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Speaker 1: Previously on Weedian House, I'm seeing more and more of note,

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Speaker 1: not just Weekend Warrior. I'm going to go to March

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Speaker 1: because I can say I went to the March, but

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Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, we need to actually like do something. Clearly,

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Speaker 1: what's happening there is really broken. What's happening here is

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Speaker 1: just as no.

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Speaker 2: I'm when I had the pertment we were today only

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Speaker 2: a thousand dollars.

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Speaker 3: He just didn't care evicted us. He came out.

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Speaker 2: Telling us when he gave his eviction, I didn't want

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Speaker 2: to read you guys.

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Speaker 4: And that's see, Tollissa.

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Speaker 5: If reporters are not allowed to just be there to

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Speaker 5: watch what's going on, you know, how do you trust

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Speaker 5: what they say?

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Speaker 4: Later on Welcome back to Weedian House, I'm your host,

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Speaker 4: Theo Henderson. Before we delve into today's topic, I want

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Speaker 4: to take a moment to thank my listeners. One new

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Speaker 4: listener reached out to me from New Zealand. A big

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Speaker 4: thanks to Anissa Lahonta for recommending a guest to join

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Speaker 4: my show. Another shout out I like to do is

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Speaker 4: to DJ Palmerville, who also sent a recommendation and I'm

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Speaker 4: looking forward to exploring as well. It is so gratifying

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Speaker 4: to know there are people listening, paying attention and offering suggestions.

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Speaker 4: I ask my unhoused listeners to reach out to me

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Speaker 4: at www dot weedyonhouse dot com and submit your encouraging

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Speaker 4: words for recommendations. We've got a lot to talk about

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Speaker 4: this week on a topic so big we need two

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Speaker 4: episodes to crack it wide open the differences between mutual aid,

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Speaker 4: charity and philanthropy. But first, you know the drill. Let's

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Speaker 4: get into some house news. Our leading story today is

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Speaker 4: a weather advisory for the northern part of California. Temperatures

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Speaker 4: in Los Angeles from January ninth to January eighteenth are

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Speaker 4: ranging from a high of sixty six degrees to a

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Speaker 4: low of forty three degrees with high winds. It is

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Speaker 4: important to point out hypothermia is the leading cause of

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Speaker 4: death for unhoused people. Due to these types of temperatures,

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Speaker 4: house people can throw on a sweater or turn up

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Speaker 4: the thermostad for the thousands of people who live on

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Speaker 4: the streets, cold weather and high winds put your life

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Speaker 4: at risk. On December twenty sixth, a one year old

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Speaker 4: unhoused child pass away of hypothermia and an unhoused man

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Speaker 4: named John died of the same cause on January ninth

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Speaker 4: in South la In closely related news across the country,

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Speaker 4: families with children had to leave New York shelters as

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Speaker 4: of last week. You may not be surprised to hear

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Speaker 4: that the people who run the City of Los Angeles

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Speaker 4: are not prepared to protect their unhoused constituents this year either.

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Speaker 4: As of this recording, there are eleven shelters open in

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Speaker 4: the Law Central's area, with three hundred and eighty eight

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Speaker 4: beds available. Keep in mind they are currently over seventy

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Speaker 4: five thousand house people in the same area. If you're

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Speaker 4: looking to get connected with one of these shelters, this

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Speaker 4: is what was available when we recorded on January ninth,

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Speaker 4: and numbers may have changed since the time of the recording.

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Speaker 4: Forty four beds at Volunteers of America address forty five

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Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty sixtieth Street in West Lancaster, California.

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Speaker 4: The population they serve is co ed thirty five beds

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Speaker 4: at Advancing Communities Together. It is at thirty eight six

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Speaker 4: hundred and twenty six to ninth Street in East Palmdale, California,

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Speaker 4: only open from seven pm to seven am on weekdays

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Speaker 4: and twenty four hours on Saturday and Sunday. Population served

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Speaker 4: co ED fifty beds at home at last eighty seven

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Speaker 4: sixty eight South Broadway, Los Angeles. Population served women eleven

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Speaker 4: beds at Assured Lifestyle Housing. Ninety five nineteen South Figaroa,

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles. Population served co ed nine beds at Assured

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Speaker 4: Lifestyle Housing. Seven hundred West Florence, Los Angeles population served

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Speaker 4: co ed forty one beads at First to served. Seventeen

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Speaker 4: eighteen West Vernon Avenue, Los Angeles. Population served co ED

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Speaker 4: sixty beds at Bryant Temple Community Development. Fifty five hundred

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Speaker 4: South Hoover Street, Los Angeles. Population served men thirty two

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Speaker 4: beds at Abundant Blessings. Eleven thirty three South Ardmore Avenue,

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles. Population served men fifty five beds at New

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Speaker 4: Reflections eighty three eleven Southwestern Avenue, Los Angeles. Population served

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Speaker 4: men eleven beds at which Ye First Day twelve four

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Speaker 4: hundred and twenty six Whittier Boulevard, Whittier, California. Population served

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Speaker 4: coed and forty beds at First to Serve. Seven hundred

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Speaker 4: and two West Anaheon Street, Long Beach, California, population served COED.

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Speaker 4: To connect with any of these services, call to one

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Speaker 4: one or one eight hundred five four eight sixty forty seven.

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Speaker 4: You can also go to LASA dot org went to

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Speaker 4: shelter for this full list, or call Lossa's shelter hotline

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Speaker 4: at two one three six eight three thirty three thirty three.

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Speaker 4: It's no secret that the city is not prepared to

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Speaker 4: protect the unhoused during major whatever events like this. These

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Speaker 4: shelters are all that's available to service the population of

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Speaker 4: over seventy five thousand. If you go to one of

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Speaker 4: these shelters and want to tell us your experience, we

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Speaker 4: in House wants to hear about it. Send us a

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Speaker 4: message at www dot weedianhouse dot com Our next story.

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the LPD ejected trans

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Speaker 4: and house people of color in West Hollywood on Tuesday,

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Speaker 4: January ninth, twenty twenty four. Howse LGBQTIA plus community members

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Speaker 4: have complained about the unhoused community, citing fights and other

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Speaker 4: nefarious activities. Weedian House stopped by on Sunday, January seventh

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Speaker 4: unhoused residents, pointing out the hostility and unwelcome behavior one

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Speaker 4: complain of an illegal arrest and police brutality by the

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. This is a developing story. Weedian

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Speaker 4: House will follow up later. And finally, this week's Unhoused

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Speaker 4: News exclusive is with Aaron Flores, former environmental compliance inspector

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Speaker 4: turned videographer. This interview was recorded last November after an

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Speaker 4: event I attended where doctor Cornell West spoke with local

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Speaker 4: activists at a fundraising event for his campaign. And don't worry,

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Speaker 4: my interview with Cornell West will be included in an

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Speaker 4: upcoming episode. Aaron and I had a fascinating talk where

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Speaker 4: let's just say, we don't always agree. It's a longer one,

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Speaker 4: but we'll be sharing the first part here. Hello.

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Speaker 6: My name is Aaron Flores. I used to work as

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Speaker 6: an environmental compliance inspector for La Sanitation. I did the

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Speaker 6: job for about three years, and I decided last July

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Speaker 6: to leave a very financially comfortable job that put me

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Speaker 6: in many ethical conflicts. I decided to leave that to

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Speaker 6: try to be a little bit more consistent in my character,

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Speaker 6: especially as someone who thinks constantly about these things.

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Speaker 4: Let's start from the beginning, because this is a story

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Speaker 4: that really needs to be told.

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Speaker 6: So I worked as an ECI or environment compliance inspector

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Speaker 6: for the Liveability Services Division, which is a fairly nascent division,

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Speaker 6: and I actually got hired as an emergency hire, so

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Speaker 6: they hired me pretty quickly. I filed an application during

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Speaker 6: summer and I began training in about August, so that's

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Speaker 6: very very fast for a city employee. Usually city employees

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Speaker 6: have to wait a long time. Started training, I didn't

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Speaker 6: really know what exactly I was getting into, but I

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Speaker 6: had an idea. We studied the municipal Code of fifty

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Speaker 6: six eleven.

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Speaker 4: What is fifty six eleven.

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Speaker 6: So it's basically rules of the sidewalk and there's been

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Speaker 6: a few revisions of it. I think in twenty sixteen

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Speaker 6: they like added a few revisions. When you first read it,

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Speaker 6: it's kind of like a little bit vague, it's kind

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Speaker 6: of just refers to just anything. And then later on

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Speaker 6: it starts it feels like it begins to be a

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Speaker 6: little bit more targeted, maybe towards the unhoused or you know,

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Speaker 6: just very specific legal circumstances for the unhoused. But as

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Speaker 6: an ECI, I abide by that municipal code so I

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Speaker 6: can't do anything outside of my jurisdiction, but I do

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Speaker 6: follow these set principles, and many of the ones that

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Speaker 6: we had enforced or asked police enforcement to enforce, would

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Speaker 6: be eighty A, which is the American Disabilities Act, which

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Speaker 6: requires I think it's three feet of walkway space on

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Speaker 6: any sidewalk. And the other one would be ingress egress,

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Speaker 6: which is you cannot be within ten feet of an

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Speaker 6: entrance or exit which includes a driveway or a doorway.

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Speaker 4: When you were being trained, did they mention the tense

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Speaker 4: relationship would be dealing with the unhoused or how to

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Speaker 4: deal with that or what was their training on that?

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Speaker 4: Because you were dealing with human beings and their belongings,

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Speaker 4: you probably gathered if I started rummaging through your things

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Speaker 4: or going and throwing your things in the trash, you

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Speaker 4: want to be unstendedly upset. So how did they work

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Speaker 4: work that into your trend?

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Speaker 6: Well, I guess it would be on field training. You

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Speaker 6: read something on paper and it looks a little bit

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Speaker 6: more convenient, but obviously, as an ECI, it's just being

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Speaker 6: the bearer bad news. And even though it's a very

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Speaker 6: difficult thing to do, except you know, especially for someone

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Speaker 6: who's cognizant or conscious and concerned about their ethical life.

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Speaker 6: But when you're being paid like eighty thousand dollars projected

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Speaker 6: into one hundred thousand within I don't know, six years

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Speaker 6: of service, it you know, begins to be a little

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Speaker 6: bit you kind of compromise, at least in the beginning,

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Speaker 6: you know, just like characters in Dostoyevsky's novels, you know,

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Speaker 6: you can only evade guilt for so long until it

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Speaker 6: really begins to be sort of crippling.

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Speaker 4: Well, I remember that as the Median House was in

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Speaker 4: it innascency, we were out on the field in covering

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Speaker 4: the sweeps to educate people, and we ran across when

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Speaker 4: you was employed, and we definitely were not the most

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Speaker 4: polite or you know, it was kind of a tense

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Speaker 4: situation because of the issues there. What was going through

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Speaker 4: your mind when you've seen this a bunch show up

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Speaker 4: with a camera and microphone. What was your initial reaction

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Speaker 4: because a lot of the the ecis initially they were surprised,

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Speaker 4: some of them became very angry, some of them became

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Speaker 4: very confrontational, believing or not, and which shocked a lot

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Speaker 4: of us. Like we didn't expect the type of reaction.

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Speaker 4: We talked that it was going to be sastoic, but

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Speaker 4: then they started becoming vigdictive. So what was your initial

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Speaker 4: reaction when we first came up on the same.

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Speaker 6: Usually for me, I just I'm expecting to be filmed,

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Speaker 6: so I make sure I crossed my t's and dot

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Speaker 6: my eyes. So sometimes, you know, ECIS would get in

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Speaker 6: trouble for, as you said, sometimes talking directly to people

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Speaker 6: or to anyone you know who's quotable. Yeah, we would

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Speaker 6: get in trouble for you know, not following standard operating procedures.

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Speaker 6: Some of our procedures included like taking photographic evidence, and

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Speaker 6: there were, at least in the very beginning of LSD,

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Speaker 6: people would often take shortcuts when people weren't looking. Oftentimes,

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Speaker 6: some of the justifications that are used are finding urine

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Speaker 6: or fequal matter inside of encampment, And an encampment is

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Speaker 6: a little bit different from homelessness because an encampment usually

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Speaker 6: entels like a tent or some type of structure. But anyways,

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Speaker 6: some of the shortcuts would be justifying throwing away a

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Speaker 6: lot of the encampment for a year and bottle that

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Speaker 6: might be contained within something and oftentimes the justification for

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Speaker 6: throwing away these things would be cross contamination. But you know,

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Speaker 6: there has to be a justification behind every single thing

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Speaker 6: that we do because as an inspector, are job is

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Speaker 6: to care for the health and safety of the public.

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Speaker 6: And this is probably the limiting point of where we

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Speaker 6: start getting into disagreements because I do believe that there

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Speaker 6: are health hazards that are produced in encampments.

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Speaker 4: Well, I have a lot to say about fat. During

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Speaker 4: our next Unhoused News segment, we'll continue that conversation and

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Speaker 4: I will challenge Aaron on the house views of encampments.

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Speaker 4: And that's in House News for this week. Up next,

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Speaker 4: we get to talk to the people at the forefront

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Speaker 4: of the LA activist community and get into the nitty

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Speaker 4: gritty around what it really takes to have a consistent

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Speaker 4: and positive impact on the community. Stay with us, Welcome

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Speaker 4: back to well in House. I gave you a homework

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Speaker 4: assignment at the end of our last episode, and it

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Speaker 4: was what is the difference between mutual aid charity and philanthropy.

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Speaker 4: In the next two episodes, we'll be exploring the issues fully.

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Speaker 4: These three activists are essential to the conversation we're going

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Speaker 4: to have today. We're going to pull the curtain back

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Speaker 4: of a bit of history, experience, and laughter to keep

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Speaker 4: our wits about us. In a discombobulated world, time does

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Speaker 4: not permit the awesomeness of all of our guests and

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Speaker 4: what they mean to the city of Los Angeles. Here's

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Speaker 4: my roundtable talk with Melissa Asadero, Zen Sakizawa, and Neil Blakemore. Well,

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Speaker 4: this is the exciting part of it. All of the

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Speaker 4: activists here we know each other and we want to

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Speaker 4: basically have a very educational, fun kind of conversation. And

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Speaker 4: the studios we have Neil Hello, and Melissa Asadero. Watch

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Speaker 4: I get this right, Zen Seki sawad I didn't butcher that.

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Speaker 4: So all of them know me and then in our

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Speaker 4: own way, and but yet we all have the same

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Speaker 4: kind of common course in mind and heart and spirit.

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Speaker 4: So I'm going to touch base with Melissa. She's going

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Speaker 4: to give us a little bit of a backdrop about

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Speaker 4: mutual age. Yeah, so Melissa tell us a little bit

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Speaker 4: about the history of mutual.

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Speaker 7: A Well, I think a lot of people feel like

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Speaker 7: mutual aid is sort of especially if you're new to

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Speaker 7: it and came into it during the pandemic, that that

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Speaker 7: was something that kind of just sort of like sprouted

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Speaker 7: kind of as a response to the pandemic. But this

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Speaker 7: has been happening for hundreds of years. I started to

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Speaker 7: research the history of mutual aid because I really wanted

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Speaker 7: to understand how the areas that were most active in

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Speaker 7: are predominantly in black and brown communities. And so when

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Speaker 7: what I found was during the eighteen hundreds, nineteen hundreds,

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Speaker 7: even like way way back, so mutual aid projects basically

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Speaker 7: our way for like political participation for a lot of

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Speaker 7: these groups. The Free African Society actually happened in seventeen

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Speaker 7: eighty seven. That came about in Philadelphia, and it was

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Speaker 7: in the summer of seventeen ninety three because there was

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Speaker 7: an epidemic that had Philadelphia of like yellow fever.

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Speaker 4: Their version of COVID nineteen exactly, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 7: See, So there were two black ministers and the founders

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Speaker 7: of the Free African Society was Richard Allen and Absalom Jones.

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Speaker 7: So they were one of the first black mutual aid

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Speaker 7: societies in the US, and so it was just really

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Speaker 7: kind of a way for them to organize folks who

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Speaker 7: were dying in like literally on the street, because I

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Speaker 7: think the city itself begged black residents for help, believing

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Speaker 7: in correct correctly that they were.

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Speaker 4: Immune to the disease. So the racism too within.

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Speaker 7: The medicaleah medical racism was targeted right into sort of

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Speaker 7: black citizens, and so they felt like it was their

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Speaker 7: duty to basically, you know, support suffering brothers and sisters,

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Speaker 7: and so they created relief for the sick, sheltering orphans,

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Speaker 7: transporting and burying the z and so it really was

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Speaker 7: again like a response to what was happening because they

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Speaker 7: saw the government wasn't doing anything so commedy. And then

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Speaker 7: the black mutual aid societies spread rapidly in the early

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Speaker 7: eighteen hundreds. I think by like the eighteen thirties, one

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Speaker 7: hundred mutual age societies kind of like explode in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston,

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Speaker 7: New Orleans. And so this kind of kept happening for

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Speaker 7: like hundreds of years. You go forward to eighteen thirty five,

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Speaker 7: the New York Committee of Vigilance was actually founded when

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Speaker 7: Frederick Douglas escaped from enslavement in eighteen thirty eight. He

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Speaker 7: fled to New York City, and I think a lot

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Speaker 7: of self emancipation was dangerous and terrifying for people. So

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Speaker 7: you had no money and no home, and often white

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Speaker 7: kidnappers and police were hunting you down. So so uh,

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Speaker 7: Predic Douglass and a bunch of other black scholars and

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Speaker 7: folks created support for folks who were running away. So

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Speaker 7: it was just kind of a practical abolition for them.

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Speaker 4: M hmm.

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Speaker 7: It's like for folks we are kind of like newly emancipated.

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Speaker 7: Back then, they knew the barriers for other kind of folks,

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Speaker 7: recently freed folks like you know, what you can do

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Speaker 7: where you can hide, and so they created these these

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Speaker 7: mutual aid networks and then fast forward to underground railroad.

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Speaker 4: So it's just again like.

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Speaker 7: I'm trying to create like a longer arc of the

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Speaker 7: timeline of the work that we're doing. So, I mean,

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Speaker 7: I have so much more. There's so much here, Like

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Speaker 7: early nineteen hundred's Chinese consolidated benevolent association. So you have

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Speaker 7: to remember through the context historical contact that's happening at

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Speaker 7: the time. So you have to remember, like you know,

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Speaker 7: Chinese were kind of like building the railroads and all

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Speaker 7: that stuff. And so I think for us as black

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Speaker 7: and brown folks like we just have always been outside

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Speaker 7: of the system, and so we create systems of care

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Speaker 7: within that network. I'm trying to encourage folks to think

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Speaker 7: beyond what you know, like kind of the system that

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Speaker 7: we create and so like mteal aid has always been

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Speaker 7: born out of that.

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Speaker 4: Also too, if I interject this that we have a

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Speaker 4: historical blinderss because the historical leaders of the past, we

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Speaker 4: are kind of whitewashed and we don't really talk about,

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Speaker 4: for example, those revolutionary type of ideas because at that

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Speaker 4: period of time it was outside of the way. It

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Speaker 4: was not a normal practice. It was and we don't

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Speaker 4: we kind of I don't want to say minimize it,

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Speaker 4: but we don't really emphasize it's dangerous, it was against

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Speaker 4: the law, it was the death penalty for any slave

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Speaker 4: to read always those kinds of things that was going

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Speaker 4: on there that if you had escaped and they got

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Speaker 4: the slave catcher, you remember as how the police have

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Speaker 4: been formed. All of these things has its underpinnings from

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Speaker 4: these kind of systems. We don't give it a second glance,

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Speaker 4: so we really don't take a second to really emphasize

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Speaker 4: this is where this comes from. But I want to

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Speaker 4: jump in then into the conversation, hie yays. Then we

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Speaker 4: have known each other for some time, and I was

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Speaker 4: wondering what is your insights on mutual aid, philanthropy and charity,

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Speaker 4: because we've had some excellent conversations. I just want to

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Speaker 4: just capture it, just a slice of those moments with

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Speaker 4: our audience.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, thanks for having me here. It's so cool

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Speaker 5: to be with Melissa and Neil and you and yeah,

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Speaker 5: we've known each other for a really long time, almost.

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Speaker 3: Eight years now.

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Speaker 4: Talk about jazz.

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Speaker 5: Okay, So most of you've known us for our power

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Speaker 5: ups that we have every week, say mutual Aid program

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Speaker 5: we've been doing every Saturday from two to five pm

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Speaker 5: for the last three years, yes, almost three years coming up.

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Speaker 4: Yes, I get excited when we talked about the Mutual

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Speaker 4: eight because we first started, we were feeling our way

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Speaker 4: into the situation. And I remember when we first started,

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Speaker 4: we were on the side on the street on the

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Speaker 4: corner of Judge John Isio a little Tokyo and at

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Speaker 4: Thurimi Plaza, and we knew what we wanted to do.

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Speaker 4: We knew the crisis was real, we knew people needed help.

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Speaker 4: But you know, there was a context there was things

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Speaker 4: going on that you know, the residents of the the

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Speaker 4: trumy Plaza they looked on at the kind of side

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Speaker 4: eye you know, just say, charity. What was your first

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Speaker 4: expressions when we first.

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Speaker 5: Started out our first our first power up was kind

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Speaker 5: of scary, you know. I think we had one table.

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Speaker 5: There had been an encampment we started. We started during

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Speaker 5: pandemic too, and but very different from what you were

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Speaker 5: talking about.

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Speaker 3: I question, hope. So, but yeah, we had.

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Speaker 5: One table and we were in the middle of an

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Speaker 5: encampment in Totyomi Plaza. They're probably like maybe thirty residents there.

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Speaker 3: We had asked them.

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Speaker 5: Previously a couple of weeks prior if they would be

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Speaker 5: fine with us coming and doing it, and they were

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Speaker 5: like okay.

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Speaker 4: And yeah.

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Speaker 5: It was a lot of trial and error and learning

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Speaker 5: especially from you THEO, and like understanding really what the

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Speaker 5: practice of mutual aid is versus charity, Like having people

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Speaker 5: with their own autonomy talking to them about what their

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Speaker 5: needs are, versus like, you know, projecting what you think

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Speaker 5: their needs are for us.

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Speaker 3: Like mutual aid is old.

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Speaker 5: I mean it's old, like Melissa says, I mean I

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Speaker 5: think it goes into indigenous cultures, it goes into animals,

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Speaker 5: it goes into nature. So it's only because of the

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Speaker 5: systems of white supremacy and imperialism that that has been

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Speaker 5: extracted out of our lives.

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Speaker 3: And we think this is a new thing, you know.

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Speaker 5: So yeah, but like it is acknowledging the fact that

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Speaker 5: if we're not all okay, we're not going to survive.

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Speaker 5: And I think with like charities, there's a lot of

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Speaker 5: means testing. Obviously, you have to you have to fit

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Speaker 5: a certain like stereotype, you have to you know, believe

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Speaker 5: in God, you have to.

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Speaker 3: Not look like you're on drugs or.

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Speaker 5: Whatever, and and those things don't acknowledge like what put

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Speaker 5: these people in these desperate situations in the first place.

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Speaker 3: And I think that is the biggest difference of like

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Speaker 3: charities will address.

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Speaker 5: An issue like you're hungry, but mutual aid in its

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Speaker 5: best form will say, Okay, you're hungry, here's what you

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Speaker 5: need to survive. Let's talk about why you are hungry.

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Speaker 5: Let's talk about what put you in this position that

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Speaker 5: you're hungry. You don't have a house, you know, you're

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Speaker 5: doing self care stuff, and like you know, like all

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Speaker 5: these things. Yeah, I think that's the biggest difference for

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Speaker 5: me is just acknowledging the oppression and the systems that

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Speaker 5: put you in this certain situation, and not to be

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Speaker 5: ashamed of it, to just acknowledge it and be conscious

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Speaker 5: of it.

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Speaker 3: And then how do we go from there? How do

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Speaker 3: you empower yourself from there?

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Speaker 5: Like when you don't feel like the victim, you don't

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Speaker 5: feel ashamed, you should feel pissed, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 4: And I think one of the things images when you

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Speaker 4: were saying this about the differences between the means testing

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Speaker 4: of charities and mutual aid. I remember there was a

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Speaker 4: couple of times that we've had some of the residents

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Speaker 4: that had moments where they had breaks in reality. Now

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Speaker 4: usually is you probably know the usually people that see

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Speaker 4: them get afraid called police. And I really really was

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Speaker 4: gratified of the way it says, how do we deal

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Speaker 4: with this because we know that there's going to be

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Speaker 4: people that are not used to this, what can we

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Speaker 4: do to make them be safe, be fed, and be

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Speaker 4: able to come out of whatever they need to. And

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Speaker 4: that I think is a little bit different than when

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Speaker 4: we have charities or security or like the bids or

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Speaker 4: those kind of entities. Because people think you know, running

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Speaker 4: them away or moving them, They're just going to go

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Speaker 4: down the block and still have the same end episode.

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Speaker 4: It's not going to change. And they're coming to those

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Speaker 4: places to get fed and get seen and be safe.

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Speaker 4: Because you can be able to get the type of

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Speaker 4: community to support that, you're truly going to do the

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Speaker 4: trauma inform care kind of approach. I think, what's what

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Speaker 4: I think I'm hovering around that idea, but truly looking

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Speaker 4: at that and looking at dismantling the systems ofcarcoral kind

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Speaker 4: of incarceration with the care courts is looming large in

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Speaker 4: California as we speak now. And Neil, Neil, did you

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Speaker 4: have anything you want to say?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, just that I think you're you're talking about treating

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Speaker 2: people like they're a human being rather than a problem, right,

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Speaker 2: And I think that that is so important. And I feel,

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Speaker 2: you know, one thing, in terms of people who are

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Speaker 2: interested in building movements against these systems of oppression, mutual

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Speaker 2: aid I think is essential to that because it builds

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Speaker 2: like resilient communities. And you know, these these electoral organizers

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Speaker 2: they come in and they get a lot of people

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Speaker 2: interested in this thing, but then their their movements are brittle,

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Speaker 2: because they're not built on that kind of reciprocity that

436
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 2: we need if we really want to survive and and

437
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 2: I even survive beyond like you know, whatever happens to

438
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 2: the United States or whatever the next election, but like

439
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 2: we're we're facing an existential crisis that's much bigger than that.

440
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 2: And I think we're gonna we're going to need mutual

441
00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 2: aid if we want to get through that.

442
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 7: I want to add to that because mutual aid and

443
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 7: even kind of grounding the again back to historical contexts.

444
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 7: I love history around social justice movements. We recently had

445
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 7: Cleo Silver's here and Cleo Silver Versus the central organizer

446
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 7: of the Black Panther Parties Free Breakfast Programs, which thought

447
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 7: in Oakland in sixty nine. She was also part of

448
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 7: the Young Lords in the Bronx and really was kind

449
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,440
Speaker 7: of the architect of a lot of like actions around

450
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:35,359
Speaker 7: taking back the hospitals and really kind of the medical

451
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,919
Speaker 7: system which has been violently racist and harmful and violent

452
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,720
Speaker 7: to the black communities. She was recently here and it

453
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 7: was just really really cool to hear her talk about

454
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,199
Speaker 7: how she was able to envision a lot of the

455
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 7: work that she did, especially with the Panthers and what

456
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,919
Speaker 7: I love about mutual aid it is literally the threat

457
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 7: to the government, Like what we're doing is absolutely a

458
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,360
Speaker 7: threat because we show a model that is doable. We're

459
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,880
Speaker 7: showing a model that is we're showing we're showing what's possible,

460
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:16,199
Speaker 7: and we're essentially showing folks that, like the government is

461
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 7: not here to take care of us, we take care

462
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,600
Speaker 7: of us and really kind of embodying that in the

463
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,879
Speaker 7: work that we do. So going back to Cleo Silver's

464
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,679
Speaker 7: their free breakfast program was so effective that you know,

465
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 7: like Hoover, who's director of the FBI at the time,

466
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 7: named the Black Panthers really the number one threat to

467
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:39,959
Speaker 7: you know, to the government at the time because they

468
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:44,480
Speaker 7: were able to literally organize thousands of free breakfast to

469
00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 7: children across I always say, like forty one cities and

470
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 7: that is massive.

471
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 4: But also she wants to point out, which is important

472
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 4: which is going on with us, is they tried to

473
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 4: find ways to sabotage that success. Yeah, poisoning food, which

474
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 4: is one of the things when we stink outside the bus,

475
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 4: nobody wants to hear their child we have food poisoning

476
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 4: or poison So that really creates a disquiet or dissension

477
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 4: in the community, which what she says she had to

478
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:14,080
Speaker 4: they had to stop because they were trying to deliberately

479
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 4: harm people and harm people in the community. And that's

480
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 4: simply say the same thing the conversational point. There's nothing

481
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 4: changed here because when we started mutual aids in people

482
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,920
Speaker 4: were literally coming and talking about you know, let let

483
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,720
Speaker 4: them starve, or or contacting people in the community, not

484
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,680
Speaker 4: always in the community, but like people like Kevin de Leone,

485
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 4: or trying to put up a fence, all of these things.

486
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:38,960
Speaker 4: Can you talk a little bit about what kind of

487
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:44,080
Speaker 4: sabotage efforts that went on with the mutual aids there, Like,

488
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 4: for example, we were successfully helping people and they didn't

489
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 4: like that, so they started wanting to eject the residents

490
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 4: out of Tarumy Plaza.

491
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 3: Oh, you mean just all the opposition that we've just

492
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 3: all the other ship.

493
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 5: Well, I wanted to to add to what Melissa was

494
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 5: saying about the Black Panther Breakfast program. I think is

495
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 5: really essential to any mutual aid program is there's also

496
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 5: information shared, right, revolutionary theory shared, and I think that

497
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 5: is very very important.

498
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 3: You know, that's.

499
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,880
Speaker 5: Also a big difference between mutual aid and charity, Like

500
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 5: you have to share that knowledge and historical information and

501
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 5: have people realize like what.

502
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 3: These systems do.

503
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 5: And you know it's with that sort of consciousness that

504
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:43,640
Speaker 5: you know, we can build a better system of resistance.

505
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 4: Right.

506
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 5: But yeah, like there's a gosh, it's like so much

507
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,160
Speaker 5: has happened in the three years. We've only been around

508
00:30:54,200 --> 00:31:00,280
Speaker 5: three years, and it seems like yeah, but yeah, you know,

509
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 5: there's a lot of communities made up of many, many

510
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 5: different people. That's saying things very nicely. You know, there's

511
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 5: a lot of classes, and you know, understanding what class

512
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,680
Speaker 5: consciousness looks like specifically in Little Tokyo's been really interesting

513
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,479
Speaker 5: to see. And but yeah, so we've had, of course,

514
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 5: like the conservative business owners like Rally, the politicians like

515
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 5: Kevin de Leone, and you know sweep the plaza, which

516
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 5: you know was really strange, not strange, it was really

517
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 5: disappointing for me being a longtime community member of Little Tokyo.

518
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 5: And you know, the hypocrisy between like forty one eighteen

519
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,040
Speaker 5: and Executive Order nine oh sixty six, like one block

520
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,040
Speaker 5: away from toty Umi Plaza, the big sweep that happened

521
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 5: was where people were rounded up and taken to camps.

522
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,920
Speaker 5: And it's the same thing. It's the same story of displacement.

523
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,720
Speaker 5: It's the same tactics, you know, like you don't know

524
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,960
Speaker 5: where you're going, you have to put your stuff in

525
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,120
Speaker 5: two bags and go right. And it's just like based

526
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 5: on what nothing. They call the police on us all

527
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 5: the time, they call the security guards on us. We've

528
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 5: been attacked by the bid. We have had just random

529
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,640
Speaker 5: people come and start fights with us.

530
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been it's been a lot.

531
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 5: It's also like it's very public what we're doing every

532
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 5: Saturday from two to five. So yeah, there's a lot

533
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 5: of security concerns, you know, and like.

534
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,800
Speaker 3: Like you said, like it is a direct threat to

535
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 3: a lot of people and people are going to react.

536
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 4: We will be back in a moment with more of

537
00:32:49,880 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 4: our conversations. Welcome back to Weedian House. Let's take you

538
00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 4: right back into my conversation about mutual aid, charity and

539
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 4: philanthropy with Melissa, Neil and Zen. We did a little

540
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 4: bit of the history, but we didn't do the history

541
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 4: of how Polo pantry came into being, and I think

542
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 4: we would be remiss in understanding how did you formulate

543
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 4: that because I think that story needs to be told.

544
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 7: I feel like I have to meet different versions of

545
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 7: myself and I tell the story differently because it's almost

546
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 7: like you uncover, right, unravel Now that I have more

547
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,320
Speaker 7: language with like the work, now that I have more

548
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,959
Speaker 7: context historically, now that I have more cultural sort of

549
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 7: like backing and foundation, this is in my blood, Like literally,

550
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 7: this stuff is in my blood. I am from a

551
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 7: lineage of entrepreneurial Filipino women. So if you want to

552
00:33:55,480 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 7: go back historically, my maternal grandmother ran a Sorry Sorry

553
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 7: store in the Philippines in the eighties and it was

554
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 7: cool because it literally felt like this was marked into

555
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 7: my into my blood because she would literally nag my, my, my,

556
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,520
Speaker 7: my lolo, my my grandfather to go and buy produce

557
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,480
Speaker 7: in the northern part of the country and would buy

558
00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 7: from small farms, from small farmers and bring that back

559
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,280
Speaker 7: to the barrio where they live, which is in so Milang.

560
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:34,000
Speaker 7: And you know, she just knew, she she she I'm like,

561
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,680
Speaker 7: how do I know this? She just knew that she

562
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:41,280
Speaker 7: wanted to kind of one support the farmers and to

563
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,879
Speaker 7: bring healthy food into her community. I'm like, wow, where

564
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,920
Speaker 7: did I learn that it is literally like my maternal grandmother.

565
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,360
Speaker 7: But even beyond that, her sisters too were all in

566
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 7: some kind of food work. Her her sister Malala Ana,

567
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 7: she runs, she ran, she she's rest. Their souls are

568
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:02,879
Speaker 7: all they're all past.

569
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 4: Now.

570
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:07,959
Speaker 7: She married into a family the Santo Says, and they

571
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 7: run the oldest bakery in their bodio, which is over

572
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 7: one hundred years old. Now it's the Smulan Bakery. So

573
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,320
Speaker 7: I have her and then their other sister, my Lola,

574
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,719
Speaker 7: my Lotta Felly. She's actually the grandmother that I grew

575
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,719
Speaker 7: up with here physically, she was the grandmother that I

576
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 7: that I learned to cook from. And my lord who's

577
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 7: also like part of the crew sisters, she would also

578
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:36,839
Speaker 7: cook for for folks. So it's just like now, if

579
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 7: I realize it, I really kind of am just sort

580
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:42,960
Speaker 7: of remembering the things that my family has always done

581
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,359
Speaker 7: to take care of their communities. So I just really

582
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 7: kind of brought it to where I am.

583
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 4: Well, if I may add a little little season to

584
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:55,960
Speaker 4: that conversation, have how we met, Like, oh, yeah, you

585
00:35:56,040 --> 00:36:00,760
Speaker 4: had a strong family lineage, jis you were actually working

586
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,239
Speaker 4: and working for a time, and I wanted to point

587
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 4: this out because uh, and it's for everyone knows that

588
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,760
Speaker 4: I did my podcast when I was living in the park,

589
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,839
Speaker 4: and I remember you had reached out to me and

590
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,400
Speaker 4: you asked it, I need food, and but the friends

591
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 4: of mine around and you will come. You will work

592
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 4: a full day, you will go and get the food,

593
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,040
Speaker 4: and then you will come at night to come to

594
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,719
Speaker 4: give me the food. And then from that point on

595
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 4: there was like I would talk to some of them

596
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 4: to come around to get the food, like when we

597
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 4: met the mother with the ten kids, and you know,

598
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 4: other families and things like that, and it really is

599
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:40,880
Speaker 4: you know, at the time, you know, Polos pantries was

600
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:42,319
Speaker 4: a distant eye.

601
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,799
Speaker 7: But yeah, it wasn't even it wasn't even like but

602
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 7: it wasn't even.

603
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,399
Speaker 4: I didn't I clearly remember you said. You one one day,

604
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,560
Speaker 4: you said, you know, I think I'm going to leave

605
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:56,400
Speaker 4: my job. You just standing out of nowhere, and I

606
00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:01,200
Speaker 4: was like, okay, I'm grabbing the food like and then

607
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 4: she says, you know I want to do and then

608
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 4: you mentioned like Polo's pantry, I'm just going to do

609
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,560
Speaker 4: something like you know, you know, I didn't know all

610
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,000
Speaker 4: about the farmer pull this pantry I'm just going to

611
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 4: have this big distry and this is on the cuff

612
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 4: of the pandemic. And I was like, oh, okay, and

613
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 4: then and then it happened. We were still feeding people's

614
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,520
Speaker 4: particularly like there was Laura and another house woman that

615
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:30,120
Speaker 4: had got COVID. Because people don't realize when COVID happened.

616
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 4: There was the house people that had COVID too, but

617
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:33,960
Speaker 4: they were not putting them in the hospitals. They were

618
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,359
Speaker 4: putting on the ship on the Queen Mary, moving them

619
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,799
Speaker 4: out on the out of the water. And so they

620
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 4: had her at this hotel and she couldn't she was

621
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 4: so weak, she couldn't get out. We were trying to

622
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 4: figure out a way to give her the food, and

623
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 4: we finally came to the food. It was like, it

624
00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 4: was so crazy to see the realities of the groups

625
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:55,839
Speaker 4: that were usually out helping unhouse people were not and

626
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 4: we were like the owners of it was we had

627
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 4: to find Yeah, we had to find a way. We

628
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:03,359
Speaker 4: had to figure out how to.

629
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 7: And I think like that's yeah, fast forward to me organizing.

630
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,560
Speaker 7: I don't actually don't know how. I I think it

631
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 7: was actually Jane, Jane who because at the time I

632
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 7: was I was kind of yea, Jane, when who is

633
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,080
Speaker 7: like the great connector to people need to know who

634
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 7: she is. I think I was part of the OG

635
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 7: group of Katon for all. I think I joined about

636
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 7: four months after like they had just formed it. And

637
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 7: I remember Jane started talking about working with you or

638
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,000
Speaker 7: like talking to you, and she's like, you should talk

639
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,239
Speaker 7: to THEO and so then that's what That's how I

640
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 7: reached out to you. And then it was at the

641
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 7: rec center in Chinatown. I remember that, yes, and then

642
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:47,360
Speaker 7: I would God, yes, I'll come back. So it was

643
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 7: just like this, Oh, I was working this shitty job.

644
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,160
Speaker 7: I was like, it was so sucking, and I like

645
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 7: had been there for a long time, and I already

646
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 7: knew i'd been I've been organizing so much then because

647
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:03,760
Speaker 7: I was literally locked into this like corporate like just beige, boring,

648
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 7: like really soul sucking job that really it was just

649
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:09,680
Speaker 7: around to pay the bills and my bosses knew and

650
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,239
Speaker 7: I had no heart in it, and so I was

651
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 7: just like and I literally would look at like social

652
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,960
Speaker 7: media and TV or whatever, and I would just like

653
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 7: literally salivate over what people were out there doing. They're

654
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 7: like I would drive by and people were like out

655
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:26,360
Speaker 7: feeding folks. I'm I'm gonna do that someday. I literally

656
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,759
Speaker 7: be like, I can do that, And I was just

657
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 7: like I just felt the pull, like I have to

658
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 7: do this.

659
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:37,439
Speaker 4: For you to go a full time job. I didn't

660
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,520
Speaker 4: come all the way at night, I mean ten eleven

661
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 4: a night doing She's really really dedicated and I.

662
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:46,399
Speaker 3: Was at the time.

663
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,719
Speaker 7: I wasn't even connected to any groups. I literally was

664
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 7: just like, I just want to be of service. How

665
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:57,400
Speaker 7: do I And I think like even meeting you also

666
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,680
Speaker 7: changed the game for me because his you were teaching

667
00:40:00,719 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 7: me so much about seeing it through the lens of

668
00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 7: someone actually on the street. And so I think that

669
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 7: I think in itself gave Polos its teeth too. I

670
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 7: will I will tell people I think like, really Polos

671
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:14,760
Speaker 7: has his teeth.

672
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 4: And really the first clause.

673
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 7: Came from like my relationship and my friendship with THEO

674
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 7: because literally us being comrades, us literally being like just

675
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 7: like kin, there was I remember one time you I

676
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,760
Speaker 7: think either you like you hurt your knee or what happened.

677
00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was on a walker because I broke my legs,

678
00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,360
Speaker 4: So yeah, I couldn't go to the hospital because we

679
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 4: was in a freaking count pandemic.

680
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,680
Speaker 7: Yeah, and so I remember I would like it was

681
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:44,759
Speaker 7: me and Michelle across the street zen May. We were

682
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 7: taking turns making sure that he was okay, and so

683
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 7: it was just like but I also remember it was

684
00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 7: also the kindling of weian house because I remember he

685
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,040
Speaker 7: would have a phone.

686
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:57,479
Speaker 4: Recording this thing.

687
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:00,399
Speaker 7: So it's really cool for us to so we're it's

688
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 7: all a celebration that you're seeing us really celebrate each

689
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 7: other in a way because we literally it was just

690
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,760
Speaker 7: it was just us, like we got to do something

691
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,200
Speaker 7: like it was us just being like, let's just work together.

692
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 7: And it just kept building over the years. And so

693
00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:24,239
Speaker 7: now we're sitting in iHeartRadio.

694
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:27,399
Speaker 4: Then, like I said, it was well fought and well,

695
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,840
Speaker 4: well so much.

696
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 7: Absolutely so we we we struggled together, and I think

697
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 7: that's I think that is also the beauty of our

698
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:39,120
Speaker 7: work together is like people don't see and you can't

699
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,319
Speaker 7: show that tu in social media, the relationships that we

700
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 7: have with each other. I mean, THEO and I have

701
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 7: literally struggled together. We've seen iterations of like just you know,

702
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:55,680
Speaker 7: fights and destruction coming into our movements, and we've seen

703
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:59,399
Speaker 7: cycles of it, so many cycles of it, but yet

704
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,759
Speaker 7: we are here and that's such a testament to like

705
00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 7: how we're like, okay, we will take care of each other.

706
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 4: I think that's it.

707
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,160
Speaker 3: I just want to add that I think like you

708
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 3: also gave Jass their teeth. I mean, I don't. I

709
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:17,400
Speaker 3: think we were.

710
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,279
Speaker 5: Put us on very strong ground to do what we

711
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,839
Speaker 5: do and to know that we were doing it right

712
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 5: and not have to really second guess from the get go.

713
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 5: And I think that that was really important. And like

714
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:35,239
Speaker 5: it is wild, like I'm at the on the park too.

715
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:43,279
Speaker 5: Here we are, you know, it's really beautiful. And like

716
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 5: also Polos is our partner as well, so it's really beautiful.

717
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,080
Speaker 4: And that was one of the things that I really

718
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 4: liked about what you were doing when we was out

719
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 4: on the street. The food we had. We had like

720
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 4: boards had sandwiches. It wasn't like you know, like you

721
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 4: see charities or or or you know, they just throw

722
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 4: anything you just you'd be glad for day old stuff

723
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:08,160
Speaker 4: or things. I mean it was really the cakes and

724
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 4: you know, different desserts to drink. I mean it was

725
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 4: like really quality food and you could tell when man, yeah,

726
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:19,600
Speaker 4: can I get extra it, you know, you know that's

727
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:22,600
Speaker 4: good food because they are trying to portion out for

728
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:24,279
Speaker 4: the next day or something. I said, oh, yeah, you

729
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 4: got it.

730
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:27,839
Speaker 7: Yeah, And I think that's what I wanted. I think

731
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,279
Speaker 7: that's sort of like the impetus or the catalyst for

732
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 7: polos is that I'm like, I was seeing stuff out

733
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:33,120
Speaker 7: there and I'm.

734
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:36,280
Speaker 4: Like, this is garbage. This is garbage.

735
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 7: There's no nutritional value to it. Like you literally are

736
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 7: feeding folks like expired food, Like I mean, it's like

737
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,560
Speaker 7: it's an afterthought and so and these are literally are

738
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:47,680
Speaker 7: you know what I mean? Like these are these folks

739
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 7: are like our family, Like we have to treat folks

740
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 7: like our family. Would you feed someone like would you

741
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:57,160
Speaker 7: feed your mom and expired exactly like stale chips, Like

742
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,399
Speaker 7: you're not going to do that. And so I think

743
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:03,120
Speaker 7: to teach folks sort of even that I don't want

744
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:05,000
Speaker 7: to call it culture, but really the culture of care

745
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 7: of like being like, look, there's no separation between us

746
00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 7: and folks on the street, like literally that is you,

747
00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:16,200
Speaker 7: that someone's uncle, that someone's brother. And if we really

748
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:20,080
Speaker 7: can move away from this sort of separation right of

749
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 7: just thinking that like oh someone else is going to

750
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:25,880
Speaker 7: do it, or someone else will take care of those problems.

751
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:28,640
Speaker 7: Now you see someone hurting or seeing someone needs help,

752
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:30,440
Speaker 7: you do something about it. You know what I mean.

753
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:33,279
Speaker 4: We're going to take a break and we will be

754
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:44,279
Speaker 4: right back. We're back. And one of the things that

755
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,800
Speaker 4: I loved about it as well is like it breaks

756
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 4: the cycle. And I think even for when when I

757
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:52,160
Speaker 4: was in house, because I had to learn deserving an

758
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:55,359
Speaker 4: undeserving poor, because they they had drilled it so much

759
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:59,480
Speaker 4: into you that you deserve stale stuff you deserve. You

760
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 4: can't you choosy or if you do, then you know,

761
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:05,279
Speaker 4: you just being difficult. And then it made me really

762
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,640
Speaker 4: re examin like why am I being Why? Why is

763
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:11,520
Speaker 4: asking for a place that you know is safe or

764
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,200
Speaker 4: or food that's edible that I want to eat, you

765
00:45:14,239 --> 00:45:16,920
Speaker 4: know other than science some dry as beans or something

766
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:18,600
Speaker 4: like that that I don't want to eat. Why should

767
00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:20,560
Speaker 4: I feel like I feel ashamed to ask for that?

768
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 4: Why should I feel because I'm in house, I shouldn't

769
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:26,560
Speaker 4: ask for something quality. That's where the impetus where you

770
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,440
Speaker 4: have with EBT, where you go into like seven to eleven

771
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,080
Speaker 4: other places, they won't give you hot food and if

772
00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:34,080
Speaker 4: you do, you have to use the cash portion of

773
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:37,600
Speaker 4: your benefits, and that it reinforces that ideas that they

774
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:40,480
Speaker 4: are not worthy of hot food. You better take this

775
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 4: cold food, or you better take this this you know,

776
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 4: expire whatever. But the idea, that notion is so embedded

777
00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:49,960
Speaker 4: in our society of help and it's really hard for

778
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:53,000
Speaker 4: people that are in these systems to really break out

779
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 4: of that, you know, because I had hard time doing it,

780
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 4: But I just wanted to point out that's one of

781
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,440
Speaker 4: the downfalls or the I says, the bad side of

782
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 4: charities because we have a control mechanism in it. We

783
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 4: have to control poor people in a way that they

784
00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:11,160
Speaker 4: need to always remember that they're poor and less than

785
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,040
Speaker 4: or you know, maybe I'm on off face, but that's

786
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:16,839
Speaker 4: what I gathered from charities when I dealt with them.

787
00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:19,280
Speaker 2: So yeah, I was part of a group of people

788
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:22,840
Speaker 2: who who went to speak with the mayor in early

789
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:27,439
Speaker 2: August about her inside Save program, And right before the meeting,

790
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 2: I went down to one of the locations down in

791
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 2: South Central and just knocked on doors because I didn't

792
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,799
Speaker 2: have any relationships with people there, but I someone was like, oh,

793
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 2: there's this location and some people might want to come.

794
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,640
Speaker 2: So down there and door to door, every single person

795
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,520
Speaker 2: in this program was starving. The first thing they asked

796
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:48,520
Speaker 2: before was food, Do you have any food? And then

797
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:51,879
Speaker 2: when I asked them about they're not feeding you, they said,

798
00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:56,680
Speaker 2: well they leave out stuff that is rotting. Yes, And so,

799
00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,480
Speaker 2: you know, this was her flagship program, and you know,

800
00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:02,040
Speaker 2: a couple of people were like, yes, I would like

801
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:05,279
Speaker 2: to go talk to the mayor, right, So we went

802
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 2: and we sat and you know, there were there were

803
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:12,120
Speaker 2: about twenty people there mayor and two of her aides,

804
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 2: and they went around in a circle and described their

805
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:19,759
Speaker 2: experiences of being in the in the program and just

806
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:23,160
Speaker 2: being on the street and then she, you know, basically

807
00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 2: gave us the finger and so it was it was

808
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:28,719
Speaker 2: really depressing, but that's that's what they get.

809
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:30,279
Speaker 4: I don't Yeah, I don't understand this.

810
00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:34,560
Speaker 7: So I feel like, you know, I think we're kind

811
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:36,799
Speaker 7: of at the time of the world where all of

812
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:40,680
Speaker 7: us really globally are beginning to really release. See, the

813
00:47:40,719 --> 00:47:42,839
Speaker 7: government is not going to take care of us. Oh no,

814
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:46,239
Speaker 7: politicians are not out here for us or for themselves.

815
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 7: And I think like what's important for us to remember

816
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:51,200
Speaker 7: now is that at least For me, I'm thinking a

817
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 7: lot of abolition as we're as I'm hearing us talk

818
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:56,920
Speaker 7: about this, because everything to talk about is violence, right,

819
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,279
Speaker 7: is violence on some level. And I think, like I

820
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:03,240
Speaker 7: think now more than ever, we have to really show

821
00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:07,560
Speaker 7: and reinforce the systems that we've built, like how do

822
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:10,400
Speaker 7: we you know, how do we really kind of build

823
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:14,160
Speaker 7: more support for jazz right all all of our collective efforts,

824
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:17,239
Speaker 7: because we have been able to actually show that the

825
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:19,360
Speaker 7: work that we do is actually more caring for the

826
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,520
Speaker 7: people and it's actually led by the people.

827
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:23,720
Speaker 4: And.

828
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:27,840
Speaker 7: The world we want to build is not like the

829
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,719
Speaker 7: designed architecture, the blueprint of it is not going to

830
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:35,680
Speaker 7: come from people inside, Like they are not going to

831
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:38,600
Speaker 7: come up with the with the most effective way or

832
00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:41,720
Speaker 7: the or the system that's going to really hold us all.

833
00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:45,000
Speaker 5: Well, the system that is in place now is to

834
00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 5: tear us down. We just have to realize that.

835
00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:50,719
Speaker 7: Yes, And I think more people really really need to

836
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:53,520
Speaker 7: get on board with this because it like we're kind

837
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:57,200
Speaker 7: of coming into and again I feel like what's happening

838
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:00,239
Speaker 7: in this moment in time is really allowing us to

839
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:03,879
Speaker 7: see the whole structure of it. I mean, you have

840
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 7: like one, we have the three headed beasts, which is

841
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:12,000
Speaker 7: by supremacy and like capitalism and patriarchy. As we're slaying

842
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 7: that thing, we're beginning to see all the things that

843
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:17,759
Speaker 7: are weaved around it, and all of it too. The

844
00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:21,280
Speaker 7: collective of it also is even just idea of government.

845
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 7: The way that it's structured, it's so top down that

846
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:28,840
Speaker 7: in itself is so important. I can get how I've

847
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,240
Speaker 7: been getting real deep with the sense of this stuff

848
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,759
Speaker 7: because I feel like we have to really draw the

849
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:38,319
Speaker 7: connections for people and how and how our lives are

850
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:42,279
Speaker 7: influenced by those things, and how the systems itself, especially

851
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:46,080
Speaker 7: if you're a bipocked these systems are not built for you.

852
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:46,640
Speaker 6: No.

853
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 2: And I think one of the amazing things about mutual

854
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,920
Speaker 2: aid is that it's such a great way into that conversation,

855
00:49:53,239 --> 00:49:56,319
Speaker 2: because what a way to build trust with someone by

856
00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:59,240
Speaker 2: showing up and being like, Oh, I have this medicine

857
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:01,840
Speaker 2: that you need, have this food, the heat, and you

858
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:05,160
Speaker 2: know we're you know, we're in this together. And you

859
00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 2: know what you were saying earlier about the black panthers

860
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:09,719
Speaker 2: and the government targeting them, bringing that back into this

861
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:13,880
Speaker 2: particular historic moment, The way that the government has chosen

862
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:16,399
Speaker 2: to deal with mutual aid organizations is to charge them

863
00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:20,160
Speaker 2: with rico crimes, try and put us in prison as terrors.

864
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:20,560
Speaker 6: My god.

865
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:25,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's clearly they are not not out for us,

866
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:27,719
Speaker 2: They're they're actively like hostile to us.

867
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 1: Yeah.

868
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:28,520
Speaker 2: I'm threatened by it.

869
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:30,839
Speaker 7: Threatened because I think again, like that's why they try

870
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:34,840
Speaker 7: to shut down and literally killed the panthers, is because

871
00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:39,480
Speaker 7: they they showed, they really modeled in a world that

872
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:41,920
Speaker 7: was possible for you know, for black pols to thrive

873
00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:45,200
Speaker 7: right and to create, to create systems of care that

874
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:48,840
Speaker 7: actually allowed for folks to be sovereign. And so I

875
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:51,000
Speaker 7: think now we're going to see a rise of people

876
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:55,160
Speaker 7: really wanting to be sovereign because of so much lack

877
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 7: of really lack of care, even the way even the

878
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:02,759
Speaker 7: way politicians talk to us when we're in city hall.

879
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:03,279
Speaker 1: Right.

880
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:10,440
Speaker 4: But I also want to point out too, is like

881
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,320
Speaker 4: you know, and I have to always remind people like

882
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,880
Speaker 4: they are threatened, they aren't awaken up because before when

883
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 4: we like have a few years before the pandemic, when

884
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:23,719
Speaker 4: we were contesting against forty one to eighteen, we was

885
00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:26,719
Speaker 4: allowed to have a place to speak, and we didn't

886
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 4: have such a battle. Then we noticed when we started

887
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,440
Speaker 4: to protest and started demanding things, and then they had

888
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,040
Speaker 4: they had no choice. Now they go into city hall,

889
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:36,520
Speaker 4: they don't want you to speak at all, so like

890
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:40,960
Speaker 4: the end, so they know that there is something germinating.

891
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:43,839
Speaker 4: That's why they're trying to draw them up, these cops

892
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 4: city kind of places, and they know that they cannot

893
00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:49,960
Speaker 4: sustain because capitalism is now you can't sustain it anyway.

894
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:54,200
Speaker 4: But the point of it is they cannot sustain violence

895
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:56,879
Speaker 4: on a scale of a level like that without people

896
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,760
Speaker 4: in the city, in the communities rising up or finding

897
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 4: out turning to a solution. And that's what they don't want.

898
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,480
Speaker 4: That somebody somewhere is going to rise up and get

899
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:07,960
Speaker 4: the communities together and just top of the system, and

900
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:08,759
Speaker 4: then that's just going to be.

901
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,439
Speaker 7: That's what they don't want. And I think that's really

902
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:13,719
Speaker 7: and they're going to find every way to stop us.

903
00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:17,520
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, yeah, I think that, Like what is one

904
00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:20,759
Speaker 5: of the most beneficial things to mutual aid is the

905
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:25,719
Speaker 5: fact that like logistically, we're organizing together, right, We're doing

906
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:29,520
Speaker 5: logistical things, We're organizing as a group to get this

907
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:32,280
Speaker 5: thing done. And I think that is so so important

908
00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:35,719
Speaker 5: to how we proceed from going on from now right,

909
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:39,120
Speaker 5: and like also like how we relate to each other,

910
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:43,759
Speaker 5: how we create a system together under a certain set

911
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,719
Speaker 5: of values, you know, and like understanding what those values are.

912
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:50,640
Speaker 5: And I think what is really really important to anyone

913
00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:53,040
Speaker 5: who's listening to this, who wants to do mutual.

914
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:55,840
Speaker 3: Aid is you have to study. You have to study

915
00:52:56,560 --> 00:52:57,359
Speaker 3: so so much.

916
00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:01,719
Speaker 5: Yes, you don't have to you have to learn from

917
00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,880
Speaker 5: the past and you don't have to reinvent the wheel

918
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:06,800
Speaker 5: and make the same mistakes.

919
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:10,920
Speaker 3: And also study the things in the past and apply it.

920
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:15,000
Speaker 5: To today, like just apply it every and like it

921
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:18,200
Speaker 5: is so so important because a lot I think the

922
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:20,239
Speaker 5: impetus of like Okay, I'm just going I need to

923
00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:22,719
Speaker 5: do this is find the practice of it, like we

924
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:26,480
Speaker 5: had to do it right, But then you have to

925
00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:29,840
Speaker 5: study and realize the theory behind your practice. And it

926
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:31,640
Speaker 5: goes back and forth and back and forth. And I

927
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 5: think that is what makes what's going to make us strong,

928
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 5: what's going to make us win, you know.

929
00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:41,080
Speaker 3: And I think it's it's when I see a lot.

930
00:53:40,960 --> 00:53:43,080
Speaker 5: Of these groups, I see a lot of people get

931
00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:46,800
Speaker 5: burnt out, fizzle out in fighting all this kind of stuff,

932
00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:51,360
Speaker 5: and it's because they don't have principles. They don't have

933
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:55,239
Speaker 5: you know, they're not organizing in a way where it's

934
00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 5: bigger than everybody else. It's bigger than your shit, my shit,

935
00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:01,320
Speaker 5: your trauma. This is not therapy.

936
00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:04,399
Speaker 7: Yes, oh my gosh, I actually want to I want

937
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:07,279
Speaker 7: to uplift what you just said there, Zen, because it is.

938
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 7: It calls back to what Cleo Silver said when we

939
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:13,440
Speaker 7: had that little sort of like like a little huddle,

940
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:17,080
Speaker 7: like an organizer huddle. She said basically that like for

941
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:20,120
Speaker 7: the Panthers to work, Yeah, you had to be tied

942
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,399
Speaker 7: with that principle together. You always have to go back

943
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:27,360
Speaker 7: to that because I feel like we collectively also have

944
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:31,319
Speaker 7: seen how fishers in our in our movements have been

945
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,279
Speaker 7: created because of a lot of I feel like, and

946
00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 7: I'm just going to bring it out at.

947
00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:42,040
Speaker 1: Well.

948
00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:44,399
Speaker 7: I'm not going to name names, because they know who

949
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:47,520
Speaker 7: they are, you can self identify, but I feel like

950
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:49,839
Speaker 7: it's important for us to really kind of bring out

951
00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:53,279
Speaker 7: also the sort of the ego aspect of this work.

952
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:55,920
Speaker 7: And I think a lot of us, she especially in

953
00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:01,239
Speaker 7: Los Angeles, we are you know, we have some celebrity

954
00:55:01,320 --> 00:55:03,800
Speaker 7: type sort of like you know, folks or just you know,

955
00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:06,080
Speaker 7: really like I think, I think we also have to

956
00:55:06,239 --> 00:55:08,919
Speaker 7: really take stock of how why we do this work,

957
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:14,759
Speaker 7: why are you in these spaces and really understanding you know. Yeah,

958
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:19,120
Speaker 7: Like I really love this sort of idea of real study,

959
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:23,160
Speaker 7: because even the Panthers studied together. These groups have to

960
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:27,480
Speaker 7: study together because in that too creates like that weaving

961
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:31,239
Speaker 7: of that experience together and then your principles almost like

962
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:34,080
Speaker 7: kind of like fossilize with each other. It's like, Okay,

963
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:37,040
Speaker 7: we know we read all this stuff together, we understand

964
00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:39,959
Speaker 7: the ideologies around it or whatever. But like, what's cool

965
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:41,759
Speaker 7: about I think what you guys are doing is that

966
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:44,680
Speaker 7: you have both theory and practice, Like you're really like

967
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:51,040
Speaker 7: mirroring both study and really like engaging engaging in the work,

968
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:52,520
Speaker 7: and then it becomes solid.

969
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:54,240
Speaker 4: So I've seen you guys.

970
00:55:54,120 --> 00:55:58,040
Speaker 7: Grow damn Like, yes, I'm saying right now and I

971
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,719
Speaker 7: was just telling Zenas before we started their to me

972
00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:05,640
Speaker 7: right now, jazz out there, it's just making the revolution

973
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:10,080
Speaker 7: look hot and sexy. And the one thing that's great

974
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:14,480
Speaker 7: about that is because because also at the core of

975
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:17,840
Speaker 7: the founding of jazz, you got artists and artists just

976
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:21,560
Speaker 7: know how to literally create and have always made the

977
00:56:21,600 --> 00:56:26,040
Speaker 7: revolution look beautiful to the world, and so I think

978
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:29,319
Speaker 7: that that in itself to me is like powerful. There's

979
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:31,360
Speaker 7: so much power in the way that you guys have

980
00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:35,000
Speaker 7: been telling the story of your work there, and I

981
00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:37,359
Speaker 7: want to encourage other people to do the same thing.

982
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:40,360
Speaker 7: I don't know why I'm soone ticulous about the storytelling

983
00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:44,640
Speaker 7: of my story or like the story of whatever, but

984
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:47,200
Speaker 7: I think because I want to. I really am hoping

985
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:49,239
Speaker 7: that I want to leave post as a gift to

986
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:53,240
Speaker 7: Los Angeles because I'm telling you all, like I'm talking

987
00:56:53,239 --> 00:56:55,120
Speaker 7: to about this, I'm feeling old.

988
00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:00,600
Speaker 1: No.

989
00:57:00,719 --> 00:57:02,600
Speaker 7: But here's the thing though, Like we also have to

990
00:57:02,640 --> 00:57:05,879
Speaker 7: remember it goes back to ego. Like the second year

991
00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:07,959
Speaker 7: that I was running Polos, already knew it wasn't mine,

992
00:57:08,239 --> 00:57:10,120
Speaker 7: like the community owned it.

993
00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:11,799
Speaker 2: I was just.

994
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:14,440
Speaker 4: I was just the steward.

995
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:17,200
Speaker 7: I'd love to say this in in in interviews what

996
00:57:17,200 --> 00:57:19,160
Speaker 7: I always say, I'm just the motherfucker keeps the lights on,

997
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:21,360
Speaker 7: Like I just happened to be the person who has

998
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:24,920
Speaker 7: to pay the bills. But I think, like I think

999
00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:27,600
Speaker 7: there's got to be a way that we change the

1000
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:31,000
Speaker 7: way we lead because I feel like sometimes for folks

1001
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:33,240
Speaker 7: who kind of get caught up in this work, that

1002
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:36,240
Speaker 7: the work becomes you, and that's danger. There's danger in

1003
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:41,480
Speaker 7: that because if someone says shit about like your org

1004
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:44,720
Speaker 7: or your work, then you take a hit. But then

1005
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:49,840
Speaker 7: under principled organizing, the work is global, right, The work

1006
00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:53,720
Speaker 7: is universal. It's not just yours. It's literally everybody's liberation.

1007
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:58,600
Speaker 7: And if you're like, well, I this is mine, I'm like, no, bro,

1008
00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:01,440
Speaker 7: like this is not yours is this is literally the peoples.

1009
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:06,440
Speaker 7: And I think having that conversation and really for organizers,

1010
00:58:06,520 --> 00:58:09,000
Speaker 7: young folks who are listening to us right now, I

1011
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:11,320
Speaker 7: really really hope you guys are taking stock of why

1012
00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:13,480
Speaker 7: you're trying to get into mutual aid because one, it's

1013
00:58:13,560 --> 00:58:16,400
Speaker 7: dangerous work, right especially in the climate that we're in.

1014
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,600
Speaker 4: And two, it's hard work. There's so much.

1015
00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:23,760
Speaker 7: Behind the scenes that you're not seeing that. It's not sexy,

1016
00:58:24,040 --> 00:58:27,440
Speaker 7: as much as jazz makes it sexy. It takes a

1017
00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:30,600
Speaker 7: lot of heart to really keep showing up to this work.

1018
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:32,440
Speaker 7: So you really have to ask yourself while you're doing it.

1019
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:41,480
Speaker 4: And that's where we'll leave the conversation this week. If

1020
00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:43,880
Speaker 4: you like what Melissa Niel and Zen had to say

1021
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:47,160
Speaker 4: good news. There's more where that came from, and we'll

1022
00:58:47,200 --> 00:58:50,000
Speaker 4: be releasing the second part of our roundtable discussion on

1023
00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:53,880
Speaker 4: our next episode. Until then, you can follow their work online.

1024
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:57,920
Speaker 4: Melissa can be found over at www dot Melissa Asadero

1025
00:58:58,040 --> 00:59:03,040
Speaker 4: dot com or Lowspantry dot org. You can follow Neil

1026
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:08,280
Speaker 4: Substack at Neil Blakemore dot substack dot com, and you

1027
00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:13,919
Speaker 4: can follow Zen at her website at zenseeki zaa dot com.

1028
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:17,480
Speaker 4: And as always, you can stay up to date and

1029
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:20,440
Speaker 4: in touch with Whedianhouse and with me on our social

1030
00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:26,200
Speaker 4: media at www dot Weedanhouse dot com and on Instagram

1031
00:59:26,480 --> 00:59:30,640
Speaker 4: at Whedianhouse, and remember to tell your friends to subscribe.

1032
00:59:31,520 --> 00:59:34,240
Speaker 4: The show has come a long way and I'm excited

1033
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:37,640
Speaker 4: for it to continue to grow. Until then, may we

1034
00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:43,320
Speaker 4: again meet in the light of understanding. Willian House is

1035
00:59:43,360 --> 00:59:47,560
Speaker 4: a production of iHeartRadio. It is written, posted, and created

1036
00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:52,760
Speaker 4: by me Theo Henderson. Our producers are Jamie Loftus, Lyra Smith,

1037
00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:56,800
Speaker 4: and Katie Fisher. Our editor is Adam Wong, and our

1038
00:59:56,840 --> 00:59:59,959
Speaker 4: logo art is also by Katiefisher. Thanks for listen.

1039
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:00,360
Speaker 6: St