0:03

It's a simple truth that we can't

0:06

escape. Houselessness

0:08

is everywhere. It

0:11

affects over half a million

0:13

people in the United States alone.

0:16

We try to make sense out of this tragedy,

0:19

but it is a senseless endeavor. What

0:22

I'm going to ask of you is

0:24

a very tall order. I

0:27

want you to take what you heard about houselessness

0:29

and I want you to forget it. Are

0:33

you still with me? Good?

0:36

Let us have a conversation. My

0:40

name is Theo Henderson, hosting creator

0:42

of Weed in House, and I'm going to

0:44

take you on a journey in this crisis.

0:47

Being on house is a twenty four hour job,

0:50

and my lived experience in houselessness is extensive.

0:53

I was one of over

0:55

seventy five thousand people experiencing

0:58

houselessness on a given night in

1:00

Los Angeles. Now, contrary

1:02

to ill informed people, I did

1:04

not grow up and say gee, I

1:07

can't wait to live on the streets to encounter

1:09

societal rejection and violence.

1:13

I don't fit the stereotypes of what news

1:15

media, movies, and many house people

1:18

think of an unhoused person. Most

1:21

on house people don't. Being

1:23

on house is so often made out to seem

1:26

like an individual's fault

1:29

not the hundreds of thousands

1:31

of systematic failures that

1:34

have to take place to put someone

1:36

in that position in the first place. Needless

1:40

to say, the unhoused are not a monolith.

1:44

My history as an activist

1:46

has been difficult but unnecessary

1:48

journey. I drew inspiration

1:50

on my role as an activist from this

1:52

quote from Shirley Chisholm.

1:55

Activism is my rent for living

1:57

on this planet, which is kind

1:59

of ironic, isn't it paying

2:02

with activism to fight for dignity and

2:04

empathy in an indifferent world?

2:08

However, the bill must be paid to foster a

2:10

better world than I found it. My

2:13

family has tied in activism,

2:15

fighting in the Civil Rights era and

2:18

the reelection of the first black

2:20

mayor in Chicago, mayor Washington,

2:22

where I was born and raised. Living

2:25

in Chicago taught me a lot, and

2:27

Los Angeles has been an entirely new

2:30

kind of teacher after I moved here. As

2:33

I made Los Angeles my home, the motivation

2:35

to speak out against housing and justice became

2:39

too great, particularly

2:41

when I became unhoused myself in

2:46

twenty nineteen. The house

2:48

world was in complete obliviousness

2:54

cowles. People were concerned with the

2:56

humdrum issues of their lives, that

2:58

pumpkin spice latte, and

3:01

most importantly, making sure that they

3:03

don't see the unhoused person sitting in their neighborhood.

3:07

But for the unhoused people, hell was

3:09

being unleashed with the new ordnance

3:12

that was voted in called forty

3:15

one eighteen. A

3:17

word about forty one eighteen is

3:19

touted as the new Jim Crow

3:22

of Los Angeles. As you have

3:24

known that from the history, majority of unhoused

3:27

people are black and brown community

3:29

members. And what this does It

3:31

makes it illegal for unhoused

3:34

or people to sit, sleep,

3:36

and lie within five hundred

3:39

feet of a postage sign that

3:41

has been posted all over the city by

3:43

city council members, neighborhood councils,

3:46

and business improved District owners.

3:49

In twenty nineteen, most people never heard

3:52

of a show that was going to be made by an

3:54

unhoused person for unhoused

3:57

people. Sure they hear the occasion

3:59

of New York Times in pr or god forbid

4:02

Fox News broadcasts, but even

4:04

the good coverage was always presented by

4:06

house people for house people about

4:09

unhoused people. I tried to make

4:11

an SOS symbol with this podcast hoping

4:13

to find a knowing year and build

4:15

alleyship between unhoused

4:18

people and house people. The

4:20

disinformation campaign about the Inn House

4:23

is threatening our will to be compassionate

4:25

and empathetic to each other. We in

4:27

House is constantly up against

4:29

a pernicious belief that houselessness

4:32

is a moral individual

4:35

failure. Case

4:37

in point, I have a friend a friend who

4:39

is adamant that the unhoused community

4:42

likes being out there. There's

4:44

no critical thinking required, just quit

4:46

uninformed sound bites that has being reinforced

4:50

by mainstream media. I

4:52

have always believed that if you can demonize

4:54

a person, then you can criminalize in I

4:58

wanted to show how individuals are affect by

5:00

houselessness, and Weedian House does that. I

5:03

took a figurative and literal breath

5:05

and created this from scratch. Living

5:08

outside, I had to utilize

5:10

the twos I had available. I

5:13

used a cheap phone. I edited

5:15

and released episodes with the help

5:17

of a couple of friends. I would

5:19

speak with people about their stories, how

5:22

city hall policies affected them,

5:25

how the police disrespected and abused them,

5:27

and how the young house were mistreated throughout

5:30

the pandemic. It was all from

5:32

the expert opinion by the people who are

5:34

affected. Initially,

5:36

I expected the show to hit local needs

5:38

audiences. Imagine my

5:40

surprise at people reaching out to me

5:43

from out of state and out of the country

5:45

who were displaced and unhoused and

5:48

wished that Weedyan House was a

5:50

part of their experience in their

5:52

place of origin. This

5:55

podcast became the lightning rod for

5:57

the world's moral consciousness. All

6:00

of a sudden, the mainstream media

6:02

outlets that had been treating the unhoused as

6:04

a monolift for all those years

6:06

were talking about my show, one

6:08

that finally centered the community

6:10

they've been misrepresenting for so long. My

6:14

medium became a diverse attempt

6:16

to get the message across. The podcast

6:19

was always just the beginning, as

6:21

I moved in these circles

6:23

of people wanting to hear about the unhoused

6:26

community and their struggles. I

6:28

was installed as activist and Residents

6:30

in UCLA in twenty twenty two as

6:33

a way to awaken the sympathy

6:35

and empathy that was so sorely

6:38

lacking in housed and very

6:40

affluent communities. Then creating

6:43

a newspaper that highlighted the struggles

6:45

of unhoused people and being read by

6:47

unhoused people in twenty twenty

6:49

two as well and currently in twenty

6:51

twenty three my newsletter which

6:54

highlights the struggles that are beleaguering

6:56

our communities. We

6:58

in House as a one man product, was an important

7:01

job, but an exhausting and really

7:03

heavy lift. More polished shows did

7:05

not have to continue with the obstacles that I endured.

7:07

But I pressevered and now we're

7:09

relaunching the show with a little more polished

7:12

but the mission of the show is still the same. So

7:15

why would lost the show now? Housesness

7:18

did not go away when I stopped doing We in the House

7:20

and September of twenty twenty two,

7:22

it has continued and now has escalated.

7:25

We have a lot to talk about, we have a lot to explore,

7:28

and we have a lot to do to change

7:31

the narrative about houselessness and how

7:33

we look at our fellow human beings.

7:37

If I told you that anyone that's in

7:40

a medical emergency is in risk

7:42

of being thrown from their home, would you

7:44

believe it? If I told you that there are

7:46

over sixty eight thousand

7:49

unhoused children and the Los Angeles Unified

7:51

School District, would you be empathetic

7:54

or dismissive. If

7:56

I told you that the people who

7:58

picked the fruits to invest in your

8:01

refrigerator are unhoused

8:03

even though they are employed, would

8:06

you be motivated to speak out against

8:08

this and justice. This

8:11

is the crux of my show, getting

8:13

you informed so we can do something

8:15

about it. The show

8:18

deals with all aspects of houselessness,

8:21

not just the obvious unhoused encampments.

8:24

We the in House will break down terms

8:26

such as agency and laguage

8:28

such as nimbies in what they mean

8:31

to our community, and in

8:33

every episode will spotlight unhoused

8:36

news which is crucial to the unhoused

8:38

community. My goal

8:40

is to consolidate all things in housed

8:42

here, educate the community who

8:45

would be unaware of the nuances

8:48

of houselessness, and motivate

8:50

people to do something about this humanitarian crisis.

8:53

Before we delve deep into this topic,

8:56

I want you to get to dobing my

8:58

story sent into

9:00

houselessness and how I navigated

9:02

it, through it and out of it. So

9:06

we're bringing in a good friend of mine at podcaster

9:08

and her own right, bey, honey,

9:11

And that's what's up next on Weedia House.

9:21

Hello, Hello, Hello, it is another

9:23

beautiful day out here. In La,

9:26

Hollywood, California, to be

9:28

exact, and I am interviewing an advocate

9:32

for the homeless in LA. Somebody

9:34

that is making a lot of big moves, somebody that is

9:36

really out here doing things to really

9:38

change the trajectory of LA and

9:41

the homelessness because we do have a high homeless

9:43

rate. So I would like to interview

9:45

this amazing man over

9:47

here, the man with the plan. So I'm going to have him

9:50

actually say his name and state

9:52

what he's been doing and how long he's been in this business.

9:55

Well, every time I hear someone introduce me,

9:57

and I guess I have to thank you, Bey Honey for

10:00

introducing me so warmly. I always think it's someone

10:02

else to talking about somebody's really something

10:04

extraordinary individual, But I'll

10:06

take the compliment. My

10:08

name is Theo Henderson. Behaney has

10:11

been kind enough to interview me as a guest

10:13

on my Median House show. I'm going to

10:15

let BEHNEI ask me some questions

10:17

and you know, we're just going to have a conversation,

10:20

just talk about some of this stuff in my life that

10:22

how I got to this point. Yes,

10:25

let's have that conversation and let's have a real

10:27

conversation because a lot of people like to sugarcoat,

10:31

especially when they've been through things, they kind of like to skip

10:33

over. So what we're going to do is we're going to get into detail about

10:35

it. So when did you first experience

10:38

homelessness? When I

10:40

experienced houselessness or homelessness

10:42

because I used the monocule or the agency

10:44

houselessness and unhoused, And it's okay

10:47

that some people use homelessness and things like that.

10:49

That's not that's not deters

10:51

me. When I truly was

10:54

delving into houselessness, I had spent

10:57

short amount of times on house

10:59

and I able to get out because I had the financial

11:01

wherewithal I had support. But when

11:04

I consider the true time when I became

11:06

in house is when I had a deep

11:08

medical emergency that relied me to

11:10

be hospitalized for several

11:13

months, requiring me physical therapy,

11:16

occupational therapy, and things of that nature,

11:19

while living in an apartment during the Great

11:21

Recession, and unable to pay

11:23

the rent in order for me to make sure

11:25

that I get all of the medical treatment that I needed.

11:27

At the time, I was an educator, and

11:30

I don't know if you know, educators do not

11:33

make a lot of money they do not, so

11:38

the struggle is really real. I'm

11:40

telling you, Yah, It's like I didn't have a wife, I

11:42

didn't have any kids to come and look in on me, and

11:44

I had siblings that had financial and

11:47

family responsibilities that theyselves had

11:49

to take care of. So I didn't have that

11:52

kind of cushion that would be able to get me

11:54

on my feet that I needed to. And

11:56

I am a diabetic and I am

11:58

ashamed to say that when I

12:00

was diagnosed with diabetes earlier

12:03

on in my career, in my life, I did not expect

12:05

to get into ambdical emergency

12:07

at a young age, and I did not take

12:10

care of myself. I was stressed out a lot. I

12:12

stressed eight by insulin

12:14

level was off. To change my sugar level with it

12:17

was ridiculous. And at the time, I'm ashamed

12:19

to say that average

12:22

meal for me when I would go into a class

12:24

early to prepare the lesson plans or prepare

12:27

the class was a dozen

12:29

donuts. I know, it's Craig, A

12:31

dozen, Yes, a

12:33

dozen donuts. I would

12:35

for lunch have a two liter

12:38

Coca Cola and I

12:40

would eat like a half a bucket

12:42

of chicken. And if I you know, like

12:44

again I stressed. Eat when I'm stressing,

12:47

I'm more depressing. I would

12:49

uh, and I'd embarrassed to

12:51

say I would eat a whole large Dominoes

12:53

pizza with top of the wings or

12:56

those Yeah. Yes,

13:00

So I was eating and my

13:02

doctors was warning me, like, you

13:04

know, this is not good eating, and you

13:06

know, and they were watching, and I would always promise.

13:08

And I have to say, it's very difficult

13:10

to keep my way down and stay healthy, but

13:13

I always promised I was curb off of it,

13:15

and I was to take a day or two not to eat

13:17

it, and then I will come back with avengance and then a

13:20

dozen and a half of donuts or

13:22

those kind of things. And that kind of bad

13:25

eating caught up with me because I was

13:27

stressed a lot and dealing

13:29

with the students and challenges

13:31

of teaching and things like that. And

13:33

I had a medical emergency and

13:35

I went into a coma and

13:38

I had a minor stroke. So I had

13:40

to do a long, difficult

13:43

road of recovery. I still

13:45

marvel how I did it, but the fact is that

13:48

it was. It was like I still,

13:50

if you listen, sometimes you

13:53

can hear when I slur

13:55

words because of the after

13:57

effects of the stroke, because

14:00

or if I stuttered someone's other words, that's

14:02

because of that. But I had to do a

14:04

lot of speech therapy to just

14:07

not sound like when I was trying to look work

14:09

like I was inebriated. Because when I did

14:11

try to find jobs, people thought I was on

14:13

substances or it looked like I

14:16

was stumbling because I didn't have

14:18

the balance like I used to. Yeah, So

14:20

those realities that when I

14:23

really opened my eyes to the fears

14:26

of living out in the street, how was I going

14:28

to survive living in that new reality?

14:30

And it was a new reality. It's one thing to

14:32

be able bodied and living on the street,

14:34

but it's another damn thing to be disabled

14:38

and living on the street. That's a whole new fear.

14:41

You know, you can't defend yourself. There are times

14:43

that I didn't really be able to defend myself adequately

14:46

because you know, my reflex time is

14:48

not what it is, you know. I mean, you

14:51

know, if someone jumps off or acts crazy, you

14:53

be able to you know, be able to run

14:55

or defend yourself or something. Yeah.

14:58

Yeah, but with that disability, that really

15:00

put you in a position to where you

15:02

were kind of not even kind of you were

15:04

helpless. You really were out there,

15:06

and like you know, people are not the nicest towards people

15:08

that do not have housing. People are

15:10

not the nicest. There are people that literally

15:12

will get drunk, take out there anger. I've

15:15

had. I've had people that I follow

15:17

that live, you know, that do not have

15:20

housing, and they have literally

15:22

had people drunk people come and try to

15:24

fight them, throw bottles at them and

15:27

things like that. It's very dangerous and people

15:29

don't understand. People are very insensitive towards it because

15:32

I feel like that could be anybody. It

15:34

could be one medical emergency,

15:36

it could be one pay check, it could be literally

15:39

one thing that will just set everything off

15:42

into a snowball effect that could put you in that position.

15:44

So it's not that all people without

15:46

housing are lazy and don't want to work or

15:48

on drugs. Sometimes it's just hard

15:51

times, and especially with the pandemic

15:54

that's happened and the recession that's happened. I mean,

15:56

let's be honest, if you were born anywhere from

15:58

nineteen seventy and to like

16:00

nineteen ninety, you survived a recession,

16:03

You survived the COVID nineteen which

16:05

we're still having after effects of that. So

16:08

we're still everybody hurting

16:10

right now. Everybody's pocket is hurting, even the big companies pockets

16:12

are hurting. So right for somebody to

16:14

be without housing because I don't want to say

16:16

homelessness, because I don't want to offend anybody, but

16:18

without housing, because anybody could be in that position.

16:21

I was in that position. Won't wait, We'll get

16:23

into that a little later. But some people are embarrassed to say,

16:25

hey, I did not have a home and to

16:27

be able to say you were disabled, yeah, while

16:30

living in that So what type of challenges? What

16:32

type of violence did you face going through

16:34

that? Thank you for saying that, because you've

16:36

hit on a really clear topic And

16:38

it took me many years to come to

16:40

terms with my disability. I because

16:43

so many people do not know that I'm disabled

16:45

because I present as a I'm

16:48

not trying to brag. I present as I

16:50

can speak well, I've educated, of course, I'm

16:52

educated at yeah, my undergraduate and master's. But

16:55

the fact of it is is that I still had

16:57

disabilities before I became on house.

16:59

But it's that when I became

17:01

unhoused and the violence that

17:03

I had. When you mentioned like there was a time

17:06

when I was living near in little Tokyo

17:08

and right across the street you was this bar and

17:11

three people inebriated came

17:14

and you know, as people don't understand,

17:16

they always blame unhouse people as attacking

17:19

house people, but you could be just

17:21

mining your business and going to sleep like I

17:23

was, and they thought it was funny to

17:26

start throwing And it's hard to attack and kick

17:28

and attack me now, mind you, I'm still

17:31

recovering in order for me to

17:33

live and try to get back myself back

17:35

on my feet. But these were three able bodied

17:37

people attacking me for the simple

17:40

fact that there was no one around. I

17:42

was on house. I was not

17:44

going to be believed, and they could

17:46

have been able to do what they wanted to do, and

17:49

they could disappear into the night. And

17:52

if it wasn't for me having a weapon

17:54

of myself, I was able to scare them

17:56

enough to get them to run off

17:58

because they did not know that I was away.

18:01

The second event that I had was I

18:03

was stabbed five years ago out in

18:05

a park where I was living at and someone

18:08

was trying to steal my belongings.

18:10

And I tried the same kind of wolf

18:12

tickets. As we say in Chicago, we used

18:14

to sell wolf tickets, and that's dating

18:17

myself. But when we say in the hood about

18:19

we're selling wolf tickets is like we're the big

18:21

bat wolf and we're gonna blow down your

18:23

house, and you usually run and leave.

18:25

But you know, some people don't buy those wolf tickets

18:27

and they just you know, okay, fine. And

18:30

I engaged into a very ten

18:32

to fifteen minute life and death struggle where

18:34

a guy was trying to stab and kill

18:36

me. I eventually stabbed me, and

18:38

I had some after effects of

18:40

that. I had to have my part

18:42

of my colon remove, I had to have some

18:45

of my intestine. I had to have some

18:47

part of my intestine state a state put on. There's

18:50

different after effects, like, for example, I

18:52

feel it enduring colder

18:55

weather. I feel that when I move, I

18:57

can always feel with the attached where I was stabbed

18:59

at. And then I have these long, disgusting

19:02

scars and this is going to follow me

19:04

into until the lights come off in

19:06

my life or I have to live

19:08

with those new realities and news dis disabilities.

19:11

I can't eat certain foods because it would

19:13

cause my stomach to become upset and

19:15

it helped me realize how

19:17

precarious it is to live out on the street.

19:20

To be on house is that you're

19:22

putting literally your life in hand for house

19:24

people to abuse it and to

19:27

you did not really get any justice on it, yes,

19:29

and I understand where that's coming from, because

19:32

there are people that will really they see

19:34

you as a target, especially being a

19:36

person of color out on the streets.

19:38

They really do see you as a target. And as

19:41

far as you touched on a topic like if you did

19:43

not have that weapon with you, you you know, it probably

19:45

would have been your life. And I've been in situations

19:48

like that to where I'm going to share a little bit of

19:50

mine. I experienced a

19:52

brief homelessness back in two

19:54

thousand and fourteen, twenty

19:57

fourteen, twenty fifteen, and I

20:00

had left a situation where

20:02

it was not in my best interest safety

20:04

wise, And you know, I was in my car.

20:06

I had nothing but my little Chevy Malibu, and I

20:08

was going all the way from Louisiana,

20:11

all the way to Las Vegas, you

20:14

know, to go see my family because I didn't

20:16

have anywhere else to go. I didn't have money for a hotel,

20:18

I didn't have money for anything. So I was sleeping in my car. I was sleeping

20:21

at truck stops. And I don't know

20:23

if you guys know them. Truckers

20:25

are either very

20:29

thirsty and you know they think that you're a lot

20:31

lizard when you're attractive female.

20:34

There was a time where I was sleeping in my car

20:36

at a gas station. I stopped sleeping a gas

20:38

I started sleeping in like grocery store, parking lot and stuff like that,

20:42

but with like the lights and stuff. But I slept

20:44

one time at a gas station and I

20:46

had went in to go go use the restroom,

20:48

go wash up because you know, had a little wash up things, did

20:50

my little wash up, grab some snacks,

20:53

and sat in my car. I'll sleep in my car.

20:56

One of the truckers had seen me from inside

20:58

and decided that he wanted to try to,

21:01

you know, right, make his move, make his move.

21:03

But I'm Caribbean, so you

21:06

know, had that thing

21:08

on me. You know, he backed away. But if I

21:10

wouldn't have had that on me, if I wouldn't

21:12

have protected myself, I probably could have been in a situation

21:14

where I was, you know, essayed.

21:16

Yeah, you know, as you point out a very

21:19

real reality for women that are out

21:21

here on the streets. They face another

21:23

layer of houselessness that I

21:25

do not face. And so they do

21:27

definitely face the reality of that kind of

21:29

assault, that fear. They having

21:32

to keep their eyes open and they have to

21:34

make sure that the intent of the gentleman

21:37

or why I won't say gentlemen or the miscreants

21:40

do not take advantage of them. So,

21:43

you're right, it's a very different reality,

21:45

and which is why houselessness. It's

21:47

a layered onion. It's not just one

21:49

plaque and white thing that people don't want to work or they

21:51

like being out there. Yeah, we're

21:54

going to take a break and we will be right

21:56

back. We're

22:03

back. Most people that are out

22:05

there don't want to be out there, but you know, it

22:08

is some people that are out there

22:10

by choice. Unfortunately,

22:12

I have family that has been out there for

22:14

years. I have a cousin since I was like twelve years

22:17

old. I'm churty one now, so I was twelve

22:19

years old. She'd been on the streets. She don't want to leave the street.

22:21

She liked the streets. But most of the

22:23

people that I've met outside of that don't

22:25

want to be in that position. They don't

22:27

want to it's just circumstance, And

22:30

honestly, I'm just grateful because

22:34

it really puts the perspective of what you take for granted.

22:36

Also, I want to point out too, because I do know

22:39

a few people that have explained

22:41

to me why they like to be out on the street.

22:44

And one of the things that I do like to offer is

22:46

because initially they

22:48

did not, but because of

22:50

them having their hopes

22:53

dashed a lot, or they having such

22:55

a severe trauma. Like of the woman

22:57

that her husband was

23:00

looking for her and she tried to get

23:02

on her feet, and she would go into the

23:05

domestic shelters and he would always for find

23:07

her, and it calls

23:09

her to delve deeper into her substance

23:12

usage drinking, and

23:14

so she felt that the easiest way

23:16

that he won't find her is just to stay

23:18

on the street, because she can always

23:20

leave a different area of the corner.

23:22

But if you're staying at a stationary

23:25

domestic place or mesic shelter and

23:27

you come out, then he's laying in wait for

23:29

her and the kids, or taken the kids or whatever. It's

23:32

a little bit different. So a lot of

23:34

times that people that are out here, they

23:36

have resigned themselves like

23:39

The Gentleman where his wife was dealing

23:41

with terminal cancer and

23:43

he just basically just gave up

23:45

his will to live and he wants to live on the

23:47

street because his wife is gone. Those

23:49

kinds of conversations

23:51

are not always delved

23:54

into or a bored because this

23:56

is why you know, he lived literally he was

23:59

super across the street from the building where

24:01

and his wild wife were together. He

24:03

took all his savings and tried to save her life.

24:05

She passed away. He couldn't support the stay

24:08

in the building, so now he lives out across the

24:10

street. I mean. And these kind

24:12

of stories never get told by

24:14

mainstream media. It always the beginning

24:16

and end his personal responsibility. People

24:19

like to be on the street, or they have mentally ill or

24:21

their substance uses, and that's the end of it.

24:23

But there's so many layers exactly, which

24:26

is why I'm so glad that you came

24:28

in to talk on it, because there is so

24:30

much of the conversation that I want to

24:32

have and the show,

24:35

and this show is so important for

24:37

us to explore it even further. There's so

24:39

many facets of houselessness. Now,

24:41

I'm just grateful that you even

24:44

are speaking on this and you're giving it a

24:46

platform because there are so many stories that are

24:48

untold, so many stories to where it's like you

24:51

never know what somebody's circumstance

24:53

is, So before you judge somebody

24:55

for their circumstance or what you see on the outside,

24:58

really like, have you had a conversation with

25:00

that person? Do you know how they

25:02

got to that position, because you never know?

25:05

And honestly, I want to dig into when

25:08

did you start doing advocate

25:10

work for the houses? That's

25:12

a good question. I really I

25:15

looked on like my family members that did

25:17

the advocacy kind of thing, and

25:19

I listened to Yes, you've probably grown up

25:22

in the families in the black community too.

25:24

You've heard the stories about the civil rights. Yes,

25:26

you've seen about Emmit Well. I grew up in a time

25:28

where they would show about MBTIL. I literally

25:31

was educated about imatil. And

25:33

then I listened to a lot of the historical

25:35

references. I lived in Chicago when

25:38

the first black mayor was. I saw the election

25:40

and the challenges that my parents were going out

25:43

there getting people activated into

25:45

the community. Having these like my mother used to

25:47

got rest the soul. Have

25:49

these I'm going to date myself tupperware

25:52

parties, and I don't know if you know my

25:55

mom and them, yes, that is

25:57

if you If it was especially it was like

25:59

the church wars would have this big

26:01

thing. I can see it now. My mother

26:03

would get these candy corn and the

26:06

peanuts and make this little mixed

26:08

thing and she would make this like this tuna

26:11

salad, and then she would make she would make

26:13

this whole of a fried chicken. She would make the whole

26:15

big thing, this big kool aid punch of kool aid

26:17

and things like that, and the ladies would

26:19

come in with tupperware pots and bands

26:21

and things. They were organized,

26:24

but they were gossip and of

26:26

course I was always ear hustling and

26:28

learning how they were doing organizing

26:31

things. They were talking about the

26:33

church that they would go to on the other side of

26:35

the west side, and there's members, how

26:37

they get them to come to speak, about getting

26:40

new school books in the areas

26:42

that they were in, how they were looking to support

26:44

each other, how they were looking to raise

26:46

money because somebody's kid they

26:49

didn't get their food stamps or something. They

26:51

wanted to put money together so the kid could go

26:53

to a school trip and not feel left

26:55

out. And I mean those small

26:58

things that I look at and listen to, like, oh,

27:00

that really was organizing in their

27:02

way and without black

27:04

women. Is particularly in the civil rights

27:06

and in the activism, where the movement

27:09

would never have moved to

27:11

the great limbs and heights that they have. There's

27:13

no way around it, because they just had an innate

27:16

understanding how to broker

27:18

relationships with people that

27:21

were may not be in the same having

27:23

the same issues, but they always kind of

27:25

was able to connect or use the connective tissue

27:28

to unify people to go and

27:30

fight for the same cause. Like for example, there

27:32

was a lot of teacher strikes, there was a lot

27:34

of parent things going on that they would

27:37

get together and to consolidate to

27:39

speak on to really improve the lot

27:41

for all of the children at that time,

27:43

or the people that they need, like

27:45

the slumlords forcing them to put on

27:47

turn on the heat during a cold spell,

27:50

on those things. So when I

27:53

look back on that and it was like almost

27:55

my organic DNA to get into

27:57

activism. I didn't figure a

28:00

way to really get into activism until I

28:03

learned from my own experience,

28:06

but also to start talking to other unhoused

28:08

people and looking at like you said,

28:10

getting to hear their stories, like the gentleman

28:12

with his dying wife or the youth

28:14

that like there was a story that really

28:17

really affected me, and I never really got to

28:20

talk to them. But there's two

28:22

brother there was a brother and sister. They were crying

28:24

unconsolably, and they came to

28:26

the park that we're in, and we didn't and we

28:28

didn't know what was going on. We knew they were young,

28:31

and we knew that they were not on house at

28:33

the time, so we said, you know, why

28:35

are you out here? And their parents were killed

28:37

in a car accident and they

28:40

had nobody else and they were afraid

28:42

that they were going to be separated by the state, and

28:45

they didn't know what to do, so they just ran away.

28:47

And those kind of stories resonate

28:50

and stays with me and really says,

28:52

you know, I'm really tired of having

28:54

close friends of mine say that unhoused

28:56

people like to be in out here. They've been on

28:59

crack. They they have every destructive

29:02

and most vile reason, yeah,

29:04

stereotypes to use to justify

29:07

that callousness or dismissiveness

29:09

of a very delicate and nuanced

29:11

and layered conversation. So I

29:14

initially before I got into doing

29:16

podcasting. Was going to write a book about

29:19

my own living experience, but then I

29:21

started hearing about the advent of podcasting.

29:24

I was on a podcasting show. It

29:26

was suggested I did one, and I

29:28

took it from there. I created my podcast

29:30

literally living on the street. At the end of the

29:32

night I did my episode, I would

29:35

sleep down in the sleep down, bed down in the

29:37

park, get up in the morning, go and

29:39

do my research, go to the library, or go to

29:41

another encampment somewhere else, or

29:43

have someone drive me to another place. Where

29:45

encampments was to get to know people, and

29:48

for the most part, the most

29:50

shopped people and really more

29:53

warm of the warmness of people were

29:55

unhoused people. They wanted people to know

29:57

that they were more than the stereotype

30:00

exact and that really gave

30:03

me the fire to motivation

30:05

to continue to do that. And honestly,

30:07

I want to give you your flowers because of

30:09

the fact that you had that determination, because

30:12

listening to your story, there

30:15

should be no excuse for anybody else.

30:18

You are disabled, houseless,

30:20

and you managed to get yourself up

30:22

out of that, and you managed to create

30:24

a podcast speaking on

30:26

your story in other people's stories and reaching

30:29

out to health the community, even when you didn't have it yourself,

30:31

you reached out to help. So for anybody

30:33

that's out there looking for motivation to get

30:35

up off your you know what, please

30:39

listen to this. Please listen to this man, because

30:42

it takes determination, especially in

30:44

a state like that. You could have easily just been

30:46

depressed and gave up. You could have easily gave

30:48

up, but you didn't. And another thing you touched on which

30:50

I really appreciate was when you were talking

30:52

about your mother at the tubbleware

30:54

parts and how they all came together and make sure that, you

30:57

know, make sure another child that

30:59

wasn't even there was straight made sure

31:01

that that child had everything they need could not feel

31:03

excluded. And I feel like that's what we're missing

31:06

right now in the community in general, but especially

31:08

in the community of black people and people of color,

31:11

because we really don't have that togetherness

31:13

anymore. It's just more like crabs in a

31:15

bucket, Like it's kind

31:17

of like even if I could and there's

31:19

and here's the thing, there is more than

31:22

enough for everybody to

31:24

eat. But for some reason, we

31:26

have been placed in this scarcity mindset

31:29

to where it's like if this person wins,

31:31

that means I can't win. But that's not true.

31:34

We got we gotta lift each other up

31:36

and breaking the next person down and

31:39

neglect gatekeeping from the next person

31:43

is not going to assure

31:45

that you get what you get. That's not gonna

31:47

take away from you if they win. I

31:50

feel like if I can say, God

31:52

has specific things for specific

31:54

people, So it might not be your

31:56

time yet, it might not be your time to shine,

31:59

it might not be that might not be what God

32:01

wants for you. But everybody can eat.

32:03

I have to say I have to agree with because you're I

32:06

needed to pass the collection plate. But the point,

32:09

but the boy, what I wanted to say

32:11

too, is that it is true that I created

32:14

this podcast, but it took me a long time. I

32:16

had to go through my time

32:18

and the wilderness as well to

32:21

find what my purpose was because

32:23

I had to deal with the

32:26

embarrassment and had to deal with the

32:28

judgment of people that did not know my

32:30

story. And which is why I get on those

32:32

type of individuals, because the power

32:35

of life and death is in the power of the tongue. And

32:37

when you do those things and when you make those

32:39

snap judgments about people and

32:41

you demonize individual

32:43

because they are dealing with systemic

32:45

things. This is not a personal failure. These

32:47

things happens to people all the

32:49

time that just want the best for themselves

32:52

in lives, in their life, and it just

32:54

happens. And what we do is

32:56

a community like what you touch on, and

32:58

we have left that we don't have have that same

33:00

empathy that is needed. But when

33:02

I look at a person like Inty, another

33:05

housed individual that does a

33:08

mutual aid every Thursday, getting

33:10

to know the community and feeding food

33:12

and secure people that are living in houses

33:15

and they cannot afford the food

33:17

because the rents are expensive, this is the

33:19

type of kind of fabric that we need in our

33:21

community. Yes, oh, especially

33:24

in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a cold,

33:26

cold, cold city. Yes, absolutely

33:29

absolutely, and honestly, wo

33:32

man, my heart really goes out to those

33:35

that are unhoused right now because I've been

33:37

in that position. You've been in that position at

33:39

one point, You're gonna be in a

33:42

similar position, which is why it

33:44

pays to have compassion. It pays

33:46

to have compassion. So next time you guys

33:49

see somebody that's on the streets or

33:51

oh my goodness, I had an experience where I actually

33:53

broke down a cried in my

33:55

car. I had just moved to La

33:58

It was like during the pandemic, and and you

34:00

know, I was literally one check away from

34:02

being you know, on the streets with my daughter

34:04

because the person that I was with

34:07

at the time, he wasn't working. He

34:09

was doing extracurriculus. Let's say that he

34:11

was doing extracurriculum. So it was just me holding

34:13

everything down. So it was literally if

34:15

I hadn't got that one check like

34:18

that when to work that night and got that one check, we

34:20

would have been out on the streets. And kind

34:22

of was just like by the grace of God,

34:24

because I literally was driving down the street

34:26

right after I paid my rent and I

34:28

seen this woman, she like

34:31

she was my age. She had a little girl with her. You

34:33

know, I had my little girl. Little girl looked around the same age.

34:35

And then she had another little girl in

34:37

a stroller. And she has said,

34:40

just got evicted. This is during the pandemic.

34:43

Just got evicted, need

34:45

money for a hotel to stay. And

34:48

I had just so happened to have, like I

34:50

say, like twenty extra dollars in my

34:52

pocket. But it just it brought

34:54

me to tears. Because it was like that

34:57

could have been me. So

35:00

I gave her like twenty dollars and I gave her some snacks

35:02

in my car and I talked to her for

35:04

a little bit and it was just like She's like, I was just

35:06

one check short. I was just one check short. And it's literally

35:10

people don't understand how close

35:12

you can be to that. Regardless of where you come from,

35:14

there are people that were superstars,

35:17

ball players that were freaking

35:19

celebrities or CEOs that have

35:21

been brought down. So it always

35:23

pays to be humble. So I

35:26

want you to kind of touch on what

35:28

is it that exactly

35:31

you do? What services do you offer for

35:33

people? They're a couple of things. Someone

35:35

asked me this question, and I'm going to answer

35:38

yours. Intertwined with this question is

35:41

that what do you want your legacy

35:43

to be. I have been very

35:45

proud of creating with you in house, but one

35:48

of the things that I want

35:50

to be remembered for is creating

35:52

a platform where unhoused people's voices

35:54

are heard. And it was a groundswell

35:57

of empathy that followed afterwards,

35:59

people who were motivated to do something.

36:02

The second thing that I do

36:04

and I do this constantly.

36:07

There's an African saying that people

36:10

died twice the physical

36:12

death and when no one speaks

36:14

to person's name. There was one woman

36:17

that was embarrassed that she found out her father was

36:19

on house. She had no idea, and

36:22

the shelter called to come collect this stuff,

36:25

and so she had to go down this rabbit

36:27

hole because he and her mother, you know, she's working,

36:30

she's with her I don't know she was married at the time,

36:32

but she had a kid. You know, she's going through

36:34

the regular life, you know, just thinking about that,

36:37

and she's got to come to terms with finding

36:39

out her father was in house and

36:41

learning and going backtracking and finding

36:43

out where did things go wrong. She remembered

36:46

that there was a rocky marriage

36:48

between him and his mother mother, but she didn't understand

36:51

the challenges and the deaths that he went

36:53

through to be in house and the level

36:55

of efforty high hid from it because

36:58

they were in contact with each other. Of course,

37:00

he never said, oh, by the way, darling, I'm on

37:02

house. I can you know? Or can I stay

37:04

with you until I get on my feet? And that was never a

37:07

conversation. And there is like the

37:09

guilt involved or the family member. There

37:11

was a gentleman that had a favorite

37:13

uncle and the family

37:15

threw him out because he had a mental breakdown

37:18

and they never really conversated on

37:20

why he's not at the family gatherings,

37:23

and he's finding out that he passed

37:25

away because he was out on the street

37:28

for untreated mental health issues. So

37:30

these kind of stories people house

37:33

and un house would reach out to me because

37:35

the stigma we have so often about

37:38

houselessness is sold by mainstream

37:40

media by people that have like

37:43

snap judgments, and people

37:45

that you say these things too, are feeling

37:48

either guilty or they in order for them

37:50

not to be judged, they won't even mention it or

37:52

don't even want to talk about that goat family members

37:54

in our house because you know

37:56

they don't want to be looked on like you know you

37:58

your problem, or you know

38:00

you may become on house, or you know your family

38:03

is damaged goods and things like that. So,

38:05

like I said, the power of life and death is in the power

38:07

of the tongue. But those ripple effects

38:09

when you throw those harsh stereotypes

38:11

about unhoused people. One of the

38:14

things too, I wanted to take a quick

38:16

detour is like when you see people out

38:18

here in the heat wave, we can

38:20

go into an air conditioned room. But if unhouse

38:23

people deal with most of the environmental injustice

38:25

environmental issues, if you are sleep

38:28

deprived and you're having to stay

38:30

up all night to make sure your things are not taking or

38:32

harassed by house people and things, your

38:34

behavior is not going to be as lucid. And

38:37

it doesn't always mean that they're mentally ill. They

38:39

may be having a reaction CCSD

38:42

sleep deprivation is real, or

38:44

they're being dumped by hospitals they

38:47

haven't been able to be treated for the medication

38:49

because there's a lot of hospital dumping going on.

38:51

And so it's more than just

38:54

what people just make the snap judgment or when you

38:56

see unhoused people and I just wish

38:58

if there's anything to be remember is

39:01

this podcast as well as that

39:03

and the mutual aid I do every Saturday with

39:06

Jaytown Action and Solidarity and helping

39:08

providing charging services for unhoused

39:10

people's phones, harm reduction

39:13

supplies, clothing,

39:15

food, different things for unhoused

39:18

people that basically charities

39:20

thats only touch on, but we need a lot

39:22

of that type of empathy, empathetic kind of

39:25

services instead of just thinking one

39:27

institution does all of it, which some

39:30

formed people believe in. So'm

39:34

sorry, I got I'm getting a little

39:37

emotional because it's like

39:39

when you touched on that, most

39:42

people are very embarrassed. Most people are very

39:44

embarrassed to be in that situation. I know I

39:46

was when I experienced it. I didn't actually

39:49

say it until our interview. Nobody knew

39:51

because it was just like I was so embarrassed,

39:53

but it just it really

39:56

touched on it, because it just what

39:58

was your most embarrassing time, because I have

40:02

mine was like when I'm not able to

40:04

get to the showers in time, or I

40:06

had to plan to go to the doctor and I couldn't

40:08

get to the places that had the showers because there's

40:10

a big, long line, and so I knew I

40:12

was going to end up not smelling as fresh

40:15

as I would like, and I having to encounter

40:18

go on to public transportation and

40:20

it gets hot, then you got to like trying

40:22

to navigate run to a bathroom, but then there's

40:25

the public bathrooms. And so that

40:27

was my embarrassing saying what would be

40:29

yours? Mine was when

40:32

my only shelter of my car actually

40:35

was almost totaled. Oh

40:37

no, on the way too Las

40:40

Vegas. I ended up. It

40:42

was in February, so

40:44

it was a February. I was in Decatur, Texas,

40:46

and people in Texas don't really know how to drive, and

40:48

there's a lot of black ice in Texas. So

40:51

I was going up the railway

40:53

and my Chevy Malibu and my

40:55

Malibu lost control, hit the curve

40:58

wheels turned in. I

41:01

thank goodness. I was able to get some money

41:04

to get a hotel for a couple of days. But the first

41:06

day, I was like I had to sit

41:08

in the lobby. I was sitting in the lobby, I couldn't

41:11

take a shower. And as a female, and it was

41:13

that time of the month too, so as a female,

41:16

I didn't have merely anything with me. Like

41:18

I was just I was sitting there

41:21

and they were nice enough to let me sit there. They're

41:23

like, okay, you know, we'll give you a night. My

41:25

dad wired some money to me. He didn't know I was

41:28

going through that. He didn't know. He just like,

41:30

okay, let me just wire this to you. And

41:32

I was able to get the shelter. But it was like that first,

41:35

like twenty four hours after I had

41:37

crashed my car, decater I was in the middle of Decatur,

41:39

Texas. I never been to Decatur, Texas,

41:41

and I didn't know whether it was a sundowntown or not exactly,

41:44

especially in the sun was going down. I had

41:46

no car. I'm in the middle of

41:48

a so sotarm I stink,

41:51

I am, I haven't eaten. My stomach's

41:53

beatboxing. It was just

41:55

it was so embarrassing because it was just

41:57

like I've never been the tight to

42:00

be helpless or to feel like

42:02

I was helpless. So in that position,

42:04

I was completely helpless.

42:06

And I remember I was talking

42:08

to the ex that I had left at the time because I

42:11

don't know why. Like me and Myles we're still cool,

42:13

but at the time we just we just weren't good for each

42:15

other. So I was talking to him. I was like, yeah, I crashed my car. He's

42:17

like, maybe that's a sign you should come back. I was like, over

42:19

my dead body, you know. So

42:23

I kept I kept trucking. I mean, we cool

42:25

now. Shout out to the shout out to him, he's doing great

42:27

job. But at the time, it was just

42:29

like everything was going wrong and I was like, dang, maybe

42:32

I should go back to Louisiana. I was, but

42:34

I was just like everything inside of me was like no,

42:37

no, no, like So that was

42:39

super embarrassing for me because I've never been in a

42:41

position and I hate stinking. I hate

42:43

not smelling good. Anybody knows

42:45

me, knows I smell good every time I control, but that

42:47

time it

42:50

was horrible. I know, deodorant, I ran o

42:52

deodoran. Oh that was abrac

42:55

Yeah. I think that's one of the major difficulties.

42:58

Second major embarrassing things is

43:00

one is like that and like

43:03

I hated two things when it got

43:05

too hot or it was like, for example,

43:07

when we have in Los Angeles when it gets rainy

43:09

and too cold and I have

43:12

you have to change your clothes and

43:14

the water because it starts to mildle

43:16

your clothes and it calls. Even though matter

43:18

if you wash them or not, you steal those

43:20

clothes smell. You could take a shower, but

43:22

those clothes smell ripe. And

43:25

that was a major another embarrassment

43:28

because it is not that

43:30

easy just to get up and just dry

43:32

your clothes like other people do. And

43:34

I know, like and Los Angeles is not meant

43:36

for walking. They got all these long as hils

43:39

and I'm already disabled and all the things out,

43:41

So you cannot just get pick up

43:43

all your clothes and just go to a laundry mat.

43:45

You've got to you have to coordinate

43:47

your time and calculate your time, especially

43:50

you know some of the places, like I would try to sneak

43:52

in those laundry places to dig a

43:54

shower, but then they have people in

43:57

then to try to deter on

43:59

house people going and they're showering, they'll come

44:01

burst in the door while you're either

44:03

Chinese restroom or get all of those

44:06

kind of those kind of tactics that

44:08

they use to always let you

44:10

know that you were not welcome

44:12

in places you were not welcome, You were not

44:14

allowed to have dignity.

44:17

That's one of the things that I have to say that it's

44:19

one of the driving forces about

44:21

these ordinances, this way that people treat

44:24

on house people. You are not allowed

44:26

to have a dignified existence.

44:28

And that is something that

44:30

I knew that I would love to tend

44:33

to your legacy to reinstall our empathy

44:35

and an empathetic well spring of

44:37

good, good will and kindness

44:39

of people, because we all deserve to be treated

44:41

decently. You know, nobody wants to get

44:43

up in the morning and smell right if they

44:46

have no choice normal, you know what I'm saying.

44:49

Nobody want, you

44:51

know, and if you see people sneaking in

44:53

places like that, it tells you they

44:55

don't like it easier. And we

44:57

don't have the bathrooms for people

44:59

to have the dignified to go to the bath they're

45:01

trying to be as dignified and have there's

45:03

some kind of self esteem and

45:06

we're taking it from them with all of these ordinances,

45:09

hostile architecture, no bathrooms

45:11

or these signs that's in restaurants, no public

45:13

restrooms. I'm like, everybody goes to the

45:15

restroom. If you don't have places for the bathrooms,

45:18

it stands to reason that you're

45:20

going to find creative solution. Yeah.

45:23

I hate to break up just such a riveden conversation,

45:26

but we have to take upbreak. We

45:28

will be right back and

45:38

we're back. By stayed

45:41

in k Town. When I first came out here.

45:44

Where I was at was on eighth in New Hampshire. I

45:46

had an alleyway where the you know, the houses would

45:49

stay and have their meetings and stuff. I don't know what they have

45:51

means about, but you know it was right in the

45:53

alley that my place was at, and I

45:57

remember there was one houseless

45:59

man that actually had passed away in

46:01

the alley and the way that people

46:04

like discarded of him, even when I

46:06

was with my ex. I was with my ex at the time, and

46:09

you know, I seen it. I realized like, Okay, I'm

46:11

like, he's not moving, he's not breathing. Like I'm

46:13

driving past in my car and I'm like, yo,

46:15

like maybe we should like call somebody,

46:18

you know, come get him, go to call the hospital something.

46:21

And remember my ex was just like, nah, nah,

46:23

nah it don't don't worry about it. I was like, no, it looks like

46:25

he's because you know, when you pass away,

46:27

you avoid your bows. Yeah, exactly, So he voided

46:29

his bou. I was like, yo, like I think

46:31

that, you know. Yeah, he was just

46:34

very like, you know, stuck

46:36

up towards him, like oh, anyways, they'll come get him,

46:38

they'll come scoop him up. And I was just like, well we should

46:40

call it. I kind of low key called and

46:42

I was like, hey, like there's somebody out there, you

46:45

know. I called like the attendant and I

46:47

was like, hey, like, you know, there's somebody out there. I don't know if

46:49

he's alive, he's not breathing. He avoided his bowels,

46:51

you know, and in the military they teach you the

46:54

signs. So I was like, look, I

46:56

like pulled up afterwards

46:59

in the corner when it got him. He did pass away,

47:01

unfortunately, Rest in peace to him. We

47:03

pulled up and he wasn't there, and I was like, oh, he's not

47:05

there anymore. He's like yeah, because he you know, my ex was

47:07

saying some like really messed up. So saintoris

47:09

At oh, because he's this isn't this? And I was

47:12

like, well, if I wasn't taking care of you, you

47:14

would be in his position too, absolutely, you

47:16

know. And people don't. People desensitize

47:18

and dehumanize. So it's like you could be in the same

47:20

position. And I keeps saying that during the interview.

47:22

But I just want for people to humble themselves for

47:25

real, and I to see the humanity

47:27

of people. Yeah, And just because that, I

47:29

have to quote a something from the X Man at It, which is

47:31

so true. Just because someone stumbles

47:33

and loses their weight doesn't mean that they're lost forever,

47:35

and it doesn't mean that we cannot institute

47:38

empathy and kindness to a person. This is

47:40

a human being that had transitioned from

47:42

this earthly spirit to a place of peace,

47:44

a place of non existence. But

47:46

the fact of it is is like people saking

47:49

selfies, people walking over the dead body,

47:51

people just not looking at

47:53

this person though he lived on the street, he

47:55

had a life before he was living on the street. Nobody

47:58

at a yeah, No one say

48:00

well, let's go and live on the street to be mistreated or

48:02

treated like second date trash. We

48:05

as a society have been inculcated

48:08

or been educated and doctrinated if you

48:10

will, into thinking that someone

48:12

because they don't have the financial status

48:15

or they don't have the housing status,

48:17

that they are giving free

48:20

rein to dehumanize them. If

48:22

you can dehumanize a human being, then you

48:24

can criminalize a human being. I always say that,

48:26

they always do that. I noticed that too. With

48:28

there's a lot of profiling with police

48:30

when it comes to houselessness. There's a lot of profiles, especially

48:32

if you aren't a house person of color. Yes, and

48:35

there's somebody that I did mention in the last interview

48:37

there is a trans woman that's

48:39

out here. She literally has the most

48:41

positive attitude that he really puts

48:43

into perspective, like you could be grateful in any

48:46

place that you're at. But she's dealt

48:48

with a lot of discrimination. She seld with a lot of

48:50

sexual harassment. She's dealt with a lot of it. And she used

48:52

to be an ex cop. She used to be an

48:54

ex cop and you know, she was Trump. So

48:56

she has PTSD from that. She has PTSD

48:58

from her whole family cut her off

49:01

just because she made the decision to live in her truth. And

49:03

I think that's not discussed either people

49:05

that are transitioning or people that are you

49:08

know, from the LGBTQ plus community,

49:11

a lot of them get put out on the streets too because

49:13

of their decisions on who they choose to love. And a

49:15

young age too, that is a lot of like on

49:17

Hollywood and Western during the pandemic, I

49:19

was interviewing a lot of the unhoused youths

49:22

that families when they find

49:24

either they come out to them or their

49:27

parents are very religious and they

49:29

find tail tale signs, a diary

49:32

or a stolen caress or whatever something

49:34

has happened that has horrified

49:37

the family and they throw the kid out and

49:39

in in essence, the kid doesn't have

49:41

the coping skills because they are kids, so

49:43

they have to find survival methods

49:45

that would make anyone else shocked

49:48

or scared anyone in order to survive

49:50

not only dealing with their own truth, but

49:52

not so dealing with the realities of being

49:54

in housed, living in their truth,

49:57

and living in reality that is in

49:59

all our community these like now and not as

50:01

sympathetic to the LGBUTIA plus

50:03

community as well. Yes, because

50:05

I've noticed that so much. And there's a

50:07

lot of people that I went to school with, There's a lot of people

50:09

whose parents really kick them

50:11

out at a very young age. And honestly, I'm just gonna

50:14

say this for the record. It

50:16

should not matter who

50:18

that person decides to love, who that person

50:21

decides to be with. It shouldn't matter

50:23

what that person wants to wear, whether that person wants

50:25

to wear a dress, whether that person wants to change their body.

50:27

That has nothing to do with you. That is their

50:29

personal agenda, that is their personal life.

50:32

Let people be who they are, Let people

50:34

live in their truth, because the world will be a lot

50:36

happier if people let that happen. We

50:38

cannot talk about liberation if we are

50:40

trying to model the same

50:43

oppressive tactics that are used against us exactly.

50:45

And I say that because as an African American heterosexual

50:48

male, I notice sometimes and particularly

50:50

the toxic masculinity male communities,

50:54

is that that conversation is always used

50:56

as a way to oppress Black women or

50:58

oppress people in the elgib t I

51:00

community. Is like, I can't be free

51:03

unless you're free, because if I'm having to

51:05

extend my experience or spend

51:07

my power to dominate you, I'm

51:09

not free. I'm still caught up into a

51:11

cycle. Now I'm just taking on the tools

51:13

that was created to oppress you.

51:16

The oppressed becomes the oppressed exactly, so we

51:20

can be free. So in order for us to be as

51:22

seen as we are, the world

51:24

would be a much easier

51:27

place, and much more graceful

51:29

place, a much more empathetic place, which was

51:32

I guess this is for the word of the day. Like in

51:34

Sesame Street, it's empathy. We have

51:36

to have this empathetic well spring to

51:38

be reactivated because it's

51:40

going on empty. We're

51:43

dry and that well

51:45

because we're afraid, and we're

51:47

afraid of the unknown, and we're afraid

51:50

that someone's going to get an extra

51:52

crumb that we do, and if they get the crumb.

51:55

Then what does that make us because we've been asking

51:57

for crumbs forever, but you

51:59

know, someone make get an extra crumb, but that extra crum

52:01

may be used to oppress you, and we need to

52:04

just look at it like, hey, we all getting

52:06

crumbs. They like, we're getting all the same

52:08

piece of the pot. So we have to work

52:10

together. But we have to understand that this is

52:12

not this is designed for us to be at

52:14

logger heads with you, exactly, because if you really

52:16

think about it, Okay, let's say this person

52:18

is getting an extra crumb. Let's say if you got

52:21

your little crumbs, they got their little crumses, y'all put your

52:23

crumbs together. Y'all could come up with something instead

52:25

of actually being like, oh, she got let me

52:27

take her crumb, let me oppress

52:30

her crumb. Instead of being like, Okay, I

52:32

got this, you got this. Because there's different

52:34

strength, there's different different roles

52:36

people can play in things. Okay, so she has

52:38

this, he has this. Let's put this together

52:40

and let's make something bigger because honestly, this whole

52:42

movement is bigger than everybody. Absolutely,

52:45

nobody's bigger than the program. Exactly. Nobody's

52:47

bigger than the movement, and the idea is to

52:49

tackle and dismantle the program

52:52

that is making sure that we only get crumbs,

52:54

because that's not going to be sufficient in the long

52:56

run anyway. Exactly. So the whole point is getting

52:58

a slice of the pot instead of the

53:01

crops. So if we work together to use those little

53:03

crubs, we've got to tackle down the systemic

53:05

issues that are plaguing both

53:07

communities or many communities. Yes, then

53:10

we're win in We're we're doing something exactly,

53:13

And I think we do lack empathy, we lack

53:15

actually working together because people

53:17

don't want to work together more. They're all out for themselves.

53:19

But I do want to actually touch on before

53:21

we close this anywhere. I want to touch on what you have

53:24

planned for the future, What events, what

53:26

what? What programs can people go to in

53:29

LA because people want to know. There's

53:31

definitely food organizations. I've been working

53:33

with food organization. Shout out to

53:35

LACA LA Community Alliance for feeding the

53:38

homeless and feeding the un

53:40

sheltered and feeding people just on hard times. I

53:42

want to actually get into what programs you offer,

53:45

what what where can these people find these

53:47

resources? What do you have planning future?

53:49

Any any events? Anything that

53:51

you have every Saturday, every Saturday

53:54

from two to five and Little Tokyo

53:56

we offer a mutual aid and

53:58

that is I partnered with Jape Town Action

54:00

Solidarity. We provide fresh hot

54:02

food, We provide harm reduction,

54:05

we provide medical care. We

54:08

provide charging where people can charge

54:10

up their devices. We also

54:12

offer different like Talent Night. We have

54:15

Diamond in a rough who performs. We have

54:17

some that get do poetry and so

54:19

we have there every Saturday.

54:22

I also offer, like I

54:24

said, you know you have to look out for it. I try

54:27

to let the can you see me memorials where

54:29

I'd go to either the city hall or other places

54:32

where uhouse people have passed away and we

54:34

hold like the most recent one we had

54:36

I don't know even remember about mister Jordan Neely.

54:39

Yes, mister Jordan Neely, I hosted

54:42

a trained memorial. I put brought the coffin,

54:45

and people from the community came

54:47

on the red line and we basically

54:49

started communicating and eulogizing

54:52

about the realities of unhoused people

54:54

that are on trains. Because there's been such

54:56

a negative and a hostile way of

54:58

how they treat unhoused people and so

55:00

those things I offer as

55:02

well as like, there's going to be other events

55:05

that we're going to do, but most often or not, I

55:07

am dividing my time with doing

55:09

the show. But I also speak regularly

55:12

because I want to talk about this reality

55:14

that I missed. Houselessness

55:16

is just not encampments. And

55:19

I'm proud when I became the

55:21

activist in Residents and I started talking

55:23

to the classmates in UCLA,

55:26

and then when unhoused people started to

55:29

tell them, Yeah, I'm

55:31

a college student and I'm on house at

55:33

the end of class, i have to sleep

55:35

in my car, and that opened

55:38

up as such a different

55:41

thing. It shocked some of the students, but

55:43

it also and like they would come to me and

55:45

thank me for Peter bringing that up

55:48

because before that conversation has

55:50

never happened. Act like, because people

55:52

think, how many people think on house people are on

55:54

substances, how many people see on house people

55:56

only thinking about there on the park or

55:59

on buses or benches and things

56:01

like that, some of these people are college bract and

56:03

that that's why it says it's so important

56:06

to understand the layers and the nuances

56:08

of houselessness. And I want people

56:10

to understand houselessness is closer to you.

56:13

I have a Starbucks frappucino,

56:16

but I had people when they were listening

56:18

to my show when I first started, would

56:21

come up to me and whisper, I'm on house,

56:23

but I'm working in Starbucks, and I

56:25

wanted to exact I would like to get

56:27

your your talk. I would like to talk to you and

56:30

get your story because people

56:32

need to know you don't know who's

56:34

on house. It is not always

56:38

very well because they know the stigma, they

56:40

know the hostility that's outfit

56:42

about houselesness, so they rather than

56:45

not let you know, unless if

56:47

someone takes the temerity or the courage

56:49

to say, hey, this is part of unhousedness.

56:52

You know. I'm I'm a college educated

56:54

I'm going to class, but at the end of the class,

56:56

I live in the shelter, you know. I mean,

56:58

that's just how it is. I can't afford

57:01

the rents here because it's the area we

57:03

live in is too ridiculous. I live in my car or

57:05

I have to get I have to leave here in class early to

57:07

get to the shelter because they have a curfew. So

57:09

these stories, it's why I

57:12

do what I do. I'm sorry, I'm getting mo Yeah,

57:14

it's okay. But this is why I

57:16

do the show because I want people to realize

57:19

you never know how much of an impact

57:21

you have on someone's life. And when you make

57:23

snap judgments or you close the door, or

57:25

you become callous or indifferent, you

57:28

don't know whose life you're saving. You don't know whose

57:30

life you're you know if you're closing the door

57:32

on And that is what I want to do.

57:35

We open the door of kindness. There's

57:37

a saying that I believe, use your

57:39

heart to love somebody,

57:42

and if your heart is big enough, use

57:44

your heart to love everybody.

57:46

And if we can do that as a

57:48

society and learning like we are

57:51

our brothers and sisters keeper and we

57:53

must understand that if we are

57:55

not together, if someone

57:57

else is not together, we must have

57:59

that empathy. We must rekindle

58:02

that if you will, so there's more than enough for

58:04

everybody to eat. Also, I wanted

58:06

to take the opportunity quickly to give you

58:08

a shout out because we connected

58:11

on your show. Yeah, and just to

58:13

give out her flowers. Bay Honey's

58:16

interview was so explosive,

58:19

but it's also much more well thought

58:21

out. It was one of the better interviews that I had

58:23

in a very long time by podcasting,

58:25

which is why I chose you to interview. Thank you, But

58:28

I felt that it is important because

58:30

she has a podcast and I

58:33

listen into her story. But tell us a little

58:35

bit how we can find you as well. You can

58:37

find me on dash Radio on

58:39

Caliente Girls. You can find me

58:41

on Instagram Bay Honey b A

58:44

E h O and I

58:46

I spelled honey different because I'm giving tribute

58:48

to my Hawaiian culture, my Poluesic culture. But

58:51

you can find me on Instagram, you can find me on

58:53

Caliens Girls. You can actually find

58:55

me all around La. I'm everywhere. And

58:57

most importantly, she's also a fitness

58:59

office, so you're seeing

59:01

which is what she is the person of many talents

59:04

and many hats, So you can reach out to

59:06

her. And if you probably want to be a guest on her

59:08

show, what do you need to do to get you reach out

59:10

to you? Just reach out to me on my Instagram,

59:12

slide to my dms. I don't know crazy stuff,

59:14

but if you want to interview, for sure,

59:16

I am down to interview anybody

59:19

that's doing anything in La, anybody that's grinding

59:21

out here because La. If you can make it in

59:24

La, if you could do something in La, you can make it anywhere.

59:26

So I would love to help you

59:28

be that stepping stool, help you be that elevation

59:31

that you need. So yeah, just reach out

59:33

to me and reach out to reach out

59:35

to Leo. He is doing

59:37

his thing with Oh my goodness, And

59:39

I'm just so grateful that you chose me to interview

59:42

you for this because this is big. Like I

59:44

was not expecting that call. To be honest, I

59:46

was like, oh man, let me figure out how to

59:48

get there. I had the most of things around,

59:50

but I was like, I was honored, But I thank you

59:52

for having me, and I thank you for allowing me to interview

59:54

you. This legacy that I want

59:56

to leave is that I want to leave the world a better

59:59

place that I found. That I also want to leave it that

1:00:01

on house people can say, this is a place where

1:00:03

I know that my voice is respected.

1:00:05

I don't have to feel shamed

1:00:08

or blamed or are

1:00:10

bad about being on a house. Yes, and

1:00:13

here, Honestly, I'm glad that

1:00:15

you have this platform because if I want to leave the

1:00:17

audience with this, you are heard, you

1:00:20

are loved, You are wanted.

1:00:23

Please take up space. It does

1:00:25

not matter whether who's telling

1:00:27

you what your circumstance. Your circumstances

1:00:29

do not make you okay. Your

1:00:31

circumstances do not break you okay.

1:00:34

So whether you're in a hard

1:00:37

time right now, there is always getting out. Keep

1:00:39

faith, keep the faith, stay

1:00:42

positive, and take it one day at a time

1:00:44

because you never know it could

1:00:46

be one day that could change your life. And

1:00:48

honestly, I want to let you know to

1:00:50

never give up, never give up on yourself, never

1:00:53

give up on life, regardless of what

1:00:55

this life has thrown at you. Everybody goes through

1:00:57

things, but it's how you handle it

1:00:59

afterwards. So you are heard, you

1:01:01

are loved, you are wanted, and

1:01:04

take up as much space as you can

1:01:06

in this world because you are

1:01:08

welcomed, regardless of what media

1:01:10

and people try to tell you. Are welcomed, You are

1:01:12

loved, and you are free to be yourself

1:01:14

and take up that space in the world. So

1:01:17

this is be honey. I just did

1:01:19

this amazing interview with THEO and

1:01:22

I am grateful to be here logging

1:01:24

out. Thank you very much. Well,

1:01:32

we're going to take a break and we will be

1:01:34

right back. Thank

1:01:42

you for dropping in to Weedian House, where

1:01:45

we're introducing a new way of presenting

1:01:47

the news to the young house community. Our

1:01:50

exclusive interview this week is with Proclaimer

1:01:52

activist Martha Squitter of Reclaiming

1:01:54

Our Homes in Elserino, California.

1:01:57

Here's Martha's story.

1:02:03

So, Martha, let's start off. How

1:02:05

did you get into the world of houselessness. I

1:02:08

know you didn't work one day and says I'm going to

1:02:10

go out and be houses because it's fun.

1:02:12

So I know that there was a story.

1:02:14

So tell us a little bit about your story. Yes,

1:02:16

So I had left out of the country

1:02:19

for two years and when I returned

1:02:23

to Los Angeles, rent was really

1:02:25

high. It had tripled from

1:02:28

where two years ago because

1:02:30

my landlord didn't really raise the rent.

1:02:32

I had a good job helping high

1:02:35

risk moms, and I

1:02:38

was okay with the rent. What were

1:02:40

you doing with working with high risk moms? What was

1:02:42

going on? So these moms were

1:02:45

I saw them when they were pregnant until

1:02:48

the baby turned two years or also

1:02:53

if they had a termination or

1:02:56

they couldn't have the baby. I

1:02:59

saw them for to your mark, and

1:03:02

a lot of them were low income people

1:03:04

of color, So that you know

1:03:06

that's what's considered high risk is

1:03:09

that the most historically

1:03:11

marginalized people were the

1:03:13

moms that I saw and the children I saw, the

1:03:15

families I saw providing them resources

1:03:18

and education on how to

1:03:20

you know, be healthier families,

1:03:23

be healthier people. But a

1:03:25

lot of them at that time were

1:03:27

also on house A lot of them lived in their

1:03:29

cars and shelters and

1:03:32

very tight living

1:03:35

environments, or also CouchSurfing.

1:03:39

So I saw that,

1:03:42

but it wasn't affecting me yet

1:03:44

until I came back two years

1:03:47

later and I

1:03:49

saw myself in a similar situation, and

1:03:51

I know because I provided those

1:03:53

resources that they were very

1:03:55

limited and very traumatic. The shelters

1:03:58

have been very traumatic for families.

1:04:00

A lot of them get called social

1:04:02

services just because their child cries. Heavily

1:04:05

policed, yes, heavily policed environments

1:04:09

and often very traumatizing,

1:04:11

not only for children but for adults. So

1:04:13

I didn't want to be in that situation. Also,

1:04:15

like a lot of things like Section

1:04:18

eight, they take years. I had a friend

1:04:20

that signed up when her daughter was a toddler.

1:04:23

She didn't actually receive Section into

1:04:26

her daughter turned seventeen. So

1:04:29

it's just like I know that

1:04:31

we have an abundance of resources, but

1:04:34

they're not distributed properly. So

1:04:37

I didn't want to wait in

1:04:39

line, and I don't think anybody should actually,

1:04:42

because I feel that

1:04:45

the government and our society

1:04:47

does have abundance of resources,

1:04:50

but they're not being distributed in a

1:04:53

humane way. One of the things about

1:04:55

your activism is you have taken

1:04:58

a different stance on creating of

1:05:00

approaching the situation. What challenges

1:05:03

there were that you face dealing with

1:05:05

the houselessness with your children? You have two children,

1:05:07

right, yes, I'm a single

1:05:09

mother of two. Currently my

1:05:12

daughter is fourteen and eleven my

1:05:15

daughter's but at the time

1:05:17

there were seven

1:05:20

I believe in nine when we came

1:05:22

back from Chile and we were living in a

1:05:25

rural area with like indigenous

1:05:27

community, So just

1:05:29

even coming back to the city it was like highly

1:05:32

traumatic. Yeah, culture we had like

1:05:34

anxiety attacks. It was

1:05:36

like really bad for us. And then

1:05:39

we ended up going from

1:05:41

house to house from friends and families, which

1:05:44

was also very traumatic. Just

1:05:46

that moving and not having stability.

1:05:49

Were the children able to thrive

1:05:51

in school living like that because

1:05:54

there is over sixty eight thousand

1:05:56

on house children here. But the

1:05:58

thame with it is people have this an

1:06:00

aniquated notion that only houseless people

1:06:03

are male, older guys, they're

1:06:05

spaced out or on a mental health

1:06:07

break and that's it. Or

1:06:09

people that are on substances. What's

1:06:12

a little bit different about this situation. Well,

1:06:14

unfortunately, there's a lot of families

1:06:16

with children that are on house and

1:06:18

also a lot of elders that can't afford

1:06:20

rent. There just depend on their social

1:06:22

security and they work all their lives

1:06:24

and they don't deserve to be on the

1:06:27

streets. Nobody does. But these

1:06:29

people have worked. They you know, they

1:06:31

believe in Yeah, they believe

1:06:33

they worked. They you know, they did what

1:06:36

they had to do, and they're not

1:06:38

able to afford rent. It's almost fable

1:06:40

like because here is a

1:06:43

slices community to have mentioned. They've got

1:06:45

themselves on their feet, they don't

1:06:47

require government assistance. They thumb

1:06:50

their nose in some respects. And

1:06:52

then after all of that doing all of

1:06:54

what they said to do, now you're out here,

1:06:56

you know, scrambling between your you know, your

1:06:58

Medicaid check or your medication and

1:07:00

out here on Saturdays eating

1:07:03

from a mutual eight that

1:07:05

are specifically designed for on house

1:07:07

community members. So the house and

1:07:09

secure also is connected in our

1:07:11

house movement unfortunately. But it's

1:07:13

a factor realities, right exactly.

1:07:16

And it's really sad seeing that others

1:07:18

like just be recycling

1:07:21

to meet their needs. I

1:07:24

mean, we should all recycle anyway, but just

1:07:26

the fact that they should be

1:07:28

resting at the stage after working

1:07:30

so hard and work in like Walmart

1:07:33

or other places like grocery

1:07:36

stores, and even

1:07:38

if it's part time, they have to continue

1:07:40

to work or else they won't have anywhere

1:07:42

to live because rent so

1:07:45

high, and it's high because it's

1:07:47

made that way because in actuality,

1:07:49

we have an abundance of houses.

1:07:52

They say that there's three empty

1:07:54

homes per one on house person, so

1:07:57

we could house every single person

1:08:00

here in the city, which leads into the

1:08:02

next question I had, And I

1:08:04

was curious, what gave you guys the

1:08:06

idea to look at the houses

1:08:08

here, because you did some rather

1:08:10

extraordinary stuff, So I will let you tell

1:08:12

your story further. For myself,

1:08:15

it was Moms for Housing in Oakland

1:08:18

that inspired me because I saw them and

1:08:20

I was like, wow, like these are moms

1:08:22

and they could do it, and they're

1:08:24

you know, they have community support for those

1:08:26

that don't know. Moms for Housing were

1:08:29

formerly on housed women that has

1:08:31

seen abandoned buildings that has

1:08:33

been abandoned for years, and

1:08:36

they basically commandeered it and

1:08:38

demanded the city to

1:08:40

house all of the increasing unhoused

1:08:43

community members, which you are mothers with children.

1:08:45

And it was a big conversation

1:08:49

and it was inspired a lot of movements. And

1:08:51

I suffice it to say, I think it's

1:08:54

inspired you as you you say,

1:08:57

and you guys did some extraordinary things.

1:08:59

So let's talk a little bit about that. Yeah,

1:09:01

And at that time, I didn't know there was other

1:09:03

groups that were meeting and

1:09:06

identifying these homes, and

1:09:08

we all kind of met

1:09:11

through identifying the

1:09:14

houses in Etceno through East

1:09:16

Side Cafe, which

1:09:19

has been really knowledgeable in

1:09:21

the struggle of these houses because they were

1:09:23

the ones there were one of the groups

1:09:26

that fought against

1:09:28

the freeways

1:09:30

being built that Caltrans

1:09:33

took these homes like thirty years

1:09:35

ago to build the freeway. Then the

1:09:37

community fought for the freeway not to be built,

1:09:39

but they remained abandoned a

1:09:42

lot of them. And it was close to two

1:09:44

hundred in a Hambra, Etsedano,

1:09:46

and South Pasadena. So

1:09:48

not only in Etceno where we took

1:09:51

the homes, but other places through huge

1:09:53

homes in Pasadena that are just abandoned

1:09:55

for years and years and left

1:09:57

to rot while people are suffering on the streets.

1:10:00

And so to me, that is a moral

1:10:02

And so that's why to

1:10:05

me, like the laws don't

1:10:08

mean anything if they're like hurting

1:10:10

us. So I

1:10:12

broke the law to get into these homes

1:10:15

so that I could have a

1:10:17

house during COVID.

1:10:19

It was right during the COVID epidemic

1:10:23

where we were all supposed to shelter in place,

1:10:25

and I didn't really have a home to shelter

1:10:27

in place, so to keep myself

1:10:29

and my family safe, we took a home

1:10:32

in Elceno. And also

1:10:35

we also raised awareness about these empty

1:10:38

homes that none none of the politicians

1:10:40

had done anything. And then all of a sudden,

1:10:43

now they wanted they had a plan according

1:10:45

to them, but through

1:10:47

this whole time, none of them had really

1:10:50

acknowledged these homes. That's

1:10:52

what I was going to say. That's one of the inspirations

1:10:55

that reclaimers, because you guys are

1:10:57

reclaiming when there's they's basically

1:10:59

the cities, which is we're paying taxes

1:11:01

in is ours. How did

1:11:03

the politicians

1:11:06

react to this? What did are they doing?

1:11:08

Anything of the steps to open up other houses

1:11:11

for a house families or what

1:11:13

did they do how were they able

1:11:16

to hold onto your home for

1:11:18

us, we got

1:11:20

an offer from Haakla

1:11:22

and Path to have a

1:11:25

two year temporary housing agreement,

1:11:28

and so we sounded we

1:11:31

signed it because we didn't really want to be harassed

1:11:33

at the moment, and we figured that

1:11:36

we could like try to negotiate with

1:11:38

them in order to keep these homes

1:11:41

or to find permanent housing

1:11:43

around the area. Because I

1:11:46

have my children in the in the school

1:11:48

there that's really good. It's

1:11:50

an alternative schools and Digitus

1:11:52

school, and she has

1:11:55

special needs, so this school

1:11:58

really addresses

1:12:00

I also am a single mom and I have a lot of my

1:12:02

support system there. So I made it really

1:12:04

clear what type of housing I

1:12:07

needed because

1:12:09

we know like being displaced

1:12:11

causes a lot of trauma absolutely, and

1:12:13

so I didn't I didn't want to move from my community

1:12:16

and they haven't provided that. All the housing

1:12:18

that they were providing was outside my

1:12:21

geographic area and

1:12:24

or really expensive for my budget. So

1:12:28

the two year mark ended and

1:12:31

we still right now we're under

1:12:33

eviction because they

1:12:35

didn't want to offer any transition

1:12:37

in place or any other offers

1:12:39

within the area, and the

1:12:42

politicians really they Kevin

1:12:45

de Leone and Marilena Durasso,

1:12:47

Ween de Carrillo, they all

1:12:50

say they have plans for

1:12:52

these homes that were not special, that we shouldn't

1:12:55

get a deal, that we should wait in line like everybody

1:12:57

else, those type of and

1:13:00

then the plan they have is for mixed income

1:13:02

housing, which I believe is

1:13:04

not very good. Now that you've claimed

1:13:07

the house, have you noticed that there

1:13:09

was any improvement in the outlook of

1:13:11

your children, you that you had somewhere

1:13:13

to be conversely having to stay in the

1:13:15

car or you know, any

1:13:17

other ingenious ways of trying to

1:13:19

survive. Well, yeah, it was a blessing

1:13:22

having home, especially during COVID. I

1:13:24

was able to start a co

1:13:27

op of families

1:13:29

that were homeschooling at the time, because everybody

1:13:32

was homeschooling at the time and so but

1:13:34

we built our own curriculum, We fixed

1:13:37

the garage area to meet

1:13:39

and have learning and

1:13:42

so that's when really our children

1:13:44

were thriving the most. We were giving them a

1:13:46

lot of attention, a lot of emotional support,

1:13:49

and that would have not been possible

1:13:51

if I didn't have a home, especially in

1:13:53

that community, and they're

1:13:55

a little more established. My

1:13:57

daughters are have healed a lot,

1:14:00

and so and the families

1:14:02

in general, all the other reclaimers as

1:14:04

well, people that were

1:14:06

living on the streets have like really

1:14:10

found the time and space and community

1:14:13

especially to be able to

1:14:15

kal and recover from their trauma.

1:14:18

Well, you also have activated them

1:14:20

as activists themselves. They have some

1:14:23

accomplishments themselves. What are

1:14:25

they What great things that are are doing now? So,

1:14:28

yes, my daughters are very

1:14:30

empathetic towards people,

1:14:32

animals, and they

1:14:37

volunteer every Saturday at Jaytown

1:14:39

Action and Solidarity in Tokyo with

1:14:41

the unhoused community there. They

1:14:43

also have a radio show on Wednesdays

1:14:46

five to six. It's

1:14:48

The Sisters Show and it's

1:14:51

on in www

1:14:53

dot l p fm dot l

1:14:56

as. It's streaming

1:14:58

there. That's wonderful. And

1:15:00

how do they like that? Because I noticed I've peeped

1:15:02

in a couple of times, and they definitely

1:15:05

make keep things very lively and different, you know,

1:15:07

on the AGA kids level, to be crip

1:15:09

frank, you know. Conversely, because sometimes

1:15:12

it takes our peers to show us that we

1:15:14

can do certainly mad, extravagant

1:15:16

or exceptional things. Yeah,

1:15:19

they love the radio and they love

1:15:21

using their voice to you

1:15:23

know, uplift youth children,

1:15:25

social justice, racial justice issues.

1:15:29

But they also talk about food because they're foodies,

1:15:31

and they talk about like just fun things they

1:15:34

do during the week. It's

1:15:37

like it's like I said, you know, they're the new They're

1:15:39

going to be the future leaders. So they have to

1:15:41

get into trenches as well. So

1:15:44

what's new what's going to be on the

1:15:46

plate for now twenty twenty

1:15:48

four? I guess I would need

1:15:50

to ask how is the battle going to be? What

1:15:53

phase you were into it? I it

1:15:56

might be tough, but I

1:15:59

don't want to get up. I want to stay

1:16:01

in my community. I feel like, where

1:16:03

the heck are we gonna go? Like they continuously

1:16:06

displace us over and over

1:16:08

again, and it's it's like

1:16:11

enough and enough, and I

1:16:13

just want to stand my ground and stay

1:16:15

there no matter what. And

1:16:18

right now we're also going to have

1:16:21

finally have mediation talks

1:16:23

and conversations with caltrans. Oh

1:16:26

that's a successful as set exactly. After

1:16:28

so many years of trying and going

1:16:30

to the offices and calling

1:16:32

and you know, doing everything

1:16:35

possible, we finally I

1:16:38

have achieved that. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm

1:16:41

not too hopeful, but like

1:16:43

I said, I'm gonna stay in my house.

1:16:46

How can in the community support you and

1:16:48

your good daughters. I think

1:16:51

the best would be just to follow our

1:16:54

social media reclaiming our Homes

1:16:57

so for the girls the Sister Show,

1:17:00

and keep updated on our

1:17:02

needs that we will

1:17:05

currently maybe have this

1:17:07

coming year in twenty

1:17:09

twenty four. So yeah, just keep

1:17:12

looking for us there. Well,

1:17:14

thank you for taking the time to come and have a conversation.

1:17:17

I hope that people that are listening understand

1:17:20

the whole objective of this episode is

1:17:22

the diversity of the people that are

1:17:24

displaced and their stories are

1:17:27

singular, that we all have a story,

1:17:29

we all need a little help, and we all need

1:17:31

it in our diverse ways in our society.

1:17:33

Hopefully we'll get the idea and the spirit

1:17:36

of empathy.

1:17:44

Thanks again to Martha Screeter reclaiming

1:17:46

Our Homes. You can follow her work

1:17:49

at Reclaiming Homes or on Instagram

1:17:51

or reclaiming our Homes dot org. And

1:17:54

another big thanks to bay Honey for

1:17:56

taking the time to get into a good discussion

1:17:58

about houselessness her experience

1:18:01

as well as mine. You can follow her

1:18:03

at bay honey Bae h

1:18:05

O n I and listen to her podcast

1:18:08

Collie and Girls on Dash Radio.

1:18:11

And finally, a big thank you to our new listeners

1:18:14

and existing listeners. You can

1:18:16

follow us on Weedianhouse dot com

1:18:19

and check out new episodes every

1:18:21

other Tuesday right here. If

1:18:23

you have an un housed person who are related

1:18:25

to or no socially who has passed

1:18:28

on, please send their names to Weedianhouse

1:18:30

dot com so they can be remembered in our

1:18:32

next episode. Can you See Me Memorial

1:18:35

cast next time on Weedianhouse. William

1:18:42

Howes is a production of iHeartRadio.

1:18:45

It is written, hosted, and created

1:18:47

by me Theo Henderson. Our producers

1:18:49

are Seamie Loftus, Lyra

1:18:52

Smith and Katie Fisher. Our

1:18:54

editor is Adam Wong, and our

1:18:56

logo art is also by Katie Fisher.

1:18:59

Thanks for listening, I've

1:19:03

been mothering