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Speaker 1: Previously on Wiedian House.

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Speaker 2: My name is Crystal. I was a resident on and

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Speaker 2: off of Cottner. Over the last two three years, I've

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Speaker 2: lost a lot of people, Ray, Charles, Betty, Jean, Jamie

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Speaker 2: Ceci who passed away from leukemia.

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Speaker 1: God bless him.

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Speaker 2: And some of these people don't have anybody, and so

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Speaker 2: it's up to us to say goodbye and see them off.

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Speaker 2: And this is not a sad time. This is just

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Speaker 2: to see you later, and we'll see them later.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Weedyan House. I'm your host, Theo Henderson. We

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Speaker 3: begin our new year beating the drum to sound the

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Speaker 3: alarm on the urgency of houselessness in our country and

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Speaker 3: all of its many layers.

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Speaker 1: But first on House News First Story.

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Speaker 3: A new California law went into effect on January first,

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. It prevents cities from penalizing outreach workers

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Speaker 3: who provide services such as legal aid or hand out blankets.

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Speaker 3: Senate Bill six thirty four is a water down motion

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Speaker 3: due to the intense backlash against Senator Sasha Renee Perez,

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Speaker 3: who originally introduced the bill. The law further states that

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Speaker 3: cities cannot bar people or organizations from providing materials such

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Speaker 3: as food, water, blankets, or pillos to protect the unhoused

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Speaker 3: from the elements. This is a sticking point because opponents

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Speaker 3: of the bill have implied that these services would enable

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Speaker 3: the unhoused community and hamper their carcero solutions. Our next story,

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Speaker 3: Houselessness is rising among senior citizens. Older adults represent one

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Speaker 3: of the fastest growing segments of the un housed community.

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Speaker 3: Resources are scarce and unable to meet the demand of.

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Speaker 1: Those who need them.

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Speaker 3: According to data from the US Government Accountability Office, approximately

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Speaker 3: one hundred and forty six thousand older adults aged fifty

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Speaker 3: five and up experienced houselessness on a single night in

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Speaker 3: two thousand twenty four, marking is six percent increase from

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. Traditional houses shelters create more obstacles for

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Speaker 3: seniors dealing with mobility limitations, chroduct health conditions, and functional

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Speaker 3: impairments that come with age. In recent years, older adults

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Speaker 3: have been turned away from shelters on the basis of

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Speaker 3: having incontinence issues. For example, in twenty twenty two, there

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Speaker 3: was a case in Montana where an older adult froze

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Speaker 3: to death after being actually due to incontinents, and that's

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Speaker 3: a house news. When we come back, I speak with

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Speaker 3: three leaders at the Los Angeles Black Workers Center. Welcome

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Speaker 3: back to Wiediam House. I'm THEO Henderson. This week I'm

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Speaker 3: speaking with three crucial members of the Los Angeles Black

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Speaker 3: Workers Center, an organization founded during the COVID nineteen pandemic,

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Speaker 3: when eighty five percent of black workers were forced to

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Speaker 3: apply for unemployment. The LA Black Workers Center seeks to

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Speaker 3: repair that gap in ways the local, state, and federal

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Speaker 3: government has failed, not just through connecting the Black community

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Speaker 3: with jobs, but through training and job skills and political

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Speaker 3: organizing across a wide squath of industries. I got a

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Speaker 3: chance to speak with Angela, Ted and Jeremiah at the

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Speaker 3: Black Workers Center about how their mission to build black

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Speaker 3: power in Los Angeles overlaps with permission to support the

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Speaker 3: unhoused community.

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Speaker 1: Kids are talk.

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Speaker 3: Good afternoon. We're here with exciting guests. One of the

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Speaker 3: things about Weed in House is it is delineating the

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Speaker 3: intersections about houselessness and the facets of them. For example,

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Speaker 3: there is street housessness that most people identify, there is

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Speaker 3: the basically working unhoused, and there are various stages of

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Speaker 3: houselessness that goes along with it that we don't know,

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Speaker 3: like the college students like from UCLA USC that are unhoused.

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Speaker 1: There are the elderly.

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Speaker 3: Unhoused that are working, but they are unhoused at the

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Speaker 3: end of the day, living in their cars or other

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Speaker 3: places like underground as well. I say that today because

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Speaker 3: I'm introducing guests that's going to take us through another

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Speaker 3: facet of houselessness that we sometimes overlook and we don't

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Speaker 3: talk about enough to be honest with you, and that

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Speaker 3: is young House, the African American community. And without FURTHERHEADO,

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Speaker 3: I'm going to start from my left and we will

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Speaker 3: make the introductions going forward. So welcome first of all,

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Speaker 3: and let us get down into it.

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Speaker 4: Hi THEO, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate it.

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Speaker 4: I am Angela. I am the Ready to Work program

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Speaker 4: specialist with the Los Angeles Black Workers Center.

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Speaker 1: Happy to be here. Hello. My name is Ted Booker.

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Speaker 5: I am a member leader with the Political Education Committee

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Speaker 5: and the Work Addresses Organizing Committee with the LA Black

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Speaker 5: Workers Center. I've also worked on social services for thirty

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Speaker 5: plus years and I'm the League consultant for a third

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Speaker 5: our Strategic Alliance.

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Speaker 6: I'm Jeremiah Gordon. I'm the organizing manager here at the

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Speaker 6: LA Black Worker Center. I've been here for seven years,

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Speaker 6: and yeah, I just you know, excited to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 3: That's a lot of wisdom and a lot of experience

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Speaker 3: here on the show today. So I feel like we

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Speaker 3: have a fountain that hopefully, hopefully I can just touch

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Speaker 3: the surface in order for us to go forward in

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Speaker 3: deeper in depth about this topic. So with that said,

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Speaker 3: let me start off. I'm going to ask each if

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Speaker 3: you as a softball question, what got you into the

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Speaker 3: work you are involved in?

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Speaker 1: Now, Okay, I'll go ahead and start.

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Speaker 4: I am a Los ANGELESO born and raised in Los Angeles, California,

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Speaker 4: and my worker story is pretty much I did everything

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Speaker 4: quote unquote right, you would say, stayed out of trouble,

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Speaker 4: went to school, got the college degree. But I found

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Speaker 4: myself struggling to get that dream that I wanted, that

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Speaker 4: dream job, that dream house, that dream car, and I

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Speaker 4: realized it wasn't just me, it was everywhee around me

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Speaker 4: that looks like me, and I just wanted to make

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Speaker 4: an impact in a difference some way, somehow, and so

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Speaker 4: it led me to the Los Angeles Black Worker Center,

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Speaker 4: where I found out that there are people with master's

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Speaker 4: degrees who are struggling to find work. There are people

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Speaker 4: with doctorates who are struggling to find housing. There are

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Speaker 4: people that are ex military. There are is a lot

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Speaker 4: of youth, a lot of youth that had just graduated

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Speaker 4: high school and they just cannot seem to find housing, transportation, jobs,

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Speaker 4: and so I just wanted to be an impact on

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Speaker 4: that change. So I'm here as a program specialist, and

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Speaker 4: it's been very impactful to see what's really happening in

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Speaker 4: our community outside of myself.

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Speaker 5: For me is I grew up in the church and

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Speaker 5: most of my family, we all have we were all

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Speaker 5: taught to serve, So that's kind of in my DNA

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Speaker 5: to give back. And I've always been for the underdog,

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Speaker 5: and most specifically, I've always been concerned about what happens

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Speaker 5: to black people. That's one of the main reasons why

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Speaker 5: I am so dedicated to the Los Angele's Black Worker

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Speaker 5: Censer because when it comes to our issues, if we

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Speaker 5: don't look out for ourselves, nobody is going to do

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Speaker 5: it for us.

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Speaker 1: And they do just that.

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Speaker 5: And so I support them in any way that I

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Speaker 5: possibly can. But I am definitely for advocating for our

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Speaker 5: issues and things that happen to black people. I'm not

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Speaker 5: trying to discount anybody else's experience, but black people, in

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Speaker 5: my experience, seem to always get the short end of

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Speaker 5: the stick.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, for me, I grew up in Long Beach, California,

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Speaker 6: and I was the person that was a knucklehead growing up.

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Speaker 6: But luckily for me, I was able to have strong

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Speaker 6: parents and my grandmother was a black panther, so she

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Speaker 6: always made sure that being the matriarch of the family,

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Speaker 6: she always made sure that we had a social justice

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Speaker 6: lens growing up. So when I got to college, I

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Speaker 6: got involved with student organizing and activism and I went

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Speaker 6: to use your residing. When I graduated, I had to

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Speaker 6: move back in with my grandmother and she told me, boy,

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Speaker 6: you ain't living here unless you work in a social

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Speaker 6: justice movement. So I applied to be an organizer with

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Speaker 6: the LA Black Worker Center. I knew some folks who

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Speaker 6: worked in there, and you know, been organized since twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 6: So that's been just a short version of my story

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Speaker 6: of how I got here.

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Speaker 3: Wow, thank you for all for us saying these things.

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Speaker 3: So what do you see the calls of the link

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Speaker 3: with the houselessness with the African American black community. What

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Speaker 3: do you guys see what's going on?

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Speaker 5: I can start off with that, I love the connection

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Speaker 5: between employment and housing, and throughout our history we've always

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Speaker 5: had issues of discrimination and both housing and employment, those

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Speaker 5: two things go together. You cannot have one without the other.

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Speaker 5: And if you're being discriminated against if you have if

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Speaker 5: you having a hard time to find employment, or if

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Speaker 5: you are underemployed, it makes it difficult for you to

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Speaker 5: have stable housing. If you don't have and if you

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Speaker 5: don't have stable housing, it's really hard for you to

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Speaker 5: be able to be able to keep a job or

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Speaker 5: look for a job. And so you can't have one

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Speaker 5: without the other. And one of my major concerns that

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Speaker 5: I have about the system is that there's a major disconnect.

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Speaker 5: There's a major disconnect in terms of how services are

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Speaker 5: rendered and how when when it's time for services to

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Speaker 5: be rendered, how they're not prioritizing a way to populations

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Speaker 5: that they should be because money is able to issues

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Speaker 5: in population. So within houselessness, there's all these different subgroups

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Speaker 5: and the two most emerging groups are young adults and

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Speaker 5: older adults.

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Speaker 1: They have very similar issues.

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Speaker 5: And older adults, so much so that we almost need

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Speaker 5: like a department in children and Family services that function

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Speaker 5: the way for seniors as they do for children. There

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Speaker 5: there's a department of aging, but it is not nearly

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Speaker 5: as functional as it should be to speak to the

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Speaker 5: issues of old adults and boomers. At one point, I'm

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Speaker 5: a boomer, and we were the largest population at one

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Speaker 5: point in time, and so when it comes to seniors,

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Speaker 5: we have these astronomical numbers of seniors and our issues

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Speaker 5: are just so many about issues are unneglected right now.

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Speaker 3: Well, I also want to add one that we always

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Speaker 3: gives you a strip to as well. One of my friends,

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Speaker 3: Curtis Howard, who has written a book and has been

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Speaker 3: on house himself, has talked about the African American link

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Speaker 3: between being released from the prison system and being a

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Speaker 3: house sissans, and that gets overlooked because of the difficulties

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Speaker 3: of trying to find places, because of the restrictions that

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Speaker 3: have imposed on people that are released for prison if

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Speaker 3: they're on probation or parole, some of the places that

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Speaker 3: they look for apartmental housing cannot satisfy the requirements or

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Speaker 3: they don't want to satisfy the requirements. So they requires

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Speaker 3: them to be in and catch just catch can position

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Speaker 3: in order for them to be able to find housing

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Speaker 3: or to find also employment and satisfy the requirements of

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Speaker 3: parole and probation.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I want to link something to with that. We

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Speaker 6: got to link slavery with that. Yes, you do see

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Speaker 6: what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: Because and the ugly loss, right, exactly right.

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Speaker 6: But just the fact that black people, since the exception

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Speaker 6: of this country, have never really had a home. We've

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Speaker 6: always had to create our own communities.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 6: So with that, when slavery is abolished in eighteen sixty five,

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Speaker 6: black people aren't given anything. A lot of promises left

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Speaker 6: on the table, right, So black people through that had

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Speaker 6: to be creative about how we made our money. I

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Speaker 6: mean a lot of our folks, lot of our folks

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Speaker 6: in here, you know, people come from sharecropping things like that.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 6: But the black jobs crisis has existed since the inception

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Speaker 6: is this country. So it's people being unhoused and black houselessness, right,

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Speaker 6: so we have to link the two. Right, When people

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Speaker 6: get released from prison, it's the same ordeal when people

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Speaker 6: are released from being in bondage. So it's just a linkage, right,

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Speaker 6: like this ongoing narrative of black people. When we have

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Speaker 6: been released from bondage, we have nowhere to go. You know,

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Speaker 6: we oftentimes have to couch surf and have to be

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Speaker 6: creative of how we make our money, get jobs. And

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Speaker 6: a lot of people come to us because they see

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Speaker 6: that the Black Worker Center is working on gaining access

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Speaker 6: to quality jobs. So people who are re entry, people

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Speaker 6: who are unhoused come to us and try to figure

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Speaker 6: out how they can get a job so they can

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Speaker 6: get off the streets or avoid being on the streets.

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Speaker 6: Right because really, like you said, people are on the

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Speaker 6: couch surfing, people have to go to the county to

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Speaker 6: figure out how they can get a voucher to go

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Speaker 6: in hotels, what have you. So, yeah, just being able

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Speaker 6: to make that link between people who are reentry and

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Speaker 6: the exception of this country, right, because it goes hand

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Speaker 6: in hand.

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Speaker 5: One of the things that's also that's funny about that

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Speaker 5: there's always been these these series of circumstances that are

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Speaker 5: presented that kind of lock push us in the box

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Speaker 5: and move us along. So if you if you have

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Speaker 5: a man that that family, man that can't afford to

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Speaker 5: feed his family, and he's trying to feed his family,

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Speaker 5: he'll result to anything he needs to be able to

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Speaker 5: do to feed that family, which means that he may

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Speaker 5: may result to doing something that could cause him to

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Speaker 5: be incarcerated what we.

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Speaker 3: Call in the street, we call the penitentiary chances right

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Speaker 3: that part, And so there's always these set of circumstances.

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Speaker 5: That are created that are that are caused this issue

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Speaker 5: for us, you know, the kind of the things to do,

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Speaker 5: the kind of drive away economic development our from our communities.

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Speaker 5: All these set of circumstances that it feels like someone's

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Speaker 5: foot is on your neck.

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Speaker 3: Well also point out too ever, since we were stopped

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Speaker 3: from working for free to get built this country up,

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Speaker 3: we've been called lazy and other nefarious stereotypes. But the

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Speaker 3: most important thing that I've learned is also as being

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Speaker 3: a person who's been on house, if you can demonize

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Speaker 3: a person, then you can criminalize them. And what are

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Speaker 3: the actions that they usually do when with the in

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Speaker 3: house or particularly with the black community, we already have

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Speaker 3: a setting Stone's motion that certain ideas of house is this,

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Speaker 3: if you do like what you were mentioning earlier about,

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Speaker 3: if you do everything right, then if you become on housed,

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Speaker 3: then it must be something that you've done wrong, or

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Speaker 3: you are on house you've done something wrong. My example

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Speaker 3: was it was medical or a medical situation, and I

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Speaker 3: was an educator, so it's like I am advanced degree

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Speaker 3: and it doesn't mean anything. It's just that once it

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Speaker 3: was on education for me, well, I guarantee you what

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Speaker 3: I would okay on house and went down the road

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Speaker 3: before I just ended in the street. It was very

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Speaker 3: educational for me to understand how they didn't give a

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Speaker 3: care about how many degrees you had, how many hours

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Speaker 3: that you worked with teaching, how many use you work,

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Speaker 3: it's whatever, and the skill set you are unhoused, you

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Speaker 3: are criminalized. You're subjected to these rules and this vision

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Speaker 3: or this vista of opportunities, and if order for you

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Speaker 3: to get out of that, that you've got to be

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Speaker 3: on the got out of beyond the house. Become a

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Speaker 3: mascot in saying that you're not like other unhoused people.

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Speaker 6: And that's a common story with our members too, right,

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Speaker 6: because our membership at the LA Black Worker Center is

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Speaker 6: extremely multifaceted. Right, we have the PhD Black Worker, we

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Speaker 6: also have the re Entry Black Worker, and You're right,

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Speaker 6: it doesn't discriminate. Right, This white supremacy system is built

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Speaker 6: to oppress Black people on a day to day basis, right,

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Speaker 6: So we know that in every facet black people are

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Speaker 6: being oppressed. It doesn't matter what how many degrees you have,

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Speaker 6: and doesn't matter how many times you've been the jail

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Speaker 6: or prison. You're gonna be discriminated against regardless of whatever.

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Speaker 6: It is, right because our heritage, our culture, the color

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Speaker 6: of our skin is gonna make us have to work

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Speaker 6: twice as hard. And when we work twice as hard,

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Speaker 6: you know, we don't even see the fruits of our

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Speaker 6: labor because oftentimes we live in paycheck to paycheck.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 6: So yeah, just to further your point that it doesn't matter,

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Speaker 6: discrimination is in the coome regardless of how many degrees

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Speaker 6: you have or how many times you've been to present,

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Speaker 6: it's going to be here every day of your life.

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Speaker 4: I can tie into that just personally speaking, working directly

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Speaker 4: with the Los Angeles Black Workers Center, specifically with the

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Speaker 4: Ready to Work Program. It's a five to seven week

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Speaker 4: paid training that we do to help those who are

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Speaker 4: struggling based off the Black worker crisis. A lot of

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Speaker 4: those people like I said before, they're just disimpacted, like

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Speaker 4: Jeremiah said, and a lot of it is the knowledge

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Speaker 4: piece of it, just based on the system and how

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Speaker 4: things have gone for them so far. A lot of

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Speaker 4: them don't realize how closely the political side of it

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Speaker 4: ties into what's happening to them. They don't understand job disparity,

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Speaker 4: they don't even realize that they are suffering in the

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Speaker 4: black worker crisis. And a lot of them say things

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Speaker 4: like we are lazy at times for themselves, just because

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Speaker 4: this is something that has been pumped and fueled into

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Speaker 4: us to think that it's us that is the problem

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Speaker 4: in entirety. So we try to refocus, We try to realign,

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Speaker 4: give them a lot of skill sets that it's already

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Speaker 4: in them. They don't realize that it's in them. Help

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Speaker 4: them as far as training, resume building, and we're working

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Speaker 4: closely with campaigns and organizing to show them not only

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Speaker 4: are you a black worker that is in crisis, but

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Speaker 4: this is also something that's happening in your communities. Let's

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Speaker 4: go out, let's organize, let's see what's really happening. So

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Speaker 4: it's been very interesting to see the mindset of people

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Speaker 4: that like Jeremiah said, the PhD worker, the unhoused worker,

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Speaker 4: the underemployed worker, because there are Black people working but

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Speaker 4: they cannot sustain living to pay for that housing and

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Speaker 4: they don't realize that.

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Speaker 1: Or living in their cars and working.

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Speaker 4: Exactly living in their cars.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to till out to other fastest of

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Speaker 3: houselessness too that we overlook because all of us, no

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Speaker 3: matter if your house are unhoused, they are hungry.

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Speaker 1: I have to be fed. No, I don't care what

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Speaker 1: station you're in. And the thing it is.

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Speaker 3: I always remind people that when you go to the

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Speaker 3: store and you go and pick up that produce or

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Speaker 3: whatever it is that you need to do, those people

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Speaker 3: that pick that were undocumented, unhoused people. They're the ones

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Speaker 3: that are picking. And not just the brown community. There

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Speaker 3: are black communities that are doing it as well. I'm

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Speaker 3: picking us well that are unhoused. And the reason you

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Speaker 3: are able to make a salad or get a sandwich,

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Speaker 3: whatever it is because of that, and houselessness is everywhere

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Speaker 3: around us.

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Speaker 1: And that's the second thing. You go to Starbucks.

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Speaker 3: I've interviewed people that work the Starbucks that are unhoused

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Speaker 3: and are being making your coffee. When you go to

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Speaker 3: the automobile shop when they close at night, the guys

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Speaker 3: are sleeping in the trailer or sleeping out there on

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Speaker 3: an RV or whatever in order to be but they're

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Speaker 3: on house. It's the conversation that is so needed to

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Speaker 3: re educate because I think it crosses across the boards

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Speaker 3: of how we look at houselessness. We look at houselessness

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Speaker 3: through a one binary, my opic kind of view. This

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Speaker 3: is why my show was I started learning because I

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Speaker 3: was educated, and I was educated incorrectly too about what

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Speaker 3: houselesness is. You know, I grew up in a very strict,

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Speaker 3: very stringent type of family that believe if you didn't

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Speaker 3: go to school, you're going to be out in the street,

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Speaker 3: if you didn't do your homework. I don't know I've

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Speaker 3: come from. My parents are proper, So you can imagine

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Speaker 3: the type of drilling that you get. You know, you

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Speaker 3: have to be twice as good, you cannot slack up.

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Speaker 3: And you know, the fear, because before I became a

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Speaker 3: house was the fear that it was a called a

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Speaker 3: quandary of crisis within me because then I felt that

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Speaker 3: I had franking through what my parents had said I

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Speaker 3: was bad. I was the person no matter how I

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Speaker 3: was in the hospital that couldn't afford the high medical

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Speaker 3: bills and all of that, it didn't matter. There was

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Speaker 3: something I did and I should be punished and I

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Speaker 3: should be being out on the street because I should

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Speaker 3: know better, because I you know, I have advanced degree.

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Speaker 3: I shouldn't be me. And then I had to also

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Speaker 3: learn that when other people were out there, to start

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Speaker 3: to tell them, you know, all it takes is a

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Speaker 3: medical emergency. I don't care how great you think you are,

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Speaker 3: how you think you've planned for the future.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: Acts the people over there, the fires this year, they

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Speaker 3: had houses, I've had them on my show. They did

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Speaker 3: everything right, a fire happened, they lost everything.

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Speaker 1: Now they're on the.

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Speaker 3: Street or they're in precarious type of situations in order,

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Speaker 3: they're almost on their way to the street. So I

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Speaker 3: think one of the things that's really more a conversational

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Speaker 3: with more in our face moments, and sometimes we kind

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Speaker 3: of put a glaze over or we try to ignore,

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Speaker 3: is the reality the houselessness is an emergency or a

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Speaker 3: circumstance away.

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Speaker 1: So I mean paycheck.

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Speaker 6: Away, yeah, paycheck away, you know, like and that's a

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Speaker 6: lot of our membership either folks are inn housed or

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Speaker 6: they're a paycheck.

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Speaker 3: Away or more to the point, look at our illustration.

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Speaker 3: And I mentioned in interview yesterday nowhere that you can

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Speaker 3: say in the history of our country that there is

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Speaker 3: an active president that is fighting and suing to stop

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Speaker 3: defeed starving people. There is a president it's actively trying

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Speaker 3: to dismantle low income housing.

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Speaker 1: He is trying this.

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Speaker 3: So what is that going to leave the community and

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Speaker 3: what and most importantly, when they say the white community

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Speaker 3: have a sniffle, we have pneumonia, tuberculosis, So what is

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Speaker 3: that going to do for the vulnerable population with the

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Speaker 3: black community.

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Speaker 6: And we've done a lot of political education around how

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Speaker 6: the current administration has affected black workers and black migrants specifically,

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Speaker 6: and we did that through our Political Education Committee. Ted

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Speaker 6: is one of the member leaders on that committee. But

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Speaker 6: like to your point, you know a lot of people

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Speaker 6: it's so nuanced, you know, it's like there's so many

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Speaker 6: different parts that go into low income to workers' rights

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Speaker 6: to folks who are unhoused, that oftentimes a lot of

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Speaker 6: things are left unsaid. And that's why I think conversations

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Speaker 6: like this are important That's why I think what we

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Speaker 6: do with the Black workers and there is so important

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Speaker 6: because you have members like Ted that have this wealth

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Speaker 6: of knowledge, who do have these experiences because Ted has

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Speaker 6: worked with unhoused populations before and could be able to

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Speaker 6: provide that experience and that education to our members.

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Speaker 3: You mentioned Ted, and I wanted to talk on is

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Speaker 3: about the increase of elderly on housed community and particularly

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Speaker 3: elderly house Black community, and you said that there is

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Speaker 3: a lack of intensity just as they do with the

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Speaker 3: Department Children Family Services, with they have with the elderly.

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Speaker 3: What is the major glaring things that you see that

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Speaker 3: we need to be focusing on.

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Speaker 5: There is a major disconnect in terms of house services

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Speaker 5: are rendered within the system. So currently where the system

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Speaker 5: is like you go to get this assessment and they

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Speaker 5: give you a rank.

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Speaker 1: You get a number, and you get a ranking.

439
00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 5: And according to the rank, and it lets them know

440
00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,480
Speaker 5: that the severity of your needs. So if that you

441
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,880
Speaker 5: run to ten, if you're one, you may be putting

442
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 5: the back of line of your team, maybe at the

443
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 5: front of the line. But the way those services are

444
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 5: rendered when it's time to delve out the resources, they

445
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 5: do it in that order, and that's not necessarily the

446
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,639
Speaker 5: right order to and those individuals should not be the

447
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 5: ones that are prioritize and the house is environment to think.

448
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 5: The first thing should happen when you do a general

449
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 5: sessim of person that is houses is you need to

450
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,320
Speaker 5: determine if they're able to work and not able to work.

451
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:29,680
Speaker 5: Do you need to do that before you do anything else.

452
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:31,720
Speaker 5: Once you do that one person that is able to work,

453
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 5: you focus on getting them living wage employment so at

454
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,159
Speaker 5: some point in time they'll be able to afford. You

455
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,640
Speaker 5: give them help and sustain them for us a time

456
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,400
Speaker 5: of limited subsidy, but when that subsidy is over, they

457
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:44,919
Speaker 5: have to be able to pay their own rent. So

458
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,920
Speaker 5: the effort goes on making sure that they have living

459
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,840
Speaker 5: wage employment before the time limited substy is complete. But

460
00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 5: if you're dealing with the person that is on to

461
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,640
Speaker 5: fixed income and is not able to work, the only

462
00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:58,959
Speaker 5: way they can possibly live in California is to have

463
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,199
Speaker 5: some kind of permanent subsidy. So you have to be

464
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:06,679
Speaker 5: able to help them find a permanent subsidy. Because if

465
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:11,440
Speaker 5: you own SSI, SSD SSI listening like one thousand dollars

466
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 5: a little bit more than that that a person is getting.

467
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 5: You can't find an apartment for one thousand dollars and

468
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,479
Speaker 5: what about all your other needs. So there are two

469
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 5: ways that you can get a permanent subs You can

470
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 5: get a section a voucher with the administration is trying.

471
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: To get rid of.

472
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 5: Or you can get their buildings that kind of have

473
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 5: the subsidy attached to the building, where if the subsidy

474
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 5: is attached to the building, whatever your income is, you're

475
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:32,960
Speaker 5: only going to be charged thirty percent of your income.

476
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,959
Speaker 5: And so in some cases, those that don't fixed income,

477
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 5: they should be in the front of the line, and

478
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 5: those that have other issues they should get resources for

479
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,879
Speaker 5: anybody else. And one thing that we still have issues

480
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 5: where this country was based on is a racist country.

481
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,879
Speaker 5: Based on racism. All resources are delved out according to

482
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 5: that to like a hierarchy and like answer. We have

483
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 5: this whole issue with equities. A big is a big

484
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,879
Speaker 5: thing right now. Everybody talks about this is it's a

485
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 5: great conversational word. But when it really comes to actually

486
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,159
Speaker 5: putting resources, putting your money in your mouth, there is

487
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 5: and Devin up, resources are calling to me. Then there

488
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:15,920
Speaker 5: do you hear the prop two or nine other things.

489
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 5: Because if black people are only nine percent of the

490
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,159
Speaker 5: population but forty percent of the homeless population, doesn't naturally

491
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,439
Speaker 5: see that that they should have more they should be

492
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:25,480
Speaker 5: more resources, and more intention should be given to them

493
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 5: befo anybody else.

494
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: But is that the case.

495
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 5: No. One thing I learned a while back is that

496
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 5: sometimes it only takes a person of influenced to do

497
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 5: the right thing and make a decision to tip the

498
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 5: scales and our issues are solvable. But one thing I

499
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 5: recognized here in California that some people build a career

500
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 5: off of other's misery. They like talking about the issues,

501
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 5: and they'll raise money and they do all these other things,

502
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 5: but they don't want you to solve the issue because

503
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 5: that's going that's going to do something to their career.

504
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 1: They don't want to do away with an issue.

505
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 5: Like you mentioned, it's such a complex issue and there's

506
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:03,120
Speaker 5: all these things that you're dealing with.

507
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:04,639
Speaker 1: That that's the case.

508
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 5: But when you look at the numbers and you look

509
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,680
Speaker 5: at the stats, definitely special attentions to be given to

510
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,479
Speaker 5: young adults, Special attention needs to be given to seniors

511
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 5: and older dogs because what people don't know is thought

512
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 5: there'st least ten people a day that die from homelesses

513
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 5: in La alone, that die from houselessness.

514
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,920
Speaker 4: It's a complex issue, but it's also a compound issue.

515
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 4: People want to talk about the racism of it all,

516
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 4: but people aren't talking about the agism. Like you said,

517
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,680
Speaker 4: there's those young black workers that we see every day

518
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 4: that are fresh out of high school that just do

519
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 4: not have an idea of how to move forward in

520
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 4: this world, and they have skills, but they're not valuable

521
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,199
Speaker 4: because of their age. People feel like they're going to

522
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 4: come into the job or the workforce and they're going

523
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 4: to goof off. They're going to blow the experience or

524
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,160
Speaker 4: the opportunity. And then we also have that senior worker

525
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 4: classified a singer who is experienced, who has a lot,

526
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 4: a lot to offer, but because of their age, they

527
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 4: are deemed as a slow worker, they're deemed as grumpy.

528
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,400
Speaker 4: And so we're seeing these people come to the Los

529
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,160
Speaker 4: Angeles Black Worker Center and some of them, yes, their

530
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 4: typing skills could be quote unquote better, and we're trying

531
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,159
Speaker 4: to help them with those things, but they're also feeling

532
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 4: discouraged because they feel like I'm too old in this

533
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 4: work environment. That is happening now, this digital age of

534
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 4: things that's happening. So the ageism piece of it directly

535
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 4: impacts who's getting higher. And then when you add on

536
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,639
Speaker 4: my race on top of that, sometimes add on my gender,

537
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 4: sometimes add on my sexuality. I have all these things happening.

538
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 4: Of course I'm unhoused. Of course I'm being underserved in

539
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:32,640
Speaker 4: my workforce as well.

540
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:41,919
Speaker 3: When we come back more with Angela, Ted and Jeremiah,

541
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Weedian House. Here's more with my chat

542
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,160
Speaker 3: with Angela, Ted and Jeremiah with the Los Angeles Black

543
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 3: Workers Censor. I believe as rich as we are and

544
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 3: we have been fighting a livable wage for years, I

545
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 3: believe this is because we'll be seeing about the black

546
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 3: and house and woman with children that are fleeing from

547
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 3: the various circumstances. And I have to say this because

548
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 3: it always gets short shrift.

549
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 1: They need help.

550
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,440
Speaker 3: They don't get talked about because it gets gleaned because

551
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,359
Speaker 3: these are they're young, they can work.

552
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 1: But we have to be clear.

553
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 3: When President Trump went after Snap, he was cutting off

554
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 3: twenty two million children.

555
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: No matter how whatever the circumstances is.

556
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 3: With agism, which is a legitimate thing, we have to

557
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 3: understand when people start attacking and saying these people get

558
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 3: this and should get this first or not. The people

559
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 3: that get don't get the services or don't get what

560
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 3: is necessary, are the vulnerable. Their children cannot work out

561
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,400
Speaker 3: despite what Fox News is saying, should be out there

562
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 3: in the fields picking fruit and all of that. They

563
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 3: should not be at five or seven years old, or

564
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 3: working and breaking down the child protection laws. You know,

565
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 3: we've got to get to the point that we have

566
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 3: to sit enough. We cannot keep saying that we got

567
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 3: to have everybody in the family has to be working,

568
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 3: or the idea that they have to prove their worth

569
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 3: in order to be fed or be treated with dignity

570
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 3: in this country. And I think I don't know if

571
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,440
Speaker 3: it's a kernel from racism or and also it comes

572
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 3: before even that, it's from where how our society has

573
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 3: been programmed. You know, he does not work, he does

574
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:22,960
Speaker 3: not eat well, you can't tell that to a kid.

575
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 3: That is like the experiment that was shown where the

576
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 3: woman went to call the churches and they cause all

577
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 3: a cur fluffle. I'm not giving a bottle of formula

578
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 3: for kids because of that. That kernel is in our

579
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 3: mind it's pernicious, and I think that's a conversation. We

580
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 3: really have to understand. Dignified housing should not be a meritocracy.

581
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 3: Everybody deserves housing. Everybody deserves to be fed, and every

582
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 3: child should be fed no matter what circumstances may be.

583
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 3: Someone stumbled or may had a mistap or misstep, but

584
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 3: you should not have to take it.

585
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: The child should not have to come to us because

586
00:29:57,920 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 1: they're educated.

587
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 3: I get really get into, like when that kid comes

588
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 3: to my classroom, they're getting jumped on or bidding the

589
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 3: brunt of everything that the parent don't believe the child

590
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 3: is drinking up, but they drink it up and spill

591
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 3: it out in the class And that affects a lot

592
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 3: of from the prison pipeline, the way they're test scores,

593
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 3: how they do hoping skills, all of that. I'm getting

594
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 3: into my teacher face. But that is it's a direct link,

595
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 3: and it gets overlooked. We have to remember everyone deserves dignity.

596
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 6: Addition, housing is a human right. Yeah, and so it's food,

597
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 6: you know, And that's what you're saying.

598
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 1: Isle.

599
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 6: And during the time when you know the administration was

600
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 6: talking about cutting snap, a lot of our members were

601
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 6: calling me and the other workers of the Black Workers

602
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 6: Center just confused, scared, nervous, wondering where they're going to

603
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 6: get their next meal at. And these are questions that

604
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 6: they're hard to answer because I really don't know, you know,

605
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 6: like I don't know what to tell folks, because I

606
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 6: can't walk into Senate Chain MEMBERDS or the Assembly chambers

607
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 6: in the White House and tell them to stop.

608
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: You know, I can't.

609
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 6: You know, we don't have just just being honest, like

610
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 6: it's happening right, It's happening right in front of us.

611
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,959
Speaker 6: But what I can do is encourage people and inspire

612
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 6: people to act right, to tie in their story and

613
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 6: their experience on how to act what we're doing at

614
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 6: the Black Worker Center right.

615
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 3: One other thing I want to add onto that too,

616
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 3: because I come from a civic binding family too. When

617
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 3: I grew up in the schools, in order for me

618
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 3: to graduate from elementary school and high school, I had

619
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 3: to pass the Civics test.

620
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:34,920
Speaker 1: I had to understand the role.

621
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 3: And if you have the active for the type of

622
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 3: parents you have, you understand they gonna let you know,

623
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 3: oh yeah, you can get in someone's ass with you know,

624
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 3: this is how you do it right. And I think

625
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 3: what's been missing over the years is understanding. Yeah, you

626
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 3: can't do it right away and step off into the center,

627
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 3: but this is where you can get into their behind

628
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 3: is This is how you do it. You write an

629
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 3: action letter, this is the demands, These are the actions.

630
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 3: You find out who your senator is, find out who

631
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 3: your council memory is. You put feete to fire. This

632
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 3: is the conversations. I think that trying to revolutionize to understand,

633
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,520
Speaker 3: I always say, and I hear people always talking about

634
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 3: voting don't matter. What's the point of voting? You know,

635
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 3: when you're still in the same I said, let me

636
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 3: explain something to you. If voting didn't matter. And I

637
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 3: used to say this all the time, why are they

638
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 3: going to great links to stop it, Why they're trying

639
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 3: to cut down the voting centers, why they're forcing voting

640
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 3: to be birthright citizens? Why are they doing all this

641
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 3: if it doesn't matter, No one's going to spend millions

642
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 3: of dollars trying to stop it, so obviously it must matter.

643
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 3: It's just that you just have been bamboosomed and believing

644
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 3: it does not. And I think that in particularly in

645
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,040
Speaker 3: the African American community, and I think other communities don't

646
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 3: understand why this is such a very deep, deeply personal

647
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 3: thing because it was against the law, punishable by death

648
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 3: for black people to read. And so you know all

649
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:00,080
Speaker 3: of these and this is the education part. Is so

650
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 3: I'm able to get get off the tangent. But the

651
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,600
Speaker 3: point of it is is this is like why I

652
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 3: tell my what my students, This is why it's so

653
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 3: important to consider reconsider the importance of learning about civics learning.

654
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,000
Speaker 3: How how many congress spending it it text it's in

655
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 3: the Senate, I mean text to pass the vote, how

656
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 3: many texts to override a veto of a president? All

657
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 3: of these things to teach them that you understand this thing.

658
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,560
Speaker 3: When you start talking to other people that do not

659
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 3: have an understanding and start spouting off Fox News talking points,

660
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 3: you can be able to elucidate clearly that's not true.

661
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 1: And that's what we do.

662
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 6: That's what we do.

663
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 1: That things I really love about the Black Worker Center.

664
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 5: One of the reason why I am on the Political

665
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 5: Education Committee was because one of the things that we

666
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 5: believe in is civic engagement. Yes, and and and we

667
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 5: have a duty to help produce more critical thinkers, because

668
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 5: we had a time right now that people need to

669
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 5: understand how what are the things that are that's affecting

670
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 5: their daily lives and while of the things happening in

671
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 5: the way that happening, and what you can do to

672
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 5: change your own condition.

673
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 1: You do that by getting involved.

674
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 5: And coming to the table, because if you don't know,

675
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,359
Speaker 5: if you come to our table, you will know, and

676
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:11,799
Speaker 5: you will learn, and you you will you will be

677
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 5: taught all the things you need to need to be

678
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,319
Speaker 5: able to advocate for yourself and to be able to

679
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 5: advocate for your community. And now is the most critical

680
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 5: time to have everyone at the table again. And one

681
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 5: thing that's just kind of alarming is at this point

682
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 5: in time, with all the technology and stuff that is available,

683
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 5: the level of ignorance that we have, you know, the

684
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 5: level of ignorance right now is worse than it was

685
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,640
Speaker 5: when we first released on Slavery almost.

686
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 1: I feel that the times are changing.

687
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,239
Speaker 5: People are beginning to see the disconnect in terms of

688
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 5: their personal experiences and how what they hear in the news,

689
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 5: how those things are beginning to affect their lives, and

690
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 5: beginning to get an understanding of the things they need

691
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,200
Speaker 5: to be able to do to change that condition where

692
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 5: if you want to learn, come and play with us

693
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 5: at the Black Worker Center.

694
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 3: All I definitely can, I can definitely can stop throwing

695
00:34:58,600 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 3: with us.

696
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 6: And to go back to your point, right, Like, we

697
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 6: do a lot of political education, right, We do a

698
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 6: note what the hell you're voting? For every political ballot cycle.

699
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,879
Speaker 6: We had our political Landscape meetings this year. We had

700
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,239
Speaker 6: you know, over one hundred community members pull up to

701
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 6: learn about how the current administration. I think it was

702
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 6: a big beautiful bill, right, the big beautiful bill how

703
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 6: to affect the black workers, how the ice rays were

704
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,800
Speaker 6: affecting black migrants specifically. So we did a lot of

705
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 6: that political education. But you know, like back to my

706
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 6: original point of when members called me telling me like, well,

707
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 6: what's going on? You know, oftentimes I have to inspire them,

708
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 6: right and let them know that like, yeah, Jeremiah himself

709
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:41,480
Speaker 6: cannot go in there and do it himself.

710
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,000
Speaker 1: But I need you, you know.

711
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:44,960
Speaker 6: And I need you and I need your story and

712
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 6: I need your energy to be able to fight this right.

713
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 6: And I think oftentimes young folks get a bad rap

714
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:55,080
Speaker 6: for having apathy around not voting, but they have reasons,

715
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 6: you know, when when we organize youth, they have their reasons.

716
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:01,359
Speaker 6: They feel as if the system let them down, as

717
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 6: if political parties have not been honest with them, and

718
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 6: it's almost like a resistance to you know what, nobody

719
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 6: deserves my vote. However, you know what we do here

720
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 6: with the Black Worker Center of what our note the

721
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 6: hell you're voting for it. We want to make sure

722
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 6: that there is an importance, especially when it comes to

723
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:19,319
Speaker 6: our propositions and the you know, the things that are

724
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 6: on ballot. We want to make sure we educate folks,

725
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,280
Speaker 6: let them know rent control. You know, if it's on ballot,

726
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 6: we have to make sure we go out and vote

727
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,319
Speaker 6: and inspire our networks to go out and vote right.

728
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 6: So there's a lot of different things that we do

729
00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 6: to try to make sure that we encourage people and

730
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 6: inspire people to act.

731
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 3: One of the things too, also to piggyback on when

732
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 3: you're saying to remind them too, is that if you

733
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 3: don't vote, but you have to understand you, if you

734
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,360
Speaker 3: have parents, they are being impacted. If they start attacking

735
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 3: that staff, that means there's going to be less food

736
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:51,319
Speaker 3: in the kitchen for you to eat.

737
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: That party, if.

738
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,719
Speaker 3: There is their attacking housing, that your mother is going

739
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 3: to be looking worriedly through the classify as to find

740
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,120
Speaker 3: a place because the rent would up and her to

741
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 3: vouch it.

742
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: It's not int it.

743
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 3: So you have to understand that you may be tangentially

744
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,800
Speaker 3: don't think you're being affected, but you're being directly affected.

745
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:09,239
Speaker 3: So when you have to move in the middle of

746
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,280
Speaker 3: the night and start you know, going from a hotel

747
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 3: to hotel from you know, the fire like what I

748
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,239
Speaker 3: used to do, five stars to the two stars or

749
00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 3: the one star, you understand this is how it impacted

750
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,360
Speaker 3: your life. And I think that's one of the things

751
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,480
Speaker 3: is when you connect the dots for the young, they

752
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:28,439
Speaker 3: definitely oh yeah, you understand why when people are saying

753
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,440
Speaker 3: that they're only going going after the criminals. But your

754
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,320
Speaker 3: mom is coming to pick up your sister from the

755
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 3: daycare and she got picked up.

756
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: Was she a criminal? No?

757
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 3: So this is what's directly impacting you. We had to

758
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,719
Speaker 3: when my episode aired about the Thermo, California where the

759
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:48,000
Speaker 3: unhoused undocumented community members were being targeted. There is a

760
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 3: conversation piece now is that the mother and father were

761
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 3: working in the fields, they got kids, They're going to school. Now,

762
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 3: I know all of us know if you have kids,

763
00:37:57,719 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 3: you know you just nobody just can come up and

764
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 3: pick up your it just without they having a list.

765
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 3: Right now, suppose if mom and dad got picked up

766
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 3: because they were in the field and the child is

767
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 3: down there, who is going to pick up the child?

768
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,919
Speaker 3: So the conversation then becomes the guest said, she said

769
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 3: her husband didn't want her to work anymore because if

770
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 3: they pick him up, then they can take care of

771
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 3: the kids. These are concerns because of the fact is now,

772
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:25,319
Speaker 3: if you have people that like, for example, if any

773
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,360
Speaker 3: of us have kids and things, you know it's something emergency,

774
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,000
Speaker 3: God forbid happens, someone can come and pick them up.

775
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:34,319
Speaker 3: But if you're grading people and there's the one there,

776
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:35,799
Speaker 3: where do you think that child is going?

777
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 5: So just before a respond to that, just want to

778
00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 5: add one other thing, another layer to the civic engagement piece.

779
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:43,359
Speaker 5: And in terms of what you get when you come

780
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 5: to Black Workers Center, one thing that I talk about

781
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:48,800
Speaker 5: a lot is the communications team there. How communication teams

782
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 5: at the Black Worker Center is like phenomenal because they

783
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,080
Speaker 5: prepare you like to do a lobby visit, then they

784
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 5: prepare you for campaigns, they prepare you for interviews, they

785
00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:02,560
Speaker 5: do we have a phenomenal and the messaging that they

786
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 5: use it just look at it.

787
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:05,160
Speaker 1: Look at them social media.

788
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,359
Speaker 5: Look at all the stuff that's in social media and

789
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,279
Speaker 5: the messaging that they give.

790
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,759
Speaker 1: They help to create this awareness. They kind of frick that.

791
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 5: You know, wait a minute, they knew how to make

792
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 5: this connection to current issues and how that affects your life,

793
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 5: and they do it in a way that that's relatable, irrelevant.

794
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 5: So population can really just pick up on it. Just

795
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 5: look at some of the content that's in our social media.

796
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:31,280
Speaker 5: Could you could do if you look over a period

797
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 5: of time, you can look at you can tell and

798
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 5: if you follow issues, you can look at our social

799
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,160
Speaker 5: media in time directly to stuff that's been going on,

800
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,760
Speaker 5: and like in politics, all the stuff that's going you

801
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:42,280
Speaker 5: can you can follow all that stuff.

802
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 1: You can see a story. But not only that too.

803
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,200
Speaker 3: To also get back to the question too that this model,

804
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,480
Speaker 3: the ice raised model has been modeled from.

805
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:51,359
Speaker 1: The future of Slave act.

806
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:54,800
Speaker 3: Yes, because that is where the link where again, this

807
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:55,840
Speaker 3: is the education part of me.

808
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: But that's not going on.

809
00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:00,439
Speaker 3: That's fine, But I wanted to point out that these

810
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,160
Speaker 3: things are so important to show the scoffold these kind

811
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 3: of links like, for example, what happens when the child

812
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:11,120
Speaker 3: is parentless, Well, the city steps in or the county

813
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 3: of state because now they're part of the word of

814
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 3: the state because you know, they don't have anyone to

815
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,400
Speaker 3: take care of them. And that's a very real world issue,

816
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,879
Speaker 3: in a real world reality that most of the youth

817
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 3: that are impacted, or as you can see, like the

818
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 3: young lady that was directed back to Hunduras to surprise

819
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,720
Speaker 3: their family, or the young man that was just coming,

820
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:34,239
Speaker 3: you know, leaving school and he got accosted fifteen years old.

821
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,760
Speaker 3: They hadn't heard from him in weeks. You know, these

822
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:37,839
Speaker 3: are realities.

823
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,040
Speaker 5: One thing that I could appreciate that that you I'm

824
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,879
Speaker 5: not sure to what extended happens in black families. Black

825
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,920
Speaker 5: family when I was growing up, was always prepared to

826
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,680
Speaker 5: deal with crises. It was, you know, because things were

827
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,400
Speaker 5: just so so bad for us when racism was so

828
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 5: overt that it's something indicates that something happened. It was

829
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 5: always everybody was these plans and even on down to

830
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 5: like last key key, last key here, if mom had

831
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 5: to work and couldn't pick them up for school, they

832
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 5: knew how to to go home, they knew how to

833
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 5: put that key in the door, how to put that

834
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:10,040
Speaker 5: key away, and be able to make it home. But

835
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 5: we've always had plans, and so we have to go

836
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 5: back to those kinds of things now. And so that

837
00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 5: relates to like foundational skills. I have concerns about how

838
00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:22,400
Speaker 5: your foundational skills come from home, and a lot of

839
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,000
Speaker 5: young people not getting the foundational skills that they that

840
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:28,680
Speaker 5: they need for basic survival.

841
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 3: But here's the thing too, as the educator that was

842
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 3: on the receiving end of that, and I have to say,

843
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,600
Speaker 3: the world has been changing into a hostile kind of

844
00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:40,480
Speaker 3: environment for so long, and people have had parents and

845
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:44,560
Speaker 3: adults have had to adapt as catches catch can. For example,

846
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 3: in the cases of the earlier times, it was established

847
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:51,880
Speaker 3: with racism, slavery, there was no secret, there was no

848
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 3: you know, everyone knew it was bad. It was jacked up.

849
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,280
Speaker 3: And then what happened was it became much more subtle.

850
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,480
Speaker 3: It became much more evolving. Like the hydra, you cut

851
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:03,800
Speaker 3: off one head and another one comes and in and

852
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,440
Speaker 3: so doing that, you know, parents, some of the skills

853
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,360
Speaker 3: that fade away or were not applicable at that time,

854
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 3: or they felt it wasn't transferable. Was not until the

855
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:16,840
Speaker 3: hydra came out and start biting people.

856
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,879
Speaker 1: Then you know, now people are like, oh my god,

857
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 1: what's going on?

858
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 3: You know, like the ice raids and the attack on

859
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:27,239
Speaker 3: Snap and the attack on housing, and the thing of

860
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,120
Speaker 3: it is what was left in place from the other

861
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:33,240
Speaker 3: head was the narrative and the proper propaganda piece saying

862
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,560
Speaker 3: that the reason this is happening because it's something you did,

863
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 3: something you are unworthy or and the only way you

864
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:41,800
Speaker 3: can do is if you work much more and harder.

865
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,400
Speaker 3: You want a Liverpool wage, too bad? You got to

866
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:46,320
Speaker 3: go to school? Well, you know, one can't afford the

867
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 3: loans too bad. You know you can't get in them

868
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 3: because of affirmative action or THEI or each hydra head

869
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 3: has something that's essentially harmful to a point that it

870
00:42:56,680 --> 00:43:00,520
Speaker 3: casts us sometimes enduring trauma, a paralysis. You don't know

871
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 3: which end to attack because then when you're moving this direction,

872
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,359
Speaker 3: here comes another hydra head that's going to attack you,

873
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 3: and you have to transform or adapt to that strategy

874
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:11,959
Speaker 3: as well.

875
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:14,600
Speaker 4: To your point, there are a lot of dominant narratives

876
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,919
Speaker 4: out there about black folks specifically, how we work while

877
00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 4: we don't work, what we put our time into, and

878
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 4: so we take a lot of time to try to

879
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:23,840
Speaker 4: counter those.

880
00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:25,720
Speaker 1: Narratives, and it takes a lot of work. It takes

881
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:27,320
Speaker 1: a lot of work, and it's exhausting.

882
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:29,879
Speaker 4: It's very, very exhausting. But it's a lot of real

883
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 4: time unlearning that's happening at the Los Angeles Black Workers

884
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 4: Center from every facet, from every angle. So I definitely

885
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 4: agree with what you're saying. Those narratives are out there, and.

886
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 6: That's why real organizing is important because my team, specifically,

887
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 6: they have to go out and not only educate folks

888
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,839
Speaker 6: around that, right, because I've had multiple people come through

889
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:50,759
Speaker 6: and say, well, black people don't want to work. It's

890
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:52,640
Speaker 6: black people saying black people don't want to work. Yeah,

891
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:56,200
Speaker 6: you know while them themselves are going through two or

892
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 6: three jobs is to be able to pay their rent.

893
00:43:58,000 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 1: Right.

894
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 6: So yeah, like the organize, I just have to go

895
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 6: out and politically educate people around those talking points, around

896
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,600
Speaker 6: those stereotypes. But then it's important that our membership, like

897
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,759
Speaker 6: the Political Education Committee and other member leaders of the

898
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 6: Black Workers Center also have that political education so that

899
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 6: way they can talk to other members who might have

900
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:19,719
Speaker 6: those sentiments around black folks that they also educate our

901
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:22,359
Speaker 6: members too, you know, so you know, as a head,

902
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 6: exactly right. But we just try to make sure that

903
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 6: we're constantly organizing and constantly educating our folks so that

904
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,520
Speaker 6: way a lot of those anti black statements and sentiments

905
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:32,839
Speaker 6: can be eradicated.

906
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,239
Speaker 3: One of the things too, that I noticed, and particularly

907
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 3: because I grew up in it and I know and

908
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:40,040
Speaker 3: I recognize it in any of the students now, that

909
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:44,680
Speaker 3: it's not only the anti blackness, it's the respectability politics.

910
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,200
Speaker 3: I think that catch was a dead end, and I

911
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 3: think it was misused deliteriously because of the fact the

912
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 3: older generation before the Boomers, what they call the greatest generation,

913
00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:59,919
Speaker 3: had to use it, and they used it with inten

914
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 3: and purpose, and I think it got lost along the

915
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,600
Speaker 3: way when the descendants and the other generations didn't get

916
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:09,640
Speaker 3: why they did it. It wasn't because you know, they

917
00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:12,319
Speaker 3: weren't going to shoot you or lunch you and all that.

918
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,319
Speaker 3: Because you can ask Malcolm and Martin that that didn't

919
00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 3: given damn about that. So the point of it is,

920
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:21,399
Speaker 3: it's that that is not going to ingratiate what they say,

921
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:23,920
Speaker 3: as Audrey Lays says, you can't dismantle the Master's.

922
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:25,920
Speaker 1: Tuods using the Master twos out of his house, So.

923
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,440
Speaker 3: You cannot use that. So you have to understand that

924
00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:33,960
Speaker 3: disabusing that ideology. It's hard because the only way you

925
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,760
Speaker 3: can really set be free is that everyone is free.

926
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,640
Speaker 3: And there is so much of the respectability politics. There's

927
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:45,439
Speaker 3: a twisting of religiosity, if I have to say, because

928
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 3: I grew up in a strong, strict Pentecostal background, so

929
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,239
Speaker 3: I have to I mean I have to. I'm still

930
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:52,239
Speaker 3: on learning some of the stuff and I have to

931
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:55,920
Speaker 3: catch myself. But it's a conversation that we really need

932
00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:01,000
Speaker 3: to have Christian nationalism rise. That's going on and those conversations,

933
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 3: and it's very sensitive an the African American community because

934
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 3: the religion and faith was a strong staple when things

935
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 3: went wrong, and it's sick, and you know, you don't

936
00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:11,800
Speaker 3: want to pervert it and you don't want to dismiss

937
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,719
Speaker 3: it and you don't want to ignore it. But you know,

938
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:17,640
Speaker 3: again you're going too far off the water. Then you

939
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,040
Speaker 3: know it kind of is starting to hurt, you know,

940
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,600
Speaker 3: And I don't think that is a definite point that

941
00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:24,879
Speaker 3: gets to talk about.

942
00:46:25,080 --> 00:46:27,520
Speaker 6: Yeah, I agree, and that's like I said, that's why

943
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 6: that organizing is so strong, because we have to be

944
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:33,359
Speaker 6: able to hit all those points, right, Like we get

945
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 6: folks all the time who say off the wall anti

946
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,239
Speaker 6: black statements all the time, you know, and we have

947
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,440
Speaker 6: to be able to educate our folks, right because anti

948
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:46,680
Speaker 6: blackness is essentially been here since a conception of this country, right,

949
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 6: it's the basis of this country. And we have to

950
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:51,400
Speaker 6: make sure that we're educated enough to go out and

951
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:56,160
Speaker 6: have those conversations to counteract and counter though any of

952
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:58,919
Speaker 6: those anti black statements, because if we don't, then we're

953
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:00,600
Speaker 6: going to keep creating more and more or like you say,

954
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:03,600
Speaker 6: hydra heads, and you know, the system is gonna keep winning,

955
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 6: and we're gonna keep being in the same place over

956
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,239
Speaker 6: and over again, where black folks will we say, every

957
00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:12,680
Speaker 6: year feels the same almost, it's just new and it evolves. Right,

958
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:14,640
Speaker 6: So we have to make sure that aren't organizing its

959
00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:18,120
Speaker 6: all point with not only our organizers, but our members,

960
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:21,640
Speaker 6: our staff members, our allies, so that way we can

961
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:23,320
Speaker 6: at least make some forward progress.

962
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:25,680
Speaker 5: One of the things that I think does not get

963
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:29,480
Speaker 5: talked about enough within the community is with stigmas. I

964
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:32,120
Speaker 5: have a doctor friend that said, a stigma is if

965
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 5: if you and I have no relation to each other

966
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:37,960
Speaker 5: but have something from the same issues, I got the

967
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:38,560
Speaker 5: same issues.

968
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: You can identify that as a stigma.

969
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 5: We have no relations, you know far move and you

970
00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:47,000
Speaker 5: know different times of your country. We got the same issue.

971
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 5: If we got the same issue, that could be classified

972
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:49,840
Speaker 5: as a stigma.

973
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:53,160
Speaker 3: Well, let's look at it even further than that, examining

974
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:57,759
Speaker 3: the former houssiness of rural houselessness, which is a thing

975
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 3: particularly out in the hollers or in the OPERATIONA areas,

976
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:06,440
Speaker 3: and there are people there in abysmal poverty. It's very,

977
00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:08,960
Speaker 3: very different than the poverty maybe of someone that lives

978
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 3: be't in the projects or living in the city. Yes,

979
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:15,120
Speaker 3: now here is how it's used to look look at negatively,

980
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:18,520
Speaker 3: the same situation, both in poverty foth using snap, both

981
00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:21,480
Speaker 3: using in a housing voucher. And that person says the

982
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:24,239
Speaker 3: reason why you can't get a job is because of

983
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:28,160
Speaker 3: that poor person that's barely hanging on. And then in

984
00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:30,160
Speaker 3: order for you to get a better job and a

985
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:32,400
Speaker 3: better way of life, I'll go and attack this person.

986
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:35,400
Speaker 3: I'll go and take their stuff away, but you'll keep yours.

987
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:39,080
Speaker 3: And that right there is the explanation of the anventa Tromp.

988
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:42,319
Speaker 1: Just wanted to put that out.

989
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:46,040
Speaker 5: Overt racism we're trying to get back to people don't

990
00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:50,440
Speaker 5: understand what overt racism was like. When overt racism was around,

991
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,320
Speaker 5: we had no recourse. Well, white folks were able to

992
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:56,319
Speaker 5: do what they warrant too, and there was no there

993
00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:58,480
Speaker 5: was no comeback. You couldn't sue, you couldn't you know,

994
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:01,839
Speaker 5: there was no EOC none of that stuff. It's like

995
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,440
Speaker 5: whatever they did, it was backed up by their own

996
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 5: and and you just there's no way. There was very

997
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:09,600
Speaker 5: limited ways that you that you could have to fight

998
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:11,400
Speaker 5: against it. That's why I get upset when people talk

999
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:14,240
Speaker 5: about used to talk about affirmative action. I pulled myself

1000
00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:16,799
Speaker 5: up by my own bootstraps. You didn't realize them, like

1001
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,920
Speaker 5: when if you were back further enough, opportunities were not

1002
00:49:19,960 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 5: available at all. So I don't know, I don't know

1003
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 5: if an opportunity was all opportunity were closed up, how

1004
00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:27,879
Speaker 5: could you possibly pull yourself up by the food by

1005
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:31,120
Speaker 5: your own bootstrapper those environments, so there's we have these

1006
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,680
Speaker 5: this all this misinformation. It boils down to misinformation. That's

1007
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:37,439
Speaker 5: why we're so big on educating because there's so much

1008
00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:41,319
Speaker 5: misinformation that's out there that we're trying to we're trying

1009
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,400
Speaker 5: to create, you know, bring folks aligned on with reality

1010
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,320
Speaker 5: and what was going on and have a common message

1011
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:49,279
Speaker 5: and a common theme that we're all dealing with.

1012
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:51,960
Speaker 6: And I think that's a perfect set way if we

1013
00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:53,719
Speaker 6: can get into talking about what we're doing at the

1014
00:49:53,719 --> 00:49:56,479
Speaker 6: Black Workers and please yeah, And I think what you'all

1015
00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:59,239
Speaker 6: talking about is like institutionalized racism. I think that's been

1016
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:01,919
Speaker 6: pretty much it's the theme of us today talking about

1017
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:06,319
Speaker 6: institutionalized racism and how black folks specifically are affected by

1018
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,359
Speaker 6: and how due to our history in this country, other

1019
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:12,680
Speaker 6: folks as well other communities have been affected by it.

1020
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:14,919
Speaker 6: But that's what we're trying to do with our charter

1021
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:18,040
Speaker 6: reform right now. Right the city constitution has not been

1022
00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 6: amended in over one hundred years, I think since the

1023
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:24,279
Speaker 6: eighteen nineties. It got revised one time, I think in

1024
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:29,480
Speaker 6: like nineteen twenty five, but essentially the city's charter, which

1025
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:33,400
Speaker 6: is the city's constitution, was set up to protect white workers,

1026
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:36,279
Speaker 6: right and through that Black folks and black workers have

1027
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:39,520
Speaker 6: been not only neglected through the hiring process, but have

1028
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:40,200
Speaker 6: not been.

1029
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 1: Protected due to the city's charter.

1030
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:43,960
Speaker 6: So what the Black Worker Center is doing right now

1031
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:47,279
Speaker 6: is trying to amend the city's charter. Right it's up

1032
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:49,799
Speaker 6: for amendment again in twenty twenty six, And what we're

1033
00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:53,400
Speaker 6: doing is we're organizing our workers. We're organizing our members

1034
00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:56,720
Speaker 6: to go down to the city charters, personnel and budget

1035
00:50:57,040 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 6: meetings to advocate why it is important to revise that

1036
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:06,440
Speaker 6: charter so black folks can be considered and also highly

1037
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:10,200
Speaker 6: favored during these hiring processes in the city. Because public

1038
00:51:10,239 --> 00:51:14,640
Speaker 6: sector jobs have been extremely beneficial for black folks in

1039
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:18,439
Speaker 6: the city of La. My great grandmother was a county nurse.

1040
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:20,239
Speaker 6: She was able to buy a house on fifty fifth

1041
00:51:20,239 --> 00:51:22,839
Speaker 6: and Dinker, a lot of our folks in the city

1042
00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:25,600
Speaker 6: of La So, I mean, I'm not sure Angela has

1043
00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 6: people who worked in this county, state or in the city,

1044
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:31,680
Speaker 6: but a lot of people have been able to benefit

1045
00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:33,560
Speaker 6: off of public sector employment.

1046
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,359
Speaker 1: And we know that. We've worked on multiple.

1047
00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:38,399
Speaker 6: Different surveys at the Black Worker Center to highlight that

1048
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,480
Speaker 6: the importance of public sector work for black folks specifically,

1049
00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:43,799
Speaker 6: and we want to make sure that our folks also

1050
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:46,000
Speaker 6: get a piece of that pie right that also get

1051
00:51:46,040 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 6: considered for public sector employment because we know how important

1052
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:52,919
Speaker 6: has been for us in our community and also being

1053
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:55,560
Speaker 6: like a part of unions right to have that extra

1054
00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,279
Speaker 6: added protection on the job site. So that's what we've

1055
00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:00,680
Speaker 6: been doing at the Black Worker Center as well, just

1056
00:52:00,719 --> 00:52:02,799
Speaker 6: trying to make sure that our folks that we trained

1057
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:05,400
Speaker 6: through are Ready to work program are considered for these

1058
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 6: city jobs because you know, a lot of people, at

1059
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:09,800
Speaker 6: least when I came into twenty eighteen, a lot of

1060
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:13,319
Speaker 6: boomers were transitioning out and a lot of boomers work

1061
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:15,920
Speaker 6: in public actor jobs and a lot of those times,

1062
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:18,320
Speaker 6: black folks, are you not going to be considered because

1063
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:21,319
Speaker 6: look at the city a charter right, So just being

1064
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:23,719
Speaker 6: able to work on that, and we're attending a meeting

1065
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:27,800
Speaker 6: tomorrow at USC to advocate why it's important to amend

1066
00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:29,160
Speaker 6: the city's charter.

1067
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:31,759
Speaker 4: Oh that's outstanding, And we're not just going down there,

1068
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:34,120
Speaker 4: like Jeremiah said, just with an ass We're going down

1069
00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:36,879
Speaker 4: there with an action plan. We have these graduates who

1070
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:40,040
Speaker 4: have come through who can speak to their experience one

1071
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,520
Speaker 4: and who are also very versed on what's happening currently

1072
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:47,640
Speaker 4: in their struggle to get city and county employment right now,

1073
00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:51,520
Speaker 4: state employment, it's not easy. They have those placement tests.

1074
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:53,759
Speaker 4: These placement tests aren't set up for us to win.

1075
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:56,600
Speaker 4: They are set up for us to be prosperous. So

1076
00:52:56,640 --> 00:52:58,800
Speaker 4: when we're doing things like the Charter reform, we're asking

1077
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:01,480
Speaker 4: those graduates sometime members to come with us and, like

1078
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:04,200
Speaker 4: Jeremiah said, advocate with us. And they're able to speak

1079
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:08,239
Speaker 4: once again because of our amazing communications team to what's

1080
00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:09,759
Speaker 4: happening to them currently.

1081
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 5: You know, they're able to find their voice. And with

1082
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:14,920
Speaker 5: the training, it has a lunch to deal with me.

1083
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:18,160
Speaker 5: When you're able to speak authentically from your own experience,

1084
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:20,000
Speaker 5: it car it carries more weight.

1085
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:25,480
Speaker 1: Absolutely, well, the time is flown. I'm apologizing if.

1086
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:27,960
Speaker 6: I can for your listeners. If anybody wants to get

1087
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,800
Speaker 6: involved at the LA Black Worker Center, they can contact myself,

1088
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,680
Speaker 6: Jeremiah Gordon, the organizing coordinator at the LA Black Worker Center.

1089
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:38,759
Speaker 6: My email is j g O R d O N

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00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:42,759
Speaker 6: at LA BWC dot org. Email me and I will

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00:53:42,760 --> 00:53:46,160
Speaker 6: connect you with one of our organizers and you know

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00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:48,080
Speaker 6: we'll get them involved as as soon as possible.

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00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:49,919
Speaker 1: You have a website as well, yeah, LA Black Worker

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00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:50,560
Speaker 1: Center dot org.

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00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:54,000
Speaker 6: Yeah, and all of our social media handles l A

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00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:56,160
Speaker 6: Black Workers Center or Los Angeles Black Worker Center. We're

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00:53:56,200 --> 00:54:01,040
Speaker 6: on everything but TikTok. So we're on Facebook, instag, Twitter

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00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:03,560
Speaker 6: or x We're on all of it so that way

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00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,680
Speaker 6: people can get evolved. Follow us, will follow up with

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00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:07,759
Speaker 6: you if you if you dm us. We have a

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00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:09,600
Speaker 6: lot of things going on. We have a legal clinic

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00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:12,319
Speaker 6: for folks who are experiencing worker discrimination on the job

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00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:14,920
Speaker 6: site free legal clinic where we get we connect you

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00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:16,920
Speaker 6: with a lawyer to give you free legal advice. That

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00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:19,680
Speaker 6: happens once a month through our partner Legal Aid at Work.

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00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,719
Speaker 6: So we have a lot of things available for black workers. Yeah,

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00:54:22,719 --> 00:54:24,480
Speaker 6: we just we want as many people to get involved

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00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:24,960
Speaker 6: as possible.

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00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:27,320
Speaker 5: Last thing, like, the Black Worker Center is the only

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00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:32,520
Speaker 5: institution in LA specifically focused on eliminating black job crisis.

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00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:37,040
Speaker 5: You know, we focus on work of power system, accountability,

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00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:41,960
Speaker 5: union pathways, skills training, and of course are ready to work.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, closing out ready to work once again. It's a

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00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:47,560
Speaker 4: paid training program that we do offer and we're offering

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00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,760
Speaker 4: more than just resume help We're offering that emotional support,

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00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:53,000
Speaker 4: that mental support. We have a lot of wrap around

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00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:56,719
Speaker 4: services that help with transportation, that help with food disparity.

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00:54:57,200 --> 00:54:59,319
Speaker 4: As Jeremiah was saying, people were calling him and they

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00:54:59,320 --> 00:55:01,680
Speaker 4: were calling for and we're just one big family that

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00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:05,440
Speaker 4: is working to get these black people housed once again,

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00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:09,120
Speaker 4: to help the people that are underemployed become employed to

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00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:11,000
Speaker 4: the point where they can have a pension, where they

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00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:13,880
Speaker 4: can retire, where they can buy homes. That is our mission,

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00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:14,520
Speaker 4: that is our goal.

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Speaker 3: Oh again, thank you all for joining us, and I

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00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:20,640
Speaker 3: hope to have you guys back because this was such

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00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:33,120
Speaker 3: a spirited and very informative conversation. You can learn more

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00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 3: about the LA Black Workers Center and the Ready to

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00:55:36,239 --> 00:55:40,799
Speaker 3: Work Program after links in the description. Thanks again for

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00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:43,840
Speaker 3: listening in. If you have a story you'd like to share,

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00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:48,240
Speaker 3: please reach out to me at weedianhousatgmail dot com or

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00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:52,960
Speaker 3: at we in House on Instagram. Until then, may we

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00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:59,279
Speaker 3: again meet in the light of understanding. Weedian House is

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00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:02,360
Speaker 3: a production of Heart Radio. It is written, hosted, and

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00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:08,480
Speaker 3: created by me Theo Henderson, our producers Jamie Loftus, Hailey Fader,

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00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:13,160
Speaker 3: Katie Fischel, and Lyra Smith, our editor is Adam Want,

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00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:18,160
Speaker 3: our engineer is Joel Jerome, and our local art.

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00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:21,880
Speaker 1: Is also by Katie Fischer. Thank you for listening.