Memorial Day veterans discussion with play excerpts and community calendar

Are we going to be around this town? And let what everybody said come true Thank you. I'm gonna get up, but in Jesus' name, I'm gonna get up. The people who are talking to me, are we gonna let it ride us down? And they'll never be safe, I'm sure. Good for nothing, they all figure. Just a boyish rope, a ship is a jigger. Now we gonna stand for that. Oh, is that really what we say? I'm your brother. I'm your brother. I hope you don't mind. If I tell a whole story, part of the system. I know you think you've come a long way. I know you think you've come a long way. As I walk the streets, I see a road. You can see my hands ain't shaking, but my legs ain't trembling. I turn the corner and keep it for trash. Look up at the street sign, it says San Julian. Look up at the street sign, it says San Julian. Look back down and make eye contact with my brother. And now I'm feeling like I'm standing somewhere I shouldn't be. He looks around a thousand of his friends that raised their crackpots to their lips. I'm playing some simultaneous sleep. Telling me, yeah, I'm getting high. I'm feeling good. And sister, don't you know you're being tried. Darker Than Blue by Willis and Shante. Who will be performing at the upcoming Arts Walk Thursday, June the 14th, 2012. 7 o'clock p.m. to 10. 10 o'clock p.m. at the Exchange. Located at 114 West 5th Street, downtown Los Angeles. Welcome to the Coon Round Report. Coming at you live from Skid Row Studios. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson. And I'm in the studio with my co-host, Earlene Anthony. This week on the Coon Round Report, we will be talking about the meaning of Memorial Day with veterans David Ramos and James Gordley. Also with us in the studio is actor Lee Shaw, Anthony Taylor, Andrea Ross. And we have with us today our new intern, Shemeika Holmes, who will give us some information about Memorial Day. Now, I'm truly delighted to have with us in the studio, Shemeika Holmes, who will be working as an intern for the Coon Round Report. Shemeika, welcome to the Coon Round Report. Welcome. My name is Shemeika, and I attend Westchester High School. When I graduate from high school, I plan to go into radio broadcast. As an intern, I plan to learn controlling the switchboards and controls. Mm-hmm. About the radio station. Now, that's... That's great. Can you give us a little background about the history of Memorial Day? Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces, formerly known as Decoration Day. It originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end. Okay. Thank you, Shemeika. We're looking forward to working with you as an intern, get more young people trained in the radio station, and announcers behind the scene, et cetera, like that. Now, I would like to continue our discussion with two veterans we have with us in the studio. David Ramos and James Gordley. Welcome to the Qumran Report. Thank you, Shemeika. Thank you, Shemeika. James, can you tell us a little about your military experience? I served 10 years in the United States Marine Corps, two terms in Vietnam. I hold a President Unit Citation, handed me by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and acknowledged by the President of the United States today, right now, Obama. In his President's speech, he named George Washington, and Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Okay, let's talk a little about Memorial Day. I'll start with you, James. What are your thoughts? What do Memorial Day mean to you? Why don't you want to talk about that for a little while? Memorial Day to me is the day of greatness because all cultures come together to defend my country that they live in. And when the country recognizes that the soldiers and males and females who did this I think the public should have a great respect for this day. This day is most important to me because a lot of my friends are laying out there so people here can have their freedom and live a beautiful life in America. That's what it means to me. How about you, David? Well, it means to me a little bit more than what people out there are thinking. It's a little bit more than just barbecue and beer. You know, all those who have laid their lives. So that we may live free. I have a friend that works over at the National Cemetery and this weekend 3,000 Boy Scouts put out 89,000 flags. That being just one cemetery. And, you know, you just add that by all cemeteries and that will give you pretty much an idea of what has been done so that we may be able to sit here and be free. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Look, let's talk about it. The situation out here, because, you know, Los Angeles is known as the homeless capital of the United States. But also what a lot of people don't know, it's also known as the homeless veteran capital of the United States. What do you think and what are your thoughts on the homeless veteran situation? So many homeless veterans out here. I think the government and the state need to recognize, what soldiers are really about. And when we come home, I give my government 100%. But when I come home, I only get 10% from my government. And I think that what's on the streets now should not be there by no means. All of us are not sick mentally or physically. There's some that's out there who's trying to reach out, but our system don't hear us at all. And they need to hear us. Mm-hmm. And one day I hope that the government and the state will hear us and give us our due that we put down for, we put our lives down for this country. So we should have something that's worthy of it for doing it. But when I come home, I'm looked down on. I'm called crazy. I'm called nothing. I can't get a job. I don't know how to get a housing because there's nothing there that wants to help me. So I have nowhere else to go but is to the streets. Mm-hmm. And nowhere I can go. Okay. Well, my thoughts on that is basically the same. But we're actually very fortunate that President Obama has acknowledged the veteran homelessness problem now. And what it is we're dealing with right now is basically awareness, getting the awareness out there that there are benefits available to veterans nowadays. And they just don't know. They don't know about it. They're out there in the streets wandering around and there's nobody telling them what's available to them. The community at large pretty much doesn't have a clue either. So a lot of the big problem is awareness. And a lot of these young men and women come back from battle suffering from PTSD. Various drug and substance abuses also are just not aware of the benefits available to them. Mm-hmm. And I think we really need to get the word out there and extend our hand out to them because, you know, all gave some, but some gave all. Mm-hmm. So we really need to get out there and give them a hand. When you give the ultimate, when you give up, even me, I'm a combat veteran, but when a man gives up the ultimate, think of what he's left behind. Children, wives, they need help. Children can't learn nothing. There's nothing out there for them. They got to fight all the negativity, all the harm that's going on, and they're not looked at no more. Their father didn't die. He didn't fight for this country. But now their families are not looked at anymore. They're just dissipating. They just go away. And the child has to work its own. He's proud of his father. But when I hear a child walk up to me and say, Sir, you wish you could. Yes, sir, I did this. But he doesn't understand what I've done. He only knows that I did something. But he doesn't understand what I've done. Mm-hmm. So I'm not getting the recognition from my own people or my own country. Because when a child walk up to a soldier, past or present, it should be a light on his face to let him know that there's men out here like us that's here to protect them, to teach them, to make them better citizens, and make sure we have enough young men that can defend our country again when I get old. Mm-hmm. So that's where I'm at with it on this street thing. If all the veterans would just come to Qumran, and ask for help, if you all would just come, if you give it to them or you just give some acknowledgement to them, just come somewhere that you can be recognized and respected for what your job or what you have done for this country. Mm-hmm. You know, and I've been all over the world. In other countries, their soldiers are recognized by their country and their people, and ours are not by no means. And one thing I'd like to say, and I have nothing against the church. Mm-hmm. But one thing I say that the church doesn't do the best they can. You ask for things for yourself, but you don't ask for care packages for the young brothers and sisters and the young men that's over there and the young ladies that's over there. They don't. Parents can't send care packages sometimes. Mm-hmm. And the church is the leader of our community. Mm-hmm. Care packages for the veterans that's over there, yeah. Right. And we need the church to step up. Churches step up for everything, but they don't step up for us. Yeah. They don't step up for us, you know, more than ever, because we the one who go out and do that work ought to give it up. Yeah. You know, and now when we do that, you know, I think the church should be our main source of helping veterans come off the street. Good point. They are the source. Let's talk about another situation that veterans find themselves in, and what are your thoughts on veterans who get caught up in prison? You know, a number of them, you know, deal with certain issues, mental issues, stress from their military service. What are your thoughts about that in terms of helping them? When we come home, we're really torn up inside. And when we go to mental hospitals and when we go out here, there's so many young soldiers get killed by policemen, because there's young soldiers. There's young soldiers, suicidal. They can't do it themselves. So they get the officers or someone else to do it for them, because they don't know how to do it. But when we come home, they're just not recognized. Policemen don't recognize us. They think we're stupid, crazy. They think we don't understand nothing. As soon as they find out you're military, then the whole attitude changes. But before he finds out, you're just another civilian on the street. He cares nothing about you. He doesn't recognize you. But when you see your ID or your DD-214, then he gives you some slack. But he really don't have the answer for you. He don't have the answer, but he doesn't know how to treat me. He doesn't know how to deal with me. As soon as he sees I'm military, I'm a threat. Immediately. You know more than I know, and you can do more damage than I can do. Half of us is not here to do anything but just live. Okay. David. My opinion on this is that a lot of the men and women coming out of the military with PTSD and other problems get caught up with the drug action. And a lot of them are in prison because of drugs. And they're trying to find a way out of some of that pain that they're feeling. And they turn to drugs, alcohol, and other substances. They abuse them and end up getting caught up in the system. They get tossed in jail and prisons. And the prisons, they're full of veterans. They have substance abuse. They have substance abuse problems. They get out of jail and they really don't have nowhere to turn to. There's very few programs out there geared towards veterans with substance abuse problems. And that's a really big deal right now. That's something that we really have to address. Because there's hundreds of thousands of veterans out there with problems like this. And now that we're winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we're going to be really inundated with a lot of young men and women coming back with all the problems. Coming back to the community. They're going to come back to the community. They're going to know the first thing they're going to want to do is ease some of that pain. And the first thing that someone's going to turn to is drugs. Drugs and alcohol. And right now I don't see the community being aware of this problem. Okay. But you also got to remember this too. The reason why we use drugs and alcohol because once we end up... I got to say this too. Anybody who's listening or even anyone in here. It's not easy to kill a person. You got to do something. You can become an alcoholic or drug addict to kill a human being. You just can't sleep every night and think that you can do it. You can't just... Forget about it. Thank you. You can't. So when you come home, you're already hooked. The government doesn't care what you're doing out there in them fields. He just wants you to do your job. Boom. So you have to do something. So when you do this and you come home, what do I got? There's no telling me there's a cure for this and there's a cure for that. No, it's not. Because the first thing I'm going to take when I get miserable and I'm dealing with all the psych and all the mental and the physical stuff that's going on. I want me a drink. And I always say, you know, I think about, you know, Vietnam veteran. I think about one of the things that happened to a lot of Vietnam veterans. My brothers, two or three of them in the Air Force and the armies. It's a fact that they forced so many of these youngsters who had to kill kids, three, four. They used to go through villages. And it's something, you know, when you're young. To kill a little kid, that's an image that you can never get out of your head. And a lot of them come back dealing with, they try everything, drugs, alcohol and all that. I got to tell you a story. Yeah. And this is on me, okay. I'm going to tell you something very personal about me now. I made a mistake one time that troubled me from time to, I did it until this day. I cried on my own by myself. I was on operation. And we was in the field. We was in the village. And we was fighting, getting down. And I threw a hand grenade in a bunker, in a hooch, in a little house, they call it. There was a baby in there. And the grenade went off. And until this day, that bothers me. I could never. And I asked God, will he ever forgive me for that. But the only thing I had to do was just stick my face and look. That's all it took. But when you're in such an aggressive situation. You're in such an aggressive, you're in such a killing mode. You don't look at nothing like that. Your life is everything right now. I don't care nothing about nothing. I'm here to do my job and I'm here to do what I'm told. And you don't look for nothing. And when that happened to me, from this day to that day, that's a mental and a heart thing I carry with me in my heart and my mind. And I sleep every night with this in my mind. It's taken me 25 years just to sleep with this without crying in my sleep. And this hurts for me for the rest of my life. I can relate. I know exactly what you're talking about. I can relate what you're saying. I think James will agree with me. Once you take human life, you're changed forever. Yeah. Forever. You never lived a day without remembering. Okay. Let's take a break from community cameras. Okay. We'll take a break from the community calendar and then we'll come back with our discussion. This is the community calendar for the month of June. Every Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., we have a Veterans Community Theater Workshop. Melvin Ishmael Johnson is conducting a free seven-week workshop for men and women who are veterans. In the workshop, you will be taught how to mount a stage play and many other aspects of the theater. At the end of the seven weeks, there will be a dramatic performance of the stage play that they're now working on, Surviving the Nickel. Also, at the upcoming Arts Walk in June, the workshop participants will perform excerpts from that play. Space is limited to 15, so if you're interested, please contact Melvin as soon as possible. The location? The Vortex. 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. Okay. This is at the corner of Santa Fe and Olympic. And the Metro Bus number 60 and 66 stops right at the corner. Or you can call 323-850-4436. Sunday, June the 10th at 12 noon, DCOP, which stands for Drama Stage Community Outreach Program, will be passing out hygiene kits and clothing kits for the Vortex. And the Vortex will be! 114 West 5th Street, Los Angeles, California. And Thursday, June the 14th, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., the Arts Walk is held every second Thursday of the month, and Drama Stage Cool Run will be hosting the Arts Walk at the Exchange. We'll have a live musical guest, Willis and Shante. We also have a guest comedian, Sugar, one of the females in comedy associations. And guest poet, annunciator, will be Dr. Mungo. We'll have art exhibits from the VOA of Greater Los Angeles, and much, much more will be going on. Also, if you want to set up a table to display your information about your organization, just give us a call at 323-850-4436. And this is just a reminder, if you have a community event, that you would like announced on our show, send the information to And once again, our call-in number for the show is Now, back to our host. Thank you, Earlene Anthony. Now, we're back with our guest, coming to you live from Skid Row Studios, you can call in to our show at 800-893-9562. At this time, I would like to talk about the Veterans Community Theater Workshop, which I conduct every Thursday, 6 to 8.30 PM at the Vortex, which is located at 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. And that's right on the corner of Olympic and Santa Fe. The goal of the workshop is to create a veterans community theater company, utilizing two models. The two models that we use is called the Community Theater Model, and the NASANA Model. So let me just take a little time real quick and talk to some of our workshop participants about them. I'm gonna go around, we're gonna open up the round table as we kick this out. The first component of the workshop is, the first component of the model, I'll tell what the first component is, talk a little about it. First component of the model is the word, and the word is like the play, the script, whatever you come up with. And what's the second component of the model? Artist. Okay, and the artist. The artist is the symbolic symbol of that word. And the third component? The audience. The audience. Without the audience, there can be no performance. And then we got the drama stage groups, which is the back of the house and the front of the house group. That's the fourth component. The fifth component is? Is that the young people? The young people's theater company, because the young people, they need a theater company also. And the young people's theater company is broken into two parts, creative drama workshop for the young, and then a regular young people's theater, concentrating mainly on the teenagers, etc. And then the next component is the? Dance company. The dance company. And you need a dance company for your structure also, the creative aspect of that. And finally, the last component of the community theater model is? Anti-violence situation coping group. Conflict resolution group called the anti-violence situation coping group, where we dramatize violence situation, put them in the microscope, for the community, so that they can come up with solutions to keep that situation from escalating into violence. And then the other component is called the? Nassana model, which takes its name from the first letters of six concepts, working in a spirit of harmony to impact the violence in the individual home, school, and community. And what do? Nassana means? David? Nutrition. Nutrition? Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. Spirituality. Spirituality. One-on-one. One-on-one. Needs fulfillment. And then once again, the? Anti-violence situation coping group. Anti-violence situation coping group. Now at this time, I would like to present the opening scene from our workshop production entitled, Surviving the Nickel. Keith Winslow will be read by Lee Shaw, and Malik Morrison will be read by Anthony, so we start this scene off. They're just getting released from the California State Prison. Lee Shaw, Anthony Taylor. I never thought it would take all morning just to process two inmates. Didn't they say we'd be out here by noon? Yeah. You headed downtown, Malik? Yeah. My old lady's picking me up at the front gate. You want a ride? Nah. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Nah, man. I'm catching the bus. No hurry to go downtown. Who you got as a P.O.? Anita Sampson. Me too. I heard about her. What you hear? Heard she was a hard-nosed, no-nonsense hardliner. Well, I'm planning to just see her once a month. I hear that you can get off parole in 13 months if you keep your nose clean. I'm going to lay low for a while and just work. Yeah. I know what you mean. The word on the street that T Roni's the man now. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I might try to get a job for you. Yeah. Yeah, I might try to get me a job with T-Roni. You sure you want to do that? I don't know, Malik. I need some quick cash to take care of my family. All I'm saying is that your family was okay when you were locked up. They'll be all right when you're off the road. Yeah, maybe you're right. Are you going back to work for T-Roni? I never worked for T-Roni. But they say you worked for T-Roni. They? You know. No, I don't. T-Roni got crews all over the hood. Some may be in the downtown area. He invested in a couple of restaurants downtown. He's supposed to be heavy in the drug trade. In what? You been clean for 19 months now. When I look at you, I see the real Malik. The one I knew in high school, before you went into the military. You don't know me. I know you like to get high. You're going to start back to smoking, ain't you? You don't know what you're talking about. But you want to. I can see it in your eyes. You spent too much time in those... Those SAP meetings. Help got my time cut, didn't it? Time in the SAP program saved my life. Made me understand that recovery starts with me. Yeah, man. You know, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You know, you're getting yourself all cleaned up. Thanks, Malik. I plan to stay sober. But I got to do what I got to do. Yeah, all of us do. Okay, you two. The van is here. Make sure you get all of the dirty clothes off of my floor and put them in. And the garbage can scene fades out. Lee Shaw. Anthony Till. Okay, let's talk about something a little earlier that we was talking about. You know, we're still talking about veterans, but I want to talk about female veterans for a while because David and James, could we get off into... Andrea, you're a veteran also. Let's talk about that for you to start the conversation on the challenges that female veterans face. Yes, Melvin. Good evening, everyone in the listening audience. Personally, the female veterans have a different role here simply because they're females. Most of the time they may be wives, children. Those are whole different dynamics to be in a veteran. Coming back from repatriating yourself back to the United States after fighting in the war. Oftentimes the children have to be dealt with as far as the separation aspect from the parent. Then you have the husband dynamic and oftentimes you don't have the psychological needs met. But to her credit, President Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, her number one goal was to reach out to her husband. And she did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She did. She really really really really really really really really really really really really really as getting the help for the female veterans when they come back to the country. What are your thoughts on that, David and Jane? You know, I'm thinking that the female veterans have it just that much harder than the males because there's a lot of resources for us male veterans, but very few resources for the female veterans coming in. Plus, like she said, the other dynamics of having children, husbands, and that kind of thing. And they suffer all the same things we do and then some. So it's twice as hard, and there's very few benefits available to them as far as dealing with substance abuse problems because they also have that kind of problem as well. So, yeah, they're suffering double. Well, my story is this. Female veterans or female soldiers, I like to use nurses for my, I hope you can understand this. I've learned something when a soldier gets shot. Nurses do some amazing things that I can't explain to you verbally. They can keep a soldier alive. They have something, they call it a nurse's instinct. And they use it very well. But one nurse can trance. She can tell another nurse what's going on without talking. She can just take the soldier from the helicopter to the operating room, from the operating room to the ward. These three nurses or four nurses can contain a soldier's life. And that's something we hardly ever speak about is that female veteran that who takes care of us, who becomes my mother, my sister, my friend, who gives me the strength to stay alive when I have a hole in my chest, two or three of them. She's there 24-7. There's nothing I can say to them. All I can do is bow down to them and thank them that they're there. And they need more acknowledgement in the military or even in the world. That's a civilian life. They need more recognition. They need this because they do a job that most women can't do. And they do it so well. Well, let me say many lies. Let me ask you. Oh, did you want to say something today? Okay. Okay. Let me ask you this because there's something that's in the news lately a lot of people don't want to talk about is a lot of complaints from female veterans about the sexual harassment and trauma that they have to deal with from their fellow soldiers and stuff like that. Would you like to comment on that, talk about that for a minute? You want to start off, David? Well, you know, as we all know, that's a problem that's, you know, a lot of times just swept under the carpet. And also, you know, we have to be aware of that. We have to bring that out in the open. It's a fact, but it's a very shameful fact. And it does happen. And, you know, I know they're trying to address it, but unfortunately it does happen. And them dealing with it is another aspect, like I said, of just as hard as the difficulty of them being and doing, the work that they do. And my hats are off to them. And it's a shameful thing. And you always hope it doesn't happen, but it does happen. Okay. The percentage of what you're speaking on and that society that you see in the papers and all of that, how do I say this to you? It's there. Mm-hmm. But it's not as widely as it's really being described to you. It's being magnified more. Than it is. Because there's women there that hold their own, that stand up for their own. There's men who try this, but it is very limited. It's a really small number. But as an American citizen, we can kind of blow it up, you know, because of sexual things that have been going on ever since the Civil War. But it's not brought out until the 1921st century. You know, she's being exploited. Just the military government is exploiting her for use of its own will to say, you know, this is happening. Sure, it's happening. It's been happening not now. It's been happening way before now. Mm-hmm. That it's being more open or it's being more spoke on. But it's a small number. Okay. Because you can see the pregnancy. If that was that bad, there would be goo gobs of pregnancies, and they're not. Well, let me ask Andrea to comment on. Well, never do you ever want to hear of a female, let alone a soldier that's over there, female, fighting for this country, being victimized by a fellow soldier. But unfortunately, everyone does not have the same mindset. So we have to take everything as an individual basis, not to blacken the whole eye of the military. But there always and always will be a bad apple or two in the barrel. Mm-hmm. So we have to separate the weak. Mm-hmm. The weak from the tear, to take a phrase from Mr. Shaw. And that's how we do it on a case-by-case basis. But certainly don't blacken the whole eye of an honorable United States Armed Services for the actions of a few. Because there are thousands and thousands of soldiers that fight honorably every day, hundreds of thousands. Yeah. Because, see, my whole opinion on that is just like in civilian society. I have a zero tolerance. Exactly. Level. You know, especially in the military. Especially. Like you mentioned, fellow soldiers, you know, zero tolerance level to that. Let's talk something about, what are your thoughts about how the military prepare a person for leadership in civilian life? Anyone want to pick up on that? That right there is a statement that you're saying, how do they prepare us for civilian life? Yeah, what do you think? Oh, well, when I come back. For leadership. For leadership, yes. When you come back, let's use this. When my dad came back in World War II, he got his job back. When I came home in like 74, I couldn't get a job. I didn't know what to do to how to get one. Because the country doesn't recognize, you know, my skills, my trade. I'm trained by the best in the world. And I can't come home and teach. I can't come home and school. I can't come home and do anything that I'm taught in the military. When I come out, I can't do nothing with it. I can't train nobody. I can't help nobody. Because they look at us like we're all that same thing, that black eye. Again, we're all not like that. There's plenty of us here who wants to help. So I'll leave it like that. David. Well, my training. I'm a military. I trained in the military. Absolutely trained me to be a leader. And I've been very fortunate. Everywhere I've gone, I've always had leadership roles. So, you know, you either lead, follow, or get out of the way. Mm-hmm. Okay. Let's do another scene from Surviving the Knuckle. The security guard will be read by David Ramos and Mary Allen by Andrea Ross. Act 1, Scene 3. Before the scene fades in, the sound of music is heard. After a few moments, lights flashes across the playing area. The light is coming from the flashlight of the security guard, who patrols the skid row area. He shines the light throughout the playing area and towards the audience. The security guard walks past the bench and then stops and looks to identify a rolled-up bundle near the bench. He shines the light on the bundle. He starts to walk toward someone and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. But someone starts to walk toward someone else and starts to walk toward someone else. You sleep down here, not on the streets. People go to sleep down here and never wake up. You know, you got to get off these streets or you'll find yourself in all kinds of trouble. I know. It pays to be careful down here. I thought you and Malik were still together. Malik is locked up. I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not. He turned into a violent person. I didn't see it coming. You served in the military with him. Do you think it might be related to what he saw in combat? No, it could be. See, there's a lot of pressure trying to adjust back to civilian life, and you never really know a person until you see how they handle pressure. Some people crack under pressure and lash out at the closest thing to them. Look, Mary Ellen, I know someone who might be able to help you. He just started a new group down here at the Focus Dealing with Violence. It's called the Anti-Violence Situation Coping Group. Maybe I'll check it out. Here, take this card. The phone number's on the front. Come on, let's go. Let's go over to Mission. I'll get you a bed for a few days. The guard picks up his radio and then helps him out. Mary Ellen gather her things, and the two of them exit. Hey, David Mamas, Andrea Ross. Now, at this time, I want to open up. We have two other guests sitting in the studio. One thing about military revenge, it's just about all family just has somebody in the military somewhere, even at the present times or in the past or whatever like that. So, I want to talk to Lee Shaw and Anthony Taylor. I want to get their comments about Memorial Day, their thoughts on what it means to them. Start off with Anthony. Well, like you just said, I have quite a few loved ones that have died for this country. And as James has spoke about it, it's pretty shameful to see that some of the guys that made it back, they don't have the resources out here. I mean, the land. They don't have the opportunity, the home of the brave and the free, and they can't get a job or no training, no resources for them. But the people that died for this country, you know, these brave men and brave women that died for our country, I tip my hat off to them. And you know what? I pray for the families also because they have the families here too. Okay, the father and the mother is gone. So, we have the families here now. Now, what do the country do for the families? And that's what's really... That's what's really on my mind right now. Uh-huh. Now, Lee. Yeah. Yeah. You know, when I was coming up, I had family members going to the military. But you know, as I search my memory, I can never remember in school anybody ever talking about Memorial Day. They talked about every other holiday but Memorial Day. And I wonder, is it because it's about people who served their country and died, got killed serving their country because they loved it so much? You know? There are some... I think there's... For a veteran right now, I think his number one resource coming up out of prison, I mean, out of the military, is the police department, the prison department. Anything where he, you know, because he's already trained and he's in good physical condition. He can go right into that without any problem. Uh-huh. You know what I'm saying? But the only... For him, it's no problem. But until you're able to understand that you're no longer in a war, then your war becomes the inmate. Uh-huh. And that's why... And now, with some veterans being locked up in prison, right? Uh-huh. And then you got another guy's counterpart working for the prison, right? They be in conflict with each other. Uh-huh. You know what I'm saying? I met a guy once. He was a lieutenant in the military. And there was another guy that was just a PFC. Do you know the conflict there? Because he wanted to say... He looked at him like he was a piece of sugar, honey, and iced tea. So the lieutenant was the one locked up? Yeah. Uh-huh. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So until they're able to get this thing straight in their head, man, you're no longer in a war. You know, get some kind of medical treatment or just, hey, download all this stuff, all this war off of him so he can function in this normal society. Otherwise, if he can't function in this normal society... It's a ticking time bomb. Something's going to bust. Uh-huh. And I don't know whose head it's going to be. Uh-huh. You know? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Now, let me... David, you want to... Well, that's absolutely true. What you have there, the problem is, you know, you have a veteran that's locked up, then you have a veteran that's a jail guard, and he's thinking, this veteran that's locked up should know better. He should have done something different than to get locked up. But like I told you before, a lot of them in there, a very high percentage of them are on account of drugs. Yeah. That's the biggest problem we have right now in our society is, you know, these veterans are coming back, and they're trying to kill that pain, and, you know, there's not... The resources that are out there, they're just not aware of them, and then they turn to drugs. Okay. Can I say something? Uh-huh. It's kind of like, you know, when you're in a substance abuse program. They tell you that something went on in your life, right? So dramatic that you have to medicate it. You know what I'm saying? You have to medicate this thing. And after living with it so long, you kind of compile up a whole lot of those things in there that need to be... that you have to medicate, right? Well, as Brother James said, you have to kill babies. You know what I'm saying? How many you have to kill? You have to kill people, right? So what can you do to keep that from keeping you up all night long? Uh-huh. You know, what can you do? So you have to have something to put in... Now, there's no... I mean, really? I don't see that much difference between a substance abuse program and a program that they could build for veterans. Uh-huh. Because you got to get this thing out. You know what I'm saying? Because once you teach me how to kill... How do you turn off the switch? Yeah. There's no kill switch unless you... Unless I come out the door, come out the door, right into this thing, because my family have to know what's going on with me. Because they're going to be around me like, you might be tripping out. You know what I'm saying? And you can... I had my cousin. He had to crawl out the door. He had a fight at a party, right? An altercation with another gentleman. And he was wrong. You know? But when he got back to the house, he heard the helicopter and all these things was going through his head and all he did was crawl from in the dining room out the door on the cold ground where he stayed for about two or three hours. Uh-huh. You know what I'm saying? Flashback. Yeah. Flashback. Uh-huh. I have a problem with helicopters. Helicopters. I don't like helicopters. I get nervous. Even around my family. My family looks at me and says, what you shaking for? What you looking at? I'm looking at that helicopter right there. I don't like them because I know what that thing can do to a human being up there. And if you never experienced it or never saw it, then you don't even know what I'm talking about. Uh-huh. Because that is one deadly, vicious vehicle up there. And it scares me to this day. As I say to my fellow veterans, how much death does it take for you to snap? Uh-huh. How much does it take for you to break down? Uh-huh. Can you become sane again? Do you know what it means when I tell you, are you normal or abnormal when you kill somebody? Can you get back normal? Or do you just stay abnormal? And that's the problem when we come home that we got to work on. That there's nothing there. You teach me how to do it. But you can't teach me how to not do it no more. That's what the government doesn't do. He teaches me how to do it, but he has no program for me to come home to to wipe it out my head. To turn it off. He can't. It's like saying you can't unring the bell. Yeah. Now, let me bring this up. You want to say something, David? I'm just interested in knowing what are the solutions. What are? What are the solutions? What are we going to do? Well, let me bring this up and then we'll dabble. We'll jump into that. And, uh... And, uh... Because as far as solution, I think the community members, you know, family members have a very important part in planning that. But before we get off into that, I want to bring a situation a lot of people don't want to talk about. Because you got this situation with this veteran, this Marine veteran who come back and he was going around killing homeless. Right? Around here. I think that was around Christmas time or something like that. I think he killed, what, five or six homeless or something like that? Maybe more. That's what they know about. Yep. And he's getting ready to go through court right now. And they're trying to push. Last week it was in the paper. They're pushing for the death penalty. Trying to run the death penalty and stuff like that. And I've been trying to see, you know, is it anybody from the Veterans Administration, from these organizations, because we know that this is an individual that they take over there and they train to kill. It's just what we're talking about now. And they bring this individual back over here and we know this is not a normal, what we're talking about now. How you turn all of that off and whatever like that. Anybody want to comment on that? I really don't know if the VA even has resources to deal with problems like that. Because right now, I know for a fact, they're just, so understaffed. I know they're bringing in over 1,900 new mental health workers over the next few years to deal with the veterans coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, but they're just so severely understaffed. Now the only, see, one of the major problems that I have with the VA out here, there's a very important lawsuit that's going on. And what it has to do with is that VA properties are really nice to someone who thinks they can walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around The VA is federal money. That's part of that big, huge budget that they got us involved in all these wars and all that money that's supposed to be going to the education system to educate our young people is going to this military-industrial complex. See, that's why I want to mention earlier that I think to solve the homeless problem, it got to become the homeless veteran problem. Because this country, they owe these veterans land in the streets. There's wind over there, there's land in the streets now. They owe, they need to finance this. Just like they're putting all of this money from the budget and stuff like that. And all of these educational institutions that we got around here, I think one thing that we shouldn't let them get away with, we cannot let them get away with, if they can send millions to the moon and all this tech. If we got technology we got over here, they can do more for the veterans. They can come up and deal with some of these. They can put some of that flow with some of that money in this direction. Lee, you wanted to say something. Yeah, I wanted to go back to the guy that killed me. Yeah. You know, you can, let's put it like this. Who gave the order? In the military, who gives the orders? You tell you go kill somebody, you go kill them. Yes, sir. That's right. But if he don't tell you not to kill him, he told you first to kill him, but he never told you to stop killing him. That's right. You're going to keep killing him. Continue killing him. So then, you know what, and I hate to put this person in the equating witness right here, but I'm going to do it. Charles Messon didn't kill nobody. He just told him to go kill, right? But yet still, he was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and still serving time in prison, right? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well then, if this be the case, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Thank you. Amen. You know what I'm saying? You should be put on trial too. Don't try to kill him. He knows better. Like Andre said, you didn't put the kill switch on. There's no kill switch. You should never come up out of that place. Just, oh, thank you so much, and you have a good life. That's going to destroy most of my life anyway. You done put me in a situation that's abnormal to any human being, any human life. And your life will never be the same again. Ever, ever, ever. I don't care how much treatment you receive. If you're going to kill this guy, you want to put him up for the death penalty, then you know what? You need to be right there with him. Who's got the government on trial? We're going to pull the whole thing from the last man that told him to go in and do this thing all the way back to whoever it is. Yep. Everybody got to go on trial because you can't say if you did something to help this man, he may have not done that. But you didn't do nothing to help this man, and he's still lingering in a war. It's his own little personal war that he can't get out of. That's in his head. That's in his head. I got to say this. Go ahead, James. Personal now. Listen to me. The government owed me $400,000 for 1972 to 2012, and I've been sitting all this time waiting to get it, and he keeps paying gains with me. The dude sitting up there who's making a judgment, not even military. They're a bunch of civilians. They don't even understand the war. But they're going to tell me, you're crazy. You're crazy. I can sit and wait on you until you die. When you die, I don't got to give you nothing now. Your family, nothing. So they sit there and wait. How long I've been waiting for my money? I've never gotten it yet. I only got sitting there right now the Blind Veterans Association, the directors here in California, in Westwood, Mr. Earl Ivey, been sitting here pleading and begging them to help me. Come on, y'all. He did what you did. He's done all this. He's proven this. But you still going to sit there and play games with me and my life? You're going to make me dead and go out and do things I got to do to survive? Even me? Even though I can't see? Even me? So what's going on? Give me what I've earned. Give it to me. Stop bickering, playing games with what laws and this and laws is that. That's all they do except they play with laws. Now, laws is outdated. They're wrong. They messed. They messed up. But we still keep having soldiers still keep coming to fight for our country. But as soon as we come back, here comes these laws telling you, no, you're this. No, you that because you slipped and fell. Oh, no, because I ran away because I was scared. What about the soldiers that didn't run away? That ain't scared. Don't they get their reward? Okay. No, it's going to happen. All right, James. David, you want to make a few comments? Yeah, pretty much. You know, I. My feelings with the VA is I'm very grateful because they have helped me. Mm hmm. I was one. I was one step away from living in a cardboard box and they came to my aid and, you know, I dealt with a lot of stuff and I give them props. I, you know, I wasn't aware. I wasn't aware of my benefits, but someone made me aware of them. And this is the first time I've really used my benefits. And it was to my advantage. But like I said, right now, they're so understaffed and there's just no awareness out there about what's available. Let me let me actually just because I see that as as as being a big problem. And, you know, I'll especially in the law saying, how do we make veterans aware? That's what we want to do with that stand down. How do we make more veterans aware of all of these benefits that they have available to them? When I want to get drafted, when I go into military, give me everything I want to do it. Give me everything I need when I come out of it. Give me the same way you gave me the training to go and do it. Now give me that same training to come out of there. I don't have to ask anybody for nothing. And only way a veteran learns anything about his benefits when another veteran challenge the VA don't tell you nothing. And that is the biggest boggle thing going on. I'll send you a letter down or I'll do this. But actually, that's a bunch of bull. Because why are we all out here on this? We're out here on the streets. Like if you were doing your job, we wouldn't be on the streets looking for our benefits. We wouldn't be asking somebody what we have to have. What do we need? We wouldn't have to do that. Let me ask this. Is it possible that we can get more of these churches and community organizations to start developing what James was talking about early, to develop some outreach program to start networking more with the veterans within their community? Absolutely. I think it's going to take that. I think it's going to take the community being aware. Because I learned about my benefits through another veteran. There was nothing out there. I mean, if it wasn't for this cat that I ran into when I was in the system, I would have came out and been on the streets. So he made me aware. So we do have to get the community involved. Absolutely. Got you. I heard it. Absolutely. And this is one of the forums that we can do this. This is where we start right here. Okay. We're getting ready to wind down. Lee. I heard this guy, right? He was talking about the veterans. And he said in war, right? He says, you find on your own turf, you don't find no racial differences because you're too busy fighting for your life and trying to help his brother to save his as well. That's right. And I noticed that amongst, I want you to stand down over here, right? I mean, the only thing about veterans. Most veterans that I met is they don't, I mean, y'all like brothers, man. That's correct. A bunch of brothers all together. The color ceased to be ethnic, group ceased to exist. It's all about the brothers. You know what I'm saying? Everybody's DNA and you know, and the mission. Semper Fi till we die. Can I look at that man? I said, you know what? The veterans should have been the politicians, man. Yes sir, they know what it takes. All right. So I'm. Thank you guys. Thank you Lee. Yeah. I want to thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank my guests. We're getting ready to wind down. I would like to extend a special thanks to our in-studio guests, Shemeika Holmes, Andrea Ross, James Gartley, Lee Shaw, David Ramos, Anthony Taylor, and my co-host, Earline Anthony. And a special thanks to Jeremy, Sonia, and Nicholas, and the Skid Row Studio. James L. Gartley, all the way from Modesto, California. Thank you all so very much. And to our veterans for being there to save this country. We couldn't do it without you. Okay. Now, you can check out our past shows of The Qumran Report on iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, skidrow.la, or www.dramastage.qumran.org. Thank you for tuning in to The Qumran Report and I leave you with the song that opened the show, Darker Than Blue by Willis and Shante. I got to do this. I got to do this. I got to do this. I got to do this. I got to do this. I got to do this. You got to let me come down here. Because I will. You're going to die for me. Oh, yeah. That was good. All we know is we're on this town.