1 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Previously on Weedian. 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 2: House, domestic workers are affected, We're seeing farm workers affected. 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 2: There's a historic black community in Altadena that's been wiped out, 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 2: and insult to injury. We've got cops out there saying 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 2: that people are looting and it's people trying to go 6 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 2: recover their thing. 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 3: We get these distress signals that there are armed guards 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 3: here and a contractor telling us that we all have 9 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 3: to get on these buses that have all shown up 10 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 3: and we don't have a choice, and I don't know 11 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 3: where we're going, but they're saying that we have to 12 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 3: evacuate the whole area of the soldiers home there. None 13 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 3: of them were under a mandatory evacuation nor an evacuation warning. 14 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 3: You know, again, to take advantage of something so low 15 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 3: and use it as an excuse to wipe people off 16 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 3: land you're trying to steal and you know, kill more 17 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 3: people would almost. 18 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 4: Welcome back to Weedian Howes. I'm your host, Theo Henderson. 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 4: This is the third part of our coverage of the 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 4: Los Angeles fires. We're going to be speaking to a 21 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,559 Speaker 4: survivor of the fire and an organizer with the sila 22 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 4: Unhouse Coalition. We're also going to take a moment to 23 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,199 Speaker 4: look at two kinds of violence towards the end house 24 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 4: direct and then direct, most recently here in Los Angeles, 25 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 4: as well as in Detroit and Fremont, California. But first 26 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 4: on Housed News. We begin our story with a tragic note. 27 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 4: Detroit native Tatiana Williams lost two of her children to 28 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 4: hypothermia while sleeping in the car. Miss Williams had been 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 4: houses for three months. She has also pointed out that 30 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 4: she's reached out to the city multiple times for resources 31 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 4: and in assistance, and outside the city as well. She 32 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 4: asked for the children's father, who did not know that 33 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 4: they were houseless. After the deaths, the city offered to 34 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 4: pay for their funeral and build a house for the 35 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 4: remaining children of Miss Williams. It is unclear if charges 36 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 4: are going to be filed. Our next story shows a 37 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 4: violent response to an unhoused person. Security officer Sean Trasvant 38 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 4: slapped anused woman in Los Angeles at the downtown location 39 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 4: of Taco Bell. It should be noted protesters are calling 40 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 4: for security officer tra Von sys firing. Our third story 41 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 4: takes us to Freebot, California, where the volunteers are implicated 42 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 4: of being violent criminals. City leaders are voting to pass 43 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 4: an ordinance where aiding and abetting the unhoused community is 44 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 4: a crime. In plainer terms, it is now against the 45 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 4: law for volunteers to give the young house water, aid, blankets, money, 46 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 4: or anything else. Our last story takes us to Aurora, Colorado. 47 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 4: The city leaders have voted to remove warning times before 48 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 4: the unhoused community is swept. This ordinance was inspired by 49 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 4: the Grants Past ruling, and Aurora's mayor said in his 50 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 4: own words that this was his version of tough love. 51 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 4: The mayor has also created a court for unhoused people 52 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 4: that deals with low level offenses and this is unhouses. 53 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 4: When we come back, we will take a moment to 54 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 4: remember the two unhoused children who passed away and to 55 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 4: be more away to the escalation of the elimination of 56 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 4: out house people. Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm Theo Henderson. 57 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 4: To leave this place before your children is not in 58 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 4: any parent's wish or dream. Having your children leave before 59 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 4: you while houseless is a double blow. By now, many 60 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 4: have heard the story of the deaths of Miss Tatiana Williams, 61 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 4: two children's ages nine and two, as we discuss this 62 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 4: in Unhunted news as well. Close to us in Los Angeles, 63 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 4: read recently encountered another form of violence to an unhoused 64 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 4: woman in downtown Taco bell In other parts of California, 65 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 4: Life Freemont it is now a criminal act aiding and 66 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 4: abetting unhoused people. That means handing out water, food, or 67 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 4: money to unhouse people. I wish I could say that 68 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 4: these incidents are in isolation and are not connected. If 69 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 4: you can demonize a person, you can criminalize a person. 70 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 4: Right now, our country is criminalized in poverty and it 71 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,559 Speaker 4: should be spoken out at every opportunity. Our last point 72 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 4: before I start our first intervi you unhoused people in Aurora, 73 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 4: Colorado are being targeted again by cutting down warning time 74 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 4: for unhoused people to get aid except shelter or going 75 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 4: to jail. In other words, how did we get here? 76 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 4: And how far downhill will we go? 77 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: Right now? 78 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 4: Over four years of wee in house, from audio to 79 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 4: videos to comics, I have been trying to reach one 80 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,479 Speaker 4: and teach one about the messy reality of houselessness. As 81 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 4: you listen to this episode, dramatic climatic events are increasing, landslides, fires, 82 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 4: strong winds will be the culprit in displacing more people. 83 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 4: These laws will impact them most certainly as they impact 84 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 4: the currently displaced. As you listen to our first interview 85 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 4: today with Alex, a survivor of the Alter Data fire 86 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 4: earlier this year, please take note of his experience of 87 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 4: being unhoused before and now his second time through no 88 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 4: fault of his own. 89 00:05:58,000 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: Here's Alex's story. 90 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 5: My name's Alex Valentine. I'm from Altadena, California, born in Pasadena, 91 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 5: you know, pretty much lived there my whole life, minus 92 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 5: when I was in foster care. I was in foster 93 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,279 Speaker 5: care for about ten years, mancipated out of the system 94 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 5: at twenty two, you know, homeless at eighteen, and here 95 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 5: I find myself, you know, homeless again. So it's definitely 96 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 5: it's a big, you know, kind of full circle moment 97 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 5: for me. 98 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 4: I was going to say, you know that many times, 99 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 4: many people that have experienced, like myself, houselessness, we have 100 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 4: maybe breaks into you know, some stabilitied in emergency or 101 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 4: something like unforeseen circumstances. And I'm going to ask a 102 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 4: very stupid question, so I apologize in advance. Could you 103 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 4: foresee what happened in Altadena to cause me to be 104 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 4: out in the street. 105 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 5: Again, not at all. And you know, I say homeless 106 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 5: because the home is gone. But thankfully this time around, 107 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 5: I've been able to land on my feet, staying with family. 108 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 5: Right now. I'm very lucky and very fortunate. There's a 109 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 5: lot of people still in hotels, still trying to scrape 110 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 5: together dollars just to you know, make it buy and 111 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 5: start planning their next step. So I'm very fortunate. 112 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 4: Here's the thing that also I found that too recently 113 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 4: it was come to my attention that someone's house did 114 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 4: not burn down in the altitude area, but that his 115 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 4: neighbors and other areas that have been burned down, and 116 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 4: it makes it very difficult for them to live in 117 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 4: the area because people forget, our air quality is still 118 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 4: not where it should be, and into ingesting all of 119 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 4: the talks. Even though your house has not burned, doesn't 120 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 4: mean that you can return back to the home. 121 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 5: Oh one hundred percent. You know, Altadena is such a 122 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 5: rich community. In our house, for example, one hundred years old. 123 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 5: A lot of those older, older houses were built with asbestos, 124 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 5: so you know, imagine I think something like sixty five 125 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 5: seventy percent of Altadena has gone homes burned asbestos everywhere. 126 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 5: There's no way those people can return. I mean, I 127 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 5: have a friend whose house didn't even burn down, but 128 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 5: she and her family are staying in an airbnb because 129 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 5: they just cannot they cannot return, which is it's it's 130 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 5: really sad, and it makes the waters very murky, like 131 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 5: we can't tell you know what the timeline is going 132 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 5: to be like in terms of being even yeah. 133 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: Or even taking a bath of shower. You may not 134 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: have to drink the water. 135 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 4: I have heard about the water where I know people 136 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 4: are aware of Flint, Michigan, which still is still having 137 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 4: what the issues. But here's the other reality too, we 138 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 4: now have those same issues here. One of the things 139 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 4: I wanted to use us to take back is like 140 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 4: where were you when the fires happened and how did 141 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,720 Speaker 4: it How were you able to land on your feet 142 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 4: differently than when you first became on house the first time. 143 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 5: So I was living up in Altadena with my aunt uncle, 144 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 5: going to school at PCC full time. Really it was 145 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 5: a blessing, you know, the fire started that there was normal. 146 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 5: I went to school, went to work, came home. The 147 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 5: power was out for the Santa Ana Wins. You know, 148 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 5: Edison didn't want any of the lines to break and 149 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 5: start a fire, which is funny, now know, you know, 150 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,439 Speaker 5: looking back. But yeah, so I just thought I was 151 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 5: gonna be without power for a few days, you know, 152 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 5: and especially I went through the station fire back in 153 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 5: two thousand and nine, and so you know, it wasn't 154 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 5: our first time seeing fires, seeing flames up close. Never 155 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 5: in a million years did we think it would travel 156 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 5: to us. So the fire starts around like six thirty, 157 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 5: all the way in the east side of Altadena and 158 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 5: Eaton and you know, we're on the west side, closer 159 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,560 Speaker 5: to JPL, so we weren't too worried. But then all 160 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 5: of a sudden, for whatever reason, the fire starts going 161 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 5: up the mountain and it starts coming west. We're like, okay, 162 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 5: that's weird. You know, normally it just goes up the 163 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 5: mountain and you know, the yeah, exactly. So, yeah, you know, 164 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 5: we thought it was kind of weird the path that 165 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 5: was taking. And you know, about ten eleven rolls around 166 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 5: and I take a drive to see if I can 167 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 5: figure out where it is, and I noticed the fire 168 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 5: is getting close to Lake Street, which is one of 169 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 5: the main north south streets of Daltadina area. So I 170 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 5: see it's close to lake and I'm like, you know, 171 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 5: it's not too far from us. You know, we're right 172 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 5: off of fair Oaks, which is the other main street, 173 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 5: and so you know, I got to tell my aunt uncle. 174 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 5: We get our dogs in cages. You know, we get 175 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:11,199 Speaker 5: everything like ready, just in case you have to go. 176 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 5: My uncle didn't want to leave at all because he's 177 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 5: scared of looters. But time passes, time passes, you know, 178 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 5: they didn't want to leave. My aunt has multiple sclerosis, 179 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 5: my uncle's recovering from a broken head. They have severe 180 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 5: mobility issues. So they didn't want to leave unless it 181 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 5: was like mandatory, right because they have to really uproot. 182 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 4: But also, if I may point out too, is that 183 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,559 Speaker 4: because we have the normal course of how these fires 184 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 4: usually go, you know, best to be as prepared as possible. 185 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 4: But this fire was an anomaly. It wasn't like the 186 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 4: usual track of the fires before. So you know, if 187 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 4: you left and it didn't even go to you and 188 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 4: blocked and you wasted time and he you know, wasted 189 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,080 Speaker 4: all of that energy. And I think that's what was 190 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 4: missed with a lot of people didn't understand this was 191 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 4: the first fire. 192 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: There was other fires. 193 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 4: It was now at the same time, it wasn't just 194 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 4: like an individual fire and it is petered out and 195 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 4: you know, and resources are becoming a bit different. Yeah, 196 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 4: that's I think that's the distinction where people miss misunderstand 197 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 4: you know, people just could magically just leave and and 198 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 4: things like that. 199 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 5: So exactly, and you know, my family's been in the 200 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 5: pasting now to the area since the sixties. Like my 201 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 5: grandmother went to PCC, my aunt went to PCC. I'm 202 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 5: going to PCC, you know. So it's like they've lived 203 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 5: through so many fires up there and never did they 204 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 5: think it would. 205 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: Come down and love. Yeah. 206 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 5: Yeah, So basically my one uncle didn't wan to leave 207 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 5: unless we had the mandatory evacuation. And so I'm refreshing, refreshing, midnight, 208 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 5: rolls around nothing, but I can see the flames. They 209 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:41,839 Speaker 5: jump Lake Street, you know, and now they're instead of 210 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 5: having to look all the way to my right, they're 211 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 5: right behind the houses and across the street in the 212 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 5: mountains though, And I'm refreshing, I'm like, you know, why 213 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 5: am I not getting anything? 214 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:51,080 Speaker 1: Why is it saying? 215 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 5: Updated three hours ago three am rolls around, still nothing, 216 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 5: but now the fire is so close that you can 217 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 5: feel it. Well, not only that, but you actually can't 218 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 5: even see flames because the smoke is so close it 219 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 5: blocks out all the light in the sky. So you 220 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 5: couldn't even see the fire, but you could you could 221 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 5: feel the smoke, you know. Three twenty ish rolls around, 222 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 5: smoke starting to fill the house, my room, and I'm 223 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 5: still sitting here frantically like why are we not getting 224 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 5: an evacuation notice? And then luckily, I think right around 225 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 5: three point thirty, we finally get the evacuation notice and I, 226 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 5: you know, get up, get the wheelchair, get my aunt 227 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 5: in the wheelchair. She gets stressed as fast she can, 228 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 5: get her out to the car. We get the pets 229 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 5: out to the car. My uncle just did not want 230 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,360 Speaker 5: to leave it all. He was scared of looters. There 231 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 5: are ports of looters. 232 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: Those are also missing from it. I need to point 233 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 1: that out too. 234 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 4: Misinformation for that because there were people's family members helping 235 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 4: trying to preserve it, and Fox News made it sound 236 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 4: like these people were looting and it were not, and 237 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 4: it's been debunked. But of course they're not going to 238 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 4: acknowledge it now, but the damage has been done. 239 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 5: So yeah, well I will say my friend her house 240 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,679 Speaker 5: did get looted. So there are cases, I don't think. 241 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:00,319 Speaker 5: And again, this is what I'm saying from the knowledge 242 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 5: that I know, I don't think it's as bad as 243 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 5: it was reported. 244 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 4: They pointed out these black family members that were coming 245 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 4: to help a family member that couldn't move it with 246 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 4: mobility and pair. 247 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: Oh I think I saw that. 248 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 5: Wasn't there like a whole video, Yeah, yeah, that's I 249 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 5: saw that exactly. 250 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:18,679 Speaker 4: Yeah, and then and it wasn't. In fact, I wasn't 251 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 4: a mistake that they made. It Always when these kind 252 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 4: of things happened, the colored the skin of black people, I. 253 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 5: Knew, Yeah, I knew exactly what video you're talking about. 254 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 5: I saw going all over Twitter, x whatever, and people 255 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 5: were just like running with it like it was truth. 256 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 5: And then later it got debunked. There was a family 257 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 5: trying to get there, you know, their belongings out, which 258 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 5: is just so sad, you know. 259 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 4: And but as a result of that, they sent in 260 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 4: the fire what was it, the National Guard and the 261 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 4: cops that may really terrorizing people that have nothing and 262 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 4: now making it sound like it's just overrun with looters, 263 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 4: which you know, that's it. I won't that there's not 264 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 4: any looting, but I come on, you know. 265 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 5: Yeah, but okay, So my uncle was scared. You know 266 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,319 Speaker 5: my uncle his whole life, he was like a contractor, 267 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,520 Speaker 5: worked on million dollar homes. All of his tools were 268 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 5: at the house, you know. So he was like, you know, 269 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 5: I can't, I can't lose all that stuff. And you 270 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 5: kind of like you said earlier, you know, they had 271 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 5: been here for so long. Never in a million years 272 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 5: did they think that the fire was gonna come down. 273 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 5: So I just he was kind of giving me a 274 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 5: hard time about leaving, and I said, you know what, like, look, 275 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 5: I have to get my on out. I have to 276 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 5: get the pets out. I have to get out, so 277 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 5: you know, you can stay whatever. Just what I did. 278 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 5: He has this old car. We hadn't started it in months. 279 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 5: So I actually parked my car in the driveway. I 280 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 5: gave him my keys because I was a car that 281 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 5: he could for sure use. 282 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: To get out. 283 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 5: We knew it was reliable. I drove my aunt down. 284 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:43,840 Speaker 5: We went to the Macy's on Lake Street. We parked 285 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 5: in the parking structure for a couple hours and uh yeah, 286 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 5: I just I was letting her get sleep. I was 287 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 5: on the phone with friends who were checking in on me. 288 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 5: It's around six fifty am. 289 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 3: Now. 290 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 5: I walked back to the parking lot and I see 291 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 5: my uncle in the car in my car, and I 292 00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 5: go up and I talked to him, and in my 293 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 5: head even I was just like, Oh, he's gonna tell us, 294 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 5: you know, oh, all good, come on back, you know, 295 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 5: it's all the fire's out. But he just looks at 296 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 5: me and he says, everything's gone, you know. And the 297 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 5: longer I look at him, the more stuff I'm noticing. 298 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 5: He is. He's older, he's seventy six, white beard, white hair. 299 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 5: I'm noticing he has burned spots in his hair from 300 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 5: where his hair singed. And then I start looking at 301 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 5: my car and I see, like my side mirror, the 302 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 5: paint on it melted off. He is so lucky to 303 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 5: have gotten out. He went back to sleep after we left, 304 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 5: and he got a call from our neighbor across the 305 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 5: street saying, Hey, I see the car in the driveway. 306 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 5: You know you guys evacuated. He said, evacuated for what? 307 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 5: And the guy goes, well, your house is on fire, 308 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 5: and so my uncle's like, as he's getting out, he said, 309 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 5: my room minding. My room is right next to his. 310 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 5: It's connected by a door. He said, as he's getting out, 311 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 5: the glass on my room is popping. My room was 312 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 5: in flames. As he's getting out of the house, he 313 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 5: had two go backs with him, like emergency bags, right 314 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 5: just with essential stuff. Both of them caught fire as 315 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 5: he was running out the front door, so he had 316 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 5: to just drop it and keep going, you know, he said, 317 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 5: for a second, he didn't think he was gonna, you know, 318 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 5: make it out. 319 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: So he's very lucky. But it's so funny. 320 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 3: You know. 321 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 5: I was talking to him. I sat in a car 322 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 5: with him for a little bit, you know, when we 323 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 5: were in the parking lot, and I told him, you know, 324 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 5: next time just listening, you just come with us. And 325 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 5: he said, uh, he said, no, I'd do it again. 326 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 5: You know, I'd protect my stuff again. And I kind 327 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 5: of understand, you know that your life's work. 328 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 4: Here's the thing too, is being both of us being 329 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 4: on housed. And we could relate to this because what 330 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 4: is always missed with people that don't know about houselessness. 331 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 4: You basically it's your stability, it's your your security, blanket, 332 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 4: your belong to you. It's just every human being compiles 333 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 4: or have some things that they consider valuable, important, and 334 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 4: vital to their existence. You know, could have disability, and 335 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 4: you have all of the other accoutrements of life. But 336 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 4: the thing of it is that when it's threatened, like 337 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 4: when a natural disaster or someone's imposing safe For example, 338 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 4: during these fires, the city was still conducting sweeps against 339 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 4: unhoused people that were living on the street. Now imagine 340 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,160 Speaker 4: people were panicking about losing their things, But imagine now 341 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 4: that you are currently un housed and that you're losing 342 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 4: your things from the. 343 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: City, not from a fire. 344 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 4: And they're saying that if you go past this tape, 345 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 4: then you can be arrested or you're going to be criminalized. 346 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,480 Speaker 4: And these are the contentions that are not verbalized by 347 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 4: the city and where the mayor and these city officials 348 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 4: will play it off like this is a crew verir 349 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 4: of choice, and you know they can bamboozoo people into that, 350 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 4: but the fact of the matter is, you know, this 351 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 4: is a clear example that emergencies can happen to anyone. 352 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 4: You can lose everything in the drop of a dime 353 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 4: and there's no fault. You can't say someone was on drugs, 354 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 4: they were mentally ill, and all of those things that 355 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 4: people love to justify the cruelties that go with the 356 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,640 Speaker 4: end house population. But we all are falling under which 357 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 4: I wanted to ask of. Fortunately that you don't have 358 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 4: to deal with this on a physical level anymore, but 359 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 4: the rebuilding efforts, are you going to rebuild? 360 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,400 Speaker 5: Well, so I think our plan right now is to rebuild. 361 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 5: Like I was saying earlier, there's no clear timeline on 362 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 5: the rebuild process. The issue with you know, a historical 363 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,120 Speaker 5: city like Altadena is all of the homes are old, 364 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 5: like our house was one hundred and one. So the 365 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 5: big issue is like a lot of those older houses 366 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,479 Speaker 5: are built with asbestos. And now you know, when you 367 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,359 Speaker 5: have sixty five percent seventy percent of the community burned down, 368 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 5: all those homes with all these toxic chemicals floating in 369 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 5: the air, it's just not it's not clear when it's 370 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 5: going to be safe to go back. But I believe 371 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 5: the process or what we're trying to do right now 372 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 5: is rebuild. I did want to mention something you said earlier. 373 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 5: You were talking about you know, losing all of your stuff, 374 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 5: and I think, I mean, it's it sucks. That day, 375 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,040 Speaker 5: I was like, really sad I lost all my stuff. 376 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,399 Speaker 5: But you know, at the same time, I kind of 377 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 5: felt I was kind of like in my element. You know, 378 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 5: this had happened so many times before in foster care, 379 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 5: where it's like, Okay, you know what, here's your bag. 380 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 5: Here's like a black trash bag of all your stuff. 381 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 5: You know, get going or you're going to a new placement, whatever, 382 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 5: you know, whatever the situation is. And then, especially like 383 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,920 Speaker 5: when I was eighteen and I was homeless this summer 384 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 5: after high school or the fall after high school. 385 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 1: How did you become on house on eighteen when you're eighteen? 386 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 5: Do you prefer on house? 387 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, no, it's not. It is my personal thing. 388 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 4: You can stay homeless, and I mean, it's not a 389 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,159 Speaker 4: it's a personal thing for me because I believe it 390 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 4: dehumanizes people. 391 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: But it's few. 392 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 5: I don't I get what you're saying. 393 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:54,400 Speaker 1: No, I don't force that on it. Okay. 394 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 5: So I guess my relationship with my legal guardians at 395 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 5: the time was kind of rocky. I don't get too 396 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 5: much into it, but they basically just said, you had 397 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 5: a week to move out. This is right after I 398 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 5: toured the country. I toured the country with a professional 399 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 5: drum Corps Sacramento Mandarins, played tuba a ton of fun. 400 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 5: So I traveled across the country by bus, came back 401 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:16,239 Speaker 5: and then yeah, they said I had a week to 402 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,200 Speaker 5: move out. And then that same day they said, there's 403 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:20,919 Speaker 5: no need for you to come into the house. We 404 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 5: packed all your stuff up in the garage. Come get it. 405 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 5: So I think I had like eight black trash bags 406 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 5: filled with all my stuff that I had from high school. Yeah, 407 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 5: my friend Sammy, I was sleeping on his floor for 408 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 5: a little bit. I was CouchSurfing. At one point, I 409 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 5: was working for jobs, which was, you know, insane, but 410 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,199 Speaker 5: you know, you when you're in that position, you just 411 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 5: do what you have to do. And I'm very thankful. 412 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 5: I had so many friends. You know, hey, you can 413 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,159 Speaker 5: spend the night, Hey you can spend the week. You know, 414 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 5: you could stay with us until you know whatever, which 415 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 5: like was great. It helped me get on my feet. 416 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 5: But I also learned to separate myself from my belongings. 417 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 5: You know, I had a custom computer that I built. 418 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,159 Speaker 5: As much as I love it, it's replaceable. You know, 419 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 5: what really gets to me is my grandmother who adopted 420 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 5: me when I was young, and she got sick and 421 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 5: then I went back into care. But you know, it's 422 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 5: just a brief backstory. She passed away in twenty twenty one, 423 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 5: I want to say, and I had all of her books, 424 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 5: I had her polaroids, family pictures. We only have a 425 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 5: few pictures together, and I had the only copy of it. 426 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 5: I think all that stuff's gone, you know, And that's 427 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:35,359 Speaker 5: the stuff that like, you don't think about it right away, 428 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 5: you know, you kind of think, oh, my fun stuff, 429 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 5: that's all gone, boohoo. But like as time goes on, 430 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 5: you realize, like, hey, I lost this, Hey, and these 431 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 5: are things that I can replace. A computer, I can replace, 432 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 5: a bed, I can replace clothes. I can't replace pictures 433 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 5: or you know, things from my grandmother. 434 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 4: That's one of the things that my biggest regrets is 435 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 4: I had a picture of my one of the very 436 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 4: few pictures of my mother when she was a younger woman, 437 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,679 Speaker 4: and I lost it. Being on house, they threw all 438 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 4: my stuff away and I didn't get back in time. 439 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 4: And that's one of the few pictures I've I've had 440 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 4: her because like my mother was not always the photage 441 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 4: most photage in it. And I zeink about that when 442 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 4: you mentioned that, Like, you know, that's one of my 443 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 4: biggest regrets, never losing that that that part. It may 444 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,159 Speaker 4: not have been important to the sanitation or the city, 445 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,480 Speaker 4: but it meant the world to me, and I put 446 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,439 Speaker 4: it in a place to cherish it. So something happens 447 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,119 Speaker 4: to me that I didn't get, you know, lose it 448 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 4: in my pocket and things like that, but it ended 449 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 4: up losing my belongings. So that's I totally understand what 450 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:37,880 Speaker 4: you mean by that. 451 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 5: But again, like in foster care, I learned to again 452 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,199 Speaker 5: separate myself from my belongings. I think it's also like 453 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 5: a Buddhist teaching right to not want or to not desire. 454 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 5: And I'm not I'm not there, I'm not i have 455 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 5: nowhere close to the Buddha. I'm not enlightened, I'm none 456 00:22:56,480 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 5: of that. But I think it is it helps you 457 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 5: cope a lot when you're able to detach yourself from 458 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 5: the things that you want. 459 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,680 Speaker 4: It's also in in a way to not to be fraudian, 460 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 4: but also like the disassociative kind of thing to protect 461 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,159 Speaker 4: like for you know, there are certain elements of like 462 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 4: the sweeps, or certain elements that I find myself putting 463 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:20,119 Speaker 4: up to protect my psyche or protect me from not 464 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 4: having a full meltdown or having a breakdown, to protect myself. 465 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: Like you know example. 466 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,920 Speaker 4: You know, even when we rebuild, you rebuild by having things. 467 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 4: If I can be okay losing you know, like Okay, 468 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,199 Speaker 4: I lose these pair of pants. They ain't They're not 469 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 4: expensive that you know, I can get very you know, 470 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 4: these shoes they ain't. 471 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: You know, They're not Nikes, air Force Jordan's or anything 472 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: like that. 473 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 4: These are just it's just from two to four, Okay, 474 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 4: I lost that a serious paperwork I had. You know, 475 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 4: Fortunately I had some friends to to hold that or 476 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 4: help the whole things that I was gonna consider that 477 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 4: I didn't want to keep out on and where I was, 478 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 4: uh that could be stolen or thrown away. 479 00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, I can I can live 480 00:23:59,040 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: with that. 481 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 4: But that there was that kind of the desulsitive pattern 482 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,399 Speaker 4: I noticed, like you know, if I came tomorrow and 483 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 4: all my stuff was gone, it's it's not going to 484 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 4: break me down, like you know, unless you know, like 485 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 4: my bed roll I had or. 486 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: Things like that. 487 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,679 Speaker 4: I found always tried to find a way to you know, 488 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 4: be able to recoup in a different way that it 489 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 4: wasn't going to cause a beltout. 490 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 5: So yeah, I think another thing that helped me is 491 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 5: I got super into philosophy when I was just like 492 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 5: in Foster Care, on a much shallower level than I 493 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,679 Speaker 5: am now. Now I feel like I've looked into it 494 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 5: much deeper. And you know philosopher or well, I guess 495 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,639 Speaker 5: Roman emperor, you know, Marcus Aurelius. Part of his whole 496 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,480 Speaker 5: thing is if you can't change it, don't worry about it. 497 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 5: You know, in Layman's terms, if you can do something, 498 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 5: do it. If you can't, just let it go. And 499 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 5: I've tried to adopt that. And you know, I went 500 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,679 Speaker 5: to AA a lot with my grandmother. She would take 501 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,199 Speaker 5: me to meetings. I'd be like a little five year 502 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 5: old kids sitting at the AA table and I'd listened 503 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,920 Speaker 5: to all their stories. And you know, the one thing 504 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,359 Speaker 5: that stuck with me was the serenity prayer, you know, 505 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,919 Speaker 5: where you asked God to give you the strength to 506 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,159 Speaker 5: change what you can and the strength to accept the 507 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 5: things you can't change. And I've tried to always implement 508 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 5: that in some way, right So if I can't, my 509 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 5: house has gone in a fire. I can't change that. Mourn, 510 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 5: but let it go, you know, because life is just 511 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 5: much harder when you sit and you dwell on the 512 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 5: tough stuff. And I think, and I don't know your 513 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 5: story one hundred percent, you don't know mine one hundred percent. 514 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 5: But from my experience, if I were to sit and 515 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,159 Speaker 5: dwell on every bad thing that's happened to me, I 516 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 5: wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't be sitting here 517 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 5: talking to you. I would still be unhoused. I would 518 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 5: still be homeless. You know, I would maybe on drugs, 519 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 5: maybe not on drugs, but I would I would not 520 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,479 Speaker 5: be here if I just, you know, sat and just 521 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:00,959 Speaker 5: focused all the negativity. 522 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 4: And that's not necessarily have to be in house. But 523 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,920 Speaker 4: this is a thing too. I think a society has 524 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 4: eisier two extremes. Is I don't want to say that 525 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 4: Okuna Matata kind of thing. They got that one, like 526 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 4: you know, they break out in the song like you know, 527 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 4: the Sun's gonna come out tomorrow, or they just have 528 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 4: an apathetic like the whole like Chicken Little the world's 529 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 4: sky is fault and there's you know, it's like the 530 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 4: difficulty is to find that sweet spot or that balance, like, okay, 531 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 4: you know this happens. 532 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: I can't pretend it didn't happen. This happens. This sucks. 533 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 4: I morn, cry, whatever I need to do, but I 534 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,679 Speaker 4: have to. I got to keep going because life is 535 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,159 Speaker 4: not stopping to wait to me to do this. But 536 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 4: that's not Likee's job. My job is to cope as 537 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 4: the best as I can, and if I need help, 538 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,439 Speaker 4: I need to be okay enough to let go. Some 539 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 4: of the shame by society is at blaming shaming society, 540 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 4: if I must say, And it's very difficult sometimes even 541 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 4: for myself to the shed that because of how people look, 542 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 4: or people will say some diet remark that or some 543 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 4: flippant remark without taking any introspection on their own circumstances. 544 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 4: You know, make things from the transitional or I won't 545 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 4: say enlightened period, but to phase into those new kind 546 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 4: of jewels that you disputed, it becomes interesting and it 547 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 4: becomes a bit diverse, and it becomes I won't say transcended, 548 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 4: but I do think it takes some work to be 549 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,920 Speaker 4: able to get to that, and I can see that 550 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 4: it's an ongoing process with you. One of the things 551 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 4: that I wanted to ask is what do you say 552 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 4: to people that have lost things over to alter Dina. 553 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,880 Speaker 4: What kind of support groups are there anything to get 554 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 4: people to want to lean in to help or to 555 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 4: be educated into the situation. 556 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 5: Well, I know PCC is Passing City College is kind 557 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 5: of like a community hub right now. I know they're 558 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 5: offering lots of services. I think World's Kitchen as well. 559 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 5: They're handing out meals all across Pasadena. I think I 560 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 5: believe the Pasadena Convention Center is still open for people displaced. 561 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 5: I would recommend looking into all of that. You know, 562 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 5: it's kind of like a it's a hard time for everybody. 563 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 5: I mean, I'll be in line at Starbucks getting a coffee, 564 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 5: you know, I'll be sitting there talking to front and 565 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 5: the person next with me we'll hear about my house 566 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,880 Speaker 5: running down and they'll say, I lost my house too, 567 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 5: you know, And it's just like everyday people and people 568 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,119 Speaker 5: are moving on with their lives and it's great. But 569 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 5: it's the amount of support and community that Altadena has 570 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 5: and the amount of support Pasadena you know, has given 571 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 5: to Altadena has just been It's been amazing. 572 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 4: I was going to ask in this question too, because 573 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 4: I've been focusing on while the fire, what's going on 574 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,719 Speaker 4: the un house community currently we're being swept here in 575 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 4: Los Angeles and other parts. Have you noticed that there 576 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 4: has been more of an empathetic stance a posture to 577 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 4: the currently the young house before they were dealing with 578 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 4: the fires into homes or do you see maybe just 579 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 4: there's this idea that there were acceptable at house people 580 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 4: or worthy unhoused people, and then they were unworthy unhoused people, 581 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 4: and there's a line of demarcation that's going on there. 582 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 4: Or do you see overall just good will to everyone? 583 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 5: You know, in my situation and from what I've seen, 584 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 5: I've seen a lot of goodwill. I will say there's 585 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 5: a few homeless people that stay at past PCC. They're 586 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,239 Speaker 5: not shoveled off campus. They're not hey you can't be here, 587 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 5: Hey you got to get up. We even have like 588 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 5: the Lancer Pantry, which hands out food and snacks and 589 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 5: whatnot for free to students. And sometimes I'll see, you 590 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 5: want one of the homeless people going, and they'll hand 591 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,000 Speaker 5: them stuff so PCC is just like a stand up 592 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 5: school all around. And right now I'm not in the area, 593 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,959 Speaker 5: you know, I'm a bit north, so i haven't been 594 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 5: able to see every day what it's been like, but 595 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 5: to see the support and the good faith and people 596 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 5: are just looking at for each other, you know, during 597 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 5: this time, and it's amazing to see. 598 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 4: If you know, one of you the things that I 599 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 4: point out to. Recently, there has been a ruling about 600 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 4: grants Pass. Have you heard of the grands Pass ruling? 601 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 6: Uh? 602 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 4: No, Grand's Pass is a ruling that make it possible 603 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 4: for city officials and law enforcement to cite, criminalize and 604 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 4: arrest on house people before they had a stop gap. 605 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 4: It was the Martin versus boise from the appellate Court 606 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 4: stating it was cruel and unusual punishment to criminalize a 607 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:42,880 Speaker 4: human being for being a house. 608 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: The human body has to get rest. 609 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 4: No human being runs twenty four hours without sitting down, resting, sleeping. 610 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 4: It's just it's an impossibility unless you're taking some kind 611 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 4: of superhuman drugs and something like that. But even then 612 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 4: you're going to crash out. The point of it is 613 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,360 Speaker 4: is that that would a way to stop cities from 614 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 4: just willy nilly, a targeting on house people. And one 615 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 4: of the things I am noticing is particularly Altadenius predominantly 616 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 4: majority of people of color, black and brown in particular, 617 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 4: and the responses. 618 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: That they would get if they were. 619 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 4: Now displaced, because there's always the high percentages of targeting 620 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 4: in them. And Grant's pass is the ruling. That's the 621 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 4: Supreme Court ruling. Six Supreme Court justices three dissented on 622 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 4: upholding that a police officer does not have to offer 623 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 4: you services, or city officials don't they want you to leave, 624 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 4: You can leave, or you can go to jail, all 625 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 4: of those kinds of things. Now, with the Alted doing 626 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 4: this situation, there's going to be people that may not 627 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,320 Speaker 4: be as fortunate. Was you able to have a transitional 628 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 4: place to stay or work with each other? How do 629 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 4: you think that the newly displaced are going to fare 630 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 4: in under this ruling? 631 00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 5: I mean, obviously I hope for the best, prepare for 632 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 5: the Yeah, yeah, exactly. I would have to see it 633 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:08,160 Speaker 5: in action a few times before I would, you know, 634 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 5: be able to really put judgment out there. But I again, 635 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 5: maybe it's because I'm young, I might be naive, I 636 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 5: might be whatever but I I hope that the people 637 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 5: who are displaced are taken care of properly. You know, 638 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:27,479 Speaker 5: being houseless, homeless, whatever, it's it's terrible. It's like a 639 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 5: it's a terrible feeling. You feel like every like, everywhere 640 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 5: you stay, you're a guest. It's just an awful feeling. 641 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 5: You're like permanently a guest, no matter where you are. 642 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 5: I hope that with the resources that we have, everybody 643 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 5: displaced is able to you know, stay on their feet. 644 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 5: I know it's not realistic. I know people will fall 645 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,680 Speaker 5: through the cracks, and I just I hope people utilize 646 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 5: things like the pastinga convention center. As far as I know, 647 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 5: you can stay there until you figure out your next steps. 648 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 5: I know there's resources like two on one. They've partnered 649 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 5: with Airbnb, and I think Hilton, if I'm remembering correctly, 650 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 5: to give free rooms and free stays. And I just 651 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 5: I encourage people who you know aren't in a fortunate 652 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 5: enough situation, don't be a shame to ask for help, 653 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 5: especially in a time like this. Nobody could have controlled this. 654 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 5: I got home and I was like, oh, we're gonna 655 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 5: be without power for three days, you know, and then 656 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 5: twelve hours later, my house is burned down. Nobody could 657 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 5: have predicted this. Don't be a shamed to ask for help. 658 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 4: I also want to ask the larger moral to the 659 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 4: story is that creating these kind of unitative kind of 660 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:41,720 Speaker 4: decisions on the current vulnerable population could have unintended consequences 661 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 4: for us as well. Because climate change is here, it's 662 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 4: been here, and this is going to be one of 663 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 4: yet many type of kind of hazards, a bio hazards 664 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 4: that we're going to deal with. And when we have 665 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 4: things on the books like Grant's past ruling, it makes 666 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 4: it difficult to we through the humanity. And one thing 667 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 4: our city officials love to do, and they do it 668 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:06,560 Speaker 4: very well, is they have it down the criminalize the 669 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,359 Speaker 4: criminalization pack. They know how to criminalize poor people. They'll 670 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 4: find every finding known to man to find a way 671 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 4: to criminalize you for trying to exist. But when you 672 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,720 Speaker 4: ask them to make some decisions about helping with empathy 673 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 4: and other people at that they ought to put the 674 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 4: criminal or the car stittal rules in. But the car 675 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 4: stortal thing that they got that locked. But in the 676 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 4: empathy they're shorter supply. 677 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,879 Speaker 5: You know, I think a big part of that and 678 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 5: not not controversial. But this may be, you know, an 679 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 5: unpopular opinion. I think there's a reason for that. I 680 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 5: think it's because their donors are from the top, right. 681 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 5: So if if you know, let's say I'm mayor of 682 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 5: Los Angeles, let's say I'm assembly member for whatever district. 683 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,799 Speaker 5: If my donors are saying that they need me to 684 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 5: focus on these problems or whatever problem, that's the problem 685 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,520 Speaker 5: I'm going to focus on to stay in office, to 686 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,720 Speaker 5: keep my pockets lining, to stay you know, in power. 687 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,319 Speaker 5: They don't care about the people. It's sad this, you know, 688 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,200 Speaker 5: I don't agree with it. I want to say that now, 689 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 5: but but it's it's the truth. They're not the homeless 690 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 5: person on the corner, is not the one putting money 691 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,360 Speaker 5: in their pockets so that they can run for office again. 692 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,160 Speaker 5: And that's why we're looked over. That's why people who 693 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,239 Speaker 5: are poor are looked over, because they're not the ones 694 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,760 Speaker 5: putting money in politicians pockets. 695 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,759 Speaker 4: You know, food for thought, I believe. I thank you 696 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 4: Alex for taking the time to come out and tell 697 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 4: us your story. Is it okay? We invite you back again? 698 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:40,920 Speaker 4: This updates or about the situation I would love to 699 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 4: thank you for having me excellent. Thank you so much 700 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 4: to Alex. You can learn more about him at the 701 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:54,200 Speaker 4: links in our description. And when we come back, I'll 702 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:58,280 Speaker 4: be speaking with returning guests Rachel Satoff, the volunteer organizer 703 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 4: at Enhause Coalition SILA in Los Angeles, about fair efforts 704 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 4: to help the unhouse with fire relief. Welcome back to 705 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 4: to cel Henderson with Weedy and Howse. Our next guest. 706 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 4: Rachel is a returning guest who has insightsive observations on 707 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 4: how CELA springs into action to be there for the 708 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 4: unhoused community in new novel ways. 709 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:22,719 Speaker 1: Here's our talk. 710 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:26,720 Speaker 6: Thank you so much for having me back. I'm so honored. 711 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:27,760 Speaker 6: I'm Rachel. 712 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:32,160 Speaker 7: I'm the volunteer Engagement manager at SILA, and I started 713 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:34,760 Speaker 7: there as a volunteer and then as the organization grew, 714 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 7: I ended up stepping into this role last year. And 715 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,719 Speaker 7: what I do is my focus is on supporting our volunteers, 716 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:45,400 Speaker 7: because our volunteers are supporting our participants. This is a 717 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 7: volunteer lot organization. It was here long before there was 718 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 7: a staff. I am a support system for that, and 719 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 7: so what that looks like is developing trainings, being a 720 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 7: welcome point, a point of contact for our volunteers, so 721 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 7: that when volunteers see that there's things that are needed 722 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 7: at a program based on participant needs or new roles 723 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 7: that need to exist within a program to support I 724 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 7: help facilitate that process. So it's a mixture of a 725 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 7: lot of communications, a lot of training, developing trainings, and 726 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:17,880 Speaker 7: a lot of being sort of the person on the 727 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 7: ground who is kind of a connector between our large 728 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:21,839 Speaker 7: volunteer group. 729 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 1: Wow, that's a mouthful. That's what makes your program and unique. 730 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,120 Speaker 4: Volunteers are sometimes people of the community that are unhoused, 731 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 4: and conversely, in some of them that are housed, it's 732 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 4: impopery of people that are making the machine of Sealave work. 733 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,279 Speaker 4: I was going to ask this question because this is 734 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 4: a large arching conversation. We mentioned recently about Grant's past 735 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,399 Speaker 4: in our previous episodes, so I don't want to beat 736 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 4: that horse to the ground, but there is something in 737 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:57,640 Speaker 4: the ether about this conversation which I'm leading to is 738 00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:01,799 Speaker 4: about the LA fires and how that is the unintended 739 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 4: consequence that it's on the books, but we are not 740 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:10,360 Speaker 4: really discussing it, or we are deliberately omitting and tiptoeing 741 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,000 Speaker 4: around it, and that in the consequences. Do you think 742 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,120 Speaker 4: that we're going to see grants pass looming larger as 743 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,760 Speaker 4: the aftermath of the l fires simmers down and these public 744 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 4: empathy wanes. 745 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:26,160 Speaker 7: I absolutely do, and I'm devastated that That's how I feel. 746 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 7: But I'm a realistic person, and we see what's happening 747 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 7: all around, and I think what to connect it to 748 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 7: the fires and what we're talking about here. 749 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,759 Speaker 6: I just think the fact that and How's. 750 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 7: People were completely neglected in the emergency response. 751 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,840 Speaker 1: It was swept as well. 752 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,319 Speaker 7: Exactly, they were not just neglected, swept, So they were 753 00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:51,520 Speaker 7: like much very important correction there, and we were already 754 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:54,160 Speaker 7: seeing the effects of it, and we're already seeing that 755 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:58,799 Speaker 7: even in an emergency, none of that changed, So we're 756 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,440 Speaker 7: just preparing for that to be an issue. 757 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 4: What message do you think that they were sending to 758 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,360 Speaker 4: the currently in house that were not impacted by the fires, 759 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:10,600 Speaker 4: Because I couldn't find a logical reason that you would 760 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 4: think that you would expend more resources to do that 761 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 4: when resources were limited, when the water was waiting, you know, 762 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,080 Speaker 4: staff were under I mean, what message what they're trying 763 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,480 Speaker 4: to send that's the only thing I could come up with. 764 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:26,680 Speaker 1: They have to be signed to send some kind of message. 765 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 7: I mean, it's it's just the fact that there's no 766 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 7: place you can be in Los Angeles. 767 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,160 Speaker 6: And we know it's not just Los Angeles. That's just 768 00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:34,799 Speaker 6: where we are right now. 769 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 7: There's no place you can be where like our capital, 770 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 7: our property. That's what makes you worthy in the eyes 771 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:42,879 Speaker 7: of these systems, and so. 772 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,600 Speaker 6: Just making that clear in the most heinous of ways. 773 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 4: I have had a recent interview with a young person 774 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,279 Speaker 4: that was affected by the Altadena fire. The place he 775 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,880 Speaker 4: was staying with his uncle and aunt's house from to 776 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 4: the ground and he's fortunately living with others family members, 777 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,719 Speaker 4: but the rebuilding efforts is going to take some time 778 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:08,080 Speaker 4: due to the pollution and the abastos that these buildings 779 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 4: were old and not always up to code. 780 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 1: And even if you didn't. 781 00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,720 Speaker 4: Have your house unpackeded by the fire, you're still impacted 782 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 4: by the pollution of nearby burned houses and the mobility 783 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:23,240 Speaker 4: or the feasibility to move back into those damage impacted houses. 784 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,560 Speaker 4: It's just not really sensible at this moment. And so 785 00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,080 Speaker 4: I bring this observational point to the attention to my 786 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 4: audiences that what I definitely maybe want to bring into 787 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:39,640 Speaker 4: sharper relief is how the society has made themselves or 788 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,319 Speaker 4: bent themselves over backwards of trying to offer support. But 789 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 4: the honeymoon phase of that kind of consequence is going 790 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:50,280 Speaker 4: to rapidly evaporate. And I was wondering, am I remiss 791 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,560 Speaker 4: in mentioning that or a miss and even mentioning that, 792 00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:56,719 Speaker 4: or do you sense that that's going to be, you know, 793 00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:59,800 Speaker 4: a common thing, just like what happened with the comtrenter flooding. 794 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,239 Speaker 7: You mean, in terms of there being this temporary like 795 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:04,839 Speaker 7: suggestion of support. 796 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,200 Speaker 4: Infusion of resources and things like that. Do you what 797 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 4: is your astick? 798 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 7: I feel that to be realistic, I unfortunately have to 799 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:16,720 Speaker 7: agree that we're not going to see that continuously. 800 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,000 Speaker 6: And it was so precient. 801 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:22,040 Speaker 7: We literally discussed this when we had our first conversation THEO. 802 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:25,399 Speaker 7: We have unhoused folks who are completely on the front 803 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 7: lines with zero protections, So that's one group, But then 804 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:32,560 Speaker 7: we also have renters who similarly don't have protections when 805 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,520 Speaker 7: they're housing it's damaged, So we already have such huge 806 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 7: groups that aren't protected already, So there just isn't that 807 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:45,719 Speaker 7: system of support that has existed before a crisis, And 808 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,000 Speaker 7: so it's hard for me to imagine that infrastructure existing 809 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,239 Speaker 7: during a crisis. And we see it at CELA, the 810 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:56,879 Speaker 7: fact that Celia is actively filling gaps that are constantly 811 00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 7: widening when there is technically not a crisis, even though 812 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,080 Speaker 7: we know homelessness is obviously a crisis. But if we're 813 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 7: talking about this environmental catastrophe, we're already saying that there's 814 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 7: gaps that just keep widening and widening in terms of 815 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:14,160 Speaker 7: providing support. So I want to believe that somehow we'll 816 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,759 Speaker 7: have a society that provides these kinds of resources. But 817 00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:19,680 Speaker 7: just in the work we do, we know so well 818 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,600 Speaker 7: that communities and neighborhoods are who comes together to provide 819 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,120 Speaker 7: this kind of support. And that's amazing and I'm very 820 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,200 Speaker 7: grateful to know so many people who are part of 821 00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:30,960 Speaker 7: that and feel it and beyond. 822 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 6: But we know that we need. 823 00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,400 Speaker 7: More support than that, and so it's just hard to 824 00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 7: imagine that suddenly we would have that. 825 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:41,120 Speaker 4: The city is halfway beating the moment, not meeting the moment, 826 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:42,800 Speaker 4: or meeting is a moment. 827 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:46,440 Speaker 7: I mean, I think if you're not providing long term support, 828 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:49,520 Speaker 7: then it's really not meeting the moment, you know, like 829 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 7: kind of figuring out like what we're talking about here, 830 00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:55,800 Speaker 7: It's like we need long term support. And we see 831 00:42:55,840 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 7: that communities act faster than it can. 832 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:04,720 Speaker 4: Because SILA was before the fires, was in direct wiring 833 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:08,000 Speaker 4: and of helping unhouse people. When La fire has burst, 834 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:12,120 Speaker 4: what since then has Sela gone to meet this moment? 835 00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 4: Meet this crisis? 836 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 6: Absolutely, So I'm very grateful we were able to adjust 837 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:19,400 Speaker 6: our programming very quickly. 838 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:23,719 Speaker 7: And that is because again, as you said, we recognize 839 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,440 Speaker 7: that there are many crises happening and things are compounding, 840 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:28,960 Speaker 7: but every day is already a crisis. If there are 841 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,120 Speaker 7: people dying on the streets. We know the statistics. We 842 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 7: know that people I believe is six the most recent 843 00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:39,320 Speaker 7: reporting that six on house people die day in Los Angeles. 844 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,160 Speaker 7: We know that more on house people in Los Angeles 845 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:44,360 Speaker 7: die from hypothermia then in cities where you might expect 846 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,839 Speaker 7: it more where we typically think of as colder. That's 847 00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 7: a crisis. 848 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 6: And so we. 849 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,399 Speaker 7: While this is a completely new crisis that is going 850 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,320 Speaker 7: to have many long term effects for our current participants 851 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:59,239 Speaker 7: in future participants, we were still built to go, and 852 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:04,160 Speaker 7: so how we responded immediately was at first just making 853 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,320 Speaker 7: sure that every program that we already had was prepared 854 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:11,200 Speaker 7: to continue. So what that meant was checking in on 855 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:13,880 Speaker 7: our volunteers to see if they had to evacuate, and 856 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:16,320 Speaker 7: once we knew we had enough volunteers who were safe 857 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:18,640 Speaker 7: and able to still go, then it was figuring out 858 00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,040 Speaker 7: how to move our program indoors, to protect our participants 859 00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 7: from howzardous air quality, how to make sure we had 860 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:25,759 Speaker 7: enough mass. We're very grateful that so many people in 861 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:28,440 Speaker 7: the community donated mass to us. We see the work 862 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,279 Speaker 7: that Mass block LA has been doing within their organizing. 863 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 7: So changing what we were able to provide in terms 864 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,759 Speaker 7: of spaces where we held things, and resources and. 865 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:38,919 Speaker 6: Supplies that we had to give. 866 00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:42,560 Speaker 7: So the immediate was making sure that everything we already 867 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:46,360 Speaker 7: do was set to go. Then what happened that was 868 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,600 Speaker 7: very much an immediate response was we became, like so 869 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,880 Speaker 7: many different organizations, we became a temporary distribution hub. So 870 00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:57,280 Speaker 7: what that meant is typically we might be as staff 871 00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,759 Speaker 7: or a few volunteers, we would be at Silver Li 872 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,440 Speaker 7: Comunity Church, where many of our programs are held. We 873 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:04,799 Speaker 7: would be there to do different kinds of work, but 874 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,240 Speaker 7: we wouldn't necessarily have some large event or action taking place. 875 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:10,200 Speaker 6: And that change. 876 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:12,600 Speaker 7: Where we spent our Thursday and Fridays as a temporary 877 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:15,680 Speaker 7: distribution hub, and that was putting calls out on social media, 878 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,880 Speaker 7: letting people know that we were here, whether it was 879 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,920 Speaker 7: they themselves needed supplies or if they had supplies to provide. 880 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:23,839 Speaker 6: So we became kind of a. 881 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,320 Speaker 7: Holding space where we could send out supplies to groups 882 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 7: who were immediately responding to fire relief. So that was 883 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:34,799 Speaker 7: just collecting food, collecting clothing, collecting supplies, we were talking 884 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:36,799 Speaker 7: about masks, just getting as much as we can and 885 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 7: figuring out where to send things. So we send it 886 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,399 Speaker 7: out to groups that were supporting unhoused folks in area 887 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:43,880 Speaker 7: that were closer to the fires directly. It was sending 888 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 7: it out to groups that had activated to help the 889 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:49,360 Speaker 7: people whose houses had been lost or who had to evacuate. 890 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:54,000 Speaker 7: So it was just kind of immediately changing what CELA 891 00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:56,440 Speaker 7: usually is, which is a program for unhealthed people in 892 00:45:56,480 --> 00:46:00,360 Speaker 7: these specific neighborhoods to we will collect any supple you 893 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:02,120 Speaker 7: can bring if we are a location where it. 894 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,040 Speaker 6: Is easier to bring them and we're going to figure 895 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:04,719 Speaker 6: out where to send them. 896 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:06,680 Speaker 7: We're going to send people out to drive, We're going 897 00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:10,800 Speaker 7: to be moderating replies on monitoring replies on our Instagram 898 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:12,520 Speaker 7: and in our email, letting us know where things need 899 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:14,960 Speaker 7: to go. And one of the things we learned that 900 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,239 Speaker 7: was incredibly helpful and responding to these fires because we 901 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:20,520 Speaker 7: know that, unfortunately this is not going to be the 902 00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:22,799 Speaker 7: first time we have a new emergency on top of 903 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:25,719 Speaker 7: what we already deal with, was we had to we 904 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,960 Speaker 7: created kind of an open door culture in terms of 905 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,279 Speaker 7: how we were going about this temporary distribution hub we 906 00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:36,480 Speaker 7: had going on. And so as an organization that is 907 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,359 Speaker 7: built to respond to crisis, that means that there are processes. 908 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:43,200 Speaker 7: So there is a sign up process, there are specific roles, 909 00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:45,520 Speaker 7: there are certain numbers of people we want in those roles. 910 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:48,800 Speaker 7: We might send someone to a different program if they're 911 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,120 Speaker 7: needing more support over there. There's like a very organized process. 912 00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,200 Speaker 7: And that was not going to be how to respond 913 00:46:55,239 --> 00:46:58,160 Speaker 7: to what was happening in those first days after the fires. 914 00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:01,320 Speaker 4: And because why, Because it was a unique situation, and 915 00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:04,120 Speaker 4: I've been trying to make it very clear even in 916 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:08,799 Speaker 4: my other interview, was explaining California is no stranger to 917 00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:12,920 Speaker 4: brush fire, and we knew basically we do have some 918 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:16,640 Speaker 4: kind of fledgling type of system, but this emergency was 919 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:19,960 Speaker 4: so unique in a way. It caught people by surprise 920 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,399 Speaker 4: by the high winds, the motility of the fires. One minute, 921 00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:26,759 Speaker 4: it was going in one direction, then you get evacuation 922 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,120 Speaker 4: notices from that, but then it moves into another one. 923 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,239 Speaker 4: Then you can't go there, and it causes a conundrum 924 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:36,480 Speaker 4: or a quandary for currently unhoused people. Because I had 925 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,719 Speaker 4: on my previous show one of the house residents that 926 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,320 Speaker 4: had the fire right across the street from where she lived, 927 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:46,200 Speaker 4: and she had mobility issues herself to be able to 928 00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:49,439 Speaker 4: try to navigate that kind of reality. And then two 929 00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:53,239 Speaker 4: with limited feedback from the phone because not everyone has 930 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:56,560 Speaker 4: a charge phone and being unhoused, it created such a 931 00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:00,920 Speaker 4: very It was a buzz of certainty, It was a 932 00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:04,080 Speaker 4: buzz of confusion, and it was a buzz of panic 933 00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:06,680 Speaker 4: in many respects because people that had cars, they had 934 00:48:06,719 --> 00:48:09,360 Speaker 4: to leave their cars behind and just just hoof it. 935 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:14,120 Speaker 1: I point this out because of these issues. 936 00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:18,759 Speaker 4: That usually are not accounted for in the conversation or 937 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:23,239 Speaker 4: advanced in any kind of conversation that we extend our 938 00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,839 Speaker 4: hearts to, we have a more of a sympathetic ear. 939 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:28,840 Speaker 4: But if we put the conversation where unhoused people on 940 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:33,840 Speaker 4: a daily basis having to navigate transportation or mobility issues, 941 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:36,520 Speaker 4: or that're disabled and they can't move right away when 942 00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:39,960 Speaker 4: the neighborhood wants them gone, we don't have that empathy. 943 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:43,680 Speaker 4: And it leads into that were which the city seems 944 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:45,839 Speaker 4: to be leading the banner and they're going to help 945 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,840 Speaker 4: only that were impacted by fires, but not you know, 946 00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:52,000 Speaker 4: currently unhoused people. We're going to give you a sweeping criminalization. 947 00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:56,800 Speaker 4: And it lends the conversation between newly displaced people, a 948 00:48:56,920 --> 00:48:59,520 Speaker 4: current displaced people, and people that are invested in their 949 00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:03,440 Speaker 4: owner price and not understanding how these situations are interlock. 950 00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,320 Speaker 4: And then you know, you could be doing everything perfectly 951 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:09,000 Speaker 4: and you lost your entire house and now you're the 952 00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,840 Speaker 4: mercies of the city and the climate because there's you 953 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:14,160 Speaker 4: might not have any resources. 954 00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:17,280 Speaker 1: You lost your house, you know exactly. 955 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:20,439 Speaker 7: And I think that's such an important point to bring 956 00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:25,200 Speaker 7: up because something that many of us noticed in those 957 00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:27,799 Speaker 7: immediate days was, of course, especially when we were at 958 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:32,440 Speaker 7: distribution Hub, we let everybody know when they were donating 959 00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:35,400 Speaker 7: things that if this was intended for a fire relief, 960 00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:37,160 Speaker 7: we are going to make sure this gets to people 961 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:40,800 Speaker 7: working directly in firelaf because we know how many organizations 962 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:43,880 Speaker 7: were already focused on doing that or switched to focus 963 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,600 Speaker 7: on that, and we do not want to hoard supplies 964 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:48,600 Speaker 7: that are meant for groups that need them more in 965 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:51,600 Speaker 7: this moment. But then, as I'm sure we all saw 966 00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:55,120 Speaker 7: a lot of groups became overwhelmed with supplies because people 967 00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:57,480 Speaker 7: that was their way of supporting was just kind of 968 00:49:57,560 --> 00:49:59,400 Speaker 7: dropping off supplies. But we know that that's a lot 969 00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,360 Speaker 7: of people don't have storage space. People nobody wants to 970 00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:07,000 Speaker 7: hoard these items. So then when we switched Gears because 971 00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:09,160 Speaker 7: we were no longer needed to support in that way, 972 00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:11,560 Speaker 7: it was like, Okay, we're gonna let people know, well, 973 00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:15,560 Speaker 7: we're we also need these supplies for ourselves, and we're 974 00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:17,600 Speaker 7: going to make that clear if people come with donations 975 00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:20,000 Speaker 7: what they're going to be used for. And of course 976 00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:23,560 Speaker 7: that was an incredible education opportunity. We had a lot 977 00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:26,200 Speaker 7: of experiences of letting people know who we were. They 978 00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:28,759 Speaker 7: may have learned about us from our response to the fire, 979 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,799 Speaker 7: but actually we work with our unhoused neighbors in these neighborhoods, 980 00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:34,279 Speaker 7: and we're here every week, and it was wonderful to 981 00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:36,800 Speaker 7: see people engage in with that way and have now since. 982 00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:39,440 Speaker 6: Volunteered or I became like donors. 983 00:50:40,040 --> 00:50:42,520 Speaker 7: But then what we also had with some people who 984 00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:46,680 Speaker 7: were like, oh, this isn't going to the fire victims, 985 00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:51,919 Speaker 7: because it was like, I feel good supporting somebody who 986 00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:56,640 Speaker 7: recently became unhoused, which is horrible, and those people need support, 987 00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,680 Speaker 7: but that's different from somebody who's been unhoused because of 988 00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:02,600 Speaker 7: this other crisis that is long lasting in the city, 989 00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:08,279 Speaker 7: and that was very disheartening to have moments like that. Obviously, 990 00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:13,640 Speaker 7: I'm trying to look at all of the interactions I've 991 00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,880 Speaker 7: had where this became somebody's. 992 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:18,280 Speaker 6: Entry point into this work. 993 00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:21,960 Speaker 7: But we know that that also means interacting with people 994 00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:23,279 Speaker 7: and more difficultly. 995 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:25,640 Speaker 4: So you know, I've been trying to grapple with that 996 00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:27,720 Speaker 4: and try to do it and creatively as I possibly 997 00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:31,960 Speaker 4: can to show that, and I show how because of 998 00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:34,919 Speaker 4: the usual stereotypes that they use about house people, they're 999 00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:38,200 Speaker 4: mentally ill, they have substance abuse problems, they like being 1000 00:51:38,239 --> 00:51:40,840 Speaker 4: out there and all of the other ridiculous things that 1001 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:44,880 Speaker 4: they say. And now here is a catastrophic event that 1002 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:48,640 Speaker 4: happened on people that were living their lives living. You know, 1003 00:51:48,719 --> 00:51:50,719 Speaker 4: they weren't known substance in while they were in a house. 1004 00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:53,399 Speaker 4: You can't blame that. You know, they like being out there. 1005 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:56,920 Speaker 4: This is it really something that pretends this is going 1006 00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:01,359 Speaker 4: to happen much more on a reoccurring basis. Now it's 1007 00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:07,040 Speaker 4: bridging the uncomfortable conversations of the unintended consequences like Grant's pass, 1008 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:12,280 Speaker 4: like forty one eighteen, like having these hard conversations about 1009 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:16,200 Speaker 4: what does harm reduction look like, what does trying to 1010 00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:19,239 Speaker 4: have treatment and places or hubs that care be able 1011 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:22,000 Speaker 4: to meet the moment in order to address climate change 1012 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:26,000 Speaker 4: issues as well as human frailties and human realities that 1013 00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:30,120 Speaker 4: people are impacted by with houselessness. And there's I need 1014 00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:32,920 Speaker 4: to say this because I had heard the most ridiculous 1015 00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:37,080 Speaker 4: comment someone mentioned that they stated at a gathering saying 1016 00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:40,520 Speaker 4: that it's a classing, it's not a racing. And I 1017 00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:43,240 Speaker 4: want to push back on that because of the fact 1018 00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:49,000 Speaker 4: that Altadena resources were very targeted, very limited, where when 1019 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:52,120 Speaker 4: we talked about the matches and Palisades and the other 1020 00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:57,440 Speaker 4: palatial areas. The response was like night and day. And 1021 00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:01,480 Speaker 4: I don't know if you have any insight on that, 1022 00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:02,520 Speaker 4: but what do you think on this? 1023 00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:06,600 Speaker 7: I mean, I just think that you can't ignore racism 1024 00:53:06,680 --> 00:53:10,040 Speaker 7: and systemic racism in this city. I just think that's 1025 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:14,040 Speaker 7: too ingrained to think that something is only a class 1026 00:53:14,239 --> 00:53:19,160 Speaker 7: a class issue. Of course, class is huge, but I 1027 00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:21,560 Speaker 7: just don't think that that can be separated. I think, 1028 00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:24,239 Speaker 7: you know, I think it's very important for us to 1029 00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:29,919 Speaker 7: see the solidarity that exists as people experiencing the same 1030 00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:33,360 Speaker 7: kinds of class issues. But it's just it's and avoidable 1031 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:36,719 Speaker 7: to see how people in the city are treated, what 1032 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:41,160 Speaker 7: resources are available to them, and redlining. That's how Altadena 1033 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:43,279 Speaker 7: became the flourishing cunity that it is is because of 1034 00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:47,360 Speaker 7: red lighting. So I just don't see how any of 1035 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:49,359 Speaker 7: that can be ignored when you look at the if 1036 00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,080 Speaker 7: we're talking about Altadena specifically, if we look at the 1037 00:53:52,239 --> 00:53:58,239 Speaker 7: generations that lived within these beautiful homes that have been 1038 00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:01,160 Speaker 7: within these families for generations that are now gone, and 1039 00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:04,799 Speaker 7: what the response has been, I just it's unavoidable, and 1040 00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,600 Speaker 7: it's just the fact that it's also doing as specifically like. 1041 00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:11,520 Speaker 4: And point lake blank that where they have National Guard, 1042 00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,279 Speaker 4: they got police, police people. And the thing with is 1043 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:19,360 Speaker 4: these movement leaders that state these things do a disservice 1044 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:23,279 Speaker 4: and it's infuriating because they spout this in a nonsense 1045 00:54:23,600 --> 00:54:27,239 Speaker 4: without understanding. My show is always has been about intersections, 1046 00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:30,880 Speaker 4: and intersections are important. What affects one group will ultimately 1047 00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:32,640 Speaker 4: affect all of us. We are seeing this right now 1048 00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:36,600 Speaker 4: play out with the immigration conversation or actually or the 1049 00:54:36,640 --> 00:54:40,560 Speaker 4: criminalization immigration that's being enacted against black and brown people, 1050 00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:43,640 Speaker 4: and conversely, the other people that are immigrants from New 1051 00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:48,120 Speaker 4: northern northern places, all of these other European countries are. 1052 00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:49,279 Speaker 1: Not being targeted now. 1053 00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:53,839 Speaker 4: Conversely, DEI has been translated as a woke thing as 1054 00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:57,359 Speaker 4: it's been targeted as people colored, you know, unqualified black 1055 00:54:57,360 --> 00:54:58,080 Speaker 4: and brown people. 1056 00:54:58,320 --> 00:54:59,000 Speaker 1: But there are. 1057 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:03,440 Speaker 4: Many other community that are targeted with the eradication, for example, 1058 00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:07,080 Speaker 4: the disability community, the veterans, all of these things that 1059 00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:11,160 Speaker 4: because you are trying to snuff out the light from 1060 00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:13,719 Speaker 4: other communities in order for you to get a brighter light, 1061 00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:16,719 Speaker 4: doesn't make that okay. I say, you don't have to 1062 00:55:16,719 --> 00:55:19,280 Speaker 4: diminish any other community in order to get your story 1063 00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:23,040 Speaker 4: or get your voice heard. And as I said, you know, 1064 00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:25,840 Speaker 4: if you have a heart, use your heart to love somebody, 1065 00:55:26,239 --> 00:55:28,120 Speaker 4: but if your heart is big enough, use it to 1066 00:55:28,160 --> 00:55:28,960 Speaker 4: love everybody. 1067 00:55:29,120 --> 00:55:30,799 Speaker 7: I think that is beautiful and I think the way 1068 00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:33,800 Speaker 7: you describe that very succinctly gets the issue. 1069 00:55:34,120 --> 00:55:42,440 Speaker 1: Thank you. We'll finish this conversation after the break and 1070 00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:43,000 Speaker 1: we're back. 1071 00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:46,320 Speaker 4: Like I said, you know, CEILA has been doing important 1072 00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:50,400 Speaker 4: work and it's continuing. What residual effects are you seeing 1073 00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:51,240 Speaker 4: from the fires? 1074 00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:55,880 Speaker 7: Yes, so I would say, especially because of what my 1075 00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:58,680 Speaker 7: role is and where I have the most insight is 1076 00:55:58,719 --> 00:56:02,000 Speaker 7: the growth of ourvolunteer base and the interest in volunteering 1077 00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:06,960 Speaker 7: with SILA has been astronomical. And if my colleague, maybe 1078 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,680 Speaker 7: our operations manager, maybe Pudlow also known as Maybe a Girl, 1079 00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:12,319 Speaker 7: was here, they would also be able to talk about 1080 00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:17,000 Speaker 7: that also translates to an influx of resources, and so 1081 00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:18,919 Speaker 7: I'll talk about that as well. But first I would 1082 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:22,320 Speaker 7: love to talk about on the volunteer side of things. 1083 00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:26,279 Speaker 7: What's been incredible is that I know we touched on 1084 00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:28,879 Speaker 7: the kind of open door culture we created within those 1085 00:56:28,880 --> 00:56:30,879 Speaker 7: first few days where it's like we don't care who 1086 00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:33,520 Speaker 7: you are don't worry about this sign up process, don't 1087 00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:34,640 Speaker 7: worry about going on our website. 1088 00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:35,840 Speaker 6: Did you see us on Instagram? 1089 00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:39,480 Speaker 7: Here's the address, come over like that was amazing that 1090 00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:43,000 Speaker 7: people showed up, But what was so heartening was that 1091 00:56:43,239 --> 00:56:46,240 Speaker 7: we also had some people sign up to now constantly 1092 00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:49,920 Speaker 7: get our communications and constantly get our information about future programs. 1093 00:56:49,920 --> 00:56:54,520 Speaker 7: So I pull this information about a week ago where 1094 00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:57,080 Speaker 7: I want to see how many people had signed up 1095 00:56:57,239 --> 00:57:01,600 Speaker 7: as on our volunteer mailing list since the fires broke out. 1096 00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:04,480 Speaker 7: So that was between I believe the evening of the 1097 00:57:04,520 --> 00:57:07,560 Speaker 7: seventh through the twenty first, I think was the day 1098 00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:08,000 Speaker 7: I did it. 1099 00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:09,799 Speaker 6: And so from the seventh to the twenty. 1100 00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:12,240 Speaker 7: First, we had over two hundred and forty new people 1101 00:57:12,280 --> 00:57:14,120 Speaker 7: signing up on that mailing list. 1102 00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:16,160 Speaker 6: And on an average month. 1103 00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,760 Speaker 7: We have maybe fifty to seventy new folks signing up, 1104 00:57:18,800 --> 00:57:22,360 Speaker 7: which is thrilling because that's fifty to seventy people, but 1105 00:57:22,600 --> 00:57:24,800 Speaker 7: compared to two hundred and forty within not even a 1106 00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:30,919 Speaker 7: complete month, was amazing. And so where our responsibility comes 1107 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:33,360 Speaker 7: in in this moment is like, if we now have 1108 00:57:33,440 --> 00:57:35,920 Speaker 7: that many more people who are going to get an 1109 00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:38,680 Speaker 7: email from us, will they open it we don't know, 1110 00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:40,880 Speaker 7: but we've got their email now, so we're going to try. 1111 00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:44,360 Speaker 7: It became how do we create as much of an 1112 00:57:44,360 --> 00:57:48,400 Speaker 7: opportunity for folks to actually engage and be on site 1113 00:57:48,440 --> 00:57:51,040 Speaker 7: and meet their neighbors and see the big picture of 1114 00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:55,560 Speaker 7: what is happening in Hycila it exists, And so it's 1115 00:57:55,640 --> 00:57:59,160 Speaker 7: been a lot of convening with our people who volunteers, 1116 00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:00,000 Speaker 7: who lead our program. 1117 00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:01,720 Speaker 6: We have volunteer program directors. 1118 00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:06,160 Speaker 7: So we recently did this huge meeting among about seventeen 1119 00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:08,840 Speaker 7: or eighteen of us figuring out, Okay, if we have 1120 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,920 Speaker 7: these many more people who have signed up, we need 1121 00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:13,880 Speaker 7: to make sure there's the opportunity for them to actually 1122 00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:16,960 Speaker 7: engage and not ever actually make it to a program. 1123 00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:20,320 Speaker 7: So figuring out what is the most accessible way for 1124 00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:24,000 Speaker 7: people to plug into this long term and not just 1125 00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:27,320 Speaker 7: I want to do something because of this fire emergency, 1126 00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:28,960 Speaker 7: which we need you there, but we need you for 1127 00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:32,240 Speaker 7: a lot longer. And so it's been a lot of 1128 00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:36,240 Speaker 7: figuring out how to create an accessible programming so that 1129 00:58:36,280 --> 00:58:38,680 Speaker 7: we can offer more services because we have more people 1130 00:58:38,680 --> 00:58:39,480 Speaker 7: with resources. 1131 00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:42,440 Speaker 6: And another big thing that is part. 1132 00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:46,920 Speaker 7: Of that is we need to now create education so 1133 00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:50,560 Speaker 7: that all of these folks who are engaging with this 1134 00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:52,800 Speaker 7: for the first time, because for a lot of people, 1135 00:58:52,800 --> 00:58:55,360 Speaker 7: this might have been the first time where they saw, Oh, 1136 00:58:56,040 --> 00:58:59,040 Speaker 7: leaders I look to in a traditional sense did not 1137 00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:02,840 Speaker 7: provide immediate to but this mutual aid group I saw 1138 00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:06,640 Speaker 7: on Instagram is or Celia is or whoever it might 1139 00:59:06,680 --> 00:59:08,760 Speaker 7: have been, Like, I just think what mass Block is 1140 00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:11,040 Speaker 7: doing is amazing, just like what all these groups are doing. 1141 00:59:11,680 --> 00:59:13,480 Speaker 6: We have to use that. 1142 00:59:13,600 --> 00:59:16,800 Speaker 7: Energy they have for them to see how long this 1143 00:59:16,840 --> 00:59:18,880 Speaker 7: has been going on and why it's happening and why 1144 00:59:18,960 --> 00:59:22,800 Speaker 7: they feel so betrayed or disillusioned right now for maybe 1145 00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:24,640 Speaker 7: what might be the first time for them, or maybe 1146 00:59:24,920 --> 00:59:25,360 Speaker 7: they've been. 1147 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:27,840 Speaker 6: Thinking about it but didn't know. And so our goal 1148 00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:29,000 Speaker 6: is that even. 1149 00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:32,960 Speaker 7: Before this specific crisis occurred. We decided last year after 1150 00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:35,040 Speaker 7: we did our first volunteer summit, which you and I 1151 00:59:35,080 --> 00:59:37,560 Speaker 7: talked about THEO, which was just a day of a 1152 00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:39,760 Speaker 7: lot of training that about one hundred volunteers came to. 1153 00:59:39,800 --> 00:59:42,560 Speaker 7: It was very exciting, it was okay, we tried it, 1154 00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:45,320 Speaker 7: we saw that it worked, we saw what didn't. Now 1155 00:59:45,360 --> 00:59:47,360 Speaker 7: we need to do this every month, and it can 1156 00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:49,800 Speaker 7: be on a smaller scale. So it's easier to do, 1157 00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:54,880 Speaker 7: it's easier to organize quickly, and so it was like, cool, 1158 00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:56,800 Speaker 7: that's something we're going to plan and we're going to 1159 00:59:56,840 --> 00:59:57,640 Speaker 7: start in January. 1160 00:59:57,720 --> 01:00:00,440 Speaker 6: We'll have something happening every month. And then this happened 1161 01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:00,960 Speaker 6: and it just. 1162 01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:04,320 Speaker 7: Became more obvious than it already was that this has 1163 01:00:04,400 --> 01:00:07,400 Speaker 7: to be a huge goal. So there's been a lot 1164 01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:09,440 Speaker 7: of figuring out what these trainings are going to look like. 1165 01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:12,919 Speaker 7: There's has to be a lot of kind of one 1166 01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:17,360 Speaker 7: oh one level conversations that have to happen for some folks, 1167 01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:20,600 Speaker 7: and also more intensive conversations that need to happen at 1168 01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:25,040 Speaker 7: these trainings. So it'll be history information, know your rights 1169 01:00:25,080 --> 01:00:29,080 Speaker 7: type of information. We're going to have people speaking about 1170 01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:33,160 Speaker 7: the climate crisis, so that folks understand how these prices 1171 01:00:33,240 --> 01:00:38,720 Speaker 7: become so exacerbated and what is the impetus of that happening. 1172 01:00:38,880 --> 01:00:43,240 Speaker 7: And it's just figuring out how to make this surge 1173 01:00:43,720 --> 01:00:47,600 Speaker 7: of interest become long term. 1174 01:00:47,480 --> 01:00:48,600 Speaker 6: Very organized power. 1175 01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:52,560 Speaker 7: And so that's on the people side of things, and 1176 01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:57,560 Speaker 7: then in terms of resources, we are for the first 1177 01:00:57,600 --> 01:01:00,360 Speaker 7: time in a long time, we're able to see through 1178 01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:03,480 Speaker 7: maybe he's organizing and maybe he's inventory tracking. We can 1179 01:01:03,560 --> 01:01:05,400 Speaker 7: kind of look ahead and see, oh, we have enough 1180 01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:09,360 Speaker 7: supplies for our participants for a few months, and that's 1181 01:01:09,360 --> 01:01:11,240 Speaker 7: a really big deal. And of course we know participant 1182 01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:14,200 Speaker 7: numbers are always growing. Even if this crisis hadn't happened, 1183 01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:16,600 Speaker 7: participant numbers are growing. But now we have more people 1184 01:01:16,640 --> 01:01:19,200 Speaker 7: we're going to experience housing insecurity for the first time, 1185 01:01:19,280 --> 01:01:21,920 Speaker 7: if they're not already experiencing homelessness for the first time 1186 01:01:21,960 --> 01:01:26,240 Speaker 7: because of it, and just using what came out of 1187 01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:29,240 Speaker 7: these few weeks to power us through what is going 1188 01:01:29,280 --> 01:01:32,120 Speaker 7: to be a very long haul. And one of the 1189 01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:35,760 Speaker 7: things we also did that is now able to be 1190 01:01:35,880 --> 01:01:39,360 Speaker 7: part of our programming long term was we launched our 1191 01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:43,240 Speaker 7: laundry program, which had been a short term program in service. 1192 01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:45,240 Speaker 7: We were able to offer because we had funding for 1193 01:01:45,280 --> 01:01:48,440 Speaker 7: it at the time through a laundromat that is near 1194 01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:52,040 Speaker 7: one of our programs, and we were able to afford 1195 01:01:52,160 --> 01:01:55,920 Speaker 7: to pay for our certain number of participants laundry every week. 1196 01:01:56,240 --> 01:01:58,800 Speaker 7: And then it quickly became something we realized we couldn't sustain, 1197 01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:00,720 Speaker 7: and it was not it is. It's very important to 1198 01:02:00,800 --> 01:02:03,840 Speaker 7: us that if we offer something new, it has to 1199 01:02:03,920 --> 01:02:06,160 Speaker 7: be something we can promise because we don't want to 1200 01:02:06,200 --> 01:02:10,160 Speaker 7: create the same culture of not having any consistency for 1201 01:02:10,200 --> 01:02:12,400 Speaker 7: folks in crisis. If we're offering something, it has to 1202 01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:15,000 Speaker 7: be because we can promise it. So when we realized 1203 01:02:15,040 --> 01:02:17,080 Speaker 7: that wasn't the case, it was like, Okay, we have 1204 01:02:17,200 --> 01:02:21,160 Speaker 7: to rethink how to make this work, and our goal 1205 01:02:21,280 --> 01:02:23,240 Speaker 7: is that at some point in twenty twenty five we'll 1206 01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:25,400 Speaker 7: be able to make that happen. And then in response 1207 01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:29,040 Speaker 7: to what happened in the fires, it became this huge 1208 01:02:29,040 --> 01:02:31,920 Speaker 7: opportunity for us to educate people on social media and 1209 01:02:31,960 --> 01:02:35,200 Speaker 7: through our newsletter communications. This is why we had a 1210 01:02:35,240 --> 01:02:38,800 Speaker 7: laundry program. We had a laundry program after the torrential 1211 01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:41,520 Speaker 7: rains in February twenty twenty four, when we had so 1212 01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:45,960 Speaker 7: many participants whose clothing was completely damped, it became mildewed 1213 01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:48,040 Speaker 7: because it had to dry on its own, and that's 1214 01:02:48,040 --> 01:02:50,439 Speaker 7: when laundry became very clear that it was now in need. 1215 01:02:50,680 --> 01:02:53,840 Speaker 7: And so once again we had a weather emergency showing 1216 01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:58,320 Speaker 7: us that laundry is a crucial need in terms of hygiene, 1217 01:02:58,360 --> 01:02:59,800 Speaker 7: in terms of safety, in terms of health, in terms 1218 01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:02,800 Speaker 7: of dignity. And then it was like, okay, maybe this 1219 01:03:02,880 --> 01:03:04,880 Speaker 7: is a time where we can relaunch this program and 1220 01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:07,520 Speaker 7: make it sustainable. And so we opened a fundraising drive 1221 01:03:07,680 --> 01:03:10,400 Speaker 7: where we explained the purpose of a laundry program and 1222 01:03:10,440 --> 01:03:12,560 Speaker 7: we are thrilled that we exceeded the bowl and that 1223 01:03:12,640 --> 01:03:15,600 Speaker 7: means we'll be able to offer laundry for hopefully beyond 1224 01:03:15,600 --> 01:03:18,479 Speaker 7: twenty twenty five were covered, but definitely for this year. 1225 01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:21,000 Speaker 7: We are good and we'll be able to build on that. 1226 01:03:21,480 --> 01:03:25,640 Speaker 7: And so just expanding our programming with the resources we've 1227 01:03:25,640 --> 01:03:31,480 Speaker 7: been now very generously provided, and using the increased volunteer 1228 01:03:31,600 --> 01:03:35,960 Speaker 7: numbers here to educate people and welcome people so that 1229 01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:38,240 Speaker 7: they'll want to do this work long term. Because we 1230 01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:41,240 Speaker 7: talked about the very limited support that some folks have gotten. 1231 01:03:41,680 --> 01:03:44,240 Speaker 7: We know that that's going to dry up for house people, 1232 01:03:44,360 --> 01:03:46,960 Speaker 7: and we know it's already been dried up for unhoused people. 1233 01:03:47,720 --> 01:03:51,520 Speaker 4: So absolutely well said, and I like the I had 1234 01:03:51,520 --> 01:03:54,480 Speaker 4: the idea of how one of the runoffs from climate 1235 01:03:54,800 --> 01:03:57,960 Speaker 4: is this issue with the laundry, because I definitely grappled 1236 01:03:57,960 --> 01:04:00,520 Speaker 4: with that and into Mozon house people when you see 1237 01:04:00,520 --> 01:04:02,720 Speaker 4: them taking bird baths in places and things like that, 1238 01:04:02,920 --> 01:04:06,840 Speaker 4: they're trying to mitigate their appearance and their body olders 1239 01:04:07,000 --> 01:04:09,720 Speaker 4: and laundry is one of the telltale signs. 1240 01:04:09,760 --> 01:04:11,200 Speaker 1: If you don't get that taken care. 1241 01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:13,760 Speaker 4: Of right away, people will look or don't want to 1242 01:04:13,760 --> 01:04:16,040 Speaker 4: be around you. You're going to have to worry about 1243 01:04:16,080 --> 01:04:18,720 Speaker 4: being the pariah, and then your services are going to 1244 01:04:18,760 --> 01:04:22,400 Speaker 4: be reduced or basically ignored it and dismissed because there's 1245 01:04:22,480 --> 01:04:25,480 Speaker 4: places that have now older contracts, or you can be 1246 01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:28,440 Speaker 4: refused service because you have an older or you are 1247 01:04:28,480 --> 01:04:32,480 Speaker 4: not that consider their hygienic or sanitary. The last thing 1248 01:04:32,560 --> 01:04:35,080 Speaker 4: I wanted to ask of you is this now, picture 1249 01:04:35,160 --> 01:04:40,320 Speaker 4: this picture of Rachel coming to you, and now you 1250 01:04:40,400 --> 01:04:42,040 Speaker 4: have all of this doubts. I know you didn't have 1251 01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:44,360 Speaker 4: all of this knowledge when you first came on. How 1252 01:04:44,400 --> 01:04:48,840 Speaker 4: would you get her to come back or get involved? 1253 01:04:48,960 --> 01:04:50,880 Speaker 1: What would you do to convince Rachel? 1254 01:04:51,080 --> 01:04:52,920 Speaker 7: That is such a good question that I think about 1255 01:04:52,960 --> 01:04:58,560 Speaker 7: all so I first try to connect with the fact 1256 01:04:58,560 --> 01:05:01,280 Speaker 7: that somebody is here because they were seeking community and 1257 01:05:01,320 --> 01:05:03,560 Speaker 7: they knew we existed, and that if you're here, you 1258 01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:07,080 Speaker 7: are now part of that community. The goal that when 1259 01:05:07,160 --> 01:05:11,080 Speaker 7: you feel like you're part of somewhere, the hope that 1260 01:05:11,120 --> 01:05:14,400 Speaker 7: you will then feel a responsibility to do that work. 1261 01:05:15,000 --> 01:05:18,560 Speaker 7: Something that makes me very happy is sometimes when someone 1262 01:05:18,600 --> 01:05:20,600 Speaker 7: volunteers for the first time and I ask them what 1263 01:05:20,640 --> 01:05:22,880 Speaker 7: brought them here, and they'll tell me, oh, you know, 1264 01:05:22,960 --> 01:05:25,360 Speaker 7: there's a couple of unhoused people I always see on 1265 01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:27,880 Speaker 7: my street and I talk to them and I say hi, 1266 01:05:27,920 --> 01:05:30,240 Speaker 7: but I it just made me realize how many more 1267 01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:33,040 Speaker 7: people I don't know that are dealing with this, and 1268 01:05:33,680 --> 01:05:37,320 Speaker 7: something pushes them to do this work. And then when 1269 01:05:37,960 --> 01:05:39,560 Speaker 7: it's the end of the shift and I say, it 1270 01:05:39,600 --> 01:05:41,800 Speaker 7: was so lovely meeting you, I hope we'll see you again, 1271 01:05:42,080 --> 01:05:45,440 Speaker 7: They'll be like, everybody's so nice, I'll be back next week. 1272 01:05:45,760 --> 01:05:49,440 Speaker 7: And so what kept them is that they saw something 1273 01:05:49,480 --> 01:05:52,000 Speaker 7: that maybe they don't see somewhere else, which is kindness 1274 01:05:52,040 --> 01:05:55,720 Speaker 7: in community and understanding that we all depend on each other. 1275 01:05:56,280 --> 01:05:57,960 Speaker 6: So my first goal is. 1276 01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:01,240 Speaker 7: Connecting with someone in that way, and then once someone 1277 01:06:01,920 --> 01:06:05,840 Speaker 7: shows that they feel that responsibility, the goal is making 1278 01:06:05,880 --> 01:06:09,480 Speaker 7: sure that our programs always have an opportunity to reference 1279 01:06:09,520 --> 01:06:10,600 Speaker 7: something bigger picture. 1280 01:06:10,760 --> 01:06:13,200 Speaker 6: So we start all of our programs with something that 1281 01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:14,880 Speaker 6: we colloquially. 1282 01:06:14,240 --> 01:06:16,400 Speaker 7: Refer to as the huddle, and that's just before we 1283 01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:19,320 Speaker 7: open our doors to let folks in to come get 1284 01:06:19,320 --> 01:06:20,160 Speaker 7: their services. 1285 01:06:20,480 --> 01:06:21,520 Speaker 6: We just all talk. 1286 01:06:21,640 --> 01:06:26,160 Speaker 7: We all introduce ourselves, and we talk about some bigger 1287 01:06:26,200 --> 01:06:28,480 Speaker 7: picture things where it might be an event we have 1288 01:06:28,560 --> 01:06:31,960 Speaker 7: going on or specific emergency we're responding to, referencing the 1289 01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:34,400 Speaker 7: fact that there's all these other programs happening during the 1290 01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:36,720 Speaker 7: week to show the big picture nature of everything and 1291 01:06:36,720 --> 01:06:39,320 Speaker 7: that this is not this is not some one off opportunity, 1292 01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:42,640 Speaker 7: This is an entire movement within different neighborhoods. 1293 01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:44,800 Speaker 6: And then through that. 1294 01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:49,160 Speaker 7: In person communication, just helping people see how much is 1295 01:06:49,200 --> 01:06:52,320 Speaker 7: happening all the time, so that whatever specific way they 1296 01:06:52,480 --> 01:06:54,120 Speaker 7: choose to regularly engage with. 1297 01:06:54,120 --> 01:06:56,080 Speaker 6: CELA, they know that it exists. 1298 01:06:56,080 --> 01:06:59,360 Speaker 7: So if that's maybe everyone has is working mustiple jobs 1299 01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:01,280 Speaker 7: to survive, maybe it's hard for you to always vlunteer 1300 01:07:01,320 --> 01:07:04,320 Speaker 7: a program, but you know that from hearing us talk 1301 01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:06,240 Speaker 7: about it a program. You know that we have these 1302 01:07:06,280 --> 01:07:08,480 Speaker 7: trainings that we're starting, and you'll attend that and you'll 1303 01:07:08,520 --> 01:07:10,320 Speaker 7: learn about that and be able to talk to people 1304 01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:13,080 Speaker 7: about something you might have learned about the difficulty of 1305 01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:16,600 Speaker 7: navigating housing resources in the city, or maybe you're a 1306 01:07:16,600 --> 01:07:20,560 Speaker 7: graphic designer and you'll hear that we're trying to up 1307 01:07:20,600 --> 01:07:22,800 Speaker 7: our game on social media and you'll want to provide 1308 01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:25,960 Speaker 7: those skills, and so just showing people that this is 1309 01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:28,800 Speaker 7: so much more than just a program that they go 1310 01:07:28,880 --> 01:07:31,800 Speaker 7: to sign up once a week, which is incredibly crucial 1311 01:07:31,800 --> 01:07:34,440 Speaker 7: and the entire reason we're here and necessary, but that 1312 01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:37,440 Speaker 7: this is a much larger picture in terms of building 1313 01:07:37,440 --> 01:07:40,880 Speaker 7: a community in a city and a country that would 1314 01:07:40,960 --> 01:07:42,880 Speaker 7: like to keep us separated and would like to keep 1315 01:07:42,920 --> 01:07:46,440 Speaker 7: us overwhelmed and feel powerless. Hello, we see what's happening 1316 01:07:46,440 --> 01:07:49,240 Speaker 7: with all these disparage of executive orders, so that we 1317 01:07:49,280 --> 01:07:50,840 Speaker 7: feel like there's nothing we can do and we don't 1318 01:07:50,840 --> 01:07:53,040 Speaker 7: know where to start, when actually you can start on 1319 01:07:53,080 --> 01:07:55,720 Speaker 7: your street. And just letting people know that this is 1320 01:07:55,760 --> 01:07:59,520 Speaker 7: a space where they are welcome, so that when they 1321 01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:02,640 Speaker 7: might hear information that might be overwhelming because it's history 1322 01:08:02,680 --> 01:08:07,320 Speaker 7: they're not familiar with, or shows the purposeful dysfunction within 1323 01:08:07,360 --> 01:08:09,760 Speaker 7: systems that they might have had faith in, that they'll 1324 01:08:09,800 --> 01:08:12,000 Speaker 7: know that it's a supportive place and they'll feel comfortable 1325 01:08:12,040 --> 01:08:14,280 Speaker 7: hearing that because we know that people are in different 1326 01:08:14,320 --> 01:08:16,680 Speaker 7: parts of their journey based on what they may have 1327 01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:20,120 Speaker 7: ben conditioned or what their own experiences are. So I 1328 01:08:20,120 --> 01:08:22,000 Speaker 7: know that was a very long answer, but you can 1329 01:08:22,040 --> 01:08:23,000 Speaker 7: say I'm thinking about. 1330 01:08:22,800 --> 01:08:23,320 Speaker 1: It all the time. 1331 01:08:23,520 --> 01:08:28,479 Speaker 4: Oh very good, so in some connection, also finding your 1332 01:08:28,520 --> 01:08:32,400 Speaker 4: place and purpose in it, and also educating yourself and 1333 01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:34,400 Speaker 4: others like reach one, teach one. 1334 01:08:34,360 --> 01:08:34,680 Speaker 6: Love it. 1335 01:08:34,800 --> 01:08:38,120 Speaker 4: I feel that that succinctly sums up what I was 1336 01:08:38,160 --> 01:08:40,720 Speaker 4: trying to do. But I also I'm very grateful for it. 1337 01:08:41,280 --> 01:08:43,240 Speaker 4: Is there any topic that I missed that you want 1338 01:08:43,280 --> 01:08:47,280 Speaker 4: to throw out there to tie in or wrap up? 1339 01:08:48,320 --> 01:08:52,960 Speaker 7: I think that I would just love to invite anybody 1340 01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:57,439 Speaker 7: listening to this to volunteer with us again. Wherever you 1341 01:08:57,520 --> 01:09:01,880 Speaker 7: are in this journeys, this is your first time realizing 1342 01:09:01,960 --> 01:09:04,920 Speaker 7: that there's a problem where we live, we would love 1343 01:09:04,960 --> 01:09:08,479 Speaker 7: to have you. If you are someone who already has 1344 01:09:08,640 --> 01:09:11,720 Speaker 7: so much knowledge and so much experience, I hope that 1345 01:09:11,800 --> 01:09:13,880 Speaker 7: we get to meet you so that you can help 1346 01:09:13,920 --> 01:09:17,519 Speaker 7: our programs grow. And just letting folks know that when 1347 01:09:17,520 --> 01:09:20,439 Speaker 7: they join us, there will be training that they get 1348 01:09:20,439 --> 01:09:23,040 Speaker 7: on their first day in addition to this long term 1349 01:09:23,080 --> 01:09:26,719 Speaker 7: training that we're in the process of developing. Please follow 1350 01:09:26,800 --> 01:09:31,560 Speaker 7: us on social media Instagram, especially which is se Lah 1351 01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:36,080 Speaker 7: NHC Cila Nhcno. It's a lot of letters, but we 1352 01:09:36,439 --> 01:09:39,880 Speaker 7: provide all of the information there so that you know 1353 01:09:39,960 --> 01:09:42,559 Speaker 7: what events we have coming up, what our weekly programs are, 1354 01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:45,520 Speaker 7: where to sign up, and also when we have specific 1355 01:09:45,560 --> 01:09:50,840 Speaker 7: actions taking place. And just that I hope people know 1356 01:09:51,120 --> 01:09:55,160 Speaker 7: that we are actively responding to what's happening regarding the 1357 01:09:55,160 --> 01:09:57,679 Speaker 7: fires and more we have some know your rights trainings 1358 01:09:57,720 --> 01:10:00,120 Speaker 7: coming up. Just that I hope that people can and 1359 01:10:00,280 --> 01:10:02,800 Speaker 7: see us as not just a resource, but as we 1360 01:10:02,960 --> 01:10:05,479 Speaker 7: just talked about, as a community where they are welcome 1361 01:10:05,640 --> 01:10:08,040 Speaker 7: and where they can find the connection and the support 1362 01:10:08,360 --> 01:10:10,160 Speaker 7: that might not exist elsewhere. 1363 01:10:10,479 --> 01:10:12,360 Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much, Rachel. 1364 01:10:12,479 --> 01:10:14,920 Speaker 4: This is the place where I think we could conclude 1365 01:10:14,960 --> 01:10:17,639 Speaker 4: our exciting and informative interview. 1366 01:10:18,080 --> 01:10:19,280 Speaker 6: Thank you so much, THEO. 1367 01:10:22,640 --> 01:10:23,880 Speaker 1: Thank you again to Rachel. 1368 01:10:24,479 --> 01:10:26,880 Speaker 4: You can learn how to get involved with Cela and 1369 01:10:26,960 --> 01:10:29,679 Speaker 4: more about their relief efforts at the links in the description. 1370 01:10:31,920 --> 01:10:34,360 Speaker 4: And this once again is the end of another important, 1371 01:10:34,400 --> 01:10:37,400 Speaker 4: interesting episode. I will leave you with a quote from 1372 01:10:37,520 --> 01:10:40,840 Speaker 4: Desmond to to do your little bit of good where 1373 01:10:40,880 --> 01:10:44,840 Speaker 4: you are. It's those little bits of good that overwhelm 1374 01:10:45,080 --> 01:10:48,160 Speaker 4: the world. If you have a story to tell, please 1375 01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:50,519 Speaker 4: reach out to me at will House at gmail dot 1376 01:10:50,560 --> 01:10:55,120 Speaker 4: com or Wedian House on Instagram. Once again, thank you 1377 01:10:55,200 --> 01:10:58,120 Speaker 4: for listening, and maybe again meet in a lot of understanding. 1378 01:11:02,160 --> 01:11:06,839 Speaker 4: Whedian Howes is the production of iHeartRadio. It is written, posted, 1379 01:11:07,160 --> 01:11:12,200 Speaker 4: and created by me Theo Henderson, our producers Jbie Loftus, 1380 01:11:12,920 --> 01:11:18,280 Speaker 4: Kailey Fager, Katie Fischal and Lyra Smith. Our editor is 1381 01:11:18,360 --> 01:11:22,200 Speaker 4: Adam Wand and our loco art is also by Katie Fischal. 1382 01:11:22,760 --> 01:11:23,559 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.