Homelessness, UCLA Hunger Project, Black Panthers discussion

Homeboy Fathers were not favorites on the farm For he could do some harm He could wreck them and have to ski For he, brothers, could dream Your mama ain't no saint Your daddy died in a shallow stream But your uncle, Dr. King Did have a dream, my brother And what is your real excuse? Why can't you study your lessons And stay in school? Why can't you study your lessons And stay in school? School Free love And sex ain't nothing but a game. Don't never last, try hope. Take a chance on love, register to vote. Money ain't everything, but you could buy her a ring. Listen to Little Blackbird sing. Homebore by Sunchi Ali. Welcome to the Conron Report. May the peace and blessings of a life giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson, coming at you live from Skid Row Studios. And I'm in the studio with my co-host Earlene Anthony. Our call-in number is 1-800-893-9562. This week on the Conron Report, we will hear some voices from the community with clips from Reverend Cecil Murray talking about social life and the importance of social life. We will hear from the family engaged Christianity and Biddy Mason. And Ted Hayes will talk about the homeless problem. And our in-studio guest, Michael Blaze, will talk about his new show coming up this Friday, February the 6th, 2015 at 7 o'clock right here at Skid Row Studios. And then we also have our special guest over there sitting in, Big Earned Shepherd. Big Earned Shepherd. Oh, good to talk to you. Now, before we get into our discussion about the UCLA Hunger Project, I'd just like to play a little short clip introducing the students that came down to the Church of the Nazarene yesterday. And introduce ourselves. Simeon Duxworth. I'm Klaus. Klaus, a little bit about yourself. You're a student at UCLA? Yes, I'm a fourth year biochem student at UCLA. Oh, okay. Hi, I'm Renee. I'm a first year poli-sci student at UCLA. Hi, I'm Jennifer. I'm a fourth year physiological science major at UCLA. Hi, I'm Phoebe. I'm a fourth year biochemistry major at UCLA. Hi, I'm Brianne. I'm a first year EEB major at UCLA. I'm Saloni. I'm a first year human bio and society major at UCLA. Hello, my name is Jasmine. I'm a first year pre-biz econ major at UCLA. Hi, I'm Christine. I'm a first year bio major at UCLA. Hi, I'm Nathan. I'm a second year chemistry graduate student at UCLA. Hi, I'm Lauren. I'm a first year pre-human biology and society major at UCLA. Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm a history major and pre-med at UCLA. Okay, I'm going to go Gary last so you can say a few words. Erlene, Drama Stage. Hello, yes, I'm Bobby Buck. Okay, and Gary, you want to say a few words for us before we set up the fast-asson hygiene? Yeah, sure. I'm Gary. I'm the assistant to the pastor here at Central City Christian Community Church. You know, I just want to say to you, you know, that in school, you're in school, but you know, it's the greatest thing that what you have in your heart that you want to reach out to others. You know, the further blessing is a blessing upon blessing, you know, and you know, the thing is too, you know, we can always get caught up in ourself, but what you're doing is one thing that you're putting yourself to the test. You know, and I'm going to say this. One thing that you're putting yourself to the side, taking your time, as the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 6, that to redeem the time, and you redeem the time, not just for yourself, but for others. And the purpose, that's what our purpose is at this church too, is that we redeem the time and meet the needs of others for the glory of God. I don't know where you're at on your spiritual journey, but I pray that the Lord continues to guide you in that very way, because you're young, your life is full, and you have, as you see, there's many people. There's many people that's in need, you know, so we'd be thankful that where God has placed you, but never forget that your duty on this earth is to give God the glory and to be a benefit and a help to others, okay? Thank you. Okay, so I guess we'll set up, pass out the hygiene kits, and then come in here. I'd like to ask you a few more questions about, this is your first time down on Skid Row in this area? Some of you came over here. Yes. And you came out with the last time you came out, right? Yeah. You ready? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. How we gonna set it up? Okay, we gonna, we gonna just bring everything to the table. Scared? I'm gonna, I'll make... Right, that was the UCLA students that came out yesterday down to the Church of the Nazarene. And Amin, can you tell us, what is the UCLA hunger for? I mean, I'm not sure I've ever been to a place like that. I mean, I've never been to a place like that. I mean, I've never been to a place like that. But UCLA hunger project, can you tell us exactly what that is? Yeah, definitely. So, UCLA hunger project is a student organization formed by about 60 UCLA students. And our main mission is to combat homelessness, hunger issue in Los Angeles through three different methods. The first method would be providing food to homeless individual. Secondly, we want to provide educational assistance to youth with a homeless background or at-risk youth. Thirdly, we want to believe that education is the key to break the cycle of poverty. And third, which is our main focus this season, is to raise awareness to hunger and poverty issues among the public. So yeah, and then in the next two days, on February 15th and March 8th, hunger project will be hosting two food feeding events at the Church of the Nazarene, located at 6th and St. Pedro Street. Where we're going to distribute 150 packs of food. Okay. So we're going to distribute 150 packs of food and hygiene supplies, and we're really excited to be there. So, yeah. Oh, that's great. Now Ming, how did you get involved with the organization? I got involved, currently I'm in my fourth year. I'm a biochem student in UCLA. So I got involved in the hunger project in my second year, and where I moved up to the administration position. Okay. So I was in the administration last year. And then those two periods here, I just get so much exposure to the homelessness community and how social injustice exists in Los Angeles. So that's why we really want to extend our service, especially to Skid Row, this quarter. Because like what you heard from the video clip, a lot of students, a lot of community members in Los Angeles, they are actually not aware about the hunger crisis. They're not aware about where Skid Row is. Maybe a lot of them hear about it, but they don't actually even know what happened down there, or they don't care. So that's why UCLA hunger project really want to bring UCLA students or community members down to Skid Row where they can experience feeding the homelessness there, or to witness the daily struggle of people living there during daytime or at nighttime. That's what we're trying to do. Now, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah. Yeah. Don't have a script or script script script script script script script script script know as being a part of a big city like Los Angeles? I think like providing food and hygiene supply will be essential to relieve immediate hunger and short-term problems of the homeless individuals in Skid Row. However I think the long-term solution to end homelessness is to push the government to create more transition programs and public housing projects. Maybe something a transitional program like the one that PATH has, you know, people accessing the homeless on Monday night or the midnight mission has. Like where homeless can get stable short-term and for some of them to recover from their potential mental illness and to be trained and often sufficient support to be transferred from the state of homelessness permanently. I think that's a non-transition solution. Yes. Now what are some of the other programs or projects that the hunger project is involved in? Yes. Oh yeah, we, it's our honor to partner with many different local community partners in Skid Row like including Drama Stage, definitely Midnight Mission, Monday Night Mission and right now we're discussing about a great potential partnership with Los Angeles Community Activity Network which we're really really excited about. Okay, okay. Now I think Earline, she wanted to also ask you a question. Hi Ming, how are you? Hi, how are you? I'm good. I have a two-part question. First part is what do you think is the greatest need in Skid Row? And to follow up on that, when your group come down to Skid Row, do you make a report or compile any data after your trip down to Skid Row? Yes, I think the greatest need in Skid Row, talking about, you know, the essentials will be personally I think hygiene supplies will be definitely the first problem because you know a lot of people they don't get access to the homeless shelter where so they won't be able to get, they won't be able to shower, they won't be able to brush their teeth so providing hygiene supplies like toothbrush, toothpaste or just you know some basic essentials like Bandit will definitely help. And secondly, besides just passing out, you know, the besides just passing out the supplies, it's very lucky that DramaSkid Row will behave. You guys are very generous to offer us a couple of performances. So I think it's more like a two-way process, where the students are able to give back to the community, but also learn from their volunteering experience. And yes, from each event, we do record how much supplies we pass out and how many people signed up for that particular event. And at the end of each quarter, we're going to create a newsletter where we're going to send it to other projects or students in UCLA, so they will be able to learn about what we're doing, learn more about, you know, potential needs to get rid of. Oh, that's great. Okay. Thank you, Ming. Can you once again give us the contact information for our audience members? Yeah, definitely. So to contact us, you can email. You can just simply send us an email. Our email address will be ucla.hungerproject at gmail.com. Again, the email address will be ucla.hungerproject at gmail.com. And also, you can search us through Facebook. Just search UCLA Hunger Project on Facebook, and our page will pop up. Okay. Thank you, Ming. And we're looking forward to you guys coming out on the 15th. No problem. Thank you, Anthony. Thank you. Bye-bye. Have a great night. Bye. Bye. You too. Bye-bye. Okay. That's Ming over there at the UCLA Hunger Project. Great project. Now, at this time, I want to turn over to one of our in-studio guests, Michael Blaze, who's starting his show coming up this Friday at 7 o'clock right here at Skid Row Studios. And welcome to the Coon Round Report. Well, let me thank you very much for having me. Can you tell us a little about your upcoming show? Well, it's sort of a mystery still. It's still unraveling. It's called Echoes of Blackness, right? And originally, it was supposed to be I was doing a project or attempting to do a project on the Los Angeles Black Panthers. And as I got into it, I realized that they were actually, you know, a component of many other organizations. They were not just organizations at that time. And, you know, they had their place, but other organizations did also. And so I couldn't see myself just doing that because everything was interlocked and everything came to an abrupt end for pretty much the same reasons. Right. So then I discovered there were so many people who were affiliated with being Panthers who weren't Panthers, right? Meaning who were down with that same type of movement or change. And they just selected whatever means they did. So saying that to say, so as it went on, I realized several things. The most important was that I couldn't just link them back to 1965 and 1970 when they come along, you know, 50 years later. Right. So I discovered, for one thing, that many of them were doing lots and lots of things. When I first went there, I thought they would just be kicking it. We didn't did our work, you know, and just reminisce. But on the contrary, they were doing all types of things all over the city. So I realized I had to slow down and gradually get into it and open it up. And so all of that to say, I went to do a film. But I realized that by doing this show, it would give me an opportunity for them to come on and project what they're doing nowadays. For me to become more familiar with them in order to do an effective film. Right. So ultimately, this is what I came up with. Skid Row Studios. Skid Row Studios. And I'll tell you a little more about it. But my first guest will be Michael D. McCarty, who is an international storyteller. So it ought to be very interesting. Oh, yeah. That should be great. He was also one of the Chicago Black Panthers and was down with Fred Hampton. And we'll also touch upon that for sure. That's great. And then we also have here sitting here Big Earn. And Big Earn, can you tell us about some of the projects that you're doing? That you got going. I know you work over to the Chuko Justice Center. Yes. And first, let me say that I'm really touched to be able to be a part of this gathering. And the brother that just spoke before me, we were at the Black Panther breakfast together. And like he said, these brothers were diverse. A diverse group of brothers. And they were just like I was, you know. Because I started out. I wanted to be about anything, by any means necessary, Malcolm said. And I wanted to be involved with everything that was about the black struggle that would give us our dignity, that would cause us to rise up. And I put my life, put my life right there on the line, you know. And went to death row, spent the next 45 years in prison. And I'm out here now by really it's like miracles. And I'm still, you know, I'm still relating to the same. Same thing to the same struggle. And I have to validate the fact that those are some beautiful brothers. Those brothers helped me when I got out. See, when you talk about the guy on Skid Row down there helping feed people, I was there too. I was homeless twice. And these brothers, they were instrumental in helping me. Now I'm doing all right. Now I'm doing pretty good. Only thing I can do, only thing that's in my head is to give back. So I'm pleased that you allow me to be here. Thank you. And I'm pleased to be on the show to speak about the projects that I belong to that involve giving back and reentry. We're involved in reentry. This is Two Coast Justice Center. And we are a part of that. And our organization is called the Fair Chance Project. And our project is primarily reentry. The guys that's getting out, we want to get them out and we want to keep them out, basically. You know, and we want to provide all the basic things. That guy was providing and also the psychological counseling and also the counseling that addresses those triggers or the frustration that the guys have when they get out because it's a very vulnerable period of time. And we have a new organization called Life Changers. And what's that about? And these are 12 intense workshops. And they deal with post-prison trauma syndromes. Like you're talking about from the veterans. From the war. They have the post-war syndrome. Well, guys getting out of the penitentiary 20 years, 30 years, they have prison trauma syndromes. Trust me. And we are really familiar with that. We're really sensitive to that. And we try to address that so that they don't recidivist. So they don't become recidivist. And so I feel really, really, I feel really like my life has a really meaningful turn to be able to address some of these things. And help some of these brothers and sisters. Let me ask you this question. And hopefully get some feedback on this. The old nation, the original lost found nation of Islam. Yes, sir. That was started by the honor of Elijah Muhammad. Yes, sir. When they would get a brother, you know, they had a program. And when they would grab these brothers coming out of program, they had the highest success rate. Of especially substance abuse program. I mean, over 90% of the brothers that some of these was hardcore. Drug addicts, killers, murderers, all that kind of stuff. And they would turn them around and very few of them went back. That was during the time of the honor of Elijah Muhammad. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. What do you think it was? Because we look at what's happening in Skid Row now. You know, they had the whole realignment thing that they started in October of last year. When they let out a lot of the non-violent, low-level offenders. And we've seen a lot of them emerge in the downtown Skid Row area as it gets larger and larger and larger. What do you think? What was it that organizations like the honor of Elijah Muhammad were able to do with the nation of Islam to keep these brothers from falling back into that trap? And now we see so many brothers that just go back over and over and over again. What was it like? Wow. You know. What are you talking about? You're talking about something right now that's really heavy and really, really real. Yeah. And that a lot of this information is not even in the public. A lot of people don't even know. I was there in prison. Okay. And the nation of Islam, those brothers, they transformed prison society among black people. They had the cleanliness, the principles of respect. Okay. The principles of. Solidarity. Even if a brother wasn't in the nation, their influence influenced brothers that was outside of the nation. And so they were very influential in black society. Period. Okay. Yes. And so the brothers that did join the nation, those Muslims were different than they are now. Those Muslims, they walked that walk and they had their lives on the line. And they were some beautiful soldiers. And you're right. They converted killers. And I was really impressed. I was really impressed by how they cleaned up the sisters. They had sisters. It was incredible for me to believe that a sister would take that short skirt off and put on those long garments and clean herself up and stop giving her body out there on the corner and stop using drugs. They cleaned those sisters up. And they cleaned those brothers up. So, I mean, if anybody was wise sociologist, he would want to get the formulas. And they were successful. Yeah. Those people were employed. Brother Blades, what do you think it was that why they were able to do that with a lot of these hardcore brothers? And the prison system back then was harder because they didn't have as many outlets that they have in the prison now. They sort of like modernized the prison industrial complex. Well, first of all, we're talking two entirely different. Different times and drug epidemics. You know, the Vietnam time, heroin is taking 20 hits. It's kind of hard to resist something that good. It really is. Right. Now we have cocaine, which is a whole different type of self-destruction. You know, so I find it very hard. How can I put it? I don't know if you know about heroin. But people that are heroin. Heroin addicts can stop doing heroin and just what they call that skin pop. You know, they can do different things. They don't need as much as a cocaine person. A cocaine person can go out and be totally insane continuously all by themselves or individually. People that do heroin usually run in groups. That's why I like they share needles, things like it's a whole different mentality. But being that I'm a New Yorker and I grew up around the Muslims in New York. I think. I think the greatest thing they instilled in people was personal self-respect, personal dignity. What was that saying? That you are somebody. Right. So that was one of the main things that I always like. You know, they be clean cut and go out and be working and trying to really setting good examples in the community. Now, I've never been a Muslim. I studied with a lot of imams, but I've never been a Muslim. You know, I've gone through like four Ramadan. You know, I've never actually personally been a Muslim. But it appeals to me. It appeals to me for many reasons. One of them is I bring up Ramadan because every Muslim reads their holy book from page one to the end once a year. How many Christians you think actually have read the whole Bible? They're just directed by a couple of words here to this and here. Give me 10 percent in here. Give me 10 percent in here. But to actually sit down. Sit down and read your entire. You know, I've seen the change in people during Ramadan when they first get together. There's a lot of there's a different a lot of different sets. And they go, my set is better. My set is better. I'm a nationalist. And by the end, they all in harmony. Merge into one body. You know, it's a whole different thing. But I think that primarily their psychology is based on Afrocentric principles. Yeah. So if we're talking about recovery. Yeah. Recovering people who are Afrocentric, it might be better sense for people to get into Afrocentric principles other than how you're supposed to act, you know, in a white society. Eurocentric principles. Yeah. Right. Which is not your soul. It's not your thing. You know, and all that that is ever going to suggest is that you accept your place. And when I. Yeah. Be a good Negro. Yeah. Because when I looked at him. Because I wanted to know. I wanted to know the answer to that question. And then so I decided to. Oh, let me just say. Go ahead. I don't know if those brothers could resist cocaine the way they could heroin. That's really all I'm saying. Cocaine is a whole nother animal. This is animal. Yeah. Yeah. That's all I'm saying. But go ahead. Yes, they can, brother. Yes, they can. We resist it. I like to believe that. We resist it. I like to believe it. It's what I think it is because, you know, I decided to. I wanted to know the answer of that question because they was at the time they was pushing these programs like the Lancet Street and the Lancet Street at the time they was having a success rate of 22 percent. And I said, wait a minute. Now the nation is not. They got a success rate over 90 percent and then they got 22 percent. That's not a successful program. When I'm looking at places like the Lancet Street, all these people relapsing. So I wanted to know why. And then I found out that one of the key elements that the nation used to do, if a person, because most people relapse when they come out of that control environment of prison and they come back to the community. You know, that's the most vulnerable time for them. Yes, sir. See. And so what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and others used to do is that if a person was a heroin addict coming out, they had that ex-heroin addict that they've already cleaned up. That becomes a 101. That becomes like in the AA concept, they have that sponsorship thing, which is a 101 thing. So that person would meet that person at the gate at that first step because he know all the little tricks in terms of the heroin addict and whatever. And so that would take them into that next step. That next step is providing the basic needs. And see, one of the things that when I look at, I saw what the nation had, it was like a little community within a community. And they could provide these brothers with self-esteem, but other brothers around them, they could also provide them with a job. If it's nothing but what? Selling them newspaper out there. And I think those were, those was key because the longer, that first step was so important. You know, that trust factor between that ex-heroin addict who had cleaned himself up and the one who was new, went to the control environment that kept him away from drugs for such a long time. Now he's getting ready to come back to the real world and see, and they could, they had that bridge that would bring them in there. And these brothers would be. And that's the self-esteem that you're talking about and all that kind of stuff. Now, let me ask you another question about methadone. You forgot, you may have forgotten methadone. And that's what these so-called recovering things were using. That's right. I seen lots of people on it. They nodded just like everybody else. So I was like, wow, that's your recovery. But you have to remember how much of that stuff was passed out and say, okay, he's cured. Yeah. But of course they're going to go back to it. Yeah. And they're going to be under that influence also. So, you know. Yeah. Right. I just want to just co-sign some of the things that you said from my experience. And just like in our little organization, what we do when we bring these guys in, we tell them, say, man, look, man, we're not the psychologist. We're not the psychiatrist. We're not the constance. We're not, all these people failed you. They failed you. You know? And just like the nation. Mm-hmm. And we had guys who actually had been through that. So they knew. See, they could fool the psychologists. They could fool the constance. They could fool all these people. They couldn't fool that brother who had been there on that corner, was on that corner with you 15 years before you, doing everything that you've done. And now you come out, you're going to try to deceive him and trick him and all like that. That's right. So that was one thing. And so we have people that were really knowledgeable about the experience and they were aware of the triggers that a brother would use that they could get by with the other constance who wasn't even interested or not interested. They were interested or were scared to really delve into what was really going on inside that brother or unconcerned about what was going on inside that. But giving them methadone and all that kind of stuff. And then that's one aspect. And then the other aspect that the nation distinguished itself was that they were into the bread and butter issues. They were into the bread and butter issues of food, shelter, and clothing. They gave the brothers practical jobs, selling those papers, selling those fish, H&G fish, selling those beans. Mm-hmm. And they were giving them bread and pies and all like that. And they are provided support systems for the brothers. And then that's what we try to do. And it's inconceivable to think about helping somebody who just got out of prison and you're not going to try to help them financially. You're not going to try to help them get a house. You're not going to try to help them put some clothes on their back. I don't care what you tell a brother. If you don't have enough awareness to know that he needs some food, that he needs some clothes on his back, that he needs a house. Yeah. You're not going to help them with their brother's issues. That's right. Now, let me ask you this, and then we're going to take a quick little break for the community calendar. I want to get back to the Black Panthers because one thing I've noticed about the ... I thought the Black Panthers was such an important organization for such of the original valuable programs that they created. One being the breakfast program for young people, for little kids going to school and all that kind of stuff. But when the new groups ... When I was a kid, I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. But when I observe a lot of these new groups, like some that called themselves the new Black Panthers, whatever like that, that's coming on the scene, I notice that they emphasize one aspect of the Black Panthers, which to me was almost minding that they emphasize the military, militant aspect of it. Yeah. else to take in consideration uh some of the other ones like the food program like when the panthers first started how they were so deeply into knowing the law you know knowing making the community aware of their rights and stuff they would uh when when hearing all these guys when they first started they were following they knew that you had the right to bear arms see and they know that you had the right to uh a photograph and observe the police that's what they would do they were sort of like a protecting unit for the community that's how uh around that oakland area they would stop they would watch the police they would give a ticket or something they there they got their weapons because they know that was a right to do that so i thought that that was important you know teaching the community to know their rights in relationship to the police and what's happening uh that like rights to bear arms and all that kind of stuff like that uh but that's just one of the things i want to mention about the panthers and that's come i'm waiting on brother blaze program i think this is going to be a interesting little regular program listen to this antidote from the panthers i told you that i have been homeless several times when i struggled and became starting to get successful i became so yeah yes go ahead i went to the panther breakfast regularly right i went to the panther breakfast regularly and and and stood up and expressed to the brothers hey man look man i just got me an apartment i got me a place and boom boom boom boom yeah yeah man look they got up they passed the little hat around i got furniture in my house from these brothers they came and they put they came on a truck and they put furniture in my house that i have right now today that's good that's what you call fundamental that's what you call really really serious i'm totally in debt with you i'm totally in debt with you this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this brother this a clip because this is Black History Month and I had Reverend Cesar Murray in here I think in September or October something like that and this is a two little short clips from Reverend Cesar Murray talking about socially engaged Christianity and then also talking about Betty Mason. Murray I want to start off with you can you tell what is socially engaged Christianity? Socially engaged Christianity answers the question so often asked Jesus. Jesus why have you come? I have come to help the helpless, to heal the sick, to lift the fallen, to set the captives free, to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf. In other words socially engaged Christianity seems to have a rich impact on our lives. Now when we have our faith established our faith seems to have a rich impact on our lives. Now when we have our faith established our faith seems to have a rich impact on our lives. Now when we have our faith established our faith seems to have a rich impact on our lives. Now when we have walls also becomes religion beyond the walls. This is something out of the community. Now, can you talk a little about Biddy Mason and the founding of FAME? Biddy Mason was a slave woman who was taken by a Mormon slave caravan from the deep south up to the San Fernando Valley. She did not want to ride into slavery, so she asked the master if she could walk as a sheep herder. He gave her permission, so she walked but some 2,000 miles on the trip rather than ride into slavery. Okay. Wow. When they arrived. Okay. The Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, setting slaves legally free. She knew that the slave master was mustering the slaves to take them back to Alabama, the deep south, rather than obey the new constitutional amendment. So, she and three other women managed. She and three other women managed to escape and were given protective custody in the Los Angeles County Jail. The chief jailkeeper said he understood, and so he locked them up. And then after the caravan left to go back south, she was released. She went on coming to Los Angeles and working as a midwife. And rather than being a slave, she was a slave. She was a slave. She was a slave. She was a slave. Now, when the NDA named her NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA NDA N she helped the homeless and the poor and the hungry. She started a church in her home, later to become the first black church in Los Angeles. Later, the movement was to 8th and Town Street after her death. Many will remember Bishop H.H. Brookins. Reverend H.H. Brookins was pastor there. Then, in 1968, they moved to the present location of First AME Church on South Harvard, near Weston and Adams, and that is the history. But she says, we have to understand with pity, Mason, that's right. It is the open hand that is blessed, for with the closed hand, nothing can get out, but nothing can get in either. Biddy Mason was a rare human being. Okay, let's move into our community calendar. That's about Biddy Mason, Reverend Chip Murray, a community calendar. This is the community calendar for upcoming events, beginning on Wednesday, February the 4th, 2015, from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. And this will take place on every first Wednesday of the month, which is called Tech Talk Retreat. And this is a workshop for engineers, interns, show hosts, veterans, and those considering starting a new show on Skid Row Studios. It also gives you a chance to meet show hosts and discuss ways and means to promote current shows and support the new shows that's coming. That's this Wednesday. The speakers will be Judith Bowman, Jeremy Hansen, and Geysa X. Also, each show host will have about five minutes to promote their show. There will be a time for Q&A, and also refreshments will be served. The location is the Vortex, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 921. And this is at the corner of Olympic and Santa Fe. The contact information, for Tech Talk Retreat, is DramaStage1 at Yahoo.com or 213-479-1764 or 213-908-6587. Thursday, February the 5th, 2015, from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m., Los Angeles Community Action Network and Downtown Women Action Coalition. The commission is having a town hall meeting for human rights in Skid Row, and they will be discussing Skid Row residents, the workers, and present numerous projects, campaign, and community-based human rights, and much more. Some of the panel included will be Skid Row Housing Trust, USEP, LAPD, General Jeff, and other residents. Also, representative from Councilman Jose Huizar's office, LA City Council office, from the Mayor's office, and from the LA County Supervisor's office, Hilda Solis, and many more. You're invited to come and participate in this town hall and let your voice be heard. The event will be held at the James Wood Center, 400 East 5th Street, and contact information is 213-228-0024. On Saturday, February the 21st, 2015, at 7 p.m., a special live broadcast from Skid Row Studios, the reading of a play by award-winning playwright Tom Tarayama, entitled Yuri and Malcolm X. This play is about the friendship between Yuri, an Asian-American activist, and Malcolm X, and also it will be dealing with J. Edgar Hoover. This is Saturday, February the 21st, and this will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X. Also, this reading will be in honor of Black History Month. For more information, please call 213-479-1764. If you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com. Attention early in anthems. The call-in number for our show is 800-893-9562. Now, back to our host. Okay, thank you, Ms. Arlene Anthony. Now, last September 2014, I had Ted Hayes, the founder of Dawn Village in the studio, and I asked him about his thoughts on the homeless problem. There was a meeting last Monday at the Los Angeles Theater Center, to discuss solutions to the homeless problem. Especially Skid Row. Over almost 500 people showed up. And it's clear to me that what came out of the meeting is the fact that nobody is on the same page, and the homeless problem keeps on growing. So Ted, I would like to ask you, and then Leslie, with all of the millions of dollars that have put into the homeless problem, why they why they can't come up with a solution to this problem. come up with a solution. What do you think they can come up with a solution? It's political. It's very political. The only reason why the Dome Village closed was political. The worst enemies to the homeless are the activists themselves. They found a niche that soothes their itch for fame, for prestige, for money. The advocates for the homeless or the social service providers, they're pimps basically. I believe they all initially started off correctly, had a right heart, but homeless is a very difficult and complex problem. And they realize, I gotta pay my bills. And then they begin to realize, you know what, if I can feed so many people a day, bed so many people a day, that's a per diem thing that I can give to the government. I can raise me some money. And that's why I quit publicly being an activist, demonstrations because when we came out in the 85, in those days, we were in the news all the time. The missions and the shelters and the advocates, they had the machinery to go to the constituents and say, hey, you see the homeless in the news? Send me your money because we're feeding homeless people, we're sheltering homeless people. And if you trace every one of those missions downtown, they all blew up all of a sudden, didn't they? You can trace their getting their money back to 1985, 86, and 87. That is the root of their money. And I had gone to the social service providers, I'd gone to the advocates, and I went to the worst of them, the activists, and said, look, fellas, I came out here on purpose, became homeless on purpose, slept on these sidewalks on purpose to find out what this thing is and whether or not we can resolve it. And I found something. I found something. And they resisted all the way. Okay, okay. That was Ted Hayes. Hope to have him back in the studio so we can have an in-depth discussion of that. Let me go back to my in-studio guests for some comments. Blaze, can you talk about some of the other projects you're working on? I could. However, first, I'd like to go back a little to Diddy Mason. Somebody who's like one of my heroes in life, right? Yes. And her wall is not on 7th and Spring. 4th and Spring. It's on between 4th and 3rd, between Broadway and Spring. It's in a place where maybe one black person goes by in two months and all the other people that go by have no clear interest why there's this wall of about six or seven images of this woman. The way the wall is set up, they come in to the end and then they walk down to the beginning. Where it should be, starting at the beginning and going to the end. If I ever am in any position, I would really fight to move that wall to where black people are. Where do you think it should be moved to? Anywhere. Yeah, because it's in an alley. It's like in an alley. It's hidden. It was in an area where I would pass for six years where I didn't realize it was right there. I pass by there constantly. And she is the first person to have a wall. She had a mission in downtown Los Angeles. It was like some type of epidemic or something. She's the very first person to feed the homeless in downtown LA. So, you know, she's really a very great person. Yeah, and important. Extremely. But in any event, some of the projects I'm working on are right now in the right hemisphere with that. Meaning, I'm not even trying to write down what I expected to be. You know, that's what I learned when I went to the meeting. I saw these, but man, this is not what I anticipated. And, you know, like as a film person, you want to get an idea of what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. And in that case, maybe get some clips from the 60s or the early 70s and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, so what I'm doing is being wide open. There are two or three other people I'm working with to come on the show, sort of getting established. And it's going to be fantastic because, you know, like I said, these people, they were Black Panthers. They were activists of that time and place. But now, like they'll talk about people who's been down like 25, 30, 40 years talking about, well, let's get them out. Right? I was like, wow. Right? And they're serious and they know what they're, you know, so their whole thing has manifested and they work with other groups and organizations, you know. It's really manifested beyond that time. And I think what I'm looking to discover is, what's that other thing where militants and activists were attacked using drugs and using madness and using... So I'm looking to get into that. And I think it would be like what we were just talking about with soldiers coming back being messed up in the head, right? Yeah. And so I'm looking to find all these elements, but I really think that the evolution, from what the Black Panthers were, meaning, I think people are in a more positive mood thinking about their Black Panthers and the Black Panthers themselves because they were so harassed continuously, right? Like, continuously. Under attack. True. And I'm inspired to say a few words about that. Sure. I mean, they were my warriors. That's all I'm saying. You know, like, we had one picture of Black Panthers a long time ago. Remember now, we have a picture of these brothers that are so, that is so beautiful. These brothers, what they call, like, they pass the hat of the guys that are in prison. Yeah. You know what I mean? And just like Geronimo, I mean, not Geronimo Pratt, but we got Chip Fitzgerald. He needs a lawyer, okay? They passing the hat right now to get him a lawyer. You know what I mean? And this is so beautiful. You know, they haven't forgotten any of the brothers and they're trying to find other brothers. They can help. I mean, in a real, in a practical manner. You know, so, I was, I came out and I was really impressed, you know, by what they're doing, man, from their heart. And they're just trying to help. And I wish that, that's the kind of foundation that we need in order to really grow. Yeah, Herman Wallace, you know, they had him down in Angola. He was one, he was the Black Panther too, the Angola Three down. And he was in, how long? 43 years. 43 years. And then they let him out. And I think he lived, what, two days? Right, right. Yes, sir. And then he died just last year and all that kind of stuff. And just like Hugo Pinel. Hugo Pinel, they passed the hat for him. He needed a lawyer. They passed the hat. His lawyer needed $3,000. They passed, they raised $4,000. So they paid for the lawyer and they put the other $1,000 on his book. And he was, you know what I'm saying? That's so beautiful. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about, man. And that's what these brothers have done, they're doing. Yeah. And that's why, hopefully, we can get more shows like what Brother Blaze is talking about to give these brothers a voice, especially a lot of these brothers that's in solitary confinement now that went down when they started off when they're 18 or 19, caught up in their gang life. And then over prison, you know, they have a chance to clean up and these brilliant minds come to the forefront. But what happened? They still, they still, when they was a youngster, they got a gang of time. They got 50, 60 years. Right, right, right, right. And I'm watching a lot of brothers transition back to a society now because we talk about it all the time. And I see these brothers that's 45 and 50. You know, I can recognize them immediately around the Skid Row area. That's been a lot of time. You know, bang when they got caught up on the Crips and Blood thing. You know, when they would give them 25 to life and they would laugh at it because they're young. You know, they didn't even realize what they was facing. And then they give them a, they think the gangs is their family. And then they get on the inside and after about five or 10 years, after they got all of the write-ups and then they come to the brilliant sense because they got all that madness out. But they still got their gang of time. And you usually see them transition from the high level pens to the high level pens. Down to the level twos and level ones. If they're lucky. If they're lucky. And then no more write-ups and then finally come out. Let me just say that being in the penitentiary is an ideal opportunity for people to reform. But we don't have prison reform. We have the prison industrial system where they make big money, right? I remember once I called them, I'm going to end, I know we're short. I called, I said, well, let me find out how much is, how much would I have to pay, right? Right. They tell me, oh, you can't play. Right. I can't buy from them. I said, oh. So, you know, but if they did reform, so many of these brothers would just be reformed. Right. But they're not trying to reform. They're trying to, you know, keep them going and going and going. Yeah. And the majority of the people in prison are not in there for being gangsters. Yeah. Would you agree with that? Okay. One thing before we got one minute. One of the things we do is I write letters to guys petitioning for their release. So get at this show. If you got anybody who's in prison and they go into the board and you need a letter, get at Melvin right here and he will get it to me and I will be honored to write a letter. And letters do work. That's right. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. I would like to extend a special thanks to my in-studio guest, Micah Blaze and Ben Earn. Earn. Yeah. On the phone, Ming, UCLA Hunger Project. Please listen to past shows of the Coombran Report by Googling in Coombran Report. Be sure to check out Micah Blaze's new show coming up Friday at 7 o'clock live right here at Skid Row Studios. Thank you for tuning in to the Coombran Report and from your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. I leave you with a song that opened the show, Homeboy by Soonji Ali. Homeboy. Homeboy. Homeboy. Homeboy. Homeboy. Brothers, there's only one blood cause there ain't no sense in us traveling on the stones. It's us down, down to the bone. Blood is thick. Waters were known well. Cousins were kept apart. Mothers were often memories. Memories. Fathers were not favorites on the farm. For he could do some harm. He could wreck them and have to ski. For he, brothers, could dream. Your mama ain't no saint. Your daddy died in a shallow shrink.