Skid Row recovery zone discussion with veterans and community advocates

of freedom, then from death I escape to freedom, which is a quote by Fran Fanon. The title of this poem is A Defying Voice. They removed my whisper from general population to maximum security. I gained a voice. They removed my voice from maximum security to administrative segregation. My voice gave hope. They removed my voice from administrative segregation to solitary confinement. My voice became vibration for unity. They removed my voice from solitary confinement. I was sent to the supermax of Camp J. And now they wish to destroy me. The louder my voice, the deeper they bury me. I say it, the louder my voice, the deeper they bury me. Free all political prisoners, prisoners of war, prisoners of consciousness. Herman Wallace. Herman Wallace, one of the Angola Three who spent over 40 years in solitary confinement, and he's part of the play If the Shoe Fits that's being performed this Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 630 at the St. John United Methodist Church. And that's located up in Watts. The address is 1715 San Antonio. I'm in the studio with my co-host, Earlene and my co-host, Anthony. Our call in them is 1-800-893-9562. This week on the Coon Round Report, our topic is skid roll as a recovery zone. I'm delighted to have with us in the studio, Anna Pepe, Dwayne Mackey, and Kevin Michael Key. Welcome to the Coon Round Report. Welcome. Thank you, ma'am. Now, before we get into our discussion, we have on the line, Bob Rose. Bob. Bob, welcome to the Coon Round Report. Hello. Hey, how you doing there, Bob? Very well. Thanks for having me on. Oh, yeah. I know you got a very important event coming up this coming Thursday. Can you tell us a little about it, dealing with the veterans? Yes. This is probably one of the biggest things that we've had happen. Melody, it's the on Thursday, September 24th. Okay. We're having what we call a town hall meeting at Skid Row. And we're going to have officials. In fact, I just, before I got on here, got confirmation from the mayor's office, his chief veterans advisor there, Joseph Chicas, and a few of their members. We don't know if the mayor is going to be there. But it's going to be a meeting to talk about the veterans. Okay. And we're going to have a couple of people there. And we're going to have a couple of people there to talk with homeless veterans down there. And we want to get as many as we can. And then we have a bus, a couple of buses, and we want to bus them over to the Los Angeles VA. We're going to feed them there. We're going to give them showers, clothes. It's going to be a whole new start for them. We're getting them out of that. As you know, it's got to be a hell hole. We were down there yesterday. Such a tough conditions to live, to try to survive. But we want to get them out there and get them the healthcare, get them everything they can, they need and get a fresh start. And this is something that's never happened before is because in the past, they usually take care of them one at a time or they'll get them housing and care and they do decent work down there. But we want to get them out of that environment over to the West LA VA and get them off to a fresh new start. Now Bob, what is the location? Can you tell us the location of the event? Yeah, it's what they call 6 Gladys Park. There's six, I think it's San Pedro there. It's right on the corner of Little Park. And we'll have, we've got media saying they're showing up, NBC and I think LA Times will be covering it. And we're, you know, of course, the big event we think will be over the next couple of weeks. We're going to be doing a big event. We're going to be doing a big event. We're going to be doing a big event. We're at the Los Angeles VA and we'd like to get as many people there to welcome them onto the grounds as they come in and I guess give them an inspiration that got a lot of people supporting them and it's going to be a fresh new start. So I was down there yesterday morning with Ted Hayes and Dave Comer and we were talking, we didn't have flyers set up. We'll have, we'll go down Wednesday morning with flyers. And there was, you know, we talked to a few and it was real interesting. The, the kind of light bulb that went off that when you talk to them, you could just see this like, Whoa, that sounds good. And that's what we want because as you know, being down there, I tried to put myself, I was down, I don't know, I couldn't survive. I don't even know what I do because it just seems to be no hope down there. 00.00. And so, uh, there was a very good response. And, uh, so that's where we're going back Wednesday with a whole bunch of flyers and try to go out what we call a search and rescue and find as many and get ready for, for Thursday. 00.00. And then also, um, I have with us in the studio, Kevin, Michael Key. They also have a recovery event, uh, the next day, uh, Friday the 25th at, uh, um, Gladys Park. Also, uh, also dealing with veterans looking for recovering veteran and I'm gonna let him, he want to make a comment and ask you a couple of questions. 00.00. Sure. 00.00. Hey Bob, how are you? 00.00. Hey, Hey, hi. Thank you. Thank you for all you're doing there. 00.00. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'm a person in recovery and, um, you probably know September is national recovery month. 00.00. Mm-hmm. 00.00. And what you probably don't know is that Skid Row is quite big. 00.00. Mm-hmm. And it is quite possibly the world's largest recovery community. So in celebration of national recovery month, social model recovery systems, which is my parent organization is doing a recovery happens event September 25th and both Gladys and San Julian Park from 9 30 AM to 4 PM. So we're looking for recovering vets, homeless and people, uh, veterans, and people, alcoholics, addicts, recovering felons, those who are mentally or physically disabled, you know, the whole gamut of people's recovery. So I'd like this to take this time right now, since you're going to be downtown and our office, believe it or not, is immediately adjacent to Gladys Park. So you can't miss us. 00.00. Okay. 00.00. And, um, I would like for your, um, veteran service people, I know it's short notice, but, um, I would like for your, um, veteran service people, I know it's short notice, but if possible to come back and join with us on that Friday, September 25th, and we're still, we're looking for the same people and the whole hope and dream of our event is that at the end of the day, we will find at least five people, you know, they have all these databases, which people are in, but they fall through the cracks because there's no immediate housing. 00.00. Right. 00.00. So on this day, we're going to be able to get you to the next one. 00.00. We've got a service provider who has promised it's, um, housing for health is I believe the name of the organization. And they're going to go out with their tablets and laptops and look for people who've been vetted. And that's the word they use these days, but we're looking for vets, homeless vets. We're looking for all types of people that have already been plugged into the system, but fell through the cracks because it wasn't nothing immediate. 00.00. So, um, so that we can get them housing that day. So that's why it's a day long event, but we're on this, like you said, a search and rescue mission and I did get your phone number. So I'd like to call you and hopefully, um, you think it's possible you guys could come back the next day, that Friday, it'd be quite a few other organizations out there. 00.00. Sure. We could, you know, I'm not sure how my schedule is going to be the day after because I'm going to be tied. We'll use the term tied up as committed over there at the West LA VA to make sure that those that we bring over there are getting the help that they need. And, um, cause you know, the, one of the problems we have, I don't know if you're familiar with the West Los Angeles VA, but that land, there was 600 acres deeded back in 1888 and it was two families donated to the government. 00.00. And it's six times it states in the deed that it's to be vetted. 00.00. So, um, so that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's almost veterans. UCLA is a baseball diamond over Brentwood school has got an athletic, everybody's got something over there except for veterans who need to be housed there, housed and care, what we call supportive housing. And, you know, we got the hospital there. And so they have the facilities close by. And that's what we want to do is to get, you know, those that need, you know, one of the ones, I'm a Vietnam wartime veteran and, and there are that war ended 40 years ago, but today nationwide, there are more homeless veterans from the Vietnam war than were killed in the war. So you're going to get, I'm 73, you know, the, you know, veterans out there, 60, 70, 80 that need really special housing and care. And so that's going to be a focus of ours. I'm, you know, we're aligned with Vietnam veterans of America, the region, nine, which covers about nine different States. And, and we're trying to, you know, put an emphasis first. We want to get, you know, the women because that's not a safe place for any female to be on the streets and then the elderly and, and go on. But we want to return that land. So it's a home for our veterans for, um, you know, recovery, supportive housing and all, and get them. They can get back into society. So I think we're all on the same page and this is very inspiring. Um, I know Melvin's done an awful lot for this and, um, and that's what it's going to take is everybody unifying, um, my experience in the past, be it veteran service organization, the American leads in Vietnam, they all act and operate independently. And, and I think we all need to kind of, you know, merge together because this is a, this is a, this is a big, big mission that's out there. Exactly. And that's why I'm hoping that you are an associate will, um, cause some may fall through the cracks or be unavailable on Thursday, but it'll still be homeless on Friday. So perhaps when we talk, we can find a way for ourselves, our organizations to merge with our common interests. Sure. Well, I'll certainly see what I can do. Anytime I find somebody that's is, you know, with the same, on the same page and everything, I reach out and try to do all we can because, uh, it's, it's real sad that we have all of these facilities here. You know, it's the largest VA in the nation property wise, yet we're the capital for homeless veterans. And those numbers just don't match up. And, um, we're trying to, you know, to reduce that, um, homeless, uh, number. And, um, uh, you know, this is such a big sprawl. I think we're going to do it. And I think to, uh, go out with kind of the buses, um, and the reason we want to do that is that too often we've seen where there's like a van that pulls up and they talk to one person. And, and I look at myself, if I was there and you pull up in a van and I don't know who you are, where you're going, where are you going to take me? I would have a reservation, but if I see a big bus coming in, it's got flags on it. We got, you know, city officials, everybody else reaching out and telling you, we're going to take you to the Los Angeles VA. I think they will be, I would certainly be welcome to try something on that level. But I've known, uh, when I, even in West LA on the streets, uh, and I talked to veterans and you talk to them individually and talk about taking them to the VA or something, they just, you know, they shy away because they're alone. They don't know that's a big, big operation there. And, but if we can show that we're bringing them together and they're going to work together to help each other. Then I think we're heading in a new direction on this. Okay, Bob. And, um, we're also looking forward to you. You're one of the guest speakers, uh, this coming Wednesday up in Watts. Um, and we're going to talk about that even a little bit more on there. And we're looking forward to that. I'm honored. And thank you Melvin. Thank you for having me on. And we'll look forward to Thursday and Friday if possible. And I look forward to this. I thank you very much. All right, Bob. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Okay, Bob. Yeah, you too. Bye-bye. Yeah, Bob Rosebrock, Veteran Revolution. Okay. Now let's get back to our, uh, in-studio guests. Let's go around the table and introduce yourself, you know, the organization, the projects that you are working on. Let's start over here with Dwayne. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. I was working with the Midnight Mission in Homeless Healthcare and Housing for about a year. I'm a graduate from the Midnight Mission. I'm a graduate from Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Uh, Dwayne Mackey. Mission Drug and Alcohol Program, about two years of sobriety. I'm glad to be here. Right. Okay. Hey, Melvin. Thank you. Kevin Michael. I became Kevin Michael in the rooms of recovery, and my sobriety date is July 12, 2002. I came to Skid Row. I had all the same perceptions that have been perpetrated by the mass media. Only to find out Skid Row is probably the largest recovery community in the world. I went through the Volunteers of America program on the ninth floor at the Weingart. I currently work for doing prevention work in Skid Row, alcohol and other prevention work for United Coalition of East Prevention Project. Which is part of Social Model Recovery Systems, incorporated. Okay. Anna. Hi, my name is Anna Pepe, and I am a believer following faith-based recovery. I've been in recovery since my anniversary date is August 8th of 1974. And I volunteer a lot in different aspects with the church ministries and down in the Skid Row area whenever I can. Okay. Now, before we get into our in-depth discussion about recovery, I'd like to play a clip from an interview that I did with Bob Bowen in 2012 about recovery. Actually, this is Bob. How does your photography program fit into the concept of recovery? I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. But don't don't don't don't don't don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don don They're in recovery in many cases. They're in a program or they've been through a program. But on a wider scale, everybody, everybody that I've ever known has had something happen in their life. And they're recovering from that. It could be death of a loved one. It could be even a loss of a pet. All right? And so what I'm saying is that the women that I work with, the ladies that I work with, yes, some of them are in formal recovery programs. But I generalize it. I go beyond that. And by saying that and feeling that way, it makes my relationship with them so much easier, so much better. The term that I like to use is discovery. Because when we recover, we, in some ways... We revisit an earlier state of our life. We recover it. We kind of go back to it without the problems. When we discover, we acknowledge that something happens, but we're looking at what's ahead of me. Moving forward. Yeah, moving forward. Moving forward. The word re means go back. To return means to re-whatever. And so I see my relationship with the ladies. I see my relationship with the ladies there as one of discovery. I like to introduce ideas and thoughts and opportunities for them so that they can discover part of themselves that they hadn't paid much attention to. They don't have to worry about. They don't have to get locked into, you know, a formalized way of getting over some bad times. So that's... And I find that by interacting with them in that way, it opens up all kinds of possibilities. It really, really does. It does. It does. It does. It does. They're parts of themselves. They're skills that they have revealed that they hadn't even given any thought to before. And I'm finding it true for me, too. You know, that there are things about my relationship with people that I never even gave any thought to before. So I look at it not so much... I don't dismiss the concept of recovery, but that's not my emphasis. My emphasis in working with them as a volunteer is discovery. The next chapter in your life. The next good thing that's waiting out there for you to grasp onto. Okay. Right. That was Bob Bourne talking about recovery and discovery. Can I get some comments on that? Anybody want to comment on your thoughts on that? Well, I know the 12-step fellowship that I am a member of, Cocaine Anonymous, because it was crack that brought me to my knees. We often hear my predecessors, the dinosaurs of CA, talk about uncover, discover, and discard. Right? And so recovery is a process. What I totally agree with him on is that there are so many things that the people in my community, because I not only work in Skid Row, I not only got sober in Skid Row, I live in Skid Row. I love Skid Row, because Skid Row saved my life. And I'm a New Yorker, so Skid Row is like the New York part of L.A. It's got that urban beaten vibe. And so our event on September 25th, this recovery happens, is for recovering veterans, people that are recovering from homelessness, alcoholics and addicts, people that are recovering from the continuing civil disabilities of having a felony conviction on you. Okay. Okay. Okay. You need to recover from the PIC, from mental or physical other disabilities. Women, a large number of women are recovering from being caught up in domestic violence. We can go on and on and on and on and on. But the whole community itself is in need of recovery. And so that's what we're trying to do that day. Those of us who have not made it, but have been able to take those steps, who can look forward without our past dragging us back, again, uncover, identify, discover, and discard. Okay. Dwayne. I think Skid Row has become an entity of itself. It became that way due to, first of all, the prominent drug use that used to be there. As that area was slowly being shrunk down, people started to hear more about what was going on in Skid Row due to media coverage with the police and all this other stuff. And the image that it had at one point was like a mecca for just drugs. And then to watch the city come and clean that up when everybody thought that that couldn't be done, when they closed downtown street, that was one of the major moves that the city had made to, to get a better image about Skid Row. But now Skid Row is more about money, property, it's about getting people housed, it's about government funding that is out there to try to erase the last vestitudes of what Skid Row stigma has always been for downtown. So there's a lot of opportunities that are opening up right now to get people out of Skid Row, to get them into housing, to get them into things like healthcare and off the streets, Okay. and stuff like that. But then there's, there's an industry down in Skid Row where people who were hired to be counselors, to be helpers, to be administrators of different programs for all the funding that was coming through Skid Row. And that's a whole industry in itself. And it's- A bureaucracy. Right, it's a bureaucracy that does not want to leave. Yeah. And, and so we battle with that now in trying to get, get these bureaucracies to break down Mm-hmm. and finally allow Skid Row to blossom into something that it was always meant to be, which is a community of people. And you know, it's amazing you say that because I call that the homeless industrial complex. Yes, yes. Which is similar to the prison industrial complex. Yes. And the military industrial complex. And I think the solution is similar, it's something that Dwight D. Eisenhower said when he was leaving the presidency. And he mentioned about the military becoming, you know, the military becoming a military. Mm-hmm. And he mentioned about the military becoming a military. And he mentioned about the military becoming the military industrial complex. And how it would become a bureaucracy with a life of its own, unless you figure out a way to trans, transition into something else. Yeah. You know, in relationship to the problems that you're trying to deal with. And I think the same solution is, it's gonna come in relationship to the prison industrial complex and the homeless industrial complex in terms of how to transition, into someone who don't need help. These bureaucracies who have become a life on their own. Their life has set. If you don't need, if you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. If you don't need help. all learning about education, housing, so you're looking at within a 90-day to a year, a quarterly, if you take a quarterly, 90 days, you have four groups of 200-plus people coming out of these programs with a whole new life. They're clean, they're sober, they got a year, they have housing provided for them, they have jobs provided for them, but everything else around them in Skid Row is staying the same. Same, yeah. Around every last one of these organizations, they're selling massive amounts of drugs right on the property in all three of these places. So these people, they go into these places and they get this glimmer of what life could be like, but then they're told when they're done, this is the life you get. Okay, send the rest. Kevin, Mike, you want to say something? What I'd like to say is, number one, there's a big difference between treatment and recovery. All right? And treatment takes place inside those institutions that the brother just described. Recovery happens out in those mean streets where you have to live life on life's terms, right? And unless you plug into a fellowship and let's be spiritual, be real about the spiritual aspect of that that's kept Anna sober since 1975, well, all right. Great. You need to find a way to rely on a power greater than yourself. And I was so fortunate. Support system. Yeah, but what I was so fortunate about is that as I was in treatment, I began to fashion and attach myself to those support systems. And before we went on the air, Mel, you asked about what was one of the foundations or the fundamentals. And the fundamental is service. And the community has provided me with service. And I'm not talking about feeding me my flesh, right? I'm talking about the inspirational people like Red, like Pete, like guys who slept, who slept in boxes like I come to sleep in, right? Who had found a way out and provided the inspiration. Yeah, there's more that these treatment institutions, which are businesses, should be doing. And you know I'm a Skid Row advocate. But what's happened is in spite of itself, because there's affordable housing in my community, right? There is grown this whole cadre of people coming in. So I see security that's working in recovery program. I see the counselors that are working in recovery program. Because this disease is no respect to a person. Okay. Now what I want to do now is I want to go quickly to the community calendar. And then I want to come back because I want to get really get deep into it. I want to talk about some keys to recovery. And Skid Row has a coverage zone also. And then I want Anna to chime in whenever you want to. Let's go to the community calendar. This is the community calendar of upcoming events. Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015 at 630 p.m. Drama State Veterans Theater Workshop will present a reader's theater of a stage play if the shoe fits. The script was compiled by Andy Griggs and Mel B. And I'll finish by Elle Johnson. The guest speaker for this event will be veteran Bob Rosebaugh. All are welcome to attend. There will be, it's a free event, free parking. Refreshments will be served. The location of the event is St. John's Methodist Church, 1715 Santa Ana Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 9002. And that's in Watts, California. And it's wheeled. And it's wheeled here and disability accessible. Following the reading, there will be a Q&A, a time of sharing stories, and many ways to take action. Contact information for this event is 310-704-3217 or email info at iftheshoefits.net. Thursday, September 24th, 2015 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. There will be a humanitarian relief for Skid Row homeless veterans. We the people town hall meeting will be held. This will include a search and rescue. The purpose is to find as many homeless veterans in the area and bus them to the Los Angeles VA for humanitarian housing and care. The location is 808 E 6th Street, Los Angeles, California, 921. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. We will be there. And this is during our second National Recovery Month celebration. And there will be recovery speakers, music, food, and you can come be of service. And this is for recovering vets, homeless, alcoholics or addicts, felon, mental or physically disabled, victim of domestic violence, and on and on and on. And you're asked to come out and celebrate all forms of recovery. And this is a Kevin Michael Key event. And you can call Kevin Michael Key at 213-622-1621 or email him at kkey at socialmodel.com. And we're asking you to save these dates. Friday, October the 9th, 2015 at 8 p.m. And Saturday, October 10th, 2015 at 8 p.m. This will be... This will be the opening night of pre-roof performance of Catch the Tiger. This is a stage play written by Melvin Ishmael Johnson and directed by Bill White. The play is about J. Edgar Hoover's efforts to bring down black pioneer leader Marcus Garvey. The location will be the Moments, M-O-M-E-N-T Theater, 665 North Heliot Drive, Los Angeles, California, 9004. And this is located... That's near Vermont and Mail Road. For more information, you can contact Drama Stage 1 at yahoo.com or 213-908-5032. And we will have more upcoming information about the performance and ticket prices. If you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to Drama Stage 1 at yahoo.com. Attention early in Anthony. And the call-in number for our show is 800-893-9255. Now back to our host. Okay, thank you, Ms. Arlene Anthony. We're back with our in-studio guests, Anna Pepe, Dwayne Mackey, Kevin Michael Key. And in a minute, I'll be talking to Andy Griggs on the line. But at first, before I talk to Andy Griggs, let me play a clip from If the Shoe Fits. And this is a clip by... This is Anthony Taylor performing Cage the Mind. Before they caged the body, they caged the mind. They captured the soul by breaking the spirit with negative thoughts of nothing. Can you change a thought or capture the wind? It's not the prison guard with guns, but inmates and convicts who refuse to come one. No. A positive light. The prisoners caged. The locks of the mind. Negativity and self-hate. A refuser will be a positive light. Jealous of the next person because he wants to live right. Like a person without sight. Darkness into the middle of the night. The real prisons are scales of the mind. Locks of negativity standing in place and marking time. Those who challenge every positive thought. These walls don't stop. These walls don't stop. These walls don't stop. These walls don't stop. These walls don't stop. that cage the body, but first it cage the mind. You hold the key to a positive mentality. Free yourself with positive thoughts. Don't be afraid to dream. Don't let your dreams become a nightmare. Negative thoughts are prisoners of the mind, standing in place and walking time. Like the darkness of a soul, a ball of confusion, the truth must be told. Can't you see? Only the truth can make you free. Positive thoughts are healing for the soul. Free the mind and the body will follow. Before they cage the body, they cage the mind. It's not the prison guard with the gun, but inmates and convicts who refuse to become one. Negative thoughts are nothing. Taking honey from a bee, make you kill your brother because you fail to see. You look in the mirror and see yourself. But you hold the key to a positive mentality. That's the key. So unlock the door and come back to me. Merge with the totality of mentality. Take a vacation from madness, a trip from sadness, see the light open, gladness. Days without night. Can you gauge a thought? Or capture the wind? It's all an illusion, but I'll say it again. Can you gauge a thought? Or capture the wind? It's all an illusion, but I'll say it again. Can you gauge a thought? Or capture the wind? Okay, that's Anthony Taylor performing Cage the Mind from If the Shoe Fittin'. We have Andy Griggs on the line. Andy, welcome to the Coon Round Report. Well, thank you, Melvin. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah. And you know, we got Kevin Michael sitting in here. He'll be performing next month in If the Shoe Fittin'. Can you tell us about the event coming up this Wednesday? Well, it's happening on Wednesday. It's at St. John's United Methodist Church, 6.30 p.m. I don't have the address right in front of me. Maybe you do. Yeah, 1715 Santa Ana Boulevard. Right, it's right across from the Watts Towers on Santa Ana Boulevard right off Wilmington. And we're looking forward to it there. It's sponsored by St. John's and by the Hamilton United Methodist Church, and so we're looking forward to doing it down there. And after the performance, there will be a discussion. One of the things we're doing this time is the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of the Church of we're doing this time is celebrating the settlement that was made in a lawsuit by many of the members of the Pelican Bay who against the state of California that was recently signed around September 1st and is going through the procedures that will free up to 3,000 maybe even more of the people who've been held in solitary confinement for so many years. And so we're excited to help celebrate that event and particularly those who have been held for gang affiliations. So that's really exciting and we'll be talking about that. We'll have a number of veterans in here. Again, you've got the name of the veteran who's going to be there. Bob Rosebrock. Yeah, he did talk about the veterans in solitary confinement also. Right, and we've got a woman whose son is in solitary confinement, part of California families against solitary confinement to talk about that and how they're feeling about this settlement because it'll be a real major change. Okay. Okay. Kevin, did you want to ask Andy anything or make a comment? No, Andy, I just want to let you know that we support the work that Melvin and you and Earlene do and I look forward to seeing you next month and reading and performing with you again. Well, it'll be a pleasure to have you on board again, Kevin. Thank you. We got more and more more and more coming up. We just, as a matter of fact, on Wednesday's performance, we're going to be also kicking off a Indiegogo campaign so we can raise funds so that we can do more performances for free around the city and at schools and things like that. So, we're looking forward to that. And having more people hear about this issue. A lot of people are hearing about the issue and think, oh, well, the settlement means it's all over. But it's not. It's a first step. We've got a long way to go. Okay, Andy, thank you very much. Looking forward to it. Great. See you. Thank you for having me on. Thank you. Thank you. Andy Griggs. Okay, let's get back to our discussion about recovery. Let me go back over here to Dwayne. Let's go around, because I want to ask you, what is the, what are some of the, what were some of the keys, or the keys you think was the key to your recovery? The key to my recovery is, first and foremost, my high power, which I call Jesus Christ, without whom I wouldn't have any recovery. Mm-hmm. Now, I'm wondering about that. Can you break that down? A little, I mean, do that means that more involved in the church as an organizational structure or more of a belief system? It's more of a belief system more than just any kind of regular structure, at least for me. Mm-hmm. The illness that I suffer from is a physical disease. Most people don't realize that addiction is a, 80% of people that are addictive have a physical disease happening with them. Their body is creating something from drugs and alcohol that other people don't. Mm-hmm. And so, these types don't do well with just following certain rituals that other people can follow and stay sober. These people have constant relapses, like myself, and do many different programs and find it very disheartening just to go to meetings. And try to recover using a 12-step process. Even though that process is designed to bring you to a power greater than yourself. In its actuality or in its input to people, it's always shown that there are certain things that you must do to stay sober or to recover. Even though the book or the manual that they get that from says that you're powerless and there's nothing you can do. So, there's some dualities in how recovery is brought to certain people that, cause some people to latch onto it very well, and other people, it runs them away. Because they cannot get it the way it's being presented. And I was one of those people. I couldn't get it the way it was presented. I had to rely totally on the power greater than myself and abandon any kind of effort that I might have to try to stay sober. When I was able to do that, I started staying sober. Kevin, Mike, what's the key for you? I think first off, let me say this, it's a simple program, but it sure ain't easy. I'm a dedicated people. And so, for me, individually, after 18 years of going to treatment facilities all over the country, because I am a former lawyer, so I had a profession and I had insurance and I had the wife, the house, the car, the dad, the dad, the dad, the dad. Really, it was getting into place, and as it turns out, it was skid row, where for the first time in my life, I didn't have the answers. And so, that helped, because you gotta get out of that terminal uniqueness that most of us addicts suffer from. And then, I think a real key was being of service. Okay? Being of service. And that's why this event that I'm pushing for on September 25th, you see service, service, service. And what do vets do? They serve this country. Right? So, we need to get out there and serve them. So, as I freely give of myself, Melvin, all of a sudden, my worries become smaller because I'm thinking about what I have to offer you. So, service is so important. And that higher power. What are the most, and I'm not a big organized religious person, but what do most of them say? Love thy neighbor. Help thy brother. The good, you know what I'm saying? Problem is, they preach it. And don't practice. Absolutely. So, that's what we're trying to do. And skid row, the people, I want to make it clear, I distinguish between the people and the institutions. The people of skid row to this day still find ways to wrap their loving arms around unloving me or the next unloving me. Can you talk just a little bit more about the structure of the event Friday? I was going to start at one place and transition to the other. The location? Absolutely. So, we're going to be at it's going to be in two park locations. San Julian Park which is 5th and San Julian and ultimately it's going to, or portions of it are going to transfer to Gladys Park which is located at 6th and Gladys. Same place where the veterans outreach thing is going to be. We're going to start out the morning by coming together, touching each other, having a moment of, first we'll have a moment of spirituality with this choir singing. Then we'll get in a circle or however, touch hands, have a moment of silence and think about the work and the service we're about to perform. And then we're going to go out, different service providers will set up tabling but we're going to have hygiene kits, water, light snacks and sandwiches. We're going to go out, we're going to sweep the streets and be of service. But the main thing we're going to be doing is we're going to be talking to people. Our brothers and our sisters. Not talking down to them. Not talking about them. But engaging with them. And then from there, we'll come back. Councilman Huizar is, or one of his representatives, will be giving out certificates of appreciation. There are different And then from there, we'll come back. Councilman Huizar is one of his representatives. We'll be giving out certificates of appreciation. There are dinosaurs and people who've got 30, 35 years of sobriety who come to give back. We're going to give them certificates, and all the certificates we'll end up with. We appreciate you for your contributions towards making Skid Row the world's largest recovery community. And then we'll have some entertainment. We'll have some other things, and we'll end up with a recovery meeting and celebrating those five homeless vets, homeless, mentally ill, whatever it is, so that we can celebrate that we've helped somebody. Okay. At what point does it transfer from San Julian over to Gladys? Someplace around. No. Now, Anna, let's go over to you because I want you to quickly tell us that same question. What was the key? Key to my recovery. I've talked about a lot of things the last couple of weeks. Try not to repeat myself. Well, key, which I've already told everybody, was what I consider my gift of desperation, hitting that bottom, and God proving himself to be very real to me. And then. Once I hit that bottom and he showed up and I got clean physically. Okay. The withdrawal. Went through the whole withdrawal process, but then came bring the body, the mind will follow, starting to deal with the emotions and all the garbage that was back there. So key in that for me in the rooms of recovery was the sharing. It wasn't I had been held hostage my whole life, hiding everything. That had happened in my childhood. All that pain that went with the physical violence, the sexual abuse, the all that garbage. Okay. Had crippled me emotionally. I've never talked about it. It was a big dark secret. We didn't even talk about it in my house. But when I went to the program and I started hearing people sharing their stories and they weren't ashamed and they were exposing that stuff. It blew my mind when I went to a woman's retreat and a woman shared. A. About the shame and the guilt she experienced because she would bring alcoholics. She picked up at a bar to her house and they abused her daughter. It was like she dares to talk about that, you know, and all of a sudden it gave me the freedom to start opening up and dumping all that garbage and get the healing that I needed. Okay. Let's go around. We winding down. Contact information, clothes and comments. Take about a minute to please. Peace. Seek with them. I just like to say that I've heard a lot of good stuff today. I just like people to understand that most of the recovery that we have down here, if there are anybody like me, I got introduced to recovery through a treatment program. I would have never known anything about a 12 step meeting or nothing if I hadn't went to a treatment program. And most of the people that I know, we learned about recovery that way. But because we went through it that way, we have a unique perspective about what recovery is. Down here on Skid Row. It's amazing the kind of depth that we have as far as where we go with our meetings and how we deal with the people that are in recovery down here because we have that multifaceted background being introduced to 12 step programs that way. Now, Danny is still over there. Danny Harris. No, he's not. He's not over there. He's not at the midnight. Moved on. Okay. Kevin, Mike. I'll just say. I'm going to say. The coming to Skid Row was the best thing that ever happened to me. I smoked up a law license. Ended up in Skid Row. And now I'm a member in good standing of the other bar. And it's because of the people in Skid Row. So I fight real hard to change the negative narrative that the mass media perpetuates about my community. They need to stop oversaturating downtown. With all these new alcohol outlets. And begin to incorporate recovery concepts for the community as a whole. Rather than trying to continue the stigmatization and criminalization of a part of the community. What is your contact information for people that want to touch base with you? Okay. I'm going to give you both my email addresses. One is. Kevin K. The letter K. At socialmodel.com. And K. Michael Key. 111. At gmail.com. Come out September 25th. This Friday. And join us. Help somebody. Okay. Yeah. So Ellen. Take about 45 seconds. Your contact information. And be sure to tell us about the open mic over there. Right. We have open mic on Friday nights. At. 206 West 6th Street. At the Company of Angels Theater. It's put on by Dawn Productions. Lorinda and Ron Smith. It's from 8 to 10. We have a really awesome time. A lot of great artists that exist down in this area. Every Friday. It's every Saturday. Every Saturday. Yeah. Well right now. We're into September. Month by month we get an extension. We haven't heard yet about October. And what is your contact information? My contact information. I'm not giving out. My phone is a. But my email is. E. R. Peppy. P. E. P. E. 51. At. Ymail.com. All right. And you can also friend me on Facebook. Okay. Now we have a little section that we call the Lazarus Book Club. And I'd like to recommend a book. You know. Lazarus. Like to wake the dead. And since the Pope is coming to America this week. I recommend a book entitled. The. Two. Two. Two. Two. Two. Babylon. the Qumran Report by googling in Qumran Report. Thank you for tuning in to the Qumran Report. From your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson, my co-host, Earlene Anthony. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving, creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. I leave you with Herman Wallace doing the poem, A Defiant Voice. If death is the realm of freedom, then through death I escape to freedom. Which is a quote by Fran Farnan. The title of this poem is A Defiant Voice. They removed my whisper from general population to maximum security. I gained a voice. They removed my voice from maximum security to administrative segregation. My voice gave hope to the people of the world. They removed my voice from administrative segregation to solitary confinement. My voice became vibration for unity. They removed my voice from solitary confinement to the supermax of Camp J. And now they wish to destroy me. The louder my voice, the deeper my voice will be. my voice will be. They bury me. I say it. The louder my voice, the deeper they bury me. Free all political prisoners, prisoners of war, prisoners of consciousness. Herman Wallace, Angles 3.