Conversation Piece - Saturday, April 18, 2026

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1. on the airwaves in Los Angeles. Please go to kpfk.org and click donate to join the circle today.
2. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal from Enprisoned Nation. You're listening to listener-sponsored KPFK,
3. 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara. KPFK, powered by the people.
4. What it is, good morning.
5. I am Angela Birdsong, your Conversation Piece host,
6. coming from KPFK Studios with the real day-to-day happenings
7. of urban living locally and worldwide,
8. giving you something new or unusual to talk about
9. for stimulating conversation for you on the bus, train, plane,
10. you know, wherever you may be at this moment in time.
11. Since 2001, Downtown Women's Action Coalition aims to address the feminization of poverty by uplifting the voices of downtown Los Angeles Skid Row's women and providing opportunities for healing, advocacy, and community building.
12. DWAC, Downtown Women's Action Coalition, is one of the committees at LACAM, Los Angeles Community Action Network.
13. For the last two years, D-WAC has documented women's experiences, needs, and priorities in Skid Row.
14. Today on Conversation Peace, hear the women of Skid Row tell their stories at the D-WAC Skid Row Women's Assessment Art Exhibit and Performance at USC here in Los Angeles.
15. The Skid Row Women's Needs Assessment reflects the voices, stories, and insights of women who live, organize, and care for one another every day in Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
16. D-Wag says this work is not just about research. It is about action.
17. Welcome to Conversation Peace.
18. Rappers are in danger.
19. Danger.
20. Danger.
21. Woke up this morning trying to formulate this masterpiece.
22. The flow is locked up until I check the logs up for my competition.
23. And I got Luke's milk and magnesium.
24. If you're new to my acquaintance, I'm so glad to meet you.
25. That shot rock no relation to the alcohol.
26. But relationships to alcohol, that's closer than I'd like to mention.
27. I'm in the league with greatest of all time.
28. And so y'all forget about me for one line of cats that lack dimension.
29. I come from a family of artists.
30. I get honest.
31. So I'm sensitive around the albums I feel the strongest about.
32. You would think my cannon was my first pawn
33. The way I nursed pawns in the 16s
34. But they could leave the house
35. And I can't help but be a little spiritual
36. Since my parentals had me chanting mantras
37. Since the age of six, boy
38. And it's officially a frickin' miracle
39. That my credentials have been landed
40. Rockin' to the greatest in this world
41. Every MC easily
42. With these don't get a pawn
43. My poetry's deep, I never fell
44. I got McClose and Tech Peter
45. If rap was the game, I'll be MVP
46. I'm Fosse Mar
47. I'm delighted to welcome you
48. here today at the Amherst Hall for what is one of the latest in a series of projects we've done
49. together with LA Chem over the years. This one is especially interesting because it's connected
50. some of the work that is happening at LA Chem with some of the classes we've got here.
51. So we've had a number of interactions that follow on the partnership that has been going on
52. for I think about 15 years or so And also funding from Arts in Action at USC which has supported this project So again welcome and we really delighted that you can be with us today for the unveiling of this project
53. The work you're about to see has been done by some extraordinary women.
54. First Monique Noel, who is hiding behind here on the LACAN side,
55. side and also some extraordinary women on the USC side,
56. Louise Shia over there on our PNC.
57. Thank you so much.
58. Thank you, Grace.
59. I'm John Cho, whose work put us in the past.
60. Grace Jones is somewhere here.
61. She was actually a high grade because she
62. was in my class in New York, you know.
63. And now she works full time for LA Camp.
64. So we have lots of riches in this thing.
65. And so given that, I'm somewhat puzzled by the fact that they decided it was a good idea
66. to have two dudes introduce this work.
67. And so I think the best we can do is be really brief and move out of the way.
68. Yeah, see that's what I thought.
69. And you took way more time, Francois, than I did.
70. It was your fault.
71. Let me just say, my name is Pete White with the LA Community Action Network.
72. As Francois said, this isn't our first rodeo. We've been doing a lot of work together in the community.
73. Really from an understanding that the community owns its knowledge.
74. That the academy cannot just swoop in with their techniques and say, this is who you are, this is how you should tell your stories.
75. that we believe in participatory action research, that we are owners of knowledge,
76. that we can go deeper than any institution. Now, talking about that with Francois 15, 16 years ago,
77. Francois had to go through a hazing, an L.A. can hazing, because we had to beat some of that stuff back,
78. but for 16 years we've been riding it out, from COVID, creating like water stations to solar stations,
79. and now this amazing exhibit, the Skid Row Women's Art Exhibit,
80. which is really like our love letter, one, to women in Skid Row,
81. but more importantly, it's an action agenda.
82. And so if you don't get anything out of tonight, just know if you are here,
83. we are recruiting you to the work of making sure we realize the action agenda.
84. Now we're going to get out of the way.
85. Thank you.
86. okay so i just want to say a few words about the next act um four women who are coming up to the
87. stage um and they have been doing some solid work in skid row they live in skid row and they work
88. in skid row and they are pillars pillars of strength and love and support and they're about
89. to do something very vulnerable and very raw with you all so i would ask you just to take some time
90. and hold the room with some care, okay?
91. Because they're going to open up and share their stories with you.
92. They don't have to do this.
93. And so I would just ask you all just to be real respectful
94. and sensitive with the information you're about to hear.
95. So I'd like to invite up my four sisters to the stage.
96. I'm Leticia, a Cali born and raised Skid Row resident of three years.
97. I'm passionate about community, diversity, life, and art,
98. as well as advocacy and activism.
99. Sometimes against my peace, but it's necessary. Life in Skid Row has been a journey, a wild rollercoaster if you ask me.
100. I went from sleeping at the park across the street,
101. from the Union Station for three nights not knowing if and how I survived to getting into different shelters like the URM and the Wine Guard where I felt ignored unsupported and invisible To finally get in my own place and I realized something much deeper
102. Not only has these systems failed us, but it's designed to neglect the most vulnerable for profit.
103. In fact, the whole foundation of the homeless industrial complex is to keep the impoverished criminalized, contained, and poor.
104. with no true solutions to improve our lives,
105. no concern over our well-being, our safety,
106. actively creating environments that harm us
107. while also ignoring our humanity at the same time.
108. This is not okay. This is not right.
109. We deserve support. We deserve care.
110. We deserve housing, not just temporary shelters.
111. We deserve dignity to be treated with respect and kindness.
112. We deserve to be seen as the humans that we are.
113. Yes.
114. My name is Veronica.
115. And where do I fit in in these scenarios?
116. Why am I not put into these rooms when policies are being drawn up?
117. It's speculation of my well-being and what I need.
118. I am a mother first before anything else.
119. I was just a girl before that, but I too am someone's child.
120. As parents, we do not only have the sole role of raising our children,
121. but we also have a strong need to keep them safe from all harm and danger.
122. I come from a huge family with a huge family dynamic,
123. and with that being said, my huge family had a huge family dysfunction.
124. Growing up, I felt alone and ignored.
125. The only time I was seen and or heard was for humiliation and personal gain.
126. My sense of safety was shattered long before I had my first child at 15.
127. I have experienced all types of abuse from my childhood well into my adult life mentally verbally
128. Emotionally sexually and physically by those that was supposed to support me and keep me safe and love me
129. I refuse to put all of those fears that I had on to my children. So I sought out to be better for them. I
130. Have experienced homelessness before coming to Skid Row and I stumbled upon Skid Row by mistake
131. I was navigating the shelter app and it had lots of resources for homeless people living in California.
132. I had an appointment at the downtown women's center that day to meet with someone to get case management and to be placed into shelter.
133. Although they had a lot of resources, they just couldn't offer me anything but showers and meals because I had two children.
134. They only helped single individuals and not families.
135. I had nowhere else to go with my children until someone from case management contacted me,
136. but I thought we were able to pitch tents, and that's what I did.
137. My children and I slept outside in a tent outside the Women's Center
138. and used their showers and ate their meals that they offered, but nothing from there.
139. So then again, I asked, where do I fit in in these scenarios?
140. Why aren't services really available for families as well as single individuals?
141. Hi, I'm Amy.
142. 919 days, my daughter has been gone since from the junk.
143. I was ordered visits three a week, which the first 10 months of the case, I only got two visits a week,
144. which were at home, but my daughter's social worker stopped them without reason.
145. To this day, about May, June 2024, my daughter got black eye,
146. which they didn tell me about until I seen it at visit Yes I have a picture Then my visits are changed to once a week until about August 2025
147. Again, the court said I can have three visits a week.
148. My social worker was supposed to make up any cancellation appointments on her side.
149. She's always so busy.
150. So why would she make herself a monitor when she has such a busy schedule?
151. She cancels about half her visits.
152. I haven't received no help, not so much as a bus pass.
153. I only canceled maybe two to four visits because me, my guard, and the monitor were sick.
154. I gave the social worker people the number of my friends and family for friends of the family.
155. My child still is in place with none of my people.
156. They actually call her, and she never returns their calls.
157. The choices we make don't define us today nor tomorrow.
158. Change happens with self.
159. But to add a child, make change for the better, to use my past to take my baby, to be defined by her mother's past, it isn't really fair.
160. But to actually do any and everything they ask of me and it's still not enough?
161. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.
162. Damn.
163. I know.
164. The devil is alive.
165. On paperwork, I look like Dennis Domenes.
166. But to Skid Row Streets and Community, I look like a mother who has changed to be a better mother, woman, and a person of the world.
167. Wanting to be the best I can, all while making our communities better, because we are all rich.
168. Hello everyone, my name is DeWayne.
169. I went to prison in 2009.
170. I spent 77 and a half months inside.
171. When I was released, I had no money, no job, no housing.
172. Prison robbed me damn near of everything.
173. I was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions while I was locked up.
174. That experience nearly shattered me.
175. As a black trans woman that has been in prison, the course of my life has been reshaped in so many ways that I never would have imagined before I got locked up.
176. Now, before I got locked up, I had big dreams.
177. I mean, really, you know.
178. Some of us aren't allowed to dream big or even small dreams.
179. Some of us are expected to suffer quietly and to die in silence.
180. But not me. I definitely refuse.
181. I lived in Skid Row for a year and a half.
182. There aren't many places where black trans women can exist in peace in this country, and especially in Skid Row.
183. As a black trans woman, I am more likely to be stopped by the cops.
184. I'm also more likely to be harassed by other people.
185. I don't feel safe.
186. What about my safety?
187. Let's just hold that for a moment.
188. These aren't made-up stories that people are sharing with you.
189. It isn't fiction.
190. It's things that people are living every day.
191. And so I just want to really applaud these women for sharing that.
192. It's very sensitive, it's painful, and it's traumatic.
193. And so I just want to take a moment just to hold space in that too.
194. So just to say, this is an amazing room.
195. There's so many wonderful and new faces in here.
196. My name is Monica.
197. I'm Monique Noel, I'm with the Downtown Women's Action Coalition.
198. You all have been hearing from folks so far, some of the women that have been involved in this project.
199. And we have been writing a women's needs assessment.
200. We do this every two to three years.
201. And it's taken us a little longer this time.
202. But I think that we took our time this time with this one, right?
203. We wanted to make sure that women's voices were really heard.
204. We know that a lot of times people are coming into our communities
205. and making assumptions about what's happening.
206. and saying that they have the solutions for us
207. and they've got nothing to do with the problem.
208. They've got nothing to do with the issues.
209. So women really wanted to make sure that their voices were heard,
210. that you were taken into their lives
211. and you were able to see exactly what it means
212. and what it is to be living in Skid Row,
213. living in one of the most deprived areas in Los Angeles,
214. one of the most disinvested areas in Los Angeles,
215. but one of the most surveilled and hyper-policed in Los Angeles.
216. right and so when you hear the stories today please understand that this is
217. things that people are living every single day so we just welcome you all
218. into this space we have an amazing program for you all there's some
219. entertainment you're gonna hear from some of the women that put the report
220. together on our panel you're gonna hear some poem and some song and so thank you
221. all for coming in tonight the next person that I'd love you all to bring
222. your attention to is my sister sitting over here. So let's welcome Kiki who is an amazing
223. spoken word artist and a great poem writer.
224. Hello everyone, my name is Markeisha and I'm going to be doing a poem called Fat Girl.
225. People only see me as fat girl. That fat girl, just a little too black girl, always sitting
226. in the back girl, fat girl. People tell me, you're weak girl. No one wants to hear you
227. you speak girl look at me I'm not at your feet girl stop crying girl it's not like you're dying
228. girl no one will like you for who you are and your career definitely won't go far not with that hair
229. those clothes those shoes you really need to change all of you girl sometimes I tell myself
230. you know depression ain't cute girl and you should stop waiting and do what you have to do girl I
231. mean if you're gonna end it then do it already girl just make sure you keep your head steady
232. girl you want to get it right girl just wait till night girl to get the knife girl it only takes one
233. slice girl look at you too weak to take your own life girl but God told me aren't you tired of
234. waiting to die girl all you have to do is try girl I gave you life to live girl I gave you your gift
235. to give girl I'm always here girl it's okay to shed a tear girl just don't fear girl because you
236. are that girl make strong enough to carry the world on your back girl so stand up straight girl
237. you will be great girl it is your fate girl don't worry about the past remember who was first shall
238. be last so you can know the worst girl now it's your turn to be first girl than
239. God God on his hands he said take this girl don't waste it girl you know what
240. to use it girl it's a miracle girl like you you are a miracle girl what's gonna
241. happen now is we're gonna talk to some of the women that are responsible for
242. putting this fantastic report together what you're seeing on the screen is one
243. of the maps that we did actually when we went out into the community and we
244. mapped some of the areas that women found safe and dangerous. Basically it was kind
245. of like the Green Book, right? It was a Green Book for Skid Row and so it was areas that
246. women were mapping out for each other, where to go, where not to go, where resources are
247. and so that's one of the things that we did for and with the report. I just want to let
248. folks know too we have some QR codes all around the room and you can download the report by just clicking onto that QR code So we encourage you to do that It quite a big document It 157 pages
249. But it's 157 pages of richness and goodness.
250. I would encourage you to read through it.
251. So without further ado, I want to introduce these amazing panellists.
252. So I have Angela here, who is a USC student.
253. That's amazing work with her.
254. She's been working with LA Campo.
255. I'd say about three to four years now.
256. And just a lot of learning on both sides.
257. And so I have so much respect and admiration for Angela.
258. Same with Louise.
259. Louise has been with us for about the same amount of time,
260. but just the humility that they have shown,
261. the eagerness to learn, the expertise that they've brought,
262. but also just knowing that they're dealing with experts
263. when they come to Skid Row and just wanting to listen and to learn
264. has been really, really amazing to observe.
265. And then we've got Jamie.
266. Jamie is part of D-Work and LA Can.
267. and also a member of Sokeleki Inspire.
268. Do you want to come in here?
269. Sokeleki is an amazing soul.
270. Sitting next to James is Veronica.
271. Veronica is just a fantastic soul-searching
272. from Palace in St. Vogue.
273. An amazing organizer, just helping us strategize
274. and think through so many things.
275. Then we have Leticia, who's one of the newer members
276. of the Open-Campus.
277. She's doing so much brilliance, passion,
278. and just intelligence to everything that we're doing.
279. And then we have Gracie at the end.
280. And I think I'm gonna give you a hand.
281. Gracie's also a student here,
282. but she's also a staff member with LACAN
283. and Stop Helipedy Spying.
284. So right here, you are actually in for a hell of a treat,
285. because this is not an ordinary panel, right?
286. This is a super brilliant panel,
287. and I'm just so excited to hear
288. what they've got to share with you
289. about the work that they've been doing,
290. and just their own observations
291. about what's happening in Skid Row.
292. So I'm going to ask them a number of questions that I have here.
293. And I'd really like to ask, this is for everyone.
294. Can you briefly share one thing on what it means to see this report and this exhibit shared so publicly in this space?
295. Anyone can start.
296. No, I can start off.
297. I mean, I think as we've seen today, it means that the women in Skid Row are continuing to refuse erasure
298. and that their knowledge is being placed exactly in places
299. where it's usually excluded.
300. And like people said, as a former alum,
301. these institutions are also very complicit in the violence
302. and the conditions that are facilitating what women
303. in Skid Row are experiencing.
304. For me, I would say it's empowerment,
305. because we're actually the authors and the creators
306. of the report.
307. So we know what we need.
308. We know the solutions that can be brought to our community to uplift it.
309. Yes.
310. I would say gratitude.
311. I feel very grateful to be a part of this whole process from beginning to end.
312. And to see how it came about today, it warms my heart.
313. So I'm proud to be here.
314. Thank you.
315. Do you want my mic?
316. Yeah, I think that it's a challenge, right, for students in the room, for academics, for
317. professors.
318. This report is a direct challenge to what it is to build with communities, what it is
319. to write reports.
320. For me I feel like it was a life experience and we really need to think about and I think Pete touched on this what does it mean for participatory action research
321. What does it mean for people to be holders of their stories and to share that with you and for us to respect it, to receive it?
322. And then lastly, what does it mean to know it?
323. You know, I'm a health science academic and we're really, you know, this is not just about telling statistics anymore.
324. Schools need to realize we need intervention, we need disruption, we don't need reports
325. to stand and collect dust anymore.
326. So for me it's a challenge.
327. We're challenging this space, we're challenging each other.
328. Yeah, for me I think back to just all the richness of the stories of each individual
329. woman that have contributed to this work.
330. I think also the level of care and commitment that's required in both, as someone coming
331. from academia, but then also women in the community.
332. There's this balance of, as an academic,
333. I feel a sense of privilege and also the need
334. to really uplift the people I work with,
335. because these are very sacred stories,
336. and also a very minoritized population.
337. But then on top of that, recognizing that all these women
338. have come from different backgrounds,
339. have different stories and are not defined by the deficit
340. that I think people usually think of.
341. We say Skid Row, and so trying to hold all of these things
342. in tension and in balance, something that I think of.
343. Yeah, for me, I think I just feel joy that the women
344. in Skid Row can share their stories in a way
345. that they want to, and in the medium that most suits
346. the deepness of their stories.
347. I think coming also from the health sciences,
348. like in every survey on LA County,
349. health outcomes or food insecurity
350. and house populations are left out of the narrative.
351. They're not even surveyed.
352. So I think it's just incredibly important
353. that we have not just these statistics,
354. but also the very rich experiences
355. of women backing up these statistics
356. and being told by the women themselves.
357. So yeah, super happy to be part of this.
358. Thank you, thank you all for those answers.
359. I wanna talk about how this report came together, right?
360. Because it didn't happen overnight.
361. And so, can you talk about what it took
362. to build this report and this exhibit,
363. and what it meant for it to be shaped by knowledge,
364. experiences, and leadership of women in Skid Row?
365. And I'd really like to put that question to, maybe Leticia, you can take a stab at that first.
366. Wait, can you give us a second?
367. I sure can.
368. So just talking about and thinking about how this report came together, right,
369. and what it took to build this report and what it took to put the exhibit together.
370. What does it mean, all of this work, to be shaped by our knowledge,
371. to be shaped by women in the community's knowledge, experiences, and the leadership?
372. Well, for one, clearly, like, city officials and the government is not invested in us at all.
373. For example, the Commission on the Status of Women, which is supposed to be worried about women all over the county, didn't even include women of Skid Row in their latest report.
374. So they talking about women in college and going through issues while they in college but they not talking about people who live right next door to them And that the craziest thing ever because you supposed to be governing us You supposed to be watching over us
375. making sure that we're taken care of,
376. and they're doing absolutely none of that.
377. So we're investing in ourself.
378. And it looks like great leadership for us
379. to be the ones that can say,
380. no, we're not gonna let us sit by the wayside.
381. We're gonna invest in ourselves.
382. We're gonna show up for ourselves,
383. and we're gonna let them know that we're here,
384. and we're never going anywhere.
385. What does that mean to you?
386. Ooh, there's so much.
387. So honestly, before I do a quick plug,
388. our report has methodology sections.
389. If you're interested in getting into the nitty-gritty
390. of what this report means, how we did it,
391. please read our report.
392. But for me, I think a big thing is,
393. and Monique alluded to this too,
394. is just we really, I think, took our time with this.
395. And I recognize that this is not a luxury that everyone has.
396. And I think that is in part thanks to, I will call that arts in action, for their support
397. in this work and seeing it through this development, which did take a lot of time.
398. It took a lot of effort for both Skid Row Woman, LA Can, D.W.A.C., and also USC folk
399. as well.
400. And so I think a big thing that,
401. like an example of how we took our time was
402. we were running through all the data analysis,
403. me and Angela and a couple of other USC folk,
404. and then at one point, I think it was Jamie
405. or maybe Leticia were like, what does this all mean?
406. Why are we doing this?
407. Like, how is this actually,
408. what does this actually mean for data ownership
409. and data collection and empowerment
410. if we're not actually on the same page
411. of how do we analyze this data?
412. Like, what does data even mean?
413. And so that discussion prompted us to be like,
414. okay, let's take a step back.
415. Let's actually host workshops
416. so we can learn from each other.
417. You know, what do I think data means to me
418. as someone who's doing, who's in this like researchy field,
419. but how does that, what does research look like
420. to folks in Skid Row?
421. And how can we make that data even more robust
422. rather than just like, as Angela was saying,
423. like just statistics or like lines of code.
424. So I think that goes to show just the intentionality we took
425. with really taking a step back and being like,
426. okay, how can we align on what we're talking about
427. and making sure that these stories are never told.
428. Like it's never just about women,
429. but it's co-authored and led by the women that are impacted.
430. Okay, thank you.
431. Jamie, same question.
432. Do you want me to repeat the question?
433. Sure.
434. Okay, so talk about what it took to build this rapport and what it means for it to be shaped by the knowledge and experiences and leadership of women in Skid Row.
435. I think it took a lot of heart and it took a lot of vulnerability and it took a lot of, I mean, I want to say we interviewed 19 women and I know Louise at one point was like, how many?
436. And 19 women, we had, I think, was it 10 focus groups that we did?
437. Nine focus groups.
438. But anywhere between, I think it was like 10 to 25 women in these groups.
439. And 143 surveys that we hit the street and we got in one day.
440. And so it took a lot of work.
441. It took a lot of vulnerability.
442. and I think as someone that was fortunate enough
443. to sit with women and listen to stories,
444. It took a lot of, and I never know how to explain this, but it took a lot of sharing and willing to promise and commit to doing something with it.
445. And I'm kind of going back to my same statement, is that there was a commitment that this wasn't just going to be a reflection.
446. because when folks live in Skid Row, when we work and we live there,
447. you walk down the street, I'm a nurse, and I can see what's going on.
448. I can see conditions.
449. I look at legs, look at arms, and I'm diagnosing,
450. and it's right there for everyone to see.
451. So this report is not new to Skid Row.
452. Maybe it's new to people outside, but it's not new.
453. So what does it mean to write the report?
454. What does it mean to put it together in a booklet to get a QR code?
455. And what it means is action.
456. It says we're telling you our stories, we're vulnerable enough to sit here, but we want action.
457. That means when, you know, we said it in the beginning that we want people committed, committed to disrupt.
458. Because, you know, as a health care worker, and, you know, I won't say it the crude way,
459. but if you're just working, you know, taking care of people, providing services,
460. and you're doing nothing to disrupt the system, you're just making money off of poverty.
461. and that is something that we really need to take home and we really need to
462. think about because enough is enough we have a ten-point plan we're moving
463. forward women here are committed so we're committed the question is this
464. room committee right so that's what it means for me it's that vulnerability
465. that willing to take action
466. I am Angela Birdsong, and you are listening to Conversation Peace.
467. from the D-Wag Skid Row Women's Assessment Art Exhibit and Performance at USC Annenberg in Los Angeles.
468. Veronica, what does it mean to you when we're sitting down in LA Canc, right,
469. and we have women that are coming off the streets and are talking to us about what they've gone through?
470. What does it mean to you when we're sitting and we're holding space for that?
471. When we're listening to these stories and we're making note of these stories, what does it mean to you?
472. Well, I want to start by saying if I want to see some type of change happening with anything that's in my community, it has to start with me first.
473. So it's my responsibility to make sure that my basic needs are met.
474. It's my responsibility to make sure that you guys hear, not only hear what I have to say or hear what I went through,
475. but it's my responsibility to see it all the way through to make sure that there is some actual change being made.
476. So being a part of this report and from all the way around the board, not just from myself, but from other people's perspective and the things that I've heard other women go through, some similar to mine, some was worse.
477. We're all in this together.
478. We're all being a community to see the change, to be the change that we want to see first.
479. Like Michael said, it started with the man in the mirror.
480. So I have to be the change that I want to see in order for anything to change properly.
481. It takes a lot to become, to be vulnerable and to share your story.
482. So I say it would take a lot of compassion on your listeners part to take the time out to not only listen to what the people are going through but oh I going to pray for you and then later no now
483. do something now while I'm telling you where it hurts,
484. how you're hurting me, or what you can do to help me.
485. That's all.
486. Thank you.
487. Yeah, just to echo what everyone shared,
488. It means to be deeply accountable to each other and we are not conditioned to know how to do that when we're raised under these systems of white supremacy.
489. So it takes challenging ourselves, like Jamie said, it takes discomfort and to really build trust with people.
490. And for us as Stop LAPD Spying, there's also a real responsibility to not extract or to flatten our community members' experiences.
491. Since the formation of STOP in 2011, we spent almost a year just in community in Skid Row
492. learning about people's experiences with policing, about surveillance, far beyond before it was
493. even launched in any public way.
494. And so that has always been a model of our organizing, and we're so grateful to be able
495. to continue to be home and house in LA Cannon Skid Row and build alongside DWAC.
496. And we wanted to sort of today really highlight this community map that was made, like Monique
497. said earlier, by women in Skid Row by hand, just mapping out where people see violence,
498. where people experience harm, but also where people are resisting, where there's art and
499. culture, and where there is just community power being built.
500. And this was so important for us to center this because as part of the entire report,
501. it is led by and created by women in Skid Row to take action for better conditions for dignified
502. living. And so we also interrelated this with LAPD's arrest records, which from 2020 to 2024,
503. LAPD arrested 1,428 women in Skid Row. And of those arrests, 861 of them were Black women,
504. 333 were Latino women.
505. And that just proves and confirms what we already know,
506. that black women bear the brunt of policing in society,
507. but especially in Skid Row.
508. And arrest clusters, when overlapped,
509. also show that police are policing women
510. where they're surviving in public
511. and where community already exists.
512. And so what police call hotspots are not actually danger.
513. It's places of visibility and resistance and they also police around the bounds of Skid Road to to create this
514. containment to create this
515. dirty divide this digital Jim Crow and so we really wanted to highlight that like these
516. the data that the state uses is then again justified to
517. expand
518. criminalization and we like Jamie said need to interrupt and disrupt the ways that the state uses that data to justify that harm and
519. And so rather than allowing these numbers to be spoken in the language of the police, we reworked how they're seen. And we're holding these stories that women have shared about surveillance, about criminalization, to already affirm what we already know and what black women, especially in Skid Row, know that criminalization is not accidental.
520. It is systemic, it is violently structural, and it is a daily condition of life.
521. And that women's strategies in Skid Row are forms of knowledge that we need to listen
522. to and hold and it not reason for criminalization And so sharing that publicly means being accountable to that truth and making sure it cannot be distorted back into the language of the police or for reform
523. So you are here because we're launching an exhibit
524. that's taking place in USC, and I really want people
525. to take a moment before we go out of this room
526. have a look at the fantastic art that women have created in Skid Row. Some of the artists
527. are here too. I see Lorraine sitting over there. We have others in the room, so I'm
528. going to see. I want to talk about the importance of art to us and culture, right? And we know
529. that it's so core to our movements, to our resistance. And I'd really love to hear from
530. you, Leticia. Why is it important to bring this report together with art and cultural
531. expressions instead of only presenting the work through written format. For one, I see it as a form of
532. resistance but also expression. Like, for example, I know a lot of us know that in
533. minority art, what they call minority art, where there's predominantly black and brown
534. families and communities, they take art programs in those ways of expressing,
535. you know our feelings in our experience away from us they cut funding to those
536. program so it's even more important for us to express ourselves through those
537. art forms and it puts more of an impact in it too because we're interpreting our
538. experiences for ourselves through movement through dance through theater
539. and I think it's very important
540. Yeah, I think adding on to that, I mean, for me, I think, honestly, like, the stories are
541. too rich to just be confined to text, and I think seeing them in different formats,
542. whether it be visual or auditory or a mix of both, whether it be, like, a dance can
543. carry, convey so much more meaning sometimes than you can just get from, like, a piece
544. of text or written word.
545. and I think
546. like we've seen tonight with these performances
547. like they evoke certain emotions
548. that I think sometimes
549. cannot get across as easily
550. and I found that too
551. like even just talking to women
552. or during interviews
553. art and art making is a practice that
554. people return to consistently
555. it's a way to get through
556. hard times in life
557. it's a way to celebrate the good things
558. and yeah it's just a way to
559. express yourself
560. and understand your own identity of who you are
561. despite all of these things going on.
562. Thank you.
563. So before we move to you all to get some responses from you all,
564. how are you thinking, how are you feeling
565. about what you've heard from the panellists here,
566. I just want to ask you guys here,
567. what's one thing that you hope that people will take with them
568. from the conversation tonight?
569. And maybe we start with Grace.
570. Yeah, I mean, I hope that people leave with the understanding that what's happening in Skid Row is not a failure of the system or individuals.
571. It's the system doing exactly what it's designed to do.
572. And policing specifically, it doesn't respond to harm.
573. It organizes it and it produces it, especially along the lines of race, gender and poverty.
574. And I also hope that people take with them that there's already another world being built.
575. It's visible in the stories and experiences in the map in the ways that women keep each other safe and enjoy
576. Despite everything and that abolition isn abstract It already happening in these practices of care of refusal and survival And so for us really all of us to know that it our duty to fight alongside our community
577. and women in Skid Row for dignified permanent housing, for an abundance of resources and
578. genuine safety, because our liberation is deeply intertwined.
579. Thank you.
580. Veronica, what was something that you want folk to walk away with?
581. I just want to say, although I wear a size four and a half, maybe five, it's not hard
582. to walk in my shoes and see the things I've seen.
583. Experience some of the things I experience in order to understand me, in order to understand
584. how to help me, how to communicate with me.
585. Because I have a face that sometimes I might be looking mean and people won't come up and
586. talk to me.
587. But it's okay to step outside of your bubble and outside of yourself because we all go
588. through things.
589. and without a person to have a shoulder to lean on,
590. a lot of us don't come out of those things.
591. So, just compassion, a little bit of understanding,
592. and a lot of love.
593. Thank you.
594. Yeah, I agree with everything that Veronica just shared.
595. I think as an academic, there's a common saying that no data means no problem.
596. And I think this is characteristic of what's happened to women in Skid Row.
597. We don't have data on the experiences of women in Skid Row, like so many people on this panel
598. have said.
599. And I guess I just want to reiterate that women in Skid Row exist.
600. Their suffering exists.
601. pain exists, their resilience exists, and I think as a first act of resistance against
602. this erasure, I hope that everyone in this room can take a look at this report and just
603. read some of the stories that women have poured their hearts into.
604. Thank you, thank you.
605. So we're encouraging folks to read this report, right?
606. We have some recommendations at the end of this report.
607. But I want to give you all some of the, we put together a 10 point plan and I want to read some of these points that we've got in the plan.
608. So one of them, the number one thing, and it would be no surprise to folk in the room I'm sure, is housing.
609. Housing, permanent dignified housing.
610. So housing is the intervention, deliver it now.
611. Guarantee permanent, unconditional, dignified housing, affordable at low income and no income levels.
612. We need permanent housing to exit houselessness.
613. We want them to eliminate all compliance barriers, right?
614. And so these readiness requirements, what does that mean?
615. They need to get rid of those things because these are barriers that just get in the way of people getting housing.
616. They don't need to exist.
617. Establish the Skid Row resident priority for all housing built in Skid Row.
618. Sometimes we're seeing folk coming from other areas that are getting prioritised above Skid Row residents.
619. That shouldn't be happening.
620. Second thing that we really want attention to be put on is what's happening to mothers in Skid Row.
621. Because you don't have a house or because you're poor doesn't deem you a bad mother.
622. It doesn't mean that your kids should be taken away from you, but that's currently what's happening.
623. So end all policies that separate mothers from their children due to poverty or housing status.
624. Guarantee family-based placements immediately.
625. You've been hearing this from the panelists, particularly from Rosa, and criminalizing
626. End criminalisation and fund housing, not policing.
627. So redirect funding from the nearly 3 billion Los Angeles Police Department budget
628. into housing and community-based health.
629. Immediate end to criminalisation in all forms,
630. and that means immediately ending programmes that present themselves as care,
631. but in practice they criminalise people and create barriers to housing and service access,
632. including sanitation suites, reset care and care plus,
633. End the use of criminalisation as a tool of incarceration and banishment.
634. Abolish laws that specifically target poor and houseless women, including LAFC 4118 and 5611,
635. along with a broad set of discriminatory policies designed to maintain a permanent underclass.
636. And decriminalise sex work.
637. There's a lot that's happening right now to target women in Skid Row and target sex workers.
638. And we understand that there are all these biases that have been put through, like they want to stop trafficking and they want to do it, but it isn't.
639. It's really to target poor women and to target sex workers.
640. So we have a whole list that we want to share with you all in the room.
641. We're happy to go through that with you guys.
642. But it's really important that people understand the demands and the solutions that are coming from women and women that are directly impacted.
643. So before we open it up to the audience, I just want to give a round of applause to our panel.
644. Thank you.
645. We are now at 12 and the expertise is coming from you all.
646. So just opening up to you all, any questions or comments or thoughts that are coming from what you've heard from women on the panel?
647. My main concern about becoming a Skid Row, because I was on Skid Row and I was able to get around things.
648. that I was able to navigate a convoluted, unbelievably complicated rehousing
649. in order to get into the right system, get what I needed in order to move forward.
650. I don't see that happening.
651. And I think that is most important to women on Skid Row particularly
652. because the longer a woman is on skid row, the further she goes down in her mental health,
653. her physical health, and I don't need to talk to you all about that.
654. Y'all got that down.
655. You know.
656. But rehousing and navigating rehousing, that's got to be simplified
657. and made available so that you can go to one place and say,
658. okay, let's get this started.
659. This is what you need to do, and this is what you do,
660. and you will get into housing, and that's supported housing.
661. Any questions or comments, thoughts from what you've heard from people on the panel?
662. Most definitely.
663. If you have a roof over your head, that's like half of your worries, honestly.
664. And I think people don't realize, like, even with being in Skid Row,
665. the housing, like, the places that they offer people is not up to par
666. with average everyday renters to begin with.
667. They do not care about if it's renovated or if it's fixed.
668. So when we think of housing, we think of renovated places that have bathrooms,
669. that have actual kitchens where you don't have to walk out somewhere to go make food
670. or use the restroom, or you're sharing it with a whole group of people that you know nothing about.
671. Like that the best solution that could be provided is housing structured not supported permanent housing where you not being washed over where there not all these regulations and rules to get into them
672. We are humans at the end of the day.
673. We should not be seen as, oh, we have to be on the side of the street
674. because we don't meet your criteria.
675. What criteria?
676. What criteria?
677. Thanks to the panel for bringing this wonderful project to USC.
678. Any advice for the academics in the room, the students, the faculty, and others in terms
679. of how to leverage this report, how to use it in your own work, and making sure that
680. it infiltrates the curriculum that you already are all exposed to with the other side?
681. What do you have to say to the academics?
682. I would suggest getting connected with LACAN. I think my experience working with them has been incredibly enriching and I've learned so much that I don't think I could have learned through reading a report.
683. or like there's nothing that replaces actually going to Skid Row and understanding from the eyes of people who have lived there what it's like.
684. And so I think that if you want to get more engaged in this work, like that would be my first recommendation.
685. And then like continuing to kind of engage with community based organizations working on the ground.
686. And yeah, leveraging what's already written in the report in course material.
687. Anyone else want to take a step?
688. I would say spend a day in the life.
689. Spend a day in the life. Take some time out of your busy days and your busy schedules and everything's always going around in a circle.
690. And stop and spend some time with some of the people that are in Skid Row.
691. come do outreach with us and hear the stories for yourself and feel this inspiration or sadness or whatever you want to feel from it for yourself.
692. You have to live.
693. These are lived experiences.
694. And you're not going to get that experience by just reading a book or watching a film.
695. Live it.
696. Feel it.
697. And then go from there.
698. Thank you.
699. Grace?
700. Thank you very much.
701. Echoing Veronica, listening but also building genuine relationships with people.
702. Leave your academic title back in the door.
703. You should not be having pleasant relationships with these colonial institutions.
704. You can leverage your relationships to redistribute the resources.
705. The moment I stepped foot in this institution, I had one foot out the whole time.
706. because I knew the violence that this place has caused my neighbors on Flower Drive to the black
707. elders who live near St. James Park. And like Veronica said, not only should you be
708. being in community, but also learning and understanding how your own position is
709. related to that and how we can use our resources to actually fight back and to build power
710. in the hands of people who are most impacted by violence.
711. So one of the interesting statistics that we actually found in the report, it was only,
712. it was five women right And they were young 18 to 29 So I assuming I old but I assuming that those people that are you know were right out of high school you know thinking that going to college is going to get me that right
713. I'm going to make it.
714. Well, these 18 to 29-year-olds that we interviewed were all in-house.
715. And so one thing that I think we try to do because we're scared is we try to separate ourselves.
716. We try to think, not me, that's not me.
717. I'm still in school.
718. I'm going to get that job.
719. I'm going to, you know, become a professor, a business major, whatever the heck you're here for, right?
720. And there's that divide.
721. Stop thinking that there's a divide.
722. Your liberation is tied to my liberation.
723. It's tied to everyone's liberation here.
724. And if you're not involved, then you're just going to parachute in and you're going to think that you have solutions, that, you know, you're going to write a report that's the description of this, the description of that.
725. And I keep going back to this point because as an academic now and I'm in a Ph.D. program as a nurse, I spent 25 years on the front line of caring for people.
726. And it's always odd to me when I go into school that people are learning how to build.
727. And I'm like, what are you talking about?
728. You're learning?
729. Get involved.
730. Get involved now.
731. Don't get involved for your academic career.
732. get involved for your life.
733. Because if we're not looking around right now,
734. we're all right there.
735. We're either there right now or we're on our way.
736. Because the way things are going,
737. there's no money, there's no house.
738. You're barely going to be able to pay rent.
739. Let's get real.
740. Who can afford $2,500 for one bedroom?
741. So I really want to impress upon people,
742. don't wait until it serves your career to get involved.
743. Do it now. Do it now so that it's genuine, it's authentic, you're actually there, you know, ready to disrupt the system because your life depends on it.
744. Absolutely.
745. I just want to put a small note. I think just like speaking especially for the students in this room, like on how Angela and I got involved in the LACAM is actually through like a class at Prince Thomas Teaching.
746. So I think one very real and practical thing and everyday thing that we can do as students
747. is petition your professors, the people who are in charge of the curriculum, to actually
748. design these classes that you can take where you are able to engage with community.
749. And people tend to listen if you get enough voices, if you nudge them enough, and I think
750. without that class, it would be much harder to get involved in the way that we have.
751. I'm also part of the HSW class at SMC and my question is as people get involved with
752. these stories and systems of harm, how do you keep from leading you into despair and
753. radicalize instead?
754. How do you keep this from crushing you and instead rise and fight?
755. Anyone who wants to speak to that?
756. Well, while we're doing this work, we know we also are healing, so we're always connecting,
757. celebrating, uplifting one another while we're doing it. We're never going to just be stuck
758. in the funk, in the sadness. We're always going to try to think of solutions to get
759. out of whatever situation we might be in That first and foremost We not stopping we only elevating And then if you build a certain connection with people you will be able to sense when those people are down
760. So when a lot of times when we feel,
761. well, a lot of times when I feel like I wanna give up
762. and I don't wanna be around anyone,
763. someone from LA can't always reach out to me.
764. And I'm like, I don't wanna talk to nobody today.
765. I'm not gonna answer my phone or anything,
766. but that sense of community led them to call me,
767. just check up on Veronica.
768. Let's just call her and see what's going on.
769. And it just so happened I needed somebody to call me
770. to get me out of my phone.
771. And she's always like, well, come around someone that loves you.
772. Come around us that loves you.
773. And yeah, so we don't stay down too long
774. and we hold each other up
775. and we keep each other accountable
776. for the things that we have committed to.
777. Thank you to the Downtown Women's Action Coalition, DWAC,
778. for empowering and gathering the stories of women
779. who live, organize, and care for each other every day in Skid Row.
780. To find, read, and share the Skid Row Women's Needs Assessment,
781. go to LACAN's website at cangras.org.
782. That's C-A-N-G-R-E-S-S dot O-R-G.
783. Go to Media and click Publications.
784. DWAG meets weekly on Tuesdays, 1 p.m.,
785. And on the last Tuesday of the month, they host a monthly healing circle.
786. Both the monthly and weekly meetings are at L.A. Camp, 838 East 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles, Skid Row.
787. For more info, call 213-228-0024.
788. Thank you to our audio engineer here at KPFK, Adam Rice for editing the show,
789. and Michael Washington of M. Wash So for the opening and closing theme song.
790. And always you, our listening audience.
791. If you missed any part of my show today, or you simply want to replay, revisit, and review today's conversation piece,
792. or any of my previous shows, they are available for 60 days after the air date on our website at kpfk.org.
793. To reach me on social media, go to mtasproductions.com.
794. Follow KPFK on all social media platforms as you listen to us worldwide anytime on kpfk.org.
795. I'm Angela Birdsong.
796. Once again, thank you for allowing me to share this special experience, a conversation piece with you.
797. Remember to be on guard.
798. Stand firm in the faith.
799. Be brave.
800. Be courageous and let all that you do be done with love.
801. Next, Freedom Now.
802. Tune in every Saturday at noon to The Signal with Armando Dino Guidino,
803. produced by Arnella Barbera on KPFK 90.7 FM, Los Angeles.
804. This is the hour when the static drops, the truth rises, and the voices of the people cut through the noise.
805. From 12 to 1 p.m., we break it down, ask the hard questions, shine a light in the dark corners,
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