So I was like, look,

870
00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:59,920
Speaker 2: I like pulled up afterwards in the corner when it

871
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,399
Speaker 2: got him. He did pass away, unfortunately, Rest in peace

872
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:04,799
Speaker 2: to him. We pulled up and he wasn't there, and

873
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:06,359
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, he's not there anymore. He's like yeah,

874
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 2: because he you know, my ex was saying some like

875
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,239
Speaker 2: really messed up. So saintoris At oh, because he's this

876
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 2: isn't this? And I was like, well, if I wasn't

877
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:15,919
Speaker 2: taking care of you, you would be in his position too, absolutely,

878
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:19,360
Speaker 2: you know. And people don't. People desensitize and dehumanize. So

879
00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 2: it's like you could be in the same position. And

880
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:23,160
Speaker 2: I keeps saying that during the interview. But I just

881
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 2: want for people to humble themselves for real.

882
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:28,080
Speaker 1: And I to see the humanity of people. Yeah, And

883
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:30,239
Speaker 1: just because that, I have to quote a something from

884
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 1: the X Man at It, which is so true. Just

885
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 1: because someone stumbles and loses their weight doesn't mean that

886
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:37,440
Speaker 1: they're lost forever, and it doesn't mean that we cannot

887
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,279
Speaker 1: institute empathy and kindness to a person. This is a

888
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:43,440
Speaker 1: human being that had transitioned from this earthly spirit to

889
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:46,920
Speaker 1: a place of peace, a place of non existence. But

890
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:49,640
Speaker 1: the fact of it is is like people saking selfies,

891
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:53,320
Speaker 1: people walking over the dead body, people just not looking

892
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 1: at this person though he lived on the street, he

893
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:57,840
Speaker 1: had a life before he was living on the street.

894
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,759
Speaker 1: Nobody at a yeah, No one say well, let's go

895
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:02,600
Speaker 1: and live on the street to be mistreated or treated

896
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:06,839
Speaker 1: like second date trash. We as a society have been

897
00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:11,240
Speaker 1: inculcated or been educated and doctrinated if you will, into

898
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:15,080
Speaker 1: thinking that someone because they don't have the financial status

899
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:18,480
Speaker 1: or they don't have the housing status, that they are

900
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:23,160
Speaker 1: giving free rein to dehumanize them. If you can dehumanize

901
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:25,520
Speaker 1: a human being, then you can criminalize a human being.

902
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:26,360
Speaker 1: I always say.

903
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,400
Speaker 2: That, they always do that. I noticed that too. With

904
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:31,120
Speaker 2: there's a lot of profiling with police when it comes

905
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 2: to houselessness. There's a lot of profiles, especially if you

906
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:35,680
Speaker 2: aren't a house person of color. Yes, and there's somebody

907
00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:37,759
Speaker 2: that I did mention in the last interview there is

908
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:41,279
Speaker 2: a trans woman that's out here. She literally has the

909
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,880
Speaker 2: most positive attitude that he really puts into perspective, like

910
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:46,919
Speaker 2: you could be grateful in any place that you're at.

911
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:50,120
Speaker 2: But she's dealt with a lot of discrimination. She seld

912
00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:51,880
Speaker 2: with a lot of sexual harassment. She's dealt with a

913
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:53,239
Speaker 2: lot of it. And she used to be an ex cop.

914
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:55,680
Speaker 2: She used to be an ex cop and you know,

915
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,200
Speaker 2: she was Trump. So she has PTSD from that. She

916
00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:01,640
Speaker 2: has PTSD from her whole family cut her off just

917
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:03,479
Speaker 2: because she made the decision to live in her truth.

918
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:05,960
Speaker 2: And I think that's not discussed either people that are

919
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:09,640
Speaker 2: transitioning or people that are you know, from the LGBTQ

920
00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:12,360
Speaker 2: plus community, a lot of them get put out on

921
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,440
Speaker 2: the streets too because of their decisions on who they

922
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:15,000
Speaker 2: choose to love.

923
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:17,520
Speaker 1: And a young age too, that is a lot of

924
00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:20,040
Speaker 1: like on Hollywood and Western during the pandemic, I was

925
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 1: interviewing a lot of the unhoused youths that families when

926
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:27,439
Speaker 1: they find either they come out to them or their

927
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:30,880
Speaker 1: parents are very religious and they find tail tale signs,

928
00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:34,799
Speaker 1: a diary or a stolen caress or whatever something has

929
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:38,320
Speaker 1: happened that has horrified the family and they throw the

930
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:41,319
Speaker 1: kid out and in in essence, the kid doesn't have

931
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:43,799
Speaker 1: the coping skills because they are kids, so they have

932
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:48,040
Speaker 1: to find survival methods that would make anyone else shocked

933
00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:51,080
Speaker 1: or scared anyone in order to survive not only dealing

934
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 1: with their own truth, but not so dealing with the

935
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:57,200
Speaker 1: realities of being in housed, living in their truth, and

936
00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:00,279
Speaker 1: living in reality that is in all our community these

937
00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:03,640
Speaker 1: like now and not as sympathetic to the LGBUTIA plus

938
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:04,440
Speaker 1: community as well.

939
00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:07,799
Speaker 2: Yes, because I've noticed that so much. And there's a

940
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:09,279
Speaker 2: lot of people that I went to school with, There's

941
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,000
Speaker 2: a lot of people whose parents really kick them out

942
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,000
Speaker 2: at a very young age. And honestly, I'm just gonna

943
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:18,759
Speaker 2: say this for the record. It should not matter who

944
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:21,480
Speaker 2: that person decides to love, who that person decides to

945
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:24,439
Speaker 2: be with. It shouldn't matter what that person wants to wear,

946
00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:26,000
Speaker 2: whether that person wants to wear a dress, whether that

947
00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:28,600
Speaker 2: person wants to change their body. That has nothing to

948
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:30,880
Speaker 2: do with you. That is their personal agenda, that is

949
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:34,000
Speaker 2: their personal life. Let people be who they are, Let

950
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:36,080
Speaker 2: people live in their truth, because the world will be

951
00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:38,360
Speaker 2: a lot happier if people let that happen.

952
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:41,359
Speaker 1: We cannot talk about liberation if we are trying to

953
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:45,520
Speaker 1: model the same oppressive tactics that are used against us exactly.

954
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:48,719
Speaker 1: And I say that because as an African American heterosexual male,

955
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:53,560
Speaker 1: I notice sometimes and particularly the toxic masculinity male communities,

956
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:56,680
Speaker 1: is that that conversation is always used as a way

957
00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,879
Speaker 1: to oppress Black women or oppress people in the elgib

958
00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:03,520
Speaker 1: t I community. Is like, I can't be free unless

959
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:06,920
Speaker 1: you're free, because if I'm having to extend my experience

960
00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:10,000
Speaker 1: or spend my power to dominate you, I'm not free.

961
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:12,960
Speaker 1: I'm still caught up into a cycle. Now I'm just

962
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:16,000
Speaker 1: taking on the tools that was created to oppress you.

963
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:18,040
Speaker 2: The oppressed becomes the oppressed exactly, so.

964
00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:22,120
Speaker 1: We can be free. So in order for us to

965
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:25,319
Speaker 1: be as seen as we are, the world would be

966
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:30,440
Speaker 1: a much easier place, and much more graceful place, a

967
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 1: much more empathetic place, which was I guess this is

968
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:34,840
Speaker 1: for the word of the day. Like in Sesame Street,

969
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:38,240
Speaker 1: it's empathy. We have to have this empathetic well spring

970
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:43,520
Speaker 1: to be reactivated because it's going on empty. We're dry

971
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:47,799
Speaker 1: and that well because we're afraid, and we're afraid of

972
00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:51,920
Speaker 1: the unknown, and we're afraid that someone's going to get

973
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:54,160
Speaker 1: an extra crumb that we do, and if they get

974
00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:56,759
Speaker 1: the crumb. Then what does that make us because we've

975
00:51:56,760 --> 00:51:59,920
Speaker 1: been asking for crumbs forever, but you know, someone make

976
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 1: get an extra crumb, but that extra crum may be

977
00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:04,439
Speaker 1: used to oppress you, and we need to just look

978
00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:07,400
Speaker 1: at it like, hey, we all getting crumbs. They like,

979
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,799
Speaker 1: we're getting all the same piece of the pot. So

980
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:12,120
Speaker 1: we have to work together. But we have to understand

981
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:14,600
Speaker 1: that this is not this is designed for us to

982
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:15,640
Speaker 1: be at logger heads.

983
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:17,800
Speaker 2: With you, exactly, because if you really think about it, Okay,

984
00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:20,439
Speaker 2: let's say this person is getting an extra crumb. Let's

985
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:21,960
Speaker 2: say if you got your little crumbs, they got their

986
00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:24,120
Speaker 2: little crumses, y'all put your crumbs together. Y'all could come

987
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:26,800
Speaker 2: up with something instead of actually being like, oh, she

988
00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:30,400
Speaker 2: got let me take her crumb, let me oppress her crumb.

989
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:33,359
Speaker 2: Instead of being like, Okay, I got this, you got this.

990
00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:36,719
Speaker 2: Because there's different strength, there's different different roles people can

991
00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:39,359
Speaker 2: play in things. Okay, so she has this, he has this.

992
00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:42,280
Speaker 2: Let's put this together and let's make something bigger because honestly,

993
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:45,840
Speaker 2: this whole movement is bigger than everybody. Absolutely, nobody's bigger

994
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:46,520
Speaker 2: than the program.

995
00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:46,960
Speaker 1: Exactly.

996
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:49,560
Speaker 2: Nobody's bigger than the movement, and the idea.

997
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:52,760
Speaker 1: Is to tackle and dismantle the program that is making

998
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:55,560
Speaker 1: sure that we only get crumbs, because that's not going

999
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:57,400
Speaker 1: to be sufficient in the long run anyway.

1000
00:52:57,480 --> 00:52:57,800
Speaker 2: Exactly.

1001
00:52:57,840 --> 00:52:59,719
Speaker 1: So the whole point is getting a slice of the

1002
00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:02,480
Speaker 1: pot instead of the crops. So if we work together

1003
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:04,520
Speaker 1: to use those little crubs, we've got to tackle down

1004
00:53:04,840 --> 00:53:09,799
Speaker 1: the systemic issues that are plaguing both communities or many communities. Yes,

1005
00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:12,359
Speaker 1: then we're win in We're we're doing something.

1006
00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:15,239
Speaker 2: Exactly, And I think we do lack empathy, we lack

1007
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:18,359
Speaker 2: actually working together because people don't want to work together more.

1008
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:20,560
Speaker 2: They're all out for themselves. But I do want to

1009
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:22,759
Speaker 2: actually touch on before we close this anywhere. I want

1010
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:25,600
Speaker 2: to touch on what you have planned for the future,

1011
00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:28,759
Speaker 2: What events, what what? What programs can people go to

1012
00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:32,640
Speaker 2: in LA because people want to know. There's definitely food organizations.

1013
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:35,800
Speaker 2: I've been working with food organization. Shout out to LACA

1014
00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:39,080
Speaker 2: LA Community Alliance for feeding the homeless and feeding the

1015
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:42,759
Speaker 2: un sheltered and feeding people just on hard times. I

1016
00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:45,400
Speaker 2: want to actually get into what programs you offer, what

1017
00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:48,480
Speaker 2: what where can these people find these resources? What do

1018
00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:51,960
Speaker 2: you have planning future? Any any events? Anything that you have.

1019
00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,920
Speaker 1: Every Saturday, every Saturday from two to five and Little

1020
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,920
Speaker 1: Tokyo we offer a mutual aid and that is I

1021
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 1: partnered with Jape Town Action Solidarity. We provide fresh hot food,

1022
00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:08,440
Speaker 1: We provide harm reduction, we provide medical care. We provide

1023
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:12,320
Speaker 1: charging where people can charge up their devices. We also

1024
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:15,600
Speaker 1: offer different like Talent Night. We have Diamond in a

1025
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:18,600
Speaker 1: rough who performs. We have some that get do poetry

1026
00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:23,880
Speaker 1: and so we have there every Saturday. I also offer,

1027
00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:26,319
Speaker 1: like I said, you know you have to look out

1028
00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 1: for it. I try to let the can you see

1029
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,319
Speaker 1: me memorials where I'd go to either the city hall

1030
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:34,000
Speaker 1: or other places where uhouse people have passed away and

1031
00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:37,040
Speaker 1: we hold like the most recent one we had I

1032
00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:40,279
Speaker 1: don't know even remember about mister Jordan Neely. Yes, mister

1033
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:44,240
Speaker 1: Jordan Neely, I hosted a trained memorial. I put brought

1034
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 1: the coffin, and people from the community came on the

1035
00:54:47,719 --> 00:54:52,400
Speaker 1: red line and we basically started communicating and eulogizing about

1036
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:55,240
Speaker 1: the realities of unhoused people that are on trains. Because

1037
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:58,440
Speaker 1: there's been such a negative and a hostile way of

1038
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:01,640
Speaker 1: how they treat unhoused people and so those things I

1039
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:04,319
Speaker 1: offer as well as like, there's going to be other

1040
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:07,000
Speaker 1: events that we're going to do, but most often or not,

1041
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:10,360
Speaker 1: I am dividing my time with doing the show. But

1042
00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:13,840
Speaker 1: I also speak regularly because I want to talk about

1043
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:18,560
Speaker 1: this reality that I missed. Houselessness is just not encampments.

1044
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:22,360
Speaker 1: And I'm proud when I became the activist in Residents

1045
00:55:22,520 --> 00:55:27,080
Speaker 1: and I started talking to the classmates in UCLA, and

1046
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:31,200
Speaker 1: then when unhoused people started to tell them, Yeah, I'm

1047
00:55:31,239 --> 00:55:33,960
Speaker 1: a college student and I'm on house at the end

1048
00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:37,160
Speaker 1: of class, i have to sleep in my car, and

1049
00:55:37,239 --> 00:55:42,560
Speaker 1: that opened up as such a different thing. It shocked

1050
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:45,000
Speaker 1: some of the students, but it also and like they

1051
00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:47,560
Speaker 1: would come to me and thank me for Peter bringing

1052
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:51,759
Speaker 1: that up because before that conversation has never happened. Act like,

1053
00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:54,200
Speaker 1: because people think, how many people think on house people

1054
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:56,719
Speaker 1: are on substances, how many people see on house people

1055
00:55:56,800 --> 00:56:00,200
Speaker 1: only thinking about there on the park or on buses

1056
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:02,279
Speaker 1: or benches and things like that, some of these people

1057
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:05,279
Speaker 1: are college bract and that that's why it says it's

1058
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:09,359
Speaker 1: so important to understand the layers and the nuances of houselessness.

1059
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,040
Speaker 1: And I want people to understand houselessness is closer to you.

1060
00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 1: I have a Starbucks frappucino, but I had people when

1061
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:20,400
Speaker 1: they were listening to my show when I first started,

1062
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,320
Speaker 1: would come up to me and whisper, I'm on house,

1063
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:26,560
Speaker 1: but I'm working in Starbucks, and I wanted to exact

1064
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:28,839
Speaker 1: I would like to get your your talk. I would

1065
00:56:28,840 --> 00:56:31,400
Speaker 1: like to talk to you and get your story because

1066
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:34,839
Speaker 1: people need to know you don't know who's on house.

1067
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:40,160
Speaker 3: It is not always very well because they know the stigma,

1068
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:44,399
Speaker 3: they know the hostility that's outfit about houselesness, so they

1069
00:56:44,600 --> 00:56:47,759
Speaker 3: rather than not let you know, unless if someone takes

1070
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:50,920
Speaker 3: the temerity or the courage to say, hey, this is

1071
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:52,120
Speaker 3: part of unhousedness.

1072
00:56:52,239 --> 00:56:55,400
Speaker 1: You know. I'm I'm a college educated I'm going to class,

1073
00:56:55,520 --> 00:56:57,200
Speaker 1: but at the end of the class, I live in

1074
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,120
Speaker 1: the shelter, you know. I mean, that's just how it is.

1075
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 1: I can't afford the rents here because it's the area

1076
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:04,719
Speaker 1: we live in is too ridiculous. I live in my

1077
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:06,560
Speaker 1: car or I have to get I have to leave

1078
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,479
Speaker 1: here in class early to get to the shelter because

1079
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:11,960
Speaker 1: they have a curfew. So these stories, it's why I

1080
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:12,600
Speaker 1: do what I do.

1081
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:14,920
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I'm getting mo Yeah, it's okay.

1082
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:17,440
Speaker 1: But this is why I do the show because I

1083
00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:20,760
Speaker 1: want people to realize you never know how much of

1084
00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:23,320
Speaker 1: an impact you have on someone's life. And when you

1085
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 1: make snap judgments or you close the door, or you

1086
00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:29,920
Speaker 1: become callous or indifferent, you don't know whose life you're saving.

1087
00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:32,000
Speaker 1: You don't know whose life you're you know if you're

1088
00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:34,640
Speaker 1: closing the door on And that is what I want

1089
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:37,480
Speaker 1: to do. We open the door of kindness. There's a

1090
00:57:37,560 --> 00:57:41,720
Speaker 1: saying that I believe, use your heart to love somebody,

1091
00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:44,960
Speaker 1: and if your heart is big enough, use your heart

1092
00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:48,520
Speaker 1: to love everybody. And if we can do that as

1093
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:51,680
Speaker 1: a society and learning like we are our brothers and

1094
00:57:51,720 --> 00:57:55,280
Speaker 1: sisters keeper and we must understand that if we are

1095
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:59,080
Speaker 1: not together, if someone else is not together, we must

1096
00:57:59,600 --> 00:58:02,320
Speaker 1: have that empathy. We must rekindle that.

1097
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:04,560
Speaker 2: If you will, so there's more than enough for everybody

1098
00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:04,920
Speaker 2: to eat.

1099
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:08,160
Speaker 1: Also, I wanted to take the opportunity quickly to give

1100
00:58:08,200 --> 00:58:12,760
Speaker 1: you a shout out because we connected on your show. Yeah,

1101
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:17,040
Speaker 1: and just to give out her flowers. Bay Honey's interview

1102
00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:21,360
Speaker 1: was so explosive, but it's also much more well thought out.

1103
00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:23,240
Speaker 1: It was one of the better interviews that I had

1104
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:25,920
Speaker 1: in a very long time by podcasting, which is why

1105
00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:29,400
Speaker 1: I chose you to interview. Thank you, But I felt

1106
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:32,480
Speaker 1: that it is important because she has a podcast and

1107
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:35,120
Speaker 1: I listen into her story. But tell us a little

1108
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:36,400
Speaker 1: bit how we can find you as well.

1109
00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:40,480
Speaker 2: You can find me on dash Radio on Caliente Girls.

1110
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:43,760
Speaker 2: You can find me on Instagram Bay Honey b A

1111
00:58:44,240 --> 00:58:47,880
Speaker 2: E h O and I I spelled honey different because

1112
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:50,560
Speaker 2: I'm giving tribute to my Hawaiian culture, my Poluesic culture.

1113
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:52,840
Speaker 2: But you can find me on Instagram, you can find

1114
00:58:52,880 --> 00:58:55,520
Speaker 2: me on Caliens Girls. You can actually find me all

1115
00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:56,920
Speaker 2: around La. I'm everywhere.

1116
00:58:57,320 --> 00:59:01,200
Speaker 1: And most importantly, she's also a fitness office, so you're

1117
00:59:01,240 --> 00:59:03,640
Speaker 1: seeing which is what she is the person of many

1118
00:59:03,680 --> 00:59:06,320
Speaker 1: talents and many hats, So you can reach out to her.

1119
00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:07,880
Speaker 1: And if you probably want to be a guest on

1120
00:59:08,040 --> 00:59:09,880
Speaker 1: her show, what do you need to do to get

1121
00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:10,800
Speaker 1: you reach out to you?

1122
00:59:10,840 --> 00:59:13,040
Speaker 2: Just reach out to me on my Instagram, slide to

1123
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:15,480
Speaker 2: my dms. I don't know crazy stuff, but if you

1124
00:59:15,520 --> 00:59:18,520
Speaker 2: want to interview, for sure, I am down to interview

1125
00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:22,000
Speaker 2: anybody that's doing anything in La, anybody that's grinding out

1126
00:59:22,040 --> 00:59:24,160
Speaker 2: here because La. If you can make it in La,

1127
00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:25,800
Speaker 2: if you could do something in La, you can make

1128
00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:28,720
Speaker 2: it anywhere. So I would love to help you be

1129
00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:31,600
Speaker 2: that stepping stool, help you be that elevation that you need.

1130
00:59:31,720 --> 00:59:34,240
Speaker 2: So yeah, just reach out to me and reach out

1131
00:59:34,280 --> 00:59:38,120
Speaker 2: to reach out to Leo. He is doing his thing

1132
00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:40,560
Speaker 2: with Oh my goodness, And I'm just so grateful that

1133
00:59:40,600 --> 00:59:42,920
Speaker 2: you chose me to interview you for this because this

1134
00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:45,080
Speaker 2: is big. Like I was not expecting that call. To

1135
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:47,800
Speaker 2: be honest, I was like, oh man, let me figure

1136
00:59:47,800 --> 00:59:49,800
Speaker 2: out how to get there. I had the most of

1137
00:59:49,800 --> 00:59:51,520
Speaker 2: things around, but I was like, I was honored, But

1138
00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:53,640
Speaker 2: I thank you for having me, and I thank you

1139
00:59:53,680 --> 00:59:54,840
Speaker 2: for allowing me to interview you.

1140
00:59:55,720 --> 00:59:57,960
Speaker 1: This legacy that I want to leave is that I

1141
00:59:58,040 --> 00:59:59,760
Speaker 1: want to leave the world a better place that I found.

1142
00:59:59,760 --> 01:00:01,800
Speaker 1: That I also want to leave it that on house

1143
01:00:01,840 --> 01:00:03,920
Speaker 1: people can say, this is a place where I know

1144
01:00:04,440 --> 01:00:06,960
Speaker 1: that my voice is respected. I don't have to feel

1145
01:00:07,600 --> 01:00:12,160
Speaker 1: shamed or blamed or are bad about being on a house.

1146
01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:15,760
Speaker 2: Yes, and here, Honestly, I'm glad that you have this

1147
01:00:15,800 --> 01:00:18,120
Speaker 2: platform because if I want to leave the audience with this,

1148
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:23,640
Speaker 2: you are heard, you are loved, You are wanted. Please

1149
01:00:23,680 --> 01:00:27,560
Speaker 2: take up space. It does not matter whether who's telling

1150
01:00:27,600 --> 01:00:31,000
Speaker 2: you what your circumstance. Your circumstances do not make you okay.

1151
01:00:31,800 --> 01:00:36,320
Speaker 2: Your circumstances do not break you okay. So whether you're

1152
01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:39,120
Speaker 2: in a hard time right now, there is always getting out.

1153
01:00:39,480 --> 01:00:43,400
Speaker 2: Keep faith, keep the faith, stay positive, and take it

1154
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:46,240
Speaker 2: one day at a time because you never know it

1155
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:49,200
Speaker 2: could be one day that could change your life. And honestly,

1156
01:00:49,240 --> 01:00:51,600
Speaker 2: I want to let you know to never give up,

1157
01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:54,080
Speaker 2: never give up on yourself, never give up on life,

1158
01:00:54,360 --> 01:00:56,720
Speaker 2: regardless of what this life has thrown at you. Everybody

1159
01:00:56,760 --> 01:01:00,000
Speaker 2: goes through things, but it's how you handle it afterwards.

1160
01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,400
Speaker 2: So you are heard, you are loved, you are wanted,

1161
01:01:03,840 --> 01:01:06,280
Speaker 2: and take up as much space as you can in

1162
01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:10,280
Speaker 2: this world because you are welcomed, regardless of what media

1163
01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:12,760
Speaker 2: and people try to tell you. Are welcomed, You are loved,

1164
01:01:13,120 --> 01:01:15,200
Speaker 2: and you are free to be yourself and take up

1165
01:01:15,200 --> 01:01:18,240
Speaker 2: that space in the world. So this is be honey.

1166
01:01:18,680 --> 01:01:22,160
Speaker 2: I just did this amazing interview with THEO and I

1167
01:01:22,200 --> 01:01:24,520
Speaker 2: am grateful to be here logging out.

1168
01:01:25,040 --> 01:01:33,320
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Well, we're going to take a

1169
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:43,160
Speaker 1: break and we will be right back. Thank you for

1170
01:01:43,240 --> 01:01:46,160
Speaker 1: dropping in to Weedian House, where we're introducing a new

1171
01:01:46,200 --> 01:01:48,640
Speaker 1: way of presenting the news to the young house community.

1172
01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:53,320
Speaker 1: Our exclusive interview this week is with Proclaimer activist Martha

1173
01:01:53,400 --> 01:02:04,360
Speaker 1: Squitter of Reclaiming Our Homes in Elserino, California. Here's Martha's story. So, Martha,

1174
01:02:04,440 --> 01:02:07,040
Speaker 1: let's start off. How did you get into the world

1175
01:02:07,120 --> 01:02:09,440
Speaker 1: of houselessness. I know you didn't work one day and

1176
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:11,920
Speaker 1: says I'm going to go out and be houses because

1177
01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:14,520
Speaker 1: it's fun. So I know that there was a story.

1178
01:02:14,560 --> 01:02:16,080
Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit about your story.

1179
01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:19,360
Speaker 4: Yes, So I had left out of the country for

1180
01:02:19,440 --> 01:02:24,720
Speaker 4: two years and when I returned to Los Angeles, rent

1181
01:02:24,840 --> 01:02:29,720
Speaker 4: was really high. It had tripled from where two years

1182
01:02:29,720 --> 01:02:33,000
Speaker 4: ago because my landlord didn't really raise the rent. I

1183
01:02:33,040 --> 01:02:38,360
Speaker 4: had a good job helping high risk moms, and I

1184
01:02:38,440 --> 01:02:40,040
Speaker 4: was okay with the rent.

1185
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:42,240
Speaker 1: What were you doing with working with high risk moms?

1186
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:42,960
Speaker 1: What was going on?

1187
01:02:43,480 --> 01:02:46,800
Speaker 4: So these moms were I saw them when they were

1188
01:02:46,840 --> 01:02:53,200
Speaker 4: pregnant until the baby turned two years or also if

1189
01:02:53,240 --> 01:02:58,280
Speaker 4: they had a termination or they couldn't have the baby.

1190
01:02:59,520 --> 01:03:02,880
Speaker 4: I saw them for to your mark, and a lot

1191
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:06,480
Speaker 4: of them were low income people of color, So that

1192
01:03:06,720 --> 01:03:09,760
Speaker 4: you know that's what's considered high risk is that the

1193
01:03:09,840 --> 01:03:14,480
Speaker 4: most historically marginalized people were the moms that I saw

1194
01:03:14,520 --> 01:03:17,400
Speaker 4: and the children I saw, the families I saw providing

1195
01:03:17,440 --> 01:03:21,040
Speaker 4: them resources and education on how to you know, be

1196
01:03:21,160 --> 01:03:26,320
Speaker 4: healthier families, be healthier people. But a lot of them

1197
01:03:26,680 --> 01:03:29,160
Speaker 4: at that time were also on house A lot of

1198
01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:34,360
Speaker 4: them lived in their cars and shelters and very tight

1199
01:03:35,280 --> 01:03:42,320
Speaker 4: living environments, or also CouchSurfing. So I saw that, but

1200
01:03:42,440 --> 01:03:46,680
Speaker 4: it wasn't affecting me yet until I came back two

1201
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:51,240
Speaker 4: years later and I saw myself in a similar situation,

1202
01:03:51,520 --> 01:03:55,280
Speaker 4: and I know because I provided those resources that they

1203
01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:58,440
Speaker 4: were very limited and very traumatic. The shelters have been

1204
01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:02,040
Speaker 4: very traumatic for families. A lot of them get called

1205
01:04:02,120 --> 01:04:06,400
Speaker 4: social services just because their child cries. Heavily policed, yes,

1206
01:04:06,480 --> 01:04:11,640
Speaker 4: heavily policed environments and often very traumatizing, not only for

1207
01:04:11,840 --> 01:04:14,040
Speaker 4: children but for adults. So I didn't want to be

1208
01:04:14,080 --> 01:04:17,280
Speaker 4: in that situation. Also, like a lot of things like

1209
01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:20,680
Speaker 4: Section eight, they take years. I had a friend that

1210
01:04:20,800 --> 01:04:24,200
Speaker 4: signed up when her daughter was a toddler. She didn't

1211
01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:29,520
Speaker 4: actually receive Section into her daughter turned seventeen. So it's

1212
01:04:29,600 --> 01:04:33,560
Speaker 4: just like I know that we have an abundance of resources,

1213
01:04:34,080 --> 01:04:38,880
Speaker 4: but they're not distributed properly. So I didn't want to

1214
01:04:38,920 --> 01:04:41,960
Speaker 4: wait in line, and I don't think anybody should actually,

1215
01:04:42,320 --> 01:04:47,560
Speaker 4: because I feel that the government and our society does

1216
01:04:47,640 --> 01:04:52,000
Speaker 4: have abundance of resources, but they're not being distributed in

1217
01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:53,959
Speaker 4: a humane way.

1218
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:57,520
Speaker 1: One of the things about your activism is you have

1219
01:04:58,120 --> 01:05:01,840
Speaker 1: taken a different stance on creating of approaching the situation.

1220
01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:05,440
Speaker 1: What challenges there were that you face dealing with the

1221
01:05:05,440 --> 01:05:08,080
Speaker 1: houselessness with your children? You have two children, right.

1222
01:05:08,480 --> 01:05:13,160
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm a single mother of two. Currently my daughter

1223
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:17,120
Speaker 4: is fourteen and eleven my daughter's but at the time

1224
01:05:17,200 --> 01:05:22,320
Speaker 4: there were seven I believe in nine when we came

1225
01:05:22,360 --> 01:05:25,400
Speaker 4: back from Chile and we were living in a rural

1226
01:05:25,480 --> 01:05:30,240
Speaker 4: area with like indigenous community, So just even coming back

1227
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:32,640
Speaker 4: to the city it was like highly traumatic.

1228
01:05:32,760 --> 01:05:33,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, culture we had.

1229
01:05:34,480 --> 01:05:38,240
Speaker 4: Like anxiety attacks. It was like really bad for us.

1230
01:05:38,640 --> 01:05:42,000
Speaker 4: And then we ended up going from house to house

1231
01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:46,480
Speaker 4: from friends and families, which was also very traumatic. Just

1232
01:05:46,600 --> 01:05:49,000
Speaker 4: that moving and not having stability.

1233
01:05:49,520 --> 01:05:53,400
Speaker 1: Were the children able to thrive in school living like

1234
01:05:53,440 --> 01:05:56,480
Speaker 1: that because there is over sixty eight thousand on house

1235
01:05:56,560 --> 01:05:59,680
Speaker 1: children here. But the thame with it is people have

1236
01:05:59,720 --> 01:06:03,640
Speaker 1: this an aniquated notion that only houseless people are male,

1237
01:06:04,200 --> 01:06:07,600
Speaker 1: older guys, they're spaced out or on a mental health

1238
01:06:07,640 --> 01:06:11,320
Speaker 1: break and that's it. Or people that are on substances.

1239
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:13,840
Speaker 1: What's a little bit different about this situation.

1240
01:06:14,080 --> 01:06:17,960
Speaker 4: Well, unfortunately, there's a lot of families with children that

1241
01:06:18,040 --> 01:06:20,120
Speaker 4: are on house and also a lot of elders that

1242
01:06:20,240 --> 01:06:23,480
Speaker 4: can't afford rent. There just depend on their social security

1243
01:06:23,560 --> 01:06:25,920
Speaker 4: and they work all their lives and they don't deserve

1244
01:06:26,040 --> 01:06:29,400
Speaker 4: to be on the streets. Nobody does. But these people

1245
01:06:29,520 --> 01:06:33,160
Speaker 4: have worked. They you know, they believe in Yeah, they

1246
01:06:33,320 --> 01:06:36,200
Speaker 4: believe they worked. They you know, they did what they

1247
01:06:36,240 --> 01:06:39,640
Speaker 4: had to do, and they're not able to afford rent.

1248
01:06:39,720 --> 01:06:44,160
Speaker 1: It's almost fable like because here is a slices community

1249
01:06:44,160 --> 01:06:47,200
Speaker 1: to have mentioned. They've got themselves on their feet, they

1250
01:06:47,240 --> 01:06:51,560
Speaker 1: don't require government assistance. They thumb their nose in some respects.

1251
01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:54,160
Speaker 1: And then after all of that doing all of what

1252
01:06:54,200 --> 01:06:56,560
Speaker 1: they said to do, now you're out here, you know,

1253
01:06:56,640 --> 01:06:59,720
Speaker 1: scrambling between your you know, your Medicaid check or your

1254
01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:04,600
Speaker 1: medication and out here on Saturdays eating from a mutual

1255
01:07:04,600 --> 01:07:08,360
Speaker 1: eight that are specifically designed for on house community members.

1256
01:07:08,600 --> 01:07:11,800
Speaker 1: So the house and secure also is connected in our

1257
01:07:11,960 --> 01:07:15,800
Speaker 1: house movement unfortunately. But it's a factor realities.

1258
01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:18,840
Speaker 4: Right exactly. And it's really sad seeing that others like

1259
01:07:19,000 --> 01:07:24,240
Speaker 4: just be recycling to meet their needs. I mean, we

1260
01:07:24,240 --> 01:07:27,200
Speaker 4: should all recycle anyway, but just the fact that they

1261
01:07:28,080 --> 01:07:31,440
Speaker 4: should be resting at the stage after working so hard

1262
01:07:31,520 --> 01:07:36,440
Speaker 4: and work in like Walmart or other places like grocery stores,

1263
01:07:37,160 --> 01:07:40,240
Speaker 4: and even if it's part time, they have to continue

1264
01:07:40,280 --> 01:07:42,919
Speaker 4: to work or else they won't have anywhere to live

1265
01:07:43,760 --> 01:07:47,280
Speaker 4: because rent so high, and it's high because it's made

1266
01:07:47,320 --> 01:07:52,360
Speaker 4: that way because in actuality, we have an abundance of houses.

1267
01:07:52,600 --> 01:07:55,800
Speaker 4: They say that there's three empty homes per one on

1268
01:07:55,840 --> 01:08:00,280
Speaker 4: house person, so we could house every single person here

1269
01:08:00,320 --> 01:08:01,200
Speaker 4: in the city.

1270
01:08:00,960 --> 01:08:04,120
Speaker 1: Which leads into the next question I had, And I

1271
01:08:04,160 --> 01:08:07,720
Speaker 1: was curious, what gave you guys the idea to look

1272
01:08:07,720 --> 01:08:11,520
Speaker 1: at the houses here, because you did some rather extraordinary stuff,

1273
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:13,640
Speaker 1: So I will let you tell your story further.

1274
01:08:14,640 --> 01:08:18,160
Speaker 4: For myself, it was Moms for Housing in Oakland that

1275
01:08:18,479 --> 01:08:20,800
Speaker 4: inspired me because I saw them and I was like, wow,

1276
01:08:20,960 --> 01:08:24,240
Speaker 4: like these are moms and they could do it, and

1277
01:08:24,400 --> 01:08:26,720
Speaker 4: they're you know, they have community support.

1278
01:08:26,479 --> 01:08:29,679
Speaker 1: For those that don't know. Moms for Housing were formerly

1279
01:08:29,680 --> 01:08:33,479
Speaker 1: on housed women that has seen abandoned buildings that has

1280
01:08:33,520 --> 01:08:38,200
Speaker 1: been abandoned for years, and they basically commandeered it and

1281
01:08:38,360 --> 01:08:42,760
Speaker 1: demanded the city to house all of the increasing unhoused

1282
01:08:43,040 --> 01:08:46,799
Speaker 1: community members, which you are mothers with children. And it

1283
01:08:46,840 --> 01:08:50,360
Speaker 1: was a big conversation and it was inspired a lot

1284
01:08:50,360 --> 01:08:53,040
Speaker 1: of movements. And I suffice it to say, I think

1285
01:08:53,320 --> 01:08:57,679
Speaker 1: it's inspired you as you you say, and you guys

1286
01:08:57,720 --> 01:09:00,360
Speaker 1: did some extraordinary things. So let's talk a little bit

1287
01:09:00,400 --> 01:09:00,720
Speaker 1: about that.

1288
01:09:01,280 --> 01:09:03,439
Speaker 4: Yeah, And at that time, I didn't know there was

1289
01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:08,240
Speaker 4: other groups that were meeting and identifying these homes, and

1290
01:09:08,439 --> 01:09:14,439
Speaker 4: we all kind of met through identifying the houses in

1291
01:09:14,479 --> 01:09:21,360
Speaker 4: Etceno through East Side Cafe, which has been really knowledgeable

1292
01:09:21,479 --> 01:09:23,800
Speaker 4: in the struggle of these houses because they were the

1293
01:09:23,840 --> 01:09:28,879
Speaker 4: ones there were one of the groups that fought against

1294
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:34,760
Speaker 4: the freeways being built that Caltrans took these homes like

1295
01:09:34,840 --> 01:09:38,000
Speaker 4: thirty years ago to build the freeway. Then the community

1296
01:09:38,040 --> 01:09:39,960
Speaker 4: fought for the freeway not to be built, but they

1297
01:09:40,280 --> 01:09:43,759
Speaker 4: remained abandoned a lot of them. And it was close

1298
01:09:43,800 --> 01:09:47,520
Speaker 4: to two hundred in a Hambra, Etsedano, and South Pasadena.

1299
01:09:48,640 --> 01:09:51,439
Speaker 4: So not only in Etceno where we took the homes,

1300
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:55,000
Speaker 4: but other places through huge homes in Pasadena that are

1301
01:09:55,040 --> 01:09:58,120
Speaker 4: just abandoned for years and years and left to rot

1302
01:09:58,200 --> 01:10:00,920
Speaker 4: while people are suffering on the streets. And so to me,

1303
01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:05,880
Speaker 4: that is a moral And so that's why to me,

1304
01:10:06,080 --> 01:10:10,439
Speaker 4: like the laws don't mean anything if they're like hurting us.

1305
01:10:11,080 --> 01:10:15,120
Speaker 4: So I broke the law to get into these homes

1306
01:10:15,680 --> 01:10:20,000
Speaker 4: so that I could have a house during COVID. It

1307
01:10:20,120 --> 01:10:24,160
Speaker 4: was right during the COVID epidemic where we were all

1308
01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:26,599
Speaker 4: supposed to shelter in place, and I didn't really have

1309
01:10:26,880 --> 01:10:29,799
Speaker 4: a home to shelter in place, so to keep myself

1310
01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:33,240
Speaker 4: and my family safe, we took a home in Elceno.

1311
01:10:33,920 --> 01:10:38,479
Speaker 4: And also we also raised awareness about these empty homes

1312
01:10:38,479 --> 01:10:42,240
Speaker 4: that none none of the politicians had done anything. And

1313
01:10:42,280 --> 01:10:44,160
Speaker 4: then all of a sudden, now they wanted they had

1314
01:10:44,160 --> 01:10:48,320
Speaker 4: a plan according to them, but through this whole time,

1315
01:10:48,520 --> 01:10:51,960
Speaker 4: none of them had really acknowledged these homes.

1316
01:10:52,479 --> 01:10:54,000
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. That's one of

1317
01:10:54,040 --> 01:10:58,040
Speaker 1: the inspirations that reclaimers, because you guys are reclaiming when

1318
01:10:58,080 --> 01:11:01,240
Speaker 1: there's they's basically the cities, which is we're paying taxes

1319
01:11:01,240 --> 01:11:07,479
Speaker 1: in is ours. How did the politicians react to this?

1320
01:11:07,520 --> 01:11:10,080
Speaker 1: What did are they doing? Anything of the steps to

1321
01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:13,640
Speaker 1: open up other houses for a house families or what

1322
01:11:13,680 --> 01:11:16,880
Speaker 1: did they do how were they able to hold onto

1323
01:11:16,920 --> 01:11:17,519
Speaker 1: your home.

1324
01:11:18,040 --> 01:11:23,200
Speaker 4: For us, we got an offer from Haakla and Path

1325
01:11:23,880 --> 01:11:29,040
Speaker 4: to have a two year temporary housing agreement, and so

1326
01:11:29,680 --> 01:11:33,040
Speaker 4: we sounded we signed it because we didn't really want

1327
01:11:33,080 --> 01:11:36,160
Speaker 4: to be harassed at the moment, and we figured that

1328
01:11:36,240 --> 01:11:39,479
Speaker 4: we could like try to negotiate with them in order

1329
01:11:39,520 --> 01:11:44,200
Speaker 4: to keep these homes or to find permanent housing around

1330
01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:47,960
Speaker 4: the area. Because I have my children in the in

1331
01:11:48,000 --> 01:11:51,960
Speaker 4: the school there that's really good. It's an alternative schools

1332
01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:56,800
Speaker 4: and Digitus school, and she has special needs, so this

1333
01:11:57,800 --> 01:12:02,080
Speaker 4: school really addresses I also am a single mom and

1334
01:12:02,080 --> 01:12:04,120
Speaker 4: I have a lot of my support system there. So

1335
01:12:04,160 --> 01:12:06,960
Speaker 4: I made it really clear what type of housing I

1336
01:12:07,040 --> 01:12:12,000
Speaker 4: needed because we know like being displaced causes a lot

1337
01:12:12,040 --> 01:12:14,880
Speaker 4: of trauma absolutely, and so I didn't I didn't want

1338
01:12:14,880 --> 01:12:17,599
Speaker 4: to move from my community and they haven't provided that.

1339
01:12:17,680 --> 01:12:21,000
Speaker 4: All the housing that they were providing was outside my

1340
01:12:21,160 --> 01:12:26,800
Speaker 4: geographic area and or really expensive for my budget. So

1341
01:12:28,479 --> 01:12:32,720
Speaker 4: the two year mark ended and we still right now

1342
01:12:32,720 --> 01:12:37,120
Speaker 4: we're under eviction because they didn't want to offer any

1343
01:12:37,160 --> 01:12:40,759
Speaker 4: transition in place or any other offers within the area,

1344
01:12:41,760 --> 01:12:47,520
Speaker 4: and the politicians really they Kevin de Leone and Marilena Durasso,

1345
01:12:47,680 --> 01:12:52,240
Speaker 4: Ween de Carrillo, they all say they have plans for

1346
01:12:52,360 --> 01:12:55,479
Speaker 4: these homes that were not special, that we shouldn't get

1347
01:12:55,520 --> 01:12:58,920
Speaker 4: a deal, that we should wait in line like everybody else,

1348
01:12:58,680 --> 01:13:01,519
Speaker 4: those type of and then the plan they have is

1349
01:13:01,520 --> 01:13:05,719
Speaker 4: for mixed income housing, which I believe is not very good.

1350
01:13:06,000 --> 01:13:09,040
Speaker 1: Now that you've claimed the house, have you noticed that

1351
01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:11,960
Speaker 1: there was any improvement in the outlook of your children,

1352
01:13:12,240 --> 01:13:15,080
Speaker 1: you that you had somewhere to be conversely having to

1353
01:13:15,120 --> 01:13:19,040
Speaker 1: stay in the car or you know, any other ingenious

1354
01:13:19,040 --> 01:13:20,240
Speaker 1: ways of trying to survive.

1355
01:13:20,600 --> 01:13:24,080
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, it was a blessing having home, especially during COVID.

1356
01:13:24,560 --> 01:13:29,800
Speaker 4: I was able to start a co op of families

1357
01:13:29,840 --> 01:13:32,600
Speaker 4: that were homeschooling at the time, because everybody was homeschooling

1358
01:13:32,600 --> 01:13:35,760
Speaker 4: at the time and so but we built our own curriculum,

1359
01:13:35,920 --> 01:13:41,679
Speaker 4: We fixed the garage area to meet and have learning

1360
01:13:41,800 --> 01:13:45,080
Speaker 4: and so that's when really our children were thriving the most.

1361
01:13:45,120 --> 01:13:47,559
Speaker 4: We were giving them a lot of attention, a lot

1362
01:13:47,600 --> 01:13:51,440
Speaker 4: of emotional support, and that would have not been possible

1363
01:13:51,479 --> 01:13:54,320
Speaker 4: if I didn't have a home, especially in that community,

1364
01:13:55,040 --> 01:13:58,960
Speaker 4: and they're a little more established. My daughters are have

1365
01:13:59,240 --> 01:14:03,120
Speaker 4: healed a lot, and so and the families in general,

1366
01:14:03,280 --> 01:14:07,080
Speaker 4: all the other reclaimers as well, people that were living

1367
01:14:07,120 --> 01:14:11,559
Speaker 4: on the streets have like really found the time and

1368
01:14:11,680 --> 01:14:16,200
Speaker 4: space and community especially to be able to kal and

1369
01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:17,920
Speaker 4: recover from their trauma.

1370
01:14:18,280 --> 01:14:22,479
Speaker 1: Well, you also have activated them as activists themselves. They

1371
01:14:22,520 --> 01:14:26,400
Speaker 1: have some accomplishments themselves. What are they What great things

1372
01:14:26,400 --> 01:14:27,280
Speaker 1: that are are doing now?

1373
01:14:27,960 --> 01:14:33,600
Speaker 4: So, yes, my daughters are very empathetic towards people, animals,

1374
01:14:34,200 --> 01:14:40,440
Speaker 4: and they volunteer every Saturday at Jaytown Action and Solidarity

1375
01:14:40,439 --> 01:14:44,200
Speaker 4: in Tokyo with the unhoused community there. They also have

1376
01:14:44,280 --> 01:14:49,040
Speaker 4: a radio show on Wednesdays five to six. It's The

1377
01:14:49,160 --> 01:14:54,920
Speaker 4: Sisters Show and it's on in www dot l p

1378
01:14:55,280 --> 01:14:57,559
Speaker 4: fm dot l as.

1379
01:14:57,800 --> 01:14:58,639
Speaker 2: It's streaming there.

1380
01:14:59,080 --> 01:15:02,000
Speaker 1: That's wonderful. And how do they like that? Because I

1381
01:15:02,080 --> 01:15:04,080
Speaker 1: noticed I've peeped in a couple of times, and they

1382
01:15:04,680 --> 01:15:07,200
Speaker 1: definitely make keep things very lively and different, you know,

1383
01:15:07,560 --> 01:15:11,080
Speaker 1: on the AGA kids level, to be crip frank, you know. Conversely,

1384
01:15:11,320 --> 01:15:14,080
Speaker 1: because sometimes it takes our peers to show us that

1385
01:15:14,160 --> 01:15:18,160
Speaker 1: we can do certainly mad, extravagant or exceptional things.

1386
01:15:18,960 --> 01:15:21,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, they love the radio and they love using their

1387
01:15:22,040 --> 01:15:27,080
Speaker 4: voice to you know, uplift youth children, social justice, racial

1388
01:15:27,200 --> 01:15:31,519
Speaker 4: justice issues. But they also talk about food because they're foodies,

1389
01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:34,639
Speaker 4: and they talk about like just fun things they do

1390
01:15:34,800 --> 01:15:35,479
Speaker 4: during the week.

1391
01:15:36,880 --> 01:15:38,800
Speaker 1: It's like it's like I said, you know, they're the

1392
01:15:38,880 --> 01:15:41,439
Speaker 1: new They're going to be the future leaders. So they

1393
01:15:41,479 --> 01:15:44,639
Speaker 1: have to get into trenches as well. So what's new

1394
01:15:44,760 --> 01:15:47,920
Speaker 1: what's going to be on the plate for now twenty

1395
01:15:48,000 --> 01:15:51,000
Speaker 1: twenty four? I guess I would need to ask how

1396
01:15:51,160 --> 01:15:54,000
Speaker 1: is the battle going to be? What phase you were

1397
01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:54,439
Speaker 1: into it?

1398
01:15:54,960 --> 01:15:59,840
Speaker 4: I it might be tough, but I don't want to

1399
01:15:59,840 --> 01:16:02,400
Speaker 4: get up. I want to stay in my community. I

1400
01:16:02,439 --> 01:16:04,840
Speaker 4: feel like, where the heck are we gonna go? Like

1401
01:16:04,920 --> 01:16:09,920
Speaker 4: they continuously displace us over and over again, and it's

1402
01:16:10,520 --> 01:16:13,680
Speaker 4: it's like enough and enough, and I just want to

1403
01:16:13,720 --> 01:16:18,000
Speaker 4: stand my ground and stay there no matter what. And

1404
01:16:18,120 --> 01:16:22,519
Speaker 4: right now we're also going to have finally have mediation

1405
01:16:23,280 --> 01:16:25,600
Speaker 4: talks and conversations with caltrans.

1406
01:16:25,680 --> 01:16:28,240
Speaker 1: Oh that's a successful as set exactly.

1407
01:16:28,320 --> 01:16:31,160
Speaker 4: After so many years of trying and going to the

1408
01:16:31,280 --> 01:16:36,240
Speaker 4: offices and calling and you know, doing everything possible, we

1409
01:16:36,320 --> 01:16:40,000
Speaker 4: finally I have achieved that. So I'm looking forward to that.

1410
01:16:40,240 --> 01:16:45,280
Speaker 4: I'm not too hopeful, but like I said, I'm gonna

1411
01:16:45,280 --> 01:16:46,120
Speaker 4: stay in my house.

1412
01:16:46,520 --> 01:16:49,439
Speaker 1: How can in the community support you and your good daughters.

1413
01:16:50,200 --> 01:16:53,559
Speaker 4: I think the best would be just to follow our

1414
01:16:54,160 --> 01:16:58,720
Speaker 4: social media reclaiming our Homes so for the girls the

1415
01:16:58,800 --> 01:17:04,240
Speaker 4: Sister Show, and keep updated on our needs that we

1416
01:17:05,080 --> 01:17:10,280
Speaker 4: will currently maybe have this coming year in twenty twenty four.

1417
01:17:10,520 --> 01:17:14,000
Speaker 4: So yeah, just keep looking for us there.

1418
01:17:14,320 --> 01:17:16,160
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for taking the time to come and

1419
01:17:16,200 --> 01:17:19,360
Speaker 1: have a conversation. I hope that people that are listening

1420
01:17:19,479 --> 01:17:23,440
Speaker 1: understand the whole objective of this episode is the diversity

1421
01:17:23,880 --> 01:17:27,519
Speaker 1: of the people that are displaced and their stories are singular,

1422
01:17:27,840 --> 01:17:29,960
Speaker 1: that we all have a story, we all need a

1423
01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:32,439
Speaker 1: little help, and we all need it in our diverse

1424
01:17:32,479 --> 01:17:35,479
Speaker 1: ways in our society. Hopefully we'll get the idea and

1425
01:17:35,560 --> 01:17:46,640
Speaker 1: the spirit of empathy. Thanks again to Martha Screeter reclaiming

1426
01:17:46,640 --> 01:17:50,360
Speaker 1: Our Homes. You can follow her work at Reclaiming Homes

1427
01:17:50,840 --> 01:17:54,200
Speaker 1: or on Instagram or reclaiming our Homes dot org. And

1428
01:17:54,240 --> 01:17:57,160
Speaker 1: another big thanks to bay Honey for taking the time

1429
01:17:57,439 --> 01:18:01,040
Speaker 1: to get into a good discussion about houselessness her experience

1430
01:18:01,040 --> 01:18:03,559
Speaker 1: as well as mine. You can follow her at bay

1431
01:18:03,680 --> 01:18:07,720
Speaker 1: honey Bae h O n I and listen to her

1432
01:18:07,760 --> 01:18:12,320
Speaker 1: podcast Collie and Girls on Dash Radio. And finally, a

1433
01:18:12,360 --> 01:18:15,320
Speaker 1: big thank you to our new listeners and existing listeners.

1434
01:18:15,880 --> 01:18:19,599
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Weedianhouse dot com and check

1435
01:18:19,760 --> 01:18:23,559
Speaker 1: out new episodes every other Tuesday right here. If you

1436
01:18:23,640 --> 01:18:26,680
Speaker 1: have an un housed person who are related to or

1437
01:18:26,840 --> 01:18:29,800
Speaker 1: no socially who has passed on, please send their names

1438
01:18:29,800 --> 01:18:32,360
Speaker 1: to Weedianhouse dot com so they can be remembered in

1439
01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:35,920
Speaker 1: our next episode. Can you See Me Memorial cast next

1440
01:18:35,920 --> 01:18:44,800
Speaker 1: time on Weedianhouse. William Howes is a production of iHeartRadio.

1441
01:18:45,280 --> 01:18:48,680
Speaker 1: It is written, hosted, and created by me Theo Henderson.

1442
01:18:49,120 --> 01:18:53,759
Speaker 1: Our producers are Seamie Loftus, Lyra Smith and Katie Fisher.

1443
01:18:54,200 --> 01:18:57,360
Speaker 1: Our editor is Adam Wong, and our logo art is

1444
01:18:57,439 --> 01:19:08,080
Speaker 1: also by Katie Fisher. Thanks for listening, I've been mothering