Rebreath, Rebirth, Relaunch

We the Unhoused is BACK, now on iHeartRadio. So let's get reacquainted -- this week, host and creator Theo Henderson tells us about the history and mission of the podcast, centering the voices of the unhoused and unpacking the systemic issues the community faces. Then: Baehoni interviews Theo about his experience with houselessness; Theo interviews Martha Escuerda of Reclaiming Our Homes.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's a simple truth that we can't escape. Houselessness is everywhere.
It affects over half a million people in the United
States alone. We try to make sense out of this tragedy,
but it is a senseless endeavor. What I'm going to
ask of you is a very tall order. I want

(00:27):
you to take what you heard about houselessness and I
want you to forget it. Are you still with me? Good?
Let us have a conversation. My name is Theo Henderson,
hosting creator of Weed in House, and I'm going to
take you on a journey in this crisis. Being on

(00:48):
house is a twenty four hour job, and my lived
experience in houselessness is extensive. I was one of over
seventy five thousand people experiencing houselessness on a given night
in Los Angeles. Now, contrary to ill informed people, I
did not grow up and say gee, I can't wait
to live on the streets to encounter societal rejection and violence.

(01:13):
I don't fit the stereotypes of what news media, movies,
and many house people think of an unhoused person. Most
on house people don't. Being on house is so often
made out to seem like an individual's fault not the
hundreds of thousands of systematic failures that have to take

(01:34):
place to put someone in that position in the first place.
Needless to say, the unhoused are not a monolith. My
history as an activist has been difficult but unnecessary journey.
I drew inspiration on my role as an activist from
this quote from Shirley Chisholm. Activism is my rent for

(01:57):
living on this planet, which is kind of ironic, isn't
it paying with activism to fight for dignity and empathy
in an indifferent world? However, the bill must be paid
to foster a better world than I found it. My
family has tied in activism, fighting in the Civil Rights
era and the reelection of the first black mayor in Chicago,

(02:21):
mayor Washington, where I was born and raised. Living in
Chicago taught me a lot, and Los Angeles has been
an entirely new kind of teacher after I moved here.
As I made Los Angeles my home, the motivation to
speak out against housing and justice became too great, particularly
when I became unhoused myself in twenty nineteen. The house

(02:48):
world was in complete obliviousness cowles. People were concerned with
the humdrum issues of their lives, that pumpkin spice latte,
and most importantly, making sure that they don't see the
unhoused person sitting in their neighborhood. But for the unhoused people,
hell was being unleashed with the new ordnance that was

(03:12):
voted in called forty one eighteen. A word about forty
one eighteen is touted as the new Jim Crow of
Los Angeles. As you have known that from the history,
majority of unhoused people are black and brown community members.
And what this does It makes it illegal for unhoused

(03:34):
or people to sit, sleep, and lie within five hundred
feet of a postage sign that has been posted all
over the city by city council members, neighborhood councils, and
business improved District owners. In twenty nineteen, most people never
heard of a show that was going to be made
by an unhoused person for unhoused people. Sure they hear

(03:59):
the occasion of New York Times in pr or god
forbid Fox News broadcasts, but even the good coverage was
always presented by house people for house people about unhoused people.
I tried to make an SOS symbol with this podcast
hoping to find a knowing year and build alleyship between
unhoused people and house people. The disinformation campaign about the

(04:22):
Inn House is threatening our will to be compassionate and
empathetic to each other. We in House is constantly up
against a pernicious belief that houselessness is a moral individual failure.
Case in point, I have a friend a friend who
is adamant that the unhoused community likes being out there.

(04:43):
There's no critical thinking required, just quit uninformed sound bites
that has being reinforced by mainstream media. I have always
believed that if you can demonize a person, then you
can criminalize in I wanted to show how individuals are
affect by houselessness, and Weedian House does that. I took
a figurative and literal breath and created this from scratch.

(05:08):
Living outside, I had to utilize the twos I had available.
I used a cheap phone. I edited and released episodes
with the help of a couple of friends. I would
speak with people about their stories, how city hall policies
affected them, how the police disrespected and abused them, and
how the young house were mistreated throughout the pandemic. It

(05:31):
was all from the expert opinion by the people who
are affected. Initially, I expected the show to hit local
needs audiences. Imagine my surprise at people reaching out to
me from out of state and out of the country
who were displaced and unhoused and wished that Weedyan House
was a part of their experience in their place of origin.

(05:54):
This podcast became the lightning rod for the world's moral consciousness.
All of a sudden, the mainstream media outlets that had
been treating the unhoused as a monolift for all those
years were talking about my show, one that finally centered
the community they've been misrepresenting for so long. My medium

(06:14):
became a diverse attempt to get the message across. The
podcast was always just the beginning, as I moved in
these circles of people wanting to hear about the unhoused
community and their struggles. I was installed as activist and
Residents in UCLA in twenty twenty two as a way
to awaken the sympathy and empathy that was so sorely

(06:38):
lacking in housed and very affluent communities. Then creating a
newspaper that highlighted the struggles of unhoused people and being
read by unhoused people in twenty twenty two as well
and currently in twenty twenty three my newsletter which highlights
the struggles that are beleaguering our communities. We in House

(06:59):
as a one man product, was an important job, but
an exhausting and really heavy lift. More polished shows did
not have to continue with the obstacles that I endured.
But I pressevered and now we're relaunching the show with
a little more polished but the mission of the show
is still the same. So why would lost the show now?
Housesness did not go away when I stopped doing We

(07:19):
in the House and September of twenty twenty two, it
has continued and now has escalated. We have a lot
to talk about, we have a lot to explore, and
we have a lot to do to change the narrative
about houselessness and how we look at our fellow human beings.
If I told you that anyone that's in a medical

(07:40):
emergency is in risk of being thrown from their home,
would you believe it? If I told you that there
are over sixty eight thousand unhoused children and the Los
Angeles Unified School District, would you be empathetic or dismissive.
If I told you that the people who picked the
fruits to invest in your refrigerator are unhoused even though

(08:04):
they are employed, would you be motivated to speak out
against this and justice. This is the crux of my show,
getting you informed so we can do something about it.
The show deals with all aspects of houselessness, not just
the obvious unhoused encampments. We the in House will break

(08:25):
down terms such as agency and laguage such as nimbies
in what they mean to our community, and in every
episode will spotlight unhoused news which is crucial to the
unhoused community. My goal is to consolidate all things in
housed here, educate the community who would be unaware of

(08:47):
the nuances of houselessness, and motivate people to do something
about this humanitarian crisis. Before we delve deep into this topic,
I want you to get to dobing my story sent
into houselessness and how I navigated it, through it and
out of it. So we're bringing in a good friend

(09:07):
of mine at podcaster and her own right, bey, honey,
And that's what's up next on Weedia House.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Hello, Hello, Hello, it is another beautiful day out here.
In La, Hollywood, California, to be exact, and I am
interviewing an advocate for the homeless in LA. Somebody that
is making a lot of big moves, somebody that is
really out here doing things to really change the trajectory
of LA and the homelessness because we do have a

(09:42):
high homeless rate. So I would like to interview this
amazing man over here, the man with the plan. So
I'm going to have him actually say his name and
state what he's been doing and how long he's been
in this business.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Well, every time I hear someone introduce me, and I
guess I have to thank you, Bey Honey for introducing
me so warmly. I always think it's someone else to
talking about somebody's really something extraordinary individual, But I'll take
the compliment. My name is Theo Henderson. Behaney has been
kind enough to interview me as a guest on my
Median House show. I'm going to let BEHNEI ask me

(10:17):
some questions and you know, we're just going to have
a conversation, just talk about some of this stuff in
my life that how I got to this point.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yes, let's have that conversation and let's have a real
conversation because a lot of people like to sugarcoat, especially
when they've been through things, they kind of like to
skip over. So what we're going to do is we're
going to get into detail about it. So when did
you first experience homelessness?

Speaker 1 (10:39):
When I experienced houselessness or homelessness because I used the
monocule or the agency houselessness and unhoused, And it's okay
that some people use homelessness and things like that. That's
not that's not deters me. When I truly was delving
into houselessness, I had spent short amount of times on
house and I able to get out because I had

(11:01):
the financial wherewithal I had support. But when I consider
the true time when I became in house is when
I had a deep medical emergency that relied me to
be hospitalized for several months, requiring me physical therapy, occupational therapy,
and things of that nature, while living in an apartment
during the Great Recession, and unable to pay the rent

(11:23):
in order for me to make sure that I get
all of the medical treatment that I needed. At the time,
I was an educator, and I don't know if you know,
educators do not make a lot of money they do not,
so the struggle is really real. I'm telling you, Yah,
It's like I didn't have a wife, I didn't have
any kids to come and look in on me, and

(11:44):
I had siblings that had financial and family responsibilities that
theyselves had to take care of. So I didn't have
that kind of cushion that would be able to get
me on my feet that I needed to. And I
am a diabetic and I am ashamed to say that
when I was diagnosed with diabetes earlier on in my career,
in my life, I did not expect to get into

(12:06):
ambdical emergency at a young age, and I did not
take care of myself. I was stressed out a lot.
I stressed eight by insulin level was off. To change
my sugar level with it was ridiculous. And at the time,
I'm ashamed to say that average meal for me when
I would go into a class early to prepare the
lesson plans or prepare the class was a dozen donuts.

(12:30):
I know, it's Craig, A dozen, Yes, a dozen donuts.
I would for lunch have a two liter Coca Cola
and I would eat like a half a bucket of chicken.
And if I you know, like again I stressed. Eat
when I'm stressing, I'm more depressing. I would uh, and
I'd embarrassed to say I would eat a whole large

(12:53):
Dominoes pizza with top of the wings or those Yeah. Yes,
So I was eating and my doctors was warning me, like,
you know, this is not good eating, and you know,
and they were watching, and I would always promise. And
I have to say, it's very difficult to keep my
way down and stay healthy, but I always promised I

(13:14):
was curb off of it, and I was to take
a day or two not to eat it, and then
I will come back with avengance and then a dozen
and a half of donuts or those kind of things.
And that kind of bad eating caught up with me
because I was stressed a lot and dealing with the
students and challenges of teaching and things like that. And
I had a medical emergency and I went into a

(13:36):
coma and I had a minor stroke. So I had
to do a long, difficult road of recovery. I still
marvel how I did it, but the fact is that
it was. It was like I still, if you listen,
sometimes you can hear when I slur words because of
the after effects of the stroke, because or if I

(14:00):
stuttered someone's other words, that's because of that. But I
had to do a lot of speech therapy to just
not sound like when I was trying to look work
like I was inebriated. Because when I did try to
find jobs, people thought I was on substances or it
looked like I was stumbling because I didn't have the
balance like I used to. Yeah, So those realities that

(14:22):
when I really opened my eyes to the fears of
living out in the street, how was I going to
survive living in that new reality? And it was a
new reality. It's one thing to be able bodied and
living on the street, but it's another damn thing to
be disabled and living on the street. That's a whole
new fear. You know, you can't defend yourself. There are

(14:42):
times that I didn't really be able to defend myself
adequately because you know, my reflex time is not what
it is, you know. I mean, you know, if someone
jumps off or acts crazy, you be able to you know,
be able to run or defend yourself or something. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, but with that disability, that really put you in
a position to where you were kind of not even
kind of you were helpless. You really were out there,
and like you know, people are not the nicest towards
people that do not have housing. People are not the nicest.
There are people that literally will get drunk, take out
there anger. I've had. I've had people that I follow
that live, you know, that do not have housing, and

(15:21):
they have literally had people drunk people come and try
to fight them, throw bottles at them and things like that.
It's very dangerous and people don't understand. People are very
insensitive towards it because I feel like that could be anybody.
It could be one medical emergency, it could be one
pay check, it could be literally one thing that will
just set everything off into a snowball effect that could

(15:43):
put you in that position. So it's not that all
people without housing are lazy and don't want to work
or on drugs. Sometimes it's just hard times, and especially
with the pandemic that's happened and the recession that's happened.
I mean, let's be honest, if you were born anywhere
from nineteen seventy and to like nineteen ninety, you survived
a recession, You survived the COVID nineteen which we're still

(16:05):
having after effects of that. So we're still everybody hurting
right now. Everybody's pocket is hurting, even the big companies
pockets are hurting. So right for somebody to be without
housing because I don't want to say homelessness, because I
don't want to offend anybody, but without housing, because anybody
could be in that position. I was in that position.
Won't wait, We'll get into that a little later. But
some people are embarrassed to say, hey, I did not

(16:26):
have a home and to be able to say you
were disabled, yeah, while living in that So what type
of challenges? What type of violence did you face going
through that?

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Thank you for saying that, because you've hit on a
really clear topic And it took me many years to
come to terms with my disability. I because so many
people do not know that I'm disabled because I present
as a I'm not trying to brag. I present as
I can speak well, I've educated, of course, I'm educated
at yeah, my undergraduate and master's. But the fact of

(16:55):
it is is that I still had disabilities before I
became on house. But it's that when I became unhoused
and the violence that I had. When you mentioned like
there was a time when I was living near in
little Tokyo and right across the street you was this
bar and three people inebriated came and you know, as

(17:15):
people don't understand, they always blame unhouse people as attacking
house people, but you could be just mining your business
and going to sleep like I was, and they thought
it was funny to start throwing And it's hard to
attack and kick and attack me now, mind you, I'm
still recovering in order for me to live and try
to get back myself back on my feet. But these

(17:36):
were three able bodied people attacking me for the simple
fact that there was no one around. I was on house.
I was not going to be believed, and they could
have been able to do what they wanted to do,
and they could disappear into the night. And if it
wasn't for me having a weapon of myself, I was
able to scare them enough to get them to run

(17:58):
off because they did not know that I was away.
The second event that I had was I was stabbed
five years ago out in a park where I was
living at and someone was trying to steal my belongings.
And I tried the same kind of wolf tickets. As
we say in Chicago, we used to sell wolf tickets,
and that's dating myself. But when we say in the

(18:18):
hood about we're selling wolf tickets is like we're the
big bat wolf and we're gonna blow down your house,
and you usually run and leave. But you know, some
people don't buy those wolf tickets and they just you know, okay, fine.
And I engaged into a very ten to fifteen minute
life and death struggle where a guy was trying to
stab and kill me. I eventually stabbed me, and I

(18:38):
had some after effects of that. I had to have
my part of my colon remove, I had to have
some of my intestine. I had to have some part
of my intestine state a state put on. There's different
after effects, like, for example, I feel it enduring colder weather.
I feel that when I move, I can always feel
with the attached where I was stabbed at. And then

(19:00):
I have these long, disgusting scars and this is going
to follow me into until the lights come off in
my life or I have to live with those new
realities and news dis disabilities. I can't eat certain foods
because it would cause my stomach to become upset and
it helped me realize how precarious it is to live
out on the street. To be on house is that

(19:22):
you're putting literally your life in hand for house people
to abuse it and to you did not really get
any justice on.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
It, yes, and I understand where that's coming from, because
there are people that will really they see you as
a target, especially being a person of color out on
the streets. They really do see you as a target.
And as far as you touched on a topic like
if you did not have that weapon with you, you know,
it probably would have been your life. And I've been
in situations like that to where I'm going to share

(19:49):
a little bit of mine. I experienced a brief homelessness
back in two thousand and fourteen, twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen,
and I had left a situation where it was not
in my best interest safety wise, And you know, I
was in my car. I had nothing but my little
Chevy Malibu, and I was going all the way from Louisiana,

(20:11):
all the way to Las Vegas, you know, to go
see my family because I didn't have anywhere else to go.
I didn't have money for a hotel, I didn't have
money for anything. So I was sleeping in my car.
I was sleeping at truck stops. And I don't know
if you guys know them. Truckers are either very thirsty
and you know they think that you're a lot lizard
when you're attractive female. There was a time where I

(20:35):
was sleeping in my car at a gas station. I
stopped sleeping a gas I started sleeping in like grocery store,
parking lot and stuff like that, but with like the
lights and stuff. But I slept one time at a
gas station and I had went in to go go
use the restroom, go wash up because you know, had
a little wash up things, did my little wash up,
grab some snacks, and sat in my car. I'll sleep
in my car. One of the truckers had seen me

(20:57):
from inside and decided that he wanted to try to,
you know, right, make his move, make his move. But
I'm Caribbean, so you know, had that thing on me.
You know, he backed away. But if I wouldn't have
had that on me, if I wouldn't have protected myself,
I probably could have been in a situation where I was,
you know, essayed.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah, you know, as you point out a very real
reality for women that are out here on the streets.
They face another layer of houselessness that I do not face.
And so they do definitely face the reality of that
kind of assault, that fear. They having to keep their
eyes open and they have to make sure that the
intent of the gentleman or why I won't say gentlemen

(21:39):
or the miscreants do not take advantage of them. So,
you're right, it's a very different reality, and which is
why houselessness. It's a layered onion. It's not just one
plaque and white thing that people don't want to work
or they like being out there. Yeah, we're going to
take a break and we will be right back. We're back.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Most people that are out there don't want to be
out there, but you know, it is some people that
are out there by choice. Unfortunately, I have family that
has been out there for years. I have a cousin
since I was like twelve years old. I'm churty one now,
so I was twelve years old. She'd been on the streets.
She don't want to leave the street. She liked the streets.
But most of the people that I've met outside of

(22:25):
that don't want to be in that position. They don't
want to it's just circumstance, And honestly, I'm just grateful
because it really puts the perspective of what you take
for granted.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Also, I want to point out too, because I do
know a few people that have explained to me why
they like to be out on the street. And one
of the things that I do like to offer is
because initially they did not, but because of them having
their hopes dashed a lot, or they having such a
severe trauma. Like of the woman that her husband was

(23:00):
looking for her and she tried to get on her feet,
and she would go into the domestic shelters and he
would always for find her, and it calls her to
delve deeper into her substance usage drinking, and so she
felt that the easiest way that he won't find her
is just to stay on the street, because she can
always leave a different area of the corner. But if

(23:23):
you're staying at a stationary domestic place or mesic shelter
and you come out, then he's laying in wait for
her and the kids, or taken the kids or whatever.
It's a little bit different. So a lot of times
that people that are out here, they have resigned themselves
like The Gentleman where his wife was dealing with terminal
cancer and he just basically just gave up his will

(23:45):
to live and he wants to live on the street
because his wife is gone. Those kinds of conversations are
not always delved into or a bored because this is
why you know, he lived literally he was super across
the street from the building where and his wild wife
were together. He took all his savings and tried to
save her life. She passed away. He couldn't support the

(24:08):
stay in the building, so now he lives out across
the street. I mean. And these kind of stories never
get told by mainstream media. It always the beginning and
end his personal responsibility. People like to be on the street,
or they have mentally ill or their substance uses, and
that's the end of it.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
But there's so many.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Layers exactly, which is why I'm so glad that you
came in to talk on it, because there is so
much of the conversation that I want to have and
the show, and this show is so important for us
to explore it even further. There's so many facets of houselessness.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Now, I'm just grateful that you even are speaking on
this and you're giving it a platform because there are
so many stories that are untold, so many stories to
where it's like you never know what somebody's circumstance is,
So before you judge somebody for their circumstance or what
you see on the outside, really like, have you had
a conversation with that person? Do you know how they

(25:02):
got to that position, because you never know? And honestly,
I want to dig into when did you start doing
advocate work for the houses?

Speaker 1 (25:12):
That's a good question. I really I looked on like
my family members that did the advocacy kind of thing,
and I listened to Yes, you've probably grown up in
the families in the black community too. You've heard the
stories about the civil rights. Yes, you've seen about Emmit Well.
I grew up in a time where they would show
about MBTIL. I literally was educated about imatil. And then

(25:33):
I listened to a lot of the historical references. I
lived in Chicago when the first black mayor was. I
saw the election and the challenges that my parents were
going out there getting people activated into the community. Having
these like my mother used to got rest the soul.
Have these I'm going to date myself tupperware parties, and
I don't know if you know my mom and them, yes,

(25:56):
that is if you If it was especially it was
like the church wars would have this big thing. I
can see it now. My mother would get these candy
corn and the peanuts and make this little mixed thing
and she would make this like this tuna salad, and
then she would make she would make this whole of
a fried chicken. She would make the whole big thing,
this big kool aid punch of kool aid and things

(26:17):
like that, and the ladies would come in with tupperware
pots and bands and things. They were organized, but they
were gossip and of course I was always ear hustling
and learning how they were doing organizing things. They were
talking about the church that they would go to on
the other side of the west side, and there's members,
how they get them to come to speak, about getting

(26:40):
new school books in the areas that they were in,
how they were looking to support each other, how they
were looking to raise money because somebody's kid they didn't
get their food stamps or something. They wanted to put
money together so the kid could go to a school
trip and not feel left out. And I mean those
small things that I look at and listen to, like, oh,

(27:00):
that really was organizing in their way and without black women.
Is particularly in the civil rights and in the activism,
where the movement would never have moved to the great
limbs and heights that they have. There's no way around it,
because they just had an innate understanding how to broker
relationships with people that were may not be in the

(27:22):
same having the same issues, but they always kind of
was able to connect or use the connective tissue to
unify people to go and fight for the same cause.
Like for example, there was a lot of teacher strikes,
there was a lot of parent things going on that
they would get together and to consolidate to speak on
to really improve the lot for all of the children

(27:42):
at that time, or the people that they need, like
the slumlords forcing them to put on turn on the
heat during a cold spell, on those things. So when
I look back on that and it was like almost
my organic DNA to get into activism. I didn't figure
a way to really get into activism until I learned

(28:03):
from my own experience, but also to start talking to
other unhoused people and looking at like you said, getting
to hear their stories, like the gentleman with his dying
wife or the youth that like there was a story
that really really affected me, and I never really got
to talk to them. But there's two brother there was
a brother and sister. They were crying unconsolably, and they

(28:26):
came to the park that we're in, and we didn't
and we didn't know what was going on. We knew
they were young, and we knew that they were not
on house at the time, so we said, you know,
why are you out here? And their parents were killed
in a car accident and they had nobody else and
they were afraid that they were going to be separated
by the state, and they didn't know what to do,
so they just ran away. And those kind of stories

(28:49):
resonate and stays with me and really says, you know,
I'm really tired of having close friends of mine say
that unhoused people like to be in out here. They've
been on crack. They they have every destructive and most
vile reason, yeah, stereotypes to use to justify that callousness
or dismissiveness of a very delicate and nuanced and layered conversation.

(29:13):
So I initially before I got into doing podcasting. Was
going to write a book about my own living experience,
but then I started hearing about the advent of podcasting.
I was on a podcasting show. It was suggested I
did one, and I took it from there. I created
my podcast literally living on the street. At the end
of the night I did my episode, I would sleep

(29:35):
down in the sleep down, bed down in the park,
get up in the morning, go and do my research,
go to the library, or go to another encampment somewhere else,
or have someone drive me to another place. Where encampments
was to get to know people, and for the most part,
the most shopped people and really more warm of the
warmness of people were unhoused people. They wanted people to

(29:57):
know that they were more than the stereotype exact and
that really gave me the fire to motivation to continue
to do that.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
And honestly, I want to give you your flowers because
of the fact that you had that determination, because listening
to your story, there should be no excuse for anybody else.
You are disabled, houseless, and you managed to get yourself
up out of that, and you managed to create a
podcast speaking on your story in other people's stories and

(30:28):
reaching out to health the community, even when you didn't
have it yourself, you reached out to help. So for
anybody that's out there looking for motivation to get up
off your you know what, please listen to this. Please
listen to this man, because it takes determination, especially in
a state like that. You could have easily just been
depressed and gave up. You could have easily gave up,
but you didn't. And another thing you touched on which

(30:50):
I really appreciate was when you were talking about your
mother at the tubbleware parts and how they all came
together and make sure that, you know, make sure another
child that wasn't even there was straight made sure that
that child had everything they need could not feel excluded.
And I feel like that's what we're missing right now
in the community in general, but especially in the community
of black people and people of color, because we really

(31:11):
don't have that togetherness anymore. It's just more like crabs
in a bucket, Like it's kind of like even if
I could and there's and here's the thing, there is
more than enough for everybody to eat. But for some reason,
we have been placed in this scarcity mindset to where
it's like if this person wins, that means I can't win.

(31:32):
But that's not true. We got we gotta lift each
other up and breaking the next person down and neglect
gatekeeping from the next person is not going to assure
that you get what you get. That's not gonna take
away from you if they win. I feel like if
I can say, God has specific things for specific people,

(31:55):
So it might not be your time yet, it might
not be your time to shine, it might not be
that might not be what God wants for you. But
everybody can eat.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
I have to say I have to agree with because
you're I needed to pass the collection plate. But the point,
but the boy, what I wanted to say too, is
that it is true that I created this podcast, but
it took me a long time. I had to go
through my time and the wilderness as well to find
what my purpose was because I had to deal with

(32:26):
the embarrassment and had to deal with the judgment of
people that did not know my story. And which is
why I get on those type of individuals, because the
power of life and death is in the power of
the tongue. And when you do those things and when
you make those snap judgments about people and you demonize
individual because they are dealing with systemic things. This is

(32:46):
not a personal failure. These things happens to people all
the time that just want the best for themselves in lives,
in their life, and it just happens. And what we
do is a community like what you touch on, and
we have left that we don't have have that same
empathy that is needed. But when I look at a
person like Inty, another housed individual that does a mutual

(33:08):
aid every Thursday, getting to know the community and feeding
food and secure people that are living in houses and
they cannot afford the food because the rents are expensive,
this is the type of kind of fabric that we
need in our community.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yes, oh, especially in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a cold, cold,
cold city. Yes, absolutely absolutely, and honestly, wo man, my
heart really goes out to those that are unhoused right
now because I've been in that position. You've been in
that position at one point, You're gonna be in a

(33:42):
similar position, which is why it pays to have compassion.
It pays to have compassion. So next time you guys
see somebody that's on the streets or oh my goodness,
I had an experience where I actually broke down a
cried in my car. I had just moved to La
It was like during the pandemic, and and you know,
I was literally one check away from being you know,

(34:03):
on the streets with my daughter because the person that
I was with at the time, he wasn't working. He
was doing extracurriculus. Let's say that he was doing extracurriculum.
So it was just me holding everything down. So it
was literally if I hadn't got that one check like
that when to work that night and got that one check,
we would have been out on the streets. And kind
of was just like by the grace of God, because

(34:25):
I literally was driving down the street right after I
paid my rent and I seen this woman, she like
she was my age. She had a little girl with her.
You know, I had my little girl. Little girl looked
around the same age. And then she had another little
girl in a stroller. And she has said, just got evicted.
This is during the pandemic. Just got evicted, need money

(34:46):
for a hotel to stay. And I had just so
happened to have, like I say, like twenty extra dollars
in my pocket. But it just it brought me to tears.
Because it was like that could have been me. So
I gave her like twenty dollars and I gave her
some snacks in my car and I talked to her
for a little bit and it was just like She's like,

(35:06):
I was just one check short. I was just one
check short. And it's literally people don't understand how close
you can be to that. Regardless of where you come from,
there are people that were superstars, ball players that were
freaking celebrities or CEOs that have been brought down. So
it always pays to be humble. So I want you

(35:26):
to kind of touch on what is it that exactly
you do? What services do you offer for people?

Speaker 1 (35:33):
They're a couple of things. Someone asked me this question,
and I'm going to answer yours. Intertwined with this question
is that what do you want your legacy to be.
I have been very proud of creating with you in house,
but one of the things that I want to be
remembered for is creating a platform where unhoused people's voices

(35:54):
are heard. And it was a groundswell of empathy that
followed afterwards, people who were motivated to do something. The
second thing that I do and I do this constantly.
There's an African saying that people died twice the physical
death and when no one speaks to person's name. There

(36:16):
was one woman that was embarrassed that she found out
her father was on house. She had no idea, and
the shelter called to come collect this stuff, and so
she had to go down this rabbit hole because he
and her mother, you know, she's working, she's with her
I don't know she was married at the time, but
she had a kid. You know, she's going through the
regular life, you know, just thinking about that, and she's

(36:37):
got to come to terms with finding out her father
was in house and learning and going backtracking and finding
out where did things go wrong. She remembered that there
was a rocky marriage between him and his mother mother,
but she didn't understand the challenges and the deaths that
he went through to be in house and the level
of efforty high hid from it because they were in

(36:58):
contact with each other. Of course, he never said, oh,
by the way, darling, I'm on house. I can you know?
Or can I stay with you until I get on
my feet? And that was never a conversation. And there
is like the guilt involved or the family member. There
was a gentleman that had a favorite uncle and the
family threw him out because he had a mental breakdown
and they never really conversated on why he's not at

(37:22):
the family gatherings, and he's finding out that he passed
away because he was out on the street for untreated
mental health issues. So these kind of stories people house
and un house would reach out to me because the
stigma we have so often about houselessness is sold by
mainstream media by people that have like snap judgments, and

(37:44):
people that you say these things too, are feeling either
guilty or they in order for them not to be judged,
they won't even mention it or don't even want to
talk about that goat family members in our house because
you know they don't want to be looked on like
you know you your problem, or you know you may
become on house, or you know your family is damaged
goods and things like that. So, like I said, the

(38:06):
power of life and death is in the power of
the tongue. But those ripple effects when you throw those
harsh stereotypes about unhoused people. One of the things too,
I wanted to take a quick detour is like when
you see people out here in the heat wave, we
can go into an air conditioned room. But if unhouse
people deal with most of the environmental injustice environmental issues,

(38:27):
if you are sleep deprived and you're having to stay
up all night to make sure your things are not
taking or harassed by house people and things, your behavior
is not going to be as lucid. And it doesn't
always mean that they're mentally ill. They may be having
a reaction CCSD sleep deprivation is real, or they're being
dumped by hospitals they haven't been able to be treated

(38:48):
for the medication because there's a lot of hospital dumping
going on. And so it's more than just what people
just make the snap judgment or when you see unhoused
people and I just wish if there's anything to be
remember is this podcast as well as that and the
mutual aid I do every Saturday with Jaytown Action and
Solidarity and helping providing charging services for unhoused people's phones,

(39:12):
harm reduction supplies, clothing, food, different things for unhoused people
that basically charities thats only touch on, but we need
a lot of that type of empathy, empathetic kind of
services instead of just thinking one institution does all of it,
which some formed people believe in.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
So'm sorry, I got I'm getting a little emotional because
it's like when you touched on that, most people are
very embarrassed. Most people are very embarrassed to be in
that situation. I know I was when I experienced it.
I didn't actually say it until our interview. Nobody knew

(39:51):
because it was just like I was so embarrassed, but
it just it really touched on it, because it just.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
What was your most embarrassing time, because I have mine
was like when I'm not able to get to the
showers in time, or I had to plan to go
to the doctor and I couldn't get to the places
that had the showers because there's a big, long line,
and so I knew I was going to end up
not smelling as fresh as I would like, and I
having to encounter go on to public transportation and it

(40:21):
gets hot, then you got to like trying to navigate
run to a bathroom, but then there's the public bathrooms.
And so that was my embarrassing saying what would be yours?

Speaker 2 (40:29):
Mine was when my only shelter of my car actually
was almost totaled.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Oh no, on the.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Way too Las Vegas. I ended up. It was in February,
so it was a February. I was in Decatur, Texas,
and people in Texas don't really know how to drive,
and there's a lot of black ice in Texas. So
I was going up the railway and my Chevy Malibu
and my Malibu lost control, hit the curve wheels turned in.

(41:00):
I thank goodness. I was able to get some money
to get a hotel for a couple of days. But
the first day, I was like I had to sit
in the lobby. I was sitting in the lobby, I
couldn't take a shower. And as a female, and it
was that time of the month too, so as a female,
I didn't have merely anything with me. Like I was
just I was sitting there and they were nice enough

(41:22):
to let me sit there. They're like, okay, you know,
we'll give you a night. My dad wired some money
to me. He didn't know I was going through that.
He didn't know. He just like, okay, let me just
wire this to you. And I was able to get
the shelter. But it was like that first, like twenty
four hours after I had crashed my car, decater I
was in the middle of Decatur, Texas. I never been
to Decatur, Texas, and I didn't know whether it was

(41:42):
a sundowntown or not exactly, especially in the sun was
going down. I had no car. I'm in the middle
of a so sotarm I stink, I am, I haven't eaten.
My stomach's beatboxing. It was just it was so embarrassing
because it was just like I've never been the tight
to be helpless or to feel like I was helpless.

(42:03):
So in that position, I was completely helpless. And I
remember I was talking to the ex that I had
left at the time because I don't know why. Like
me and Myles we're still cool, but at the time
we just we just weren't good for each other. So
I was talking to him. I was like, yeah, I
crashed my car. He's like, maybe that's a sign you
should come back. I was like, over my dead body,
you know. So I kept I kept trucking. I mean,

(42:25):
we cool now. Shout out to the shout out to him,
he's doing great job. But at the time, it was
just like everything was going wrong and I was like, dang,
maybe I should go back to Louisiana. I was, but
I was just like everything inside of me was like no, no, no,
like So that was super embarrassing for me because I've
never been in a position and I hate stinking. I
hate not smelling good. Anybody knows me, knows I smell

(42:46):
good every time I control, but that time it was horrible.
I know, deodorant, I ran o deodoran. Oh that was
abrac Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
I think that's one of the major difficulties. Second major
embarrassing things is one is like that and like I
hated two things when it got too hot or it
was like, for example, when we have in Los Angeles
when it gets rainy and too cold and I have
you have to change your clothes and the water because
it starts to mildle your clothes and it calls. Even

(43:18):
though matter if you wash them or not, you steal
those clothes smell. You could take a shower, but those
clothes smell ripe. And that was a major another embarrassment
because it is not that easy just to get up
and just dry your clothes like other people do. And
I know, like and Los Angeles is not meant for walking.
They got all these long as hils and I'm already

(43:39):
disabled and all the things out, So you cannot just
get pick up all your clothes and just go to
a laundry mat. You've got to you have to coordinate
your time and calculate your time, especially you know some
of the places, like I would try to sneak in
those laundry places to dig a shower, but then they
have people in then to try to deter on house
people going and they're showering, they'll come burst in the

(44:02):
door while you're either Chinese restroom or get all of
those kind of those kind of tactics that they use
to always let you know that you were not welcome
in places you were not welcome, You were not allowed
to have dignity. That's one of the things that I
have to say that it's one of the driving forces
about these ordinances, this way that people treat on house people.

(44:25):
You are not allowed to have a dignified existence. And
that is something that I knew that I would love
to tend to your legacy to reinstall our empathy and
an empathetic well spring of good, good will and kindness
of people, because we all deserve to be treated decently.
You know, nobody wants to get up in the morning
and smell right if they have no choice normal, you

(44:47):
know what I'm saying. Nobody want, you know, and if
you see people sneaking in places like that, it tells
you they don't like it easier. And we don't have
the bathrooms for people to have the dignified to go
to the bath they're trying to be as dignified and
have there's some kind of self esteem and we're taking
it from them with all of these ordinances, hostile architecture,

(45:10):
no bathrooms or these signs that's in restaurants, no public restrooms.
I'm like, everybody goes to the restroom. If you don't
have places for the bathrooms, it stands to reason that
you're going to find creative solution.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
I hate to break up just such a riveden conversation,
but we have to take upbreak. We will be right
back and we're back.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
By stayed in k Town. When I first came out here.
Where I was at was on eighth in New Hampshire.
I had an alleyway where the you know, the houses
would stay and have their meetings and stuff. I don't
know what they have means about, but you know it
was right in the alley that my place was at,
and I remember there was one houseless man that actually

(46:00):
had passed away in the alley and the way that
people like discarded of him, even when I was with
my ex. I was with my ex at the time,
and you know, I seen it. I realized like, Okay,
I'm like, he's not moving, he's not breathing. Like I'm
driving past in my car and I'm like, yo, like
maybe we should like call somebody, you know, come get him,
go to call the hospital something. And remember my ex

(46:22):
was just like, nah, nah, nah it don't don't worry
about it. I was like, no, it looks like he's
because you know, when you pass away, you avoid your bows. Yeah, exactly,
So he voided his bou. I was like, yo, like
I think that, you know. Yeah, he was just very like,
you know, stuck up towards him, like oh, anyways, they'll
come get him, they'll come scoop him up. And I
was just like, well we should call it. I kind
of low key called and I was like, hey, like

(46:43):
there's somebody out there, you know. I called like the
attendant and I was like, hey, like, you know, there's
somebody out there. I don't know if he's alive, he's
not breathing. He avoided his bowels, you know, and in
the military they teach you the signs. So I was like, look,
I like pulled up afterwards in the corner when it
got him. He did pass away, unfortunately, Rest in peace
to him. We pulled up and he wasn't there, and

(47:04):
I was like, oh, he's not there anymore. He's like yeah,
because he you know, my ex was saying some like
really messed up. So saintoris At oh, because he's this
isn't this? And I was like, well, if I wasn't
taking care of you, you would be in his position too, absolutely,
you know. And people don't. People desensitize and dehumanize. So
it's like you could be in the same position. And
I keeps saying that during the interview. But I just
want for people to humble themselves for real.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
And I to see the humanity of people. Yeah, And
just because that, I have to quote a something from
the X Man at It, which is so true. Just
because someone stumbles and loses their weight doesn't mean that
they're lost forever, and it doesn't mean that we cannot
institute empathy and kindness to a person. This is a
human being that had transitioned from this earthly spirit to
a place of peace, a place of non existence. But

(47:46):
the fact of it is is like people saking selfies,
people walking over the dead body, people just not looking
at this person though he lived on the street, he
had a life before he was living on the street.
Nobody at a yeah, No one say well, let's go
and live on the street to be mistreated or treated
like second date trash. We as a society have been

(48:07):
inculcated or been educated and doctrinated if you will, into
thinking that someone because they don't have the financial status
or they don't have the housing status, that they are
giving free rein to dehumanize them. If you can dehumanize
a human being, then you can criminalize a human being.
I always say.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
That, they always do that. I noticed that too. With
there's a lot of profiling with police when it comes
to houselessness. There's a lot of profiles, especially if you
aren't a house person of color. Yes, and there's somebody
that I did mention in the last interview there is
a trans woman that's out here. She literally has the
most positive attitude that he really puts into perspective, like
you could be grateful in any place that you're at.

(48:46):
But she's dealt with a lot of discrimination. She seld
with a lot of sexual harassment. She's dealt with a
lot of it. And she used to be an ex cop.
She used to be an ex cop and you know,
she was Trump. So she has PTSD from that. She
has PTSD from her whole family cut her off just
because she made the decision to live in her truth.
And I think that's not discussed either people that are
transitioning or people that are you know, from the LGBTQ

(49:09):
plus community, a lot of them get put out on
the streets too because of their decisions on who they
choose to love.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
And a young age too, that is a lot of
like on Hollywood and Western during the pandemic, I was
interviewing a lot of the unhoused youths that families when
they find either they come out to them or their
parents are very religious and they find tail tale signs,
a diary or a stolen caress or whatever something has
happened that has horrified the family and they throw the

(49:38):
kid out and in in essence, the kid doesn't have
the coping skills because they are kids, so they have
to find survival methods that would make anyone else shocked
or scared anyone in order to survive not only dealing
with their own truth, but not so dealing with the
realities of being in housed, living in their truth, and
living in reality that is in all our community these

(50:00):
like now and not as sympathetic to the LGBUTIA plus
community as well.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Yes, because I've noticed that so much. And there's a
lot of people that I went to school with, There's
a lot of people whose parents really kick them out
at a very young age. And honestly, I'm just gonna
say this for the record. It should not matter who
that person decides to love, who that person decides to
be with. It shouldn't matter what that person wants to wear,
whether that person wants to wear a dress, whether that

(50:26):
person wants to change their body. That has nothing to
do with you. That is their personal agenda, that is
their personal life. Let people be who they are, Let
people live in their truth, because the world will be
a lot happier if people let that happen.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
We cannot talk about liberation if we are trying to
model the same oppressive tactics that are used against us exactly.
And I say that because as an African American heterosexual male,
I notice sometimes and particularly the toxic masculinity male communities,
is that that conversation is always used as a way
to oppress Black women or oppress people in the elgib

(51:00):
t I community. Is like, I can't be free unless
you're free, because if I'm having to extend my experience
or spend my power to dominate you, I'm not free.
I'm still caught up into a cycle. Now I'm just
taking on the tools that was created to oppress you.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
The oppressed becomes the oppressed exactly, so.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
We can be free. So in order for us to
be as seen as we are, the world would be
a much easier place, and much more graceful place, a
much more empathetic place, which was I guess this is
for the word of the day. Like in Sesame Street,
it's empathy. We have to have this empathetic well spring
to be reactivated because it's going on empty. We're dry

(51:43):
and that well because we're afraid, and we're afraid of
the unknown, and we're afraid that someone's going to get
an extra crumb that we do, and if they get
the crumb. Then what does that make us because we've
been asking for crumbs forever, but you know, someone make
get an extra crumb, but that extra crum may be
used to oppress you, and we need to just look

(52:04):
at it like, hey, we all getting crumbs. They like,
we're getting all the same piece of the pot. So
we have to work together. But we have to understand
that this is not this is designed for us to
be at logger heads.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
With you, exactly, because if you really think about it, Okay,
let's say this person is getting an extra crumb. Let's
say if you got your little crumbs, they got their
little crumses, y'all put your crumbs together. Y'all could come
up with something instead of actually being like, oh, she
got let me take her crumb, let me oppress her crumb.
Instead of being like, Okay, I got this, you got this.
Because there's different strength, there's different different roles people can

(52:36):
play in things. Okay, so she has this, he has this.
Let's put this together and let's make something bigger because honestly,
this whole movement is bigger than everybody. Absolutely, nobody's bigger
than the program.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Nobody's bigger than the movement, and the idea.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
Is to tackle and dismantle the program that is making
sure that we only get crumbs, because that's not going
to be sufficient in the long run anyway.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
So the whole point is getting a slice of the
pot instead of the crops. So if we work together
to use those little crubs, we've got to tackle down
the systemic issues that are plaguing both communities or many communities. Yes,
then we're win in We're we're doing something.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Exactly, And I think we do lack empathy, we lack
actually working together because people don't want to work together more.
They're all out for themselves. But I do want to
actually touch on before we close this anywhere. I want
to touch on what you have planned for the future,
What events, what what? What programs can people go to
in LA because people want to know. There's definitely food organizations.

(53:32):
I've been working with food organization. Shout out to LACA
LA Community Alliance for feeding the homeless and feeding the
un sheltered and feeding people just on hard times. I
want to actually get into what programs you offer, what
what where can these people find these resources? What do
you have planning future? Any any events? Anything that you have.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Every Saturday, every Saturday from two to five and Little
Tokyo we offer a mutual aid and that is I
partnered with Jape Town Action Solidarity. We provide fresh hot food,
We provide harm reduction, we provide medical care. We provide
charging where people can charge up their devices. We also

(54:12):
offer different like Talent Night. We have Diamond in a
rough who performs. We have some that get do poetry
and so we have there every Saturday. I also offer,
like I said, you know you have to look out
for it. I try to let the can you see
me memorials where I'd go to either the city hall
or other places where uhouse people have passed away and

(54:34):
we hold like the most recent one we had I
don't know even remember about mister Jordan Neely. Yes, mister
Jordan Neely, I hosted a trained memorial. I put brought
the coffin, and people from the community came on the
red line and we basically started communicating and eulogizing about
the realities of unhoused people that are on trains. Because

(54:55):
there's been such a negative and a hostile way of
how they treat unhoused people and so those things I
offer as well as like, there's going to be other
events that we're going to do, but most often or not,
I am dividing my time with doing the show. But
I also speak regularly because I want to talk about
this reality that I missed. Houselessness is just not encampments.

(55:18):
And I'm proud when I became the activist in Residents
and I started talking to the classmates in UCLA, and
then when unhoused people started to tell them, Yeah, I'm
a college student and I'm on house at the end
of class, i have to sleep in my car, and
that opened up as such a different thing. It shocked

(55:42):
some of the students, but it also and like they
would come to me and thank me for Peter bringing
that up because before that conversation has never happened. Act like,
because people think, how many people think on house people
are on substances, how many people see on house people
only thinking about there on the park or on buses
or benches and things like that, some of these people
are college bract and that that's why it says it's

(56:05):
so important to understand the layers and the nuances of houselessness.
And I want people to understand houselessness is closer to you.
I have a Starbucks frappucino, but I had people when
they were listening to my show when I first started,
would come up to me and whisper, I'm on house,
but I'm working in Starbucks, and I wanted to exact

(56:27):
I would like to get your your talk. I would
like to talk to you and get your story because
people need to know you don't know who's on house.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
It is not always very well because they know the stigma,
they know the hostility that's outfit about houselesness, so they
rather than not let you know, unless if someone takes
the temerity or the courage to say, hey, this is
part of unhousedness.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
You know. I'm I'm a college educated I'm going to class,
but at the end of the class, I live in
the shelter, you know. I mean, that's just how it is.
I can't afford the rents here because it's the area
we live in is too ridiculous. I live in my
car or I have to get I have to leave
here in class early to get to the shelter because
they have a curfew. So these stories, it's why I
do what I do.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
I'm sorry, I'm getting mo Yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
But this is why I do the show because I
want people to realize you never know how much of
an impact you have on someone's life. And when you
make snap judgments or you close the door, or you
become callous or indifferent, you don't know whose life you're saving.
You don't know whose life you're you know if you're
closing the door on And that is what I want
to do. We open the door of kindness. There's a

(57:37):
saying that I believe, use your heart to love somebody,
and if your heart is big enough, use your heart
to love everybody. And if we can do that as
a society and learning like we are our brothers and
sisters keeper and we must understand that if we are
not together, if someone else is not together, we must

(57:59):
have that empathy. We must rekindle that.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
If you will, so there's more than enough for everybody
to eat.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Also, I wanted to take the opportunity quickly to give
you a shout out because we connected on your show. Yeah,
and just to give out her flowers. Bay Honey's interview
was so explosive, but it's also much more well thought out.
It was one of the better interviews that I had
in a very long time by podcasting, which is why

(58:25):
I chose you to interview. Thank you, But I felt
that it is important because she has a podcast and
I listen into her story. But tell us a little
bit how we can find you as well.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
You can find me on dash Radio on Caliente Girls.
You can find me on Instagram Bay Honey b A
E h O and I I spelled honey different because
I'm giving tribute to my Hawaiian culture, my Poluesic culture.
But you can find me on Instagram, you can find
me on Caliens Girls. You can actually find me all
around La. I'm everywhere.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
And most importantly, she's also a fitness office, so you're
seeing which is what she is the person of many
talents and many hats, So you can reach out to her.
And if you probably want to be a guest on
her show, what do you need to do to get
you reach out to you?

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Just reach out to me on my Instagram, slide to
my dms. I don't know crazy stuff, but if you
want to interview, for sure, I am down to interview
anybody that's doing anything in La, anybody that's grinding out
here because La. If you can make it in La,
if you could do something in La, you can make
it anywhere. So I would love to help you be
that stepping stool, help you be that elevation that you need.

(59:31):
So yeah, just reach out to me and reach out
to reach out to Leo. He is doing his thing
with Oh my goodness, And I'm just so grateful that
you chose me to interview you for this because this
is big. Like I was not expecting that call. To
be honest, I was like, oh man, let me figure
out how to get there. I had the most of
things around, but I was like, I was honored, But
I thank you for having me, and I thank you

(59:53):
for allowing me to interview you.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
This legacy that I want to leave is that I
want to leave the world a better place that I found.
That I also want to leave it that on house
people can say, this is a place where I know
that my voice is respected. I don't have to feel
shamed or blamed or are bad about being on a house.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
Yes, and here, Honestly, I'm glad that you have this
platform because if I want to leave the audience with this,
you are heard, you are loved, You are wanted. Please
take up space. It does not matter whether who's telling
you what your circumstance. Your circumstances do not make you okay.
Your circumstances do not break you okay. So whether you're

(01:00:36):
in a hard time right now, there is always getting out.
Keep faith, keep the faith, stay positive, and take it
one day at a time because you never know it
could be one day that could change your life. And honestly,
I want to let you know to never give up,
never give up on yourself, never give up on life,
regardless of what this life has thrown at you. Everybody

(01:00:56):
goes through things, but it's how you handle it afterwards.
So you are heard, you are loved, you are wanted,
and take up as much space as you can in
this world because you are welcomed, regardless of what media
and people try to tell you. Are welcomed, You are loved,
and you are free to be yourself and take up
that space in the world. So this is be honey.

(01:01:18):
I just did this amazing interview with THEO and I
am grateful to be here logging out.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Thank you very much. Well, we're going to take a
break and we will be right back. Thank you for
dropping in to Weedian House, where we're introducing a new

(01:01:46):
way of presenting the news to the young house community.
Our exclusive interview this week is with Proclaimer activist Martha
Squitter of Reclaiming Our Homes in Elserino, California. Here's Martha's story. So, Martha,
let's start off. How did you get into the world

(01:02:07):
of houselessness. I know you didn't work one day and
says I'm going to go out and be houses because
it's fun. So I know that there was a story.
So tell us a little bit about your story.

Speaker 4 (01:02:16):
Yes, So I had left out of the country for
two years and when I returned to Los Angeles, rent
was really high. It had tripled from where two years
ago because my landlord didn't really raise the rent. I
had a good job helping high risk moms, and I

(01:02:38):
was okay with the rent.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
What were you doing with working with high risk moms?
What was going on?

Speaker 4 (01:02:43):
So these moms were I saw them when they were
pregnant until the baby turned two years or also if
they had a termination or they couldn't have the baby.
I saw them for to your mark, and a lot
of them were low income people of color, So that

(01:03:06):
you know that's what's considered high risk is that the
most historically marginalized people were the moms that I saw
and the children I saw, the families I saw providing
them resources and education on how to you know, be
healthier families, be healthier people. But a lot of them
at that time were also on house A lot of

(01:03:29):
them lived in their cars and shelters and very tight
living environments, or also CouchSurfing. So I saw that, but
it wasn't affecting me yet until I came back two
years later and I saw myself in a similar situation,

(01:03:51):
and I know because I provided those resources that they
were very limited and very traumatic. The shelters have been
very traumatic for families. A lot of them get called
social services just because their child cries. Heavily policed, yes,
heavily policed environments and often very traumatizing, not only for

(01:04:11):
children but for adults. So I didn't want to be
in that situation. Also, like a lot of things like
Section eight, they take years. I had a friend that
signed up when her daughter was a toddler. She didn't
actually receive Section into her daughter turned seventeen. So it's
just like I know that we have an abundance of resources,

(01:04:34):
but they're not distributed properly. So I didn't want to
wait in line, and I don't think anybody should actually,
because I feel that the government and our society does
have abundance of resources, but they're not being distributed in
a humane way.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
One of the things about your activism is you have
taken a different stance on creating of approaching the situation.
What challenges there were that you face dealing with the
houselessness with your children? You have two children, right.

Speaker 4 (01:05:08):
Yes, I'm a single mother of two. Currently my daughter
is fourteen and eleven my daughter's but at the time
there were seven I believe in nine when we came
back from Chile and we were living in a rural
area with like indigenous community, So just even coming back

(01:05:30):
to the city it was like highly traumatic.

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
Yeah, culture we had.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
Like anxiety attacks. It was like really bad for us.
And then we ended up going from house to house
from friends and families, which was also very traumatic. Just
that moving and not having stability.

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
Were the children able to thrive in school living like
that because there is over sixty eight thousand on house
children here. But the thame with it is people have
this an aniquated notion that only houseless people are male,
older guys, they're spaced out or on a mental health
break and that's it. Or people that are on substances.

(01:06:12):
What's a little bit different about this situation.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
Well, unfortunately, there's a lot of families with children that
are on house and also a lot of elders that
can't afford rent. There just depend on their social security
and they work all their lives and they don't deserve
to be on the streets. Nobody does. But these people
have worked. They you know, they believe in Yeah, they
believe they worked. They you know, they did what they

(01:06:36):
had to do, and they're not able to afford rent.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
It's almost fable like because here is a slices community
to have mentioned. They've got themselves on their feet, they
don't require government assistance. They thumb their nose in some respects.
And then after all of that doing all of what
they said to do, now you're out here, you know,
scrambling between your you know, your Medicaid check or your

(01:06:59):
medication and out here on Saturdays eating from a mutual
eight that are specifically designed for on house community members.
So the house and secure also is connected in our
house movement unfortunately. But it's a factor realities.

Speaker 4 (01:07:15):
Right exactly. And it's really sad seeing that others like
just be recycling to meet their needs. I mean, we
should all recycle anyway, but just the fact that they
should be resting at the stage after working so hard
and work in like Walmart or other places like grocery stores,

(01:07:37):
and even if it's part time, they have to continue
to work or else they won't have anywhere to live
because rent so high, and it's high because it's made
that way because in actuality, we have an abundance of houses.
They say that there's three empty homes per one on
house person, so we could house every single person here

(01:08:00):
in the city.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Which leads into the next question I had, And I
was curious, what gave you guys the idea to look
at the houses here, because you did some rather extraordinary stuff,
So I will let you tell your story further.

Speaker 4 (01:08:14):
For myself, it was Moms for Housing in Oakland that
inspired me because I saw them and I was like, wow,
like these are moms and they could do it, and
they're you know, they have community support.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
For those that don't know. Moms for Housing were formerly
on housed women that has seen abandoned buildings that has
been abandoned for years, and they basically commandeered it and
demanded the city to house all of the increasing unhoused
community members, which you are mothers with children. And it

(01:08:46):
was a big conversation and it was inspired a lot
of movements. And I suffice it to say, I think
it's inspired you as you you say, and you guys
did some extraordinary things. So let's talk a little bit
about that.

Speaker 4 (01:09:01):
Yeah, And at that time, I didn't know there was
other groups that were meeting and identifying these homes, and
we all kind of met through identifying the houses in
Etceno through East Side Cafe, which has been really knowledgeable

(01:09:21):
in the struggle of these houses because they were the
ones there were one of the groups that fought against
the freeways being built that Caltrans took these homes like
thirty years ago to build the freeway. Then the community
fought for the freeway not to be built, but they
remained abandoned a lot of them. And it was close

(01:09:43):
to two hundred in a Hambra, Etsedano, and South Pasadena.
So not only in Etceno where we took the homes,
but other places through huge homes in Pasadena that are
just abandoned for years and years and left to rot
while people are suffering on the streets. And so to me,
that is a moral And so that's why to me,

(01:10:06):
like the laws don't mean anything if they're like hurting us.
So I broke the law to get into these homes
so that I could have a house during COVID. It
was right during the COVID epidemic where we were all
supposed to shelter in place, and I didn't really have

(01:10:26):
a home to shelter in place, so to keep myself
and my family safe, we took a home in Elceno.
And also we also raised awareness about these empty homes
that none none of the politicians had done anything. And
then all of a sudden, now they wanted they had
a plan according to them, but through this whole time,

(01:10:48):
none of them had really acknowledged these homes.

Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
That's what I was going to say. That's one of
the inspirations that reclaimers, because you guys are reclaiming when
there's they's basically the cities, which is we're paying taxes
in is ours. How did the politicians react to this?
What did are they doing? Anything of the steps to
open up other houses for a house families or what

(01:11:13):
did they do how were they able to hold onto
your home.

Speaker 4 (01:11:18):
For us, we got an offer from Haakla and Path
to have a two year temporary housing agreement, and so
we sounded we signed it because we didn't really want
to be harassed at the moment, and we figured that
we could like try to negotiate with them in order

(01:11:39):
to keep these homes or to find permanent housing around
the area. Because I have my children in the in
the school there that's really good. It's an alternative schools
and Digitus school, and she has special needs, so this
school really addresses I also am a single mom and

(01:12:02):
I have a lot of my support system there. So
I made it really clear what type of housing I
needed because we know like being displaced causes a lot
of trauma absolutely, and so I didn't I didn't want
to move from my community and they haven't provided that.
All the housing that they were providing was outside my
geographic area and or really expensive for my budget. So

(01:12:28):
the two year mark ended and we still right now
we're under eviction because they didn't want to offer any
transition in place or any other offers within the area,
and the politicians really they Kevin de Leone and Marilena Durasso,
Ween de Carrillo, they all say they have plans for

(01:12:52):
these homes that were not special, that we shouldn't get
a deal, that we should wait in line like everybody else,
those type of and then the plan they have is
for mixed income housing, which I believe is not very good.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
Now that you've claimed the house, have you noticed that
there was any improvement in the outlook of your children,
you that you had somewhere to be conversely having to
stay in the car or you know, any other ingenious
ways of trying to survive.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
Well, yeah, it was a blessing having home, especially during COVID.
I was able to start a co op of families
that were homeschooling at the time, because everybody was homeschooling
at the time and so but we built our own curriculum,
We fixed the garage area to meet and have learning

(01:13:41):
and so that's when really our children were thriving the most.
We were giving them a lot of attention, a lot
of emotional support, and that would have not been possible
if I didn't have a home, especially in that community,
and they're a little more established. My daughters are have
healed a lot, and so and the families in general,

(01:14:03):
all the other reclaimers as well, people that were living
on the streets have like really found the time and
space and community especially to be able to kal and
recover from their trauma.

Speaker 1 (01:14:18):
Well, you also have activated them as activists themselves. They
have some accomplishments themselves. What are they What great things
that are are doing now?

Speaker 4 (01:14:27):
So, yes, my daughters are very empathetic towards people, animals,
and they volunteer every Saturday at Jaytown Action and Solidarity
in Tokyo with the unhoused community there. They also have
a radio show on Wednesdays five to six. It's The

(01:14:49):
Sisters Show and it's on in www dot l p
fm dot l as.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
It's streaming there.

Speaker 1 (01:14:59):
That's wonderful. And how do they like that? Because I
noticed I've peeped in a couple of times, and they
definitely make keep things very lively and different, you know,
on the AGA kids level, to be crip frank, you know. Conversely,
because sometimes it takes our peers to show us that
we can do certainly mad, extravagant or exceptional things.

Speaker 4 (01:15:18):
Yeah, they love the radio and they love using their
voice to you know, uplift youth children, social justice, racial
justice issues. But they also talk about food because they're foodies,
and they talk about like just fun things they do
during the week.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
It's like it's like I said, you know, they're the
new They're going to be the future leaders. So they
have to get into trenches as well. So what's new
what's going to be on the plate for now twenty
twenty four? I guess I would need to ask how
is the battle going to be? What phase you were
into it?

Speaker 4 (01:15:54):
I it might be tough, but I don't want to
get up. I want to stay in my community. I
feel like, where the heck are we gonna go? Like
they continuously displace us over and over again, and it's
it's like enough and enough, and I just want to
stand my ground and stay there no matter what. And

(01:16:18):
right now we're also going to have finally have mediation
talks and conversations with caltrans.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
Oh that's a successful as set exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:16:28):
After so many years of trying and going to the
offices and calling and you know, doing everything possible, we
finally I have achieved that. So I'm looking forward to that.
I'm not too hopeful, but like I said, I'm gonna
stay in my house.

Speaker 1 (01:16:46):
How can in the community support you and your good daughters.

Speaker 4 (01:16:50):
I think the best would be just to follow our
social media reclaiming our Homes so for the girls the
Sister Show, and keep updated on our needs that we
will currently maybe have this coming year in twenty twenty four.

(01:17:10):
So yeah, just keep looking for us there.

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):
Well, thank you for taking the time to come and
have a conversation. I hope that people that are listening
understand the whole objective of this episode is the diversity
of the people that are displaced and their stories are singular,
that we all have a story, we all need a
little help, and we all need it in our diverse
ways in our society. Hopefully we'll get the idea and

(01:17:35):
the spirit of empathy. Thanks again to Martha Screeter reclaiming
Our Homes. You can follow her work at Reclaiming Homes
or on Instagram or reclaiming our Homes dot org. And
another big thanks to bay Honey for taking the time

(01:17:57):
to get into a good discussion about houselessness her experience
as well as mine. You can follow her at bay
honey Bae h O n I and listen to her
podcast Collie and Girls on Dash Radio. And finally, a
big thank you to our new listeners and existing listeners.
You can follow us on Weedianhouse dot com and check

(01:18:19):
out new episodes every other Tuesday right here. If you
have an un housed person who are related to or
no socially who has passed on, please send their names
to Weedianhouse dot com so they can be remembered in
our next episode. Can you See Me Memorial cast next
time on Weedianhouse. William Howes is a production of iHeartRadio.

(01:18:45):
It is written, hosted, and created by me Theo Henderson.
Our producers are Seamie Loftus, Lyra Smith and Katie Fisher.
Our editor is Adam Wong, and our logo art is
also by Katie Fisher. Thanks for listening, I've been mothering