Women of Skid Row: Suzette Shaw and Anne McCall

¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Beautiful Woman by Cheap Yellow Mustard. Welcome to the Coombran Report. May the peace and blessings of the light and life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson. Coming at you live from Skid Row Studios. And I'm in the studio with my co-host Earlene Anthony. I'll call in numbers 1-800-893-9562. This week on the Coombran Report, our topic is a conversation with Suzette Shaw. And also, Miss Anne McCall has said, our two special guests here. Thank you. Now, last Monday was Memorial Day, and the new homeless count reflected an increase in the homeless, especially among the veterans. Before we get into our discussion, I would like to play a four-minute clip from a speech I made about five years ago at USCP Center about solving the homeless problem. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ This is such an important issue to me. And not only that, since we've been working in the Skid Row area, one of the things that we notice is how many veterans that's living in the streets. See, and we're going to talk about that in a little while when we do our mama bomb. And so what we try to do with Drama Stage Goon Run, we feel that people talk so much about the problems, that everybody knows the problems, because it's amplified. You can read it in the paper and all that kind of stuff. What we try to talk about is solutions. Solutions. What is the solutions to the homeless problem? Now here's what we've come up with. Because we talk to other homeless people, who have been homeless, homeless veterans, and we want to get their opinions on what do they think it takes to solve a homeless problem. And here's where we're at. I think the first step in solving the homeless problem is make the homeless problem the homeless veteran problem. That's the starting point. By making it the homeless veterans problem, you put it on the shoulders of the United States government, who sent all of these young men over to fight in all of these particular wars and things like that, and come back traumatized, et cetera, like that. So we feel that it is also, that we're also the duty of the American government to finance the solutions to it. Not just the non-veterans who's laying in the street. We feel that the starting point, make the homeless problem the homeless veterans problem. Get the American government to finance some think tanks where you can get some of the best minds in the United States, get them together, make the government pay for it, come up with some solutions, and then spread that solutions out to the rest of the homeless in terms of solving that. Now what can the interfaith community do right now to make a dent in the homeless problem? Number one, I'm gonna talk about Los Angeles, because Los Angeles is the homeless capital. See, it's the homeless capital of the United States. Not only is this the homeless capital, you probably got more millionaires here in Los Angeles, kind of Los Angeles property than anywhere else in the United States. But you also got the blight of people laying down there in the Skid Row area down there. So here's the second part of doing something right now. We feel that the three major religions, the religious institutions, can also work with the city to find out all of these empty properties around here, to either buy these empty properties, rent these empty properties, and start programming what the three big, what the Prophet Muhammad, what Moses, and what Jesus taught. It's right there in the scripture. You know, they started off Messiah Jesus when he announced his Messiahship. It's tied into that, and I said, on what they were supposed to be doing. You know, working with people coming up out of prison, people in need, and all that kind of stuff. And Brother Umar, he mentioned, it's tied into the scripture. Islam is also tied into the scripture of the Torah. See, so we feel that if these three major religions buy, rent some of this empty property, start programming, start picking some of the people up that own Skid Row, start bringing them into some of these houses. And at the same time, provide support systems for them. Okay, that was a clip about five years ago, talking about solution to solving the homeless problem. Now, I'm delighted to have with us in the studio, Suzette Shaw and McCall. And we're gonna discuss some issues in the Skid Row area as it relates to the women's Skid Row. Welcome to the Qumran Report. Thank you. Thanks for having us. And anyone that wanna call in, I'll call in. Number's 1-800-893-9562, if you wanna call in and ask Suzette or Ann a question or talk to them. Now, let's start off, Suzette, can you tell our listening audience a little about your background and how did you become part of the Skid Row community? Yeah, I call it my eat, pray, love journey. I ended up in Skid Row December 6th, 2012, after going through a series of, you know, my world, kind of, as I knew it, spiraling out of control. I always say, you know, I was, the more I tried to hold on to what I knew then to be my American dream, the more it kept slipping through my hands. And it was almost like my Heavenly Father was saying, you know, you're going there, even though that's not where you wanna go, that's where you're going. So I didn't know of a Skid Row prior to, it was prior to where I ended up before coming to Skid Row. And, you know, I went through a series of mishaps and unfortunate situations. I lost my job. I was a human resources operations manager for a business processing site in Arizona and lost my job in April 2010. And for two years, I've, you know, tried diligently to gain employment, sustainable employment. I also, you know, threw myself into my volunteer work as, you know, I tend to do. Nevertheless, I couldn't gain employment. I couldn't gain a sustainable employment that, you know, I had had in the past. And quite frankly, I found and felt that I was being systematically displaced, discriminated, if you will, from employment opportunities, and actually had a civil rights investigation going on at the time. I ended up supporting gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender And, you know, one one situation after another where it was just, you know, everything was very temporary. And that's one of the that was one of my really issues and concerns that that that why I feared. And, you know, I never knew I never had been, quote unquote, homeless before. But I feared in my gut is like, you know, because and that's why I tried so hard to hold on to, you know, employment, even when I was dealing with very distressful situation in a work environment. But I'm a single woman. I have been, you know, all of my adult life. And so, you know, I knew it was me and God, you know, I mean, and at that point, I didn't know God how I know God today. But so I just knew that I walked this journey pretty much alone. OK. How about you, Ann? Can you tell us a little about your background? And then how did you become part of the Skid Row community? Well, I arrived on Skid Row in November of 2012. Wow. And without going into a long, drawn out story, it once again, just like Suzette said, it was a series of very traumatic events. A lot of loss. And when you hit an emotional or mental collapse, it's just a series. It's not one thing. It's a series of events that takes you there. And so I ended up in Los Angeles from another state. I had never been here. What state? Oregon. OK. And without giving a lot away because there was there was this extenuating. Circumstance that led me here without. I'll just tell you. Anyway, I really had no memory. I lost two or three days. And when I came back to my senses, I was in Los Angeles. Wow. And I was horrified. I was absolutely horrified. I knew something, of course, extremely beyond serious that happened in my head. But I also knew I couldn't go back. To the life I had. So I ended up on Skid Row. I didn't even know what it was. Of course, having worked it myself, having worked in the homeless community all over the country. One of my last jobs was working in a homeless shelter, helping women. So it's very interesting that I would end up on the streets. What were your first thoughts when you came to Skid Row community? I was very naive. So, you know, I mean, I didn't know. I didn't know the depth of despair. I didn't know the depth of the survival that goes on down there. It took. My brain was very fuzzy for a long time. I mean, I knew I was not in a good place. But slowly, as the weeks went on, I began to become really aware of what was going on around me. And having come from, you know, a fairly successful life. And having a home. And never, I've always been on the other end of giving and helping people on the street. So, yeah, it was very, very ironic that I would end up on Skid Row. So I immediately realized, and I realize now this was God, that this was not my life. And I was not going to stay here. I was not going to get trapped here. I didn't know what any of that looked like. But that I was determined to get out of there and get my life back. I didn't know what that meant or what that looked like. So, it was extremely daunting getting help on Skid Row. Especially for a white woman who doesn't fit any of their criteria. Which is drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, children, mental health, AIDS, pregnancy. I didn't fit any of that. And they could see that I was intelligent. That I wasn't a drug user. Or they didn't know what to do with me. So I knew pretty quickly I was on my own. To get out. Yeah. But anyway, yeah. When it started to really sink in, I couldn't believe that this could exist in America. I was really, I was like, how can this exist in America? And back then, Suzette and I used to talk about it. Two years ago. Two and a half, you know. That we'd say, we've got to do something to help these women. We've got to bring change. This cannot stay like this. We've got to speak up. And so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Earlene, you want to make a comment? Because you went through some of the similar experience, right? Absolutely. And I can relate to what both of the women are saying. Because I was homeless and lived at the Union Rescue Mission. Probably 96, 200, 201, 234 and up in there. And I felt a lot of the same way. And immediately. I noticed that Skid Row is no place for women to be. Exactly. Because all the missions, all the shelters are built for men. And I often say that women was an afterthought. That part. And they still are. And they just put a little piece of the mission or shelter together. So that the women would have their little corner. But absolutely. I felt devastated. And how could this happen? And it takes your why. And it takes your style. Yeah. To like come out of that whatever. And realize that this is Skid Row and this is it for a little bit. It's a living nightmare. Just one more thing. Like Ann say, I had lost my job. I wasn't an addict. I wasn't mentally ill. I wasn't a prostitute or any of those things. And they do not know what to do with you. Black, white polka dot whatever. Thank you. That's right. Thank you. They don't have services available for you. Exactly. Exactly. No, in fact, they will tell you that you're on your own. And that's what they told me. They told me that I was on my own. And I was on my own. And I was on my own. I'm getting out of here. I remember saying… Let me ask this question then. And then we'll start with Suzanne and go around and open it up. What are some of the major issues facing the women's Skid Row? Some of the major issues… Well, just to preface that, you know, I was very, very traumatized when I came down there. And I, unlike Ann, I had lost hope. And I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… And, you know, and people and I call and I refer to all of us sitting here, all of us women as like the new face of Skid Row. And there's more and more and more as, you know, progressively over the course of years where, you know, women who, you know, educated, articulate, you know, we work professional women. You know, we've we've worked in the workplace and worked most of our lives. But most of us are middle age and there's even older women. And the system isn't really hasn't caught up yet to how to know how to handle us as the new because people tend to stereotype what poverty looks like. They tend to stereotype what, you know, a mental illness looks like, you know, trauma is, you know, trauma, PTSD, anxiety and so on, you know. And so they really they tend to stereotype all the all the issues that really. And so many women end up in a Skid Row after loss of jobs and after loss of homes and then even also going through various traumas from domestic violence to sexual abuse to just ending up homeless in and of itself and everything that you go through, how your life that is trauma in and of itself. And we discount that. We discount that in our country and that and us as a people, especially, you know, when we as women who have been professional women. And have, you know, by and large, taking care of ourselves most of our lives, you know, we, you know, we're so used to holding on to our dignity and our pride and walking still in this grace, you know, that you don't necessarily know that we're that woman living on Skid Row when you stand next to us at a corner. If you're at, you know, if we're in the grocery store and, you know, you're picking fruit and I'm picking, you know, you know, you don't because we're not wearing any stereotypes. And so I refer to it as a new face of Skid Row, the new face of homelessness and poverty. And so I refer to it as a new face of homelessness and poverty. That one can't just like, oh, you know, just like put a hand on it and say, and, you know, and we're the type, you know, that we're going to ask questions because that's where we come from. We can articulate a question and we actually are going to hold you accountable. We're going to come back and ask you, you know, what did you, you know, and they're not used to women like us in the community. They're really not from, from the programs to, you know, the services who come down and, you know, the supportive services who come into the community. They really, they're very threatened by a woman. If you ladies would like to speak further on that. Go ahead. Oh, very well said. It's always hard to follow up Suzette. Very articulate and yeah. I think for me to break it down in a nutshell, I would like to see every single woman out of Skid Row. I'd like to see every man too, but anyway, I'm dealing with women. It is when everybody to follow up on what Suzette said. Who, whatever person ends up on Skid Row. a Okay. Okay. And after she goes, well, can you elaborate? So we did. And she goes, I like to think that I'm not. And I said, well, you know what? That is future thinking. And that's a good way to be because that's what's going to get you out. But that's a survival technique to think that you're not broken. But I'm sorry, having gone through it myself. If you're living in a shelter or on the streets in Skid Row, you're broken. I'm still broken. And will be broken. But you are broken. And the thing is, is that women are an afterthought. And they cannot be. They are the ones who are, I don't like to say weaker, but they're the ones that are more vulnerable than the men. And so many more serious things happen to them than to the men. You know, they're used by the men in a hundred different ways to Sunday. I just would like to see. Every woman out of there. And to preface that, all the different shelters I've worked at in New York City, in Cleveland, in Portland, women and men are never put together. The women's shelter was always in a whole separate part of town. Yeah. Now, let me say this because I know when I was in the Marines, and I talk about this all the time because the homeless situation was so different then. Simply because you had the all-night movies, the 24-hour movies. And this is where most of the homeless stayed at. They were open at 12 and they were closed at 6 in the morning. Wow. And when they closed all of these movies down, that's when you saw, you begin to see it now with the overflow of homeless. I've never even known of such a thing. Yeah. And then I know that I was, being a veteran, I have a lot of resources. And I was staying in the Alexander for quite a number of years. And the organization, the organization that really, really pulled me back into it was LA CAN with Steve and Becky, Keith and all like that. I got in, and Kevin Michael. I got involved with what was happening with the gentrification and that particular movement. Right. And I've been watching that ever since. And then I've also, one of the things, when I think about Skid Row now, you know, I look at some of the elements where you have a huge influx of individuals down here, especially African Americans. And I'm beginning to think, you know, that one of the things that we really have in our advantage is numbers. So, you know, instead of transitioning a lot of people out of Skid Row, I think we should be trying to figure out how to empower these individuals to take over. Absolutely. Skid Row. Absolutely. You know, when you got numbers, you know, because that's what it's about in terms of politics. Did you want to say anything about some of the major problems facing, some of the everyday problems that you're facing? Absolutely. Some of the problems that women face in Skid Row that the men don't. Right. What would... Some of the things I faced in Skid Row and some of these, and Ann, and Suzette has already touched on, the staff at these residences that you stay at treat you as if you are not human at all. And it's on purpose. They don't, they talk to you, try to put you down. They make you feel like it's your fault. Whatever happened because you're down here, it's your fault. Right. And you're down here, it's your fault and you're going to suffer and we're going to make you pay. Right. Absolutely right. And the threat is always hanging over your head. We're going to 86 you or whatever and you're not going to have a bed. You're not going to have a place to stay. These threats are ever present. Yes. And these facilities on purpose take your dignity away from you. Yes. And you know what? They're going to put you across the board like you're all the same. You're scum. You're the filth of the earth. They do not make a distinction in you. And just one more thing and then I'm going to let it go. While I was there, I was in a program called King's Daughters just for the mere fact that I could sleep upstairs and have a bed and not have to be downstairs with all the other women and children. And in these we had workshops. And the staff was amazed to find out that I could talk, compose a sentence and write an essay. They were beef, you know, beef-buffle because I was the person of Skid Row. And like you say, they have this stereotype of what a person in Skid Row is. Exactly. Let's talk about the gender thing. What is, how can, let's talk a little about the relationship between the males and the females down in Skid Row. How can we improve the relationship between the males and the females down in Skid Row? Can we talk about that for a moment? Well, you know, thank you. And I, and like we're saying, you know, Skid Row has predominantly been a male populated community for decades and so forth. And there's, you know, there's a lot of history that goes behind all of that that we don't have necessarily time to go into this evening. But one of the things, you know, like when I was brought down to Skid Row, John Kelly with LA Mission brought me down. And he was creating bed space for me. And I was like, you know, I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I'm going to have to go to Skid Row. I mean, I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. I still do. two to three weeks to find a bed for a woman and that same bed for a man will take two to three days at the most so because again the programs are written for them so they were just so he was just kind of um you know creating bed space for women so this is kind of interesting that you know we address the issues of the um the with women and in regards to because the program and the way that the community is set up in and already of itself it's already telling the woman that you're less that you're not you're not equal to us you don't measure up so therefore um you know you're on the back end you're on the back end so get behind and so the programs are already you know in in and of itself in a way telling women that you know you are of less value and they haven't caught up yet the programs have not and i'm not necessarily looking at it i'm surprised when i sit in various meetings and it's like you know and i'm part of the community but i'm sitting in in meetings with people who are running programs from you know one entity to another and and i'm like but what about the women i'm the one raising my hand but what i'm like you guys are all running the programs how come i'm the one raised addressing the issue and speak on that well i was at the rescue union rescue mission also for a year um and i will say the lady who ran the women's program she was one tough nut and i always called it a prison mentality very dangerous but i'm not a woman i'm not a woman i'm not a woman i'm not a woman i'm not a woman i'm not a woman i'm not a woman Because I learned that if I showed her respect, even though I didn't like what she was doing, I didn't have any issues. And as long as I was following the rules. So when I left, she actually told me, I really hate that you're leaving, but I'm glad for you. But anyway, getting back to the men, the gender issue. Inside that mission, I cannot tell you how many times the men would say, well, this is a men's program. One time I was waiting for a TV shot. Hours and hours sitting there, sitting there, where all the men are going. And I'm like, when are the women? You told us to be here at 10. And the guy turns around and he goes, well, this is a men's program. So I'd hear that. And so what needs to change from the top down, here you have these men who are part of the program, and they're only carrying on what they're taught. And I remember that man, I stopped him later and I said, can I talk to you? And I said, you know, that was so disrespectful what you said. You know, this is supposed to be a godly program. And you're supposed to protect us. You're supposed to protect women. You know, and he goes, I never thought of it that way. Because they get the better food. They have the nicer sitting area. They have the nicer dorm. You know, there was air conditioning in that whole building, but the women's dorm. I don't know if it's still that way. But I'm telling you. Wow. There were old women in there. And I ended up going to the executive director and saying, you know, I'm going to shout this from the rooftops. Because this is not okay. Now, why do you think it's like that in the recovery zone? Because that's where the dollars are. They go, I mean, right now the dollars are really about the veterans programs. Like I stayed at the Rest Hotel for, you know, months when I first came down. And it's predominantly veterans. You know, the program is really written by and large for veterans there. So, you know. It was kind of like the same dialogue as far as, well, you know. But most of us were like, you know, they were hustling and bustling us. And, you know, and you're only here temporary. And, you know, and they run you around and run you around. You know, they just run you. But when people are writing grants, I know it used to be it was always an advantage. Because a female could be a female. She could be a minority, et cetera, like that. They used to be an advantage. It's a disadvantage. Now in the Skid Row area. Go ahead. Well, I'm just going to say, and not to interrupt. But this is my experience in the mission two years ago. Whenever those grants people would come around to tour, the women would be gone. So, you know, that's pretty convenient. Not that we could say anything, but you could put any spin on it that you wanted. And then the fact that they put so much money into that women's center. That was a multi-million dollar operation. That's a downtown women's center. I'm talking about the Union Rescue Mission. Yeah. That's a whole different can of worms. Yeah. But the Union Rescue Mission, it was basically the women were invisible. Well, you know. At that particular time, this was the only facility in which women, they had space for women. Yes. Now, the other question I want to ask you is about, do you think it has anything to do with, you know, the impact of women's with children, women's with families, the single heads of the household? How do they fit into the scheme on what's happening down here in Skid Row? I believe Union Rescue Mission, from what I've been told by and large, is where they house women with children. Other than that, I think they pretty much send them elsewhere and not in the community. And... Yeah. By and large, you're going to find a lot of single women living in Skid Row. And even if they weren't single, they're going to be single just living in Skid Row because of the way that the programs are written. It's a single room occupancy, you know. It's not set up for, you know, family. It's not set up for marriage or, you know, or to invite people in on that level, even though, you know, people try and, you know. But the programs aren't written by and large that way. And I just want to address one thing when you're talking about the men. You know, one thing that I... I used to try and say, you know, with my church and everything, or my former church, is that I would say, well, you know, it's really important to kind of give the men an idea. It's like you can talk biblically about, you know, what the man is supposed to provide and the man is supposed to lead and so forth. But you really have to show these men what that looks like, what that tastes like, what that feels like. So to me, I would say, you know, it's very important with these feeding lines that you make the men know, you know, that those who come down the field, that they demand that the women go first in the line, women with children go first. And I would... The men, you know, in my church, they would get so defensive, especially the men, you know, who live down in the community. They're like, uh-uh, no, no, no. You know, well, maybe women with children, but single women, you know, we're all equal. We're all equal. And I thought, wow, wow. Like, you'd really fight so hard. I mean, and it's amazing the really derogatory things that I... I hear men say in the community just when it came to just women going first in line. But see, this is the very thing. It's like, it's almost like, you know, life skills. It's like, you've got to teach people the very basics of life skills before you can teach them how to, you know, you know, you got to learn ABC before you can learn XYZ. Right? Yes, because going back, you know, these men at the Union Rescue Mission are in the program a year or more. And whatever... And they're required to take... They're required to take many classes there and Bible studies. But the problem is, is you have people who are just as broken as sick leading these people. So that has to change. Like she said, it has... You have to have leadership that models what they want these people to learn. And also set a standard and say, you will not disrespect the women. When you come here, you... Whatever the rule is, you know, you will be clean. You will be sober. You know, there's not going to be any preying on the women. I mean, just zero tolerance with that. I mean, you're dealing with broken, broken people. But the problem is the leadership has to change. Their attitudes have to change. And if you're trying... I'm not saying that they didn't succeed. They always do. There's always a few men. And you probably saw this that came out that were very successful and very nice to the women and learn. But the majority of men, they come in with... With these... Misogynistic. Yeah, things that they were a product of. And it carries over. Yeah. To follow up on that comment about, well, we're equal. That is such an idiotic comment because he'll turn around and say, but you're a woman and this is your place. You know, there's nothing equal down here. Women are a commodity. Women are a commodity. How can we make women more a part of the decision-making process in the Skid Row area? What do you think some of the things... You know, we have to be... We have to be allowed at the table. And we have to be allowed to... You know, I speak often to, you know, the male leaders in our community, which, you know, they don't particularly care what I think. Just in regards to just, you know, gender equality and making space at the table, making room for a narrative for the woman at the table. And again, it starts with all the very basics of things. It's like, you know, how can you talk about being a community when, you know, when you do things and you only invite men to the table? When you only... When you only acknowledge men and praise men for the work that they do and you don't, you know, bring women from the community. And this is also one of the huge issues that, you know, gets left out of it as well. It's just like one thing that I wanted to say is that when I first came down, you know, and I still... I was very much broken, but I thought I was like real. But I was applying for jobs like for SRO. Now, I was a certified case manager and so forth, job developer, state of Arizona employment services and everything. So I was applying, you know, I was human resource. So I was applying for jobs like with SRO, several jobs. I never even got once called for an interview, let alone chosen for a job. But so it's funny now, you know, when I say people who then have these jobs who are, you know, they get to make definitive decisions about people like me. Yet you don't have any idea, clue as to who I am. And nor, I don't know. I just... Well, they're usually 22 years old right out of college and, you know. Well, this is... I don't have any clue. This is what I'm asking. There's a disconnect. This is what I'm asking, you know. How can we change it? How can women... Exactly what she said. Yeah. Is letting women come to the table. That's what I'm saying. And being heard. What's the process? Well, I mean... She gets me on this better. Why the men... What's the process that allows the men to come to the table and the women can't come to the table? Well, first of all, this is a men's... This was men... There were only men here for... Yeah. What? 30, 40 years for women. I mean, maybe a few women, but it's grown exponentially. First of all, they've got to be willing to humble themselves. It's called humility. And they've got to be willing to acknowledge the fact that, you know, it's not set up to... And they've got to be willing to want to be gender, you know, gender supportive. The leadership. The leadership. Because it starts with the leadership. I mean, on every level in any community, it starts with the leadership of how, you know. And, you know, I mean, I would say, you know, even in different entities like within that I've been involved in the community, I say, wow. You know, it's really interesting that like when women come down to the community from the valley or what have you, now they'll walk them around like China doll. But the women that are from the community, we're commodity. We're prey. I mean, you know, I remember like with the Grim Sleeper, you know, women, they were labeled NHI, no human involved. And that's how women basically... We in Skid Row are considered, we're considered commodity. We're considered, we're basically not, we're less than human. And simply because of proximity and the fact that, you know, I live in Skid Row, you know, men are going to come at me and insinuate or assume that, you know, I'm selling my body, you know. Or they're going to try and take, you know, advantage of me on some level. So then, you know, I, so that's one of the things that, you know, I have to set up parameters, you know. When I first came down here that even in my broken state, I had, okay, wait a minute. I have to set boundaries because if I don't set boundaries, then boundaries, you know, will be crossed. So I had to, you know, be very, very clear about, you know, as far as how I walked in the community. And, you know, it's a lot of, it's a lot of objectifying and devaluing and demoralizing of you as a woman just simply by walking down the street. Well, let me say this. Because see, I want to say. One of the things I notice about the black community as a whole from a historical point of view. One of the strongest institutions in the black community have always been the black church, right? And the female always been the dominant power in the black church. But, and it always, you know, amazed me for the female to be the dominant power in the black church. But the people sitting at the front in the pulpit and the deacons and all that making all these decisions is male. Right. So what I'm trying to say is what is keeping the females from Skid Row from uniting? Right. You know, because power come from all of these issues. You know, hey, some of the males in the Skid Row area, you know, a lot of them is organizing. But as a whole, in terms of the power structure as a whole, you know, they're very limited in the overall scheme of things here in L.A. What I'm trying to say is I always felt that we need more female leadership, especially among the African-American descendants of Slaves of Mary. I think it's time for the females to step up like we see what's happening in Baltimore. I'm so glad to see some females in power utilizing that power that falls in their hands. I have to say, I have to say that, you know, it's funny because I'm learning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm learning and it's been very disheartening because I thought, you know, well, I'm in this black community, you know, and you think that your black brothers are going to understand you more because you're in this black community because, but then they understand, you know, more than, and they're not trying to. So it's like, because the good old boy system still exists within your own, amongst your own people. Yeah. So I find that just like how I had to do and all those other communities that before Skid Row, I had to start my own narrative. I had to start my own playing field because they don't want to allow me on their playing field. You know what I'm saying? So it's like every time, you know, you've got to write your own narrative, you know, I mean, from the church on. I mean, I couldn't I'm probably I've been part of a church for over a year now on and off. It's like I couldn't even and I'm and I'm and I'm more have had more leadership as a female in the community connected to the church. Yet when positions were given to the church, to others in the church, I wasn't even acknowledged, even though I mean, you know, it didn't matter what I had done in the community or what I had done to support the church. When positions were given, people outside the community were given positions and so forth. So that's so I'm just saying that it's like when people aren't willing to acknowledge. That it starts in the community. It's like if you don't have people connected to the community, then I mean, and they're just coming down for a couple of hours a week. Yeah, because what I want, as far as that Skid Row, and then we're going to take a little break because there's still two more issues. I want to talk about the police community relations and want to talk about the females coming out of prison. Can I say one thing following up with what Suzette? I'm going to break it down even further. Yeah. For me. This is just my opinion. Having gone through this, you're you're once again, I'm going back to the brokenness. You have people who are trying to survive. You can't really when you're trying to survive. There's nothing much above that you can do when you're trying to find a place to sleep or eat or you're looking for your drugs or your sex or whatever it is. You can't think much beyond that. Yeah. The key. This is what I truly believe. And I'm not saying that I'm going to break it down. I'm just breaking it down. I'm just breaking it down. It will never be resolved with the men and the women down here together because there has to be tremendous healing. These a lot of these women. I'm not saying there aren't some that can rise up and be leaders like Suzette has been there. They're trying to deal with the simple necessities of life. They just don't have it in them. That's how I felt when I was down there. I was like, I don't. I mean, I would have case managers who would say, I want you to go. Yeah. Yeah. Tim back to to do this. And I said, I don't have the energy. Yeah. But let me say, because see, one of the things I think is is very important. Right. I think is very important for the women's skid row. When you see a wrong done, just like when you see the police do something wrong in the community organized and you go against it. See a wrong thing. You are you unify. You know, you come together. You call them on that immediately. Right. I agree. But you're you're dealing. Yeah. And the world has changed. One more thing. I understand exactly what you say about people trying the basic necessity. But see, you got a lot of people that transition through, you know, and they get themselves together. And they have an obligation that help to help those to still struggling. Absolutely. And that's where I'm at. And that's all I'm saying. Because, you know, I got to take a break. Let me take a little quick break and we'll come back and talk about those other two subjects. OK. Yeah. Come in. Yeah. This is the community calendar of upcoming events. June is Torture Awareness Month and Drama Stage Cone 1, LA Labor Fest and Public Work Improvisational Theater presents a stage reading of If the Shoe Fits, Voices from Solitary Confinement. And on Tuesday, June the 23rd, 2015 at 7 p.m. The location is the neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, 301 North Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena, California. Zip code 91103. And this is a free event. All are invited to attend. After the reading of If the Shoe Fits, Voices from Solitary Confinement. There will be a Q&A session. And for more information on this event, you can call 310-704-3217. And this is part of a call to stop the torture with events that's going to be held on the 23rd of each month. Signifying the number of hours prisoners are kept in solitary. And this is a statewide coordinated action to end torture. Once again, events will be held on the 23rd of every month throughout the end of the year. And for more information on how you can get involved, and some of the examples are you can write letters, sign up for legislative visits, and plan future actions. And if you're interested in the event coming up on the 23rd or the 23rd of every month, once again, you can call 310-704-3217. Or email LAlaborfest at gmail.com. And if you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com. Attention Earlene Anthony. And the reminder, the call in number for our show is 800-893-9562. Now back to our host. Okay. Now I want to go to a little short clip about the drama. Okay. So we're going to go to a short clip about solutions, just a couple minutes, and then we're going to come back and finish. I wish we had a little bit more time. Wow, that went fast. It goes fast. Because in a minute I want to talk about the homeless, microscope homeless solution think tank and Project ReConnect. Because I see one of the major problems that's key. Any solutions from happening down the road. And what's happening down here in the downtown and Skid Row area is the fact that you have all of these different sectors who fail to work together as a unit to solve the problem. The business community, the activist community, the service providers, the man and woman laying in the street, the regular community. And so I just want to read something. Okay. So this is something, it's a proposal for getting the research that the community can trust. And I think this is what's needed. You got to have a research that the business community can trust, the activist community, the service providers community. You got to have the same research. So that means you have to have the same input. You got to have input from all of these sectors to come up with a problem. Because no matter how we've already proven that how much, no matter how much money you can put millions and millions of dollars. I think last year they put something like $118 million in trying to solve this problem. And then they look around and they say it's an 18% increase. But we see in the downtown area it's over 80% increase in the amount of homeless population. So what happened, the more money that you put into solving this homeless problem, the more you create a bureaucracy. The more you create jobs for this bureaucracy that have no incentive to solve the homeless problem because they've been putting themselves out of a job. So we come up with what we call the microscope homeless solution think tank. And what it is, it's a microscope homeless solution think tank. It's a group of 10 college students who will interview 24 stakeholders, participants from the Skid Row community about some of the major problems in the Skid Row community and possible solutions to solving the problem. And then the second part of that is Project Reconnect. The goal of this project is to utilize the research information for the purpose of solving the problem. And then the second part of that is Project Reconnect. The goal of this project is to utilize the research information for the purpose of solving the problem. The goal of this project is to utilize the research information for the purpose of solving the problem. The goal of this project is to utilize the research information for the purpose of solving the problem. The goal of this project is to utilize the research information for the purpose of solving the problem. The community, all segments of the community need to have input into the solution so all of these different segments can trust each other and work as a unit to come up with a solution. See, it's not about money. They've already tried that. See, you got to have something that would unify all of these segments to work together instead of fighting against each other like kids. It's important that the narrative is focused on the community rather than the agenda of people who come into the community who really aren't focused on the agenda. They're just building their resumes or they're, you know, they're building whatever pad. Okay. Okay, let's take a call. We got a call on who? Who am I speaking with? Catherine McNanny. Hey, Catherine. How you doing? Hi, Catherine. Hi, everyone. You have a question for Suzanne or Ann or a comment? Well, I... It's... It's... It's a comment to something that you asked the ladies and the audience as well. You said, how can women's concerns be addressed in Skid Row? And you're wondering how can the women come together and make their concerns known? I wanted to just first of all say your show has been so tremendous. You and Arlene have been so... such a godsend and just so great. You and Arlene have been so great. You and Arlene have been so great. And you... You guys are helping to get the word out very much. So thank you. Yes. Yes. Thank you. And then also, you know, we are coming together. The women are coming together through... That show, Ladies Take the Mic, so we're doing it. And also mention that since our... Ann mentioned the women of Skid Row are just trying to survive. I feel that. And our community is unique. And to what Suzette said, we have to crawl before we can walk. Absolutely right. If we... you know, we might not be able to tackle the things that our surrounding communities are tackling. If we need to hold forums on relations between men and women... Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Or, you know, some very basic things, then that's what we need to do for several years. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. And we should... It's a business. We'd like to invite also women to join our Downtown Women's Action Coalition because we're few but we're mighty. Yes. Yes. You know, so... Yeah. Yeah. But no, it's very important what Catherine is saying. And that's one of the things that I also been talking about doing for the last few months as far as starting panel discussions and talking about the really hard stuff. People don't... you know, we talk about, you know, we're raise a conscience and, you know, we're all about black power and so on and so forth. But then people don't want to have the tough conversations. Mm-hmm. And you got to be willing. It's like, you know, you can't say Skid Row is predominantly African American community. We can't say race doesn't matter when we look around and see all of our people. Yeah. And we can't say that our people living in an impoverished community. Mm-hmm. What? Are you serious? I know. Race matters. I mean, I mean, I just want to say... I'll say one final thing and then I'll get off the phone because you guys are doing a great job. Yeah. I think Suzette mentioned it. The solutions have to come from the people in the community. That's right. From the men and the women. They have to... the people in the community need to be involved because it is such a unique community and it's so unusual. The people from the community absolutely have to be involved. Yeah. And they have to be at the table. Otherwise, nothing's ever going to get solved. And then I'm going to get off the phone right now. Wait, wait, wait. Catherine, Catherine. Yeah. Before you hang up, you know, I'm thinking, you know, because we're running out of time, but I would really like to do part two of this show next week. If we do part two of the show, would you come in? Yeah. Or be one of the... you'll come in? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yay. We're going to do part two of this show because we really got a lot that we didn't get a chance to discuss. That part, yeah. Yeah. So we'll have Suzanne and Ann back in here next week. And what was the young lady that started the organization with you was Jan... Gabrielle. Gabrielle. And who was the other... I remember the other young lady that we had in... Jane Torres is working on a farm at a homeless shelter in Bell right now. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's who I was thinking of. We're both green thumbs, though. Okay. All right, then. So we'll have a little bit of time for you next week. Thanks, Catherine. Thank you. Thank you, Catherine. Now, I just want to say quickly, Catherine is very important to building the women in a skid row because you really have to have women when they come down who are very much wanting to be part of the solution, not coming down with their own agendas, but women who are really trying to be part of the narrative to build a solution. Okay. So next week, we're going to do part two. Okay. Part two of this show. Amen. You know, because we still got a lot to talk about that's very important. Okay. Thank you for tuning in to the Coombran Report. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Ann McCall, Suzette Shelma, co-host Earlene Anthony, please tune in to the Coombran Report by Googling Ann Coombran Report. I close out with the song that opened the show, Beautiful Women by Cheap Yellow Mustard. That's Cheap. Yeah. That's Cheap. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. © transcript Emily Beynon