Lost in America (2018) Movie Script

Yeah, the youth down here
is really violent. I mean, I've
been beat up, I think about,
maybe, three times in the past
two weeks. Um, I don't know,
it's kind of rough. I mean, I've
been punked for my backpack
before; I've been punked for
everything I own. A girl named
Scrapy, she came up while I was
asleep and took my backpack out
from underneath my head and
dumped out all my stuff, gave me
a smaller backpack, threw it at
me and then took my big ol'
backpack; it was like a big
traveler's backpack, and I tried
to get it back and she wouldn't
give it back to me so.
Why do you think
people mess with you?
Because I'm
young, because I'm new.
And so
this is where I usually sleep. I
usually put my sleeping bag down
on the rocks and or, uh, sit up
here. If I'm like hanging out
with people this is kind of
like where we sit; we sit on the
ledge. We usually hang out, do
whatever. When I, when I come
down here, I mean, if I'm down
here just by myself I do think
about my family, I guess.
I kind of don't just wonder what
they're doing, I wonder how my
dad is. My dad hates
gays, which is his exact words.
And he says
because I'm gay that I'm not his
kid and all this other stuff.
He bust a
couple of my ribs, which
was the last altercation that we
had before I just said I
was done. I haven't seen my dad
since then.
I don't know,
down here it's kind of hard.
The thing that's hard for
me is getting to sleep. Because
when you sleep down here, you
know, as for instance, you're
sleeping on rocks, or you're
sleeping on cement. You
know, it's kind of hard to get
comfortable when you've
got a backpack for a pillow.
Um, Kayla is my legal name;
the reason why I changed it is
because I'm a transgender. The
fact that I'm a girl really does
not make me happy.
- How does that feel?
- Does that feel liberating?
I don't
know, I guess it kind of makes
me feel better, you know? I
guess it makes me feel more
comfortable because, I don't
know, it just makes me feel like
I'm more comfortable in my own
skin, you know? It makes me feel
like I'm one of the
guys, whatever. You know?
What would your dad
say if he saw you like that?
If my dad saw me
he'd probably kick my ass.
"Give me your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, the
wretched refuse of your teeming
shore. Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift my
lamp beside the golden door!"
-Emma Lazarus
When I had to sell myself for
shelter, um, yeah, I thought
about my family and wondered
why they couldn't help me.
In America, every night
children sleep on the streets.
A growing number of
people on the streets are
children and young adults.
And how do we treat these kids?
Do we embrace them? Do we build
them shelters,
feed and take care of them?
You guys gotta go.
But, we just want food.
Okay, you're
still bothering the customers.
Can you help us?
No.
We look
at these kids as if homelessness
is a disease as if it's
something that could be caught.
When I was washing my
hair in a Denny's bathroom sink,
and my head was, uh, too tall to
fit from the faucet down to the
bottom of the sink so I was in
it sideways, trying to wash my
hair. And when I flipped my hair
up I got water, kind of, all
over the mirror, and I looked in
the mirror and I saw the women
behind me that couldn't
wash their hands because I was
washing my hair and the look
on their face was, they were so
disgusted by me.
Or we ignore them,
and pretend they don't exist.
This myth
that there are kids who don't
have anything to
eat is a total lie. And...
It is absolutely not a lie, and
there actually are students,
Oh, it is absolutely
a total lie on a mass level!
It all started after, like, I
lost my grandmother, and then I
lost my grandfather, and then
while we were at, like, getting
ready for my grandfather's
funeral I got a call
that my best friend back
home passed
away. Yeah, that sucked.
So that was
pretty devastating for him. And
he had lived with his
grandparents too, so to lose
someone that
he lived with for so long...
I can't believe that we allow
two million of our children to
be on the street. That's how
little we actually care about
what's happening
with youth in America.
And unfortunately
for them, nothing's changing.
There are kids
in New York City who go all
weekend without
having anything to eat except
Oh, that is the biggest
bologna I have... You, you...
How many of you in the last few
weeks have gone to bed hungry?
Most of you've never met with
these youths, or if you've met
them you didn't know they were
homeless. If you've met them and
knew them you know they don't
want to be, you know they want
out. You'd know that they want
to come back being part of
society. And I'd tell you this
one thing: we're a lesser
society if we don't bring them
back, we're
a better society if we do.
My name is Rotimi
Rainwater, and when I was
nineteen I was homeless.
I was in the Navy and
my mother got cancer and by the
time I got out, she had lost her
place. It took a while, but I
got off the streets and now I am
a director. In 2010, I made a
film called Sugar about homeless
youth. I went all over the
country screening the film for
homeless youth organizations and
everywhere I went, kids came up
asking me for help and I didn't
know why. Like many, I had
assumed this was an issue our
government was dealing with.
- In this country, teenagers.
- And if that isn't shocking
But the more I look, I realize
it's not. I eventually got the
chance to screen Sugar for
Congress, but not one member of
Congress showed up. And sitting
there I began to wonder, is this
an issue they don't care about?
Would they just rather sweep
it under the rug and pretend it
doesn't exist? So I decided to
do the only thing I could, which
is make a film. Because I wanted
to find out why in America there
are so many of our children
sleeping on our streets. As I
hit the road I've decided to try
to find out how
many kids are homeless.
According to Google, the
numbers are between 48,000 and
2.8 million, which is
ridiculous. So we've headed to
Washington D.C. to figure out if
anyone knows how many kids are
on the streets.
How many homeless youth do
you think there are in America?
Five thousand.
Five thousand.
The number
was like 40,000 homeless like
two years ago,
something like that.
I feel having a
thousand is a bit much, is it?
I could
honestly have no clue about
that. There's so many that
I just don't
know the number now.
Who knows for
sure? You never do.
We, we, gen-We genuinely
don't know the exact numbers.
Gotta be in the hundreds
of thousands of kids.
There's over a
million nationwide.
There are estimates, um, that
could be
undercounts of 1.9 million.
HUD published a
report that said it was 40,000.
So we know that we don't do
a good job of counting youth.
Is it forty thousand
or is it two million? That's not
a good place to be if you
can't, if you don't know which.
The reason that
we don't know how many kids are
on the street is that it cost a
lot of money to do that kind of
research. In the Runaway and
Homeless Youth Act, that has yet
to pass in congress, there is
funding that would be associated
with doing an annual study to
really get our arms around how
many kids
are we really talking about?
Wait a minute,
so there's never been a national
study on homeless youth?
That's correct.
How can that be? Our government
has funded some of the most
ridiculous studies. From three
million dollars to study the
video game World of Warcraft's
effect on helping companies
compete more effectively in the
global marketplace, to hundreds
of thousands of dollars to study
why chimpanzees throw poop;
literally, throw poop. But our
government can't tell us, with
any certainty, how many of our
children are sleeping on the
streets at any time. Why has
there never been a study done?
It's not
important to them, I don't
think. They've not done it
because there hasn't been any
money for it. They don't want to
put any money towards it. And so
if they say there's a homeless
youth issue, then they have to
figure out how to address it.
Why is there such a
lack of compassion for these
kids? In America, there are over
5,000 shelters for animals, but
yet there's less than 400 for
kids. The answer is simple,
there is a stigma that surrounds
you when you're on the streets.
You're not seen as a child
anymore, you're seen as
homeless, dirty, unwanted.
No one wakes up one day and
says, "Hi, today
I want to be homeless".
Why do you think,
um, kids are homeless?
Um, because
they want to, sometimes.
I can promise you, 95% of those
children do not
want to be on the streets.
There's a strong misconception
that young people
leave home just to do drugs.
Most of them, because most of
them out
there are like drug addicts.
Maybe it's alcohol use?
And they'll tell you that, you
know, if that young person
needed help there
was, there would be plenty
of places they could go.
And it's true, right?
It's absolutely not true.
So there it is, we don't
know how many of our kids are on
the streets, and we really don't
even know why. I think it's time
for me to head out and
meet some of these kids myself.
If it wasn't for him, there's no
way I could be on the streets
out here. I'm young and small
and a lot of people out here,
you know, go after young people.
So there, there's no way I could
be on this, on the streets, at
least in this city, by myself.
I would probably, like, be dead
if, if I was.
So I don't really
have any fear that he would
leave me and he proposed
to me and I, you know, I...
What was that like?
It was
beautiful, it was magical.
I mean, um, it was
towards the beginning of when we
got to the city, so the city
was so beautiful to me, like,
already cause I was just seeing
everything for the first time.
And we were down by, uh, down on
Mission a little ways, towards
the park where the waterfall is,
and it was night time, and it
was beautiful, and there was
music playing
and... It was out of
the blue, out of nowhere. I
didn't expect it. It was right
before we were about to go to
sleep. And he got down on one
knee and he proposed to me. He
was like, "Babe I want to spend
the rest of my life with you,
and I don't want anyone but you.
You have done so much for me and
I want to spend the
rest of my life with you."
Come on in, man!
Yes.
Herro.
Safe.
So you say
that's your girlfriend?
Well, my fianc. I gotta get
used to it, yeah, I gotta get
used to it.
Tell me about that.
Uh, it was just kinda,
it was really corny, actually.
It wasn't anything,
like, extravagant, like...
I explained it as magical
and you explain it a corny.
Well, I was, we were, like,
getting ready for bed, I had
just finished setting up the
tent and stuff. And like, I had
like no shirt on, I had shorts
on, no shoes, no socks, you know
what I mean? And like, I just
felt like it was the right time.
So like, I got down on one knee
and I asked her to marry me. And
she said yes and we hugged. And
I don't know, I thought it
was, like, really corny and,
like, I want to re-do it at some
point; like when
we get our stuff together,
like when we get
our shit together. You know what
I mean? But like, I don't
know, it meant a lot to us.
I thought it was the cutest
thing, the most amazing thing.
I'll never forget it. I want to
remember that time forever.
I proposed to her with
like a, like a twenty five cent
gum ball machine ring. Like
super ghetto.
Yeah.
They turn her finger
green though. So, we
gotta get her a real ring.
Definitely gotta get her
a real ring. She's just, she's
helped me through so much. She's
always been there to pick me up
when I'm down, to pick up the
pieces when I'm broken. So, you
know, like, I don't
ever want to lose her, I want
her to be there forever.
Um, I don't, I don't use a tent
or anything, that's, those
are big and heavy and really
inconvenient. Um, I just carry a
tarp. And if it rains, I'll
sleep underneath something like
a gazebo. Or even, like a tree
and just kinda like
burrito myself in my tarp.
So what'd you end up gettin"?
Pork n' Beans.
Yeah.
Yeah. They kinda remind
me of my grandmother. Oh, baked
beans. They kinda remind my of
my grandmother because she'd
always make them, like really
weird times, like Christmas.
She'd, like, make a whole pan of
baked beans. So even though it's
a cold can of baked beans it
kinda feels warm.
It's really sweet. It tastes
like beans and corn syrup, but I
like it.
They're not
terrible. Would you like some?
I appreciate that, but no.
I didn't think so.
So why did you choose this spot?
I chose it because if I'm
finding a place to sleep and I
don't see someplace that I can
be completely hidden by people,
then I'd rather be somewhere
where I'm exposed and underneath
a light because if someone can
see me, I know I can see them.
And the light brings more of an-
the street light brings more of
an aspect of
safety to me, somehow.
Wow, that's
interesting because I would have
thought that it's hard to sleep
underneath a
big street light, like this.
That's why I have this
bandana. I put it over my eyes.
So tell me, like, you know, how
did you end up on the street?
Why did you
end up on the street?
Do you want me to go all
the way from the beginning?
Yeah.
Alright. Like all the
way? You want raw?
My father
used to molest my sister and I.
And he was a very lonely man. He
was a very hurt and lonely man,
for whatever reasons. He was an
alcoholic, and at the age, I
believe I was four or five, at
the age of four or five one day
he was molesting me on the
couch. And at that very moment,
I had came. Don't know if you
know if it's possible or not,
but at the age of four, that-
that happens, it's possible. And
I remember looking at him and,
like, my heart was fluttering,
and I remember looking at him
going like, "whoa, Dad. What was
that?". I was like, "what was
that?". And I seen in his eyes,
like he knew what happened, and
he picked me up and he ran to
the back bedroom, into my room,
and put me on the bed, took my
pants off, and put a pillow over
my face and raped me. And all I
could smell was the smell of
latex and shit.
All I could
smell. And almost died.
I remember...
I remember telling
myself if you live, if you
choose to live, you can be
whatever you want, if you just
decide to live and grow up.
I remember looking at him just
like, just so angry. I was the
most angry I've ever felt in
my entire life, and I remember
saying, "I don't want to
be your girlfriend anymore."
If that had never happened with
your father, you think you would
have ended up on the street?
Nope. Definitely not. I
don't see why I would be on the
street if I hadn't...
I would love to have had a
relationship with my dad. I'd
love to be a daddy's girl, and
for that never to have happened.
But it did happen, so this is
how I ended up. And I feel like
I'm making the
best out of it, you know?
It's pretty difficult sometimes,
I mean, coming from, you know,
living in an apartment and
having a job and everything like
that, you know? And just, you
know, sitting on the street
holding up a sign asking people
for money just so we can eat
and have clothes on our back is
definitely pretty embarrassing.
Everything was going
great. We had roommates, they
had jobs, we had jobs, and we
were making ends meet. And then
one day we were going out on a
date, and his transmission went
out in his car. And then the
very next day he got in his
first wreck ever, at work, and
they fired him on the spot. And
then, probably about three to
four days later, our
roommates both lost their jobs.
We've only been on the streets a
few weeks. It's probably the
hardest few weeks my entire
life. I mean, so much stuff has
happened; it's scary, it can
be really scary. Especially, you
know, once the sun goes down;
it's a completely different
game. I mean, you've got people
out here wanting to rob you,
wanting to hurt you, taking
advantage of every little thing.
People that, you know, try to
mess with her. It's just, it's
not safe at all.
It's pretty dangerous.
It's a completely different
atmosphere at night. I mean, the
drunks come out to play, along
with all the other drug users
and things like that. Coming
into this, you know, never being
homeless before, not being
around it, that kind of
stuff it's just, people don't
understand how difficult it is
to be on the streets. I mean,
you've got
people offering you drugs all
the time, I mean, they'll get
upset if you don't want to buy
drugs from them or take free
drugs. There's people that try
to proposition you for sex. Or,
you know, look at stealing, for
instance, her for maybe sex
trade or whatever. I mean,
there's uh, there was an
instance: somebody was trying to
give us a ride, and we didn't
have hardly any money at all,
and um, you know, I called him
up, I found him on craigslist
and he asked if, you know, if we
didn't have enough money, if,
uh, my lady would, you know,
mind doing things for him. And I
was just like, "No", you know,
"we're not interested in that at
all." and he got upset, and I
just, I had to hang up the phone
because we're not interested in
doing anything like that. I
worry about it more than
anything. I mean, she's all I
have, she's my everything.
I don't know what I would do
if something happened to her.
I don't know what I would do if
I couldn't be there to protect
her. I try everything in my
power to keep her
safe. I do everything I can,
and it's just really hard.
I don't know if I could live
with myself if anything
happened.
It's dangerous
out here, it really is.
I love you.
I love you. More than anything.
It's gonna be okay.
I know. And we just, we
want our lives back, you know?
We really can't say
anything more than that.
Yeah. This is no
way to live. No way to live.
For anyone.
Yeah.
This is what
these kids are really going
through. I can't believe
that this is acceptable in my
country. How did this happen?
And how in
God's name did all this start?
Most people
don't realize that homelessness
in America is a relatively new
phenomenon. In the 1940's, 50's
and 60's, homelessness was
practically unheard of, but it
all started to change in the
early 80's, when there was a big
push to save money on social
service programs. In fact, the
Government decided to cut the
budget for public housing in
section eight from 32 billion
to just 7.5 billion dollars, and
close most mental institutions.
And where do you think all those
people ended up? But according
to our president,
that wasn't the case.
One problem, uh, that
we've had, even in the best of
times, and that is the people
who are sleeping on the grates.
The homeless who are homeless,
you might say, by choice.
- Yep, you heard him.
- Ronald Regan said people were
sleeping on the grates by
choice. But it was the early
80's, and the "me mentality" was
pervasive everywhere. Everyone
was out for themselves and
unfortunately, hundreds of
thousands of our neediest
citizens didn't fit into the new
vision of what America could be
like. So along with the Yuppies,
there was another thing the 80's
gave us, Homelessness.
Ladies and
gentlemen, that greed, for lack
of a better word, is good.
It feels
like, before we go any further,
we should find out what our
government is doing about this.
So we're headed to talk to the
United State's Inter-Agency
Council on Homelessness to see
Alright, what's the plan that
you set forth, or are the goals
that you have?
Like, when are we
supposed to, when is your goal
to be able to end
youth homelessness?
So, uh, in opening doors, the
federal plan we, it's, there's a
ten-year timeline, so the plan
was released in 2010, and we're-
our goal is to end homelessness
among youth by 2020.
But wait, it's
more than halfway to 2020, and
nothing is getting better. In
fact, last year in Los Angeles
alone, the amount of
homeless youth increased by 61%.
The folks down on
Capitol Hill don't really, uh,
know what they're doing.
You have people sitting in this,
um, etherial chamber, uh, on
Capitol Hill, making decisions
over resources that are beyond
human comprehension. And they
act like they know what they're
doing, and they don't.
With all the
confusion in the Government, it
seems like we might have
found one politician who's truly
trying to do something to help
these youth. His name is Senator
Patrick Leahy, and he has a bill
going through the Senate to try
to fund the first national study
on Youth homelessness.
I don't think anybody knows
how big an issue it is. In
fact, we're trying to
get some money to do a real
study so we can
show exactly how big it is.
Do you see there
being a lot of movement, a lot
of change happening? Or what can
we do to create change?
Well, Senator Collins, a
Republican from Maine, and I
have tried to work in a
bi-partisan way to get money to,
uh, re-authorize the,
uh, homeless act to get
enough money
so we can start approaching it.
So what exactly is the bill? The
bill is called the Leahy-Collins
Runaway and Homeless Youth and
Trafficking Prevention Act, and
this is what it does: it gives
$165 million
dollars to re-authorize the
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act,
to help house, clothe and feed
homeless youth in America. And
it also adds 2 million dollars
to create a national study on
youth homelessness in America.
So $165 million dollars sounds
like a lot of money, but in the
scheme of things, is it really?
In the 2016 Federal Budget, 49.3
billion dollars was allocated to
the Bureau of Housing and Urban
Development, better known as
HUD. And the budget for the
foster care system was 7.6
billion. Unfortunately, none of
their money goes to homeless
youth; that's covered under the
RHYA, who's total budget this
year was only $116 million. Now,
if we compromise and say there's
only one million youth on the
streets, that's $116 dollars per
kid, per year; or 32 cents a
day to house, clothe, and feed
every single youth on the
streets of America.
When they are
faceless, nameless, anonymous,
it is easier to ignore.
If we
are following the kind of moral
principles that people like to
use in campaign speeches,
they'll realize they're not
faceless, nameless. We have to
stand up and help them.
These kids are not faceless or
nameless, they're victims.
They're vulnerable youth who
survive issues that most of us
could never imagine. So instead
of asking ourselves if we can
help these youths, we should be
asking ourselves, how can we
help them? And
where do we start?
Don't judge, don't think
these kids are bad. Fill in your
definition of bad, don't
think that they're bad, they
were in circumstances.
If you heard their stories, if
you saw what they went through,
you would never be the same.
So issues that I think
you should pay attention to as
you go down this journey
include: the failure of the
child welfare system; paying
attention to why are these young
people aging out
with no resources?
The issue of
sex trafficking of minors;
big issue in this country.
We think of it as an
international issue; it's goin'
on right in our communities.
Youths that come
out; so lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender youths who come
out to their parents, you know,
get kicked out, can't live
there, or it's such a hostile
environment that they leave.
I think that...
see, we have to understand that
these aren't just random kids,
these are our kids. And we have
to help them, because who's
going to help them if we don't?
We owe it to them, we have to
help these kids, they don't have
anyone. They're our kids.
Next thing I know, the police
are there, the social worker's
there, she's saying put all your
clothes in trash bags, you guys
are being removed from the home.
And then I remember getting to
the house, you know, back to and
getting in the bed and crying.
I really wanted to-I really
wanted to be
dead and cause I really felt
like what's my purpose here on
this planet? And there's no
reason for me I'm just getting,
like, all this abuse. I'm just-
am I just here to get hurt?
A child enters foster care
every two minutes in the United
States. Many foster youth when
aging out are given 30 minutes
and a trash bag to pack their
belongings and leave. 40% of
those children will end up
homeless.
Our foster care system
needs a lot of work. It's really
scary, it's really
scary how these kids,
who have no one at
17, are kicked
out of the system,
onto the street and
basically with no skills, no
support and they wind up
repeating the cycle of what got
them there in the first place.
Nobody wants to
be running around all alone, and
nobody wants to be hurting other
people, or be hurt. It's
just something that ends up,
you metamorphosis into it
because man, if I go behind that
door, that front door of that
house, I don't know what's going
on in that household. I could
get hurt in there. It's probably
more dangerous behind that door
that locks than it is out here
in these streets that are open.
The general consensus in
America, I don't know if it's
right or wrong, but I want to
ask you about it, is that in a
lot of ways the foster care
system is broken, is failing. Do
you agree with
that? Is that the case?
Well, the foster care
system is getting better, but as
long as the funding is
based on taking kids out of the
household, as opposed to
preventing a problem, then I
would say the system is broken;
I would agree with that.
So while we're
in DC, I decided to see a friend
of mine, Lexie. Like many foster
kids, Lexie came from a home
that was dysfunctional and
couldn't care for her anymore.
She's still in the foster care
system, but through a program,
has been able to get a summer
internship with a member of
Congress. She's staying at a
friend's apartment and has
agreed to tell me her story.
Because as she puts it, she
survived the foster care system.
I remember walking down
the hallway, and outside was a
car. My sister was in the car
and they opened the truck to put
my bag in, put my backpack in
and there's a luggage. My sister
is sitting in the backseat just
looking at me and she, there's
like a hanger on the window
with clothes on it. So then I
get in the back seat, and then
the driver gets in and we start
driving away. And then I ask
her, I'm like, "what is going
on?" she said, "you don't
know?", and I said "No!", and
she was like
"You are in foster care now,
you're not going home."
So where did you go from there?
So then we went to my
uncle Chris's house, which is
awesome. He
lives on a huge farm and me and
my sister got to stay there. And
it was a time where I could
start to heal. Um, but
unfortunately there weren't
enough bedrooms in his home. And
so DCF told us that eventually,
we would have to leave. And so
my uncle tried so much to let us
stay, uh, but one day DCF just
came and picked me up. And I
remember him. We were
having dinner that night, and we
knew they were coming after
dinner and, um, trying to
pretend like it was no big
elephant in the room, like it
was a happy dinner. And then he
gave me a bible, so then I left
to go to the shelter. They
picked me up. That sounds so
terrible. Um. Very scared.
I had
almost nothing with me. Um, and
I didn't know where I was going,
and seeing my uncle be left
behind and how scared he was for
me. I just had to put on a
strong face, like I am going to
get through this. So then they
bring me to the shelter, and
I'll never forget it because
the-I'm a very small now, I'm
21, so back then I was even
smaller. Um, and I was like
struggling to carry, like, my
trash bags up the stairs, and,
like, no one even offered to
help. It just, it all happened
so quickly
because it ended up in
a month I went from having
a family to being alone in a
shelter. Um. And I, I did not
know what I was going to do.
My name is Ayana Lapierce,
everybody calls me Kiki.
So what was it like when you
went to foster
care for the first time?
My first foster home
experience was terrifying.
I didn't know what was going on;
I was told I was going to a good
home, it was a lie. I was locked
in a closet, burned with hair
straightener every day in the
Colorado Springs foster home.
The closet was dark,
scary, they
usually locked it at
night; one night they forgot.
So tell me about the foster care
where you were first
exposed to being trafficked.
Foster parent would come in, get
one of us, we didn't ever know
what was going on; we'd be led
to a room and we would be used.
We got told to go change and
to be in the other room or else.
And they would have their way
with us. And if we didn't allow
them to, we didn't get fed or we
didn't get, you know,
get something we need.
And how old were
you when this happened to you?
Thirteen.
It didn't seem
like it was an unregular thing,
because we still had time to
play, go to school and stuff. It
was just like,
whenever they needed money,
that's what we were there for.
And which bedroom would they
force you guys to do that in?
There's a bedroom in the
back, back; you can't see it.
There's three bedrooms in here.
There's one here, there's one in
the middle of that one, and then
there's the very back. Me and my
foster sister
shared this one right here.
The very back
was the guest room.
It had a large, queen size
bed. Always smelled nice;
smelled like
spearmint sometimes.
This is the hotel we
would come to when she would set
up dates for me. Um, we'd go
straight to the back.
You make a left.
And it's that room right
there with the...
I don't
know if that's 139; it's 139.
A lot of people still
think it's something that
doesn't happen in
preponderance in the USA and it
is in Thailand, it is in Africa,
it is in Indonesia, Nepal.
Um,
but when you look back through
history and you have
10-16 year old girls in jail for
prostitution in the last three
decades, and you have high
numbers of them in juvenile hall
for prostitution at 12 years
old, what does that tell you?
325,000 children are at
risk of becoming victims of sex
trafficking in
the United States. The average
age of a child forced into sex
trafficking is 12 years old.
1 in 3 homeless youth will
be lured into sex trafficking
within 48 hours of
leaving their home.
Homeless young women are totally
susceptible to human
trafficking; they're our most
vulnerable. They're out on the
streets, no place to go. They're
afraid, they're looking for
some sense of security. They're
looking for someone to make them
feel good, to feel better about
their situation. And the first
person that comes along who
offers them, a way out is
something that usually they're
gonna say yes to; just
out of sheer necessity.
There's no greater prison than
the one that is mental,
psychological, emotional. And
it's taken me my
whole life to be free.
But there are so many
people who are not. And I'm not
out until they're out. This is a
life's work,
this is a clarion call.
For the first part of my
marriage, you know, I'll be
honest, I was, I was afraid,
you know.
I was a... I was
afraid for my husband to touch
me, even
though I loved him and because
I...
because I really wanted
him, but I didn't understand
that it was okay, you know? And
I didn't know how to, to tell
him it's not you, it's...
but how
do I, you know, get past it? You
know? And I got really scarred
up inside, and I can't have my
own children, and I
wanted children so bad.
My dad had diabetes, um, and
ended up losing both of his
legs, uh, when I was seven. Um,
I ended up taking care of him
because he couldn't really do a
lot for himself. Um, so cooking,
cleaning, bathing him, um,
giving him his insulin, uh,
changing his dialysis bags; and
I did that until he passed away.
Once my father died, um, DCF
came to my house
and tried to remove me.
They said that I
needed to be in a safe place, I
needed to go to a group home or
a residential program to take
care of me because I had no one
to take care of me.
I went into
my room, I grabbed a bag, I put
some clothes in it, a couple
pictures. I walked outside and
called the friend that I
befriended on Myspace.
When did you first
meet their, what's the name?
Is it gonna be recorded?
Yeah, is that okay?
I've never told
anybody her name.
Well on her
Myspace profile it said that she
was 18, and um, that she was new
to Tamp-The Tampa Bay area,
and, um, that she, like, lived
with her mom and things like
that. We talked for 3 days
messaging back and forth, and
then I gave her my phone number.
Um, she asked me if I had a lot
of friends, I told her no. Um,
she asked me what grade I was
in, at the time
I was in eighth grade.
And that was basically
it. Like, "what kind of music do
you like?", "what kind of food
do you eat?", "don't you hate
when this happens?"; like those
kinda conversations.
So you thought you had, like,
another girlfriend, like you-?
Yeah, and I never
had a friend, really. I never
hung out with any girls, I
always hung out with boys.
When
I ran away I asked her if she
would come get me because
I didn't want to be placed in
foster care. Once she came got
me, and I got in the car
my life completely changed.
Um, that
night I just remember being
passed around, and just kind of
different faces and, um, just
like a whole bunch of sweat. And
I remember after everybody being
done with me, them carrying me
back to her house and putting me
in her bed. And then she walked
me to the bathroom and she told
me to get in the shower. She
stood there while I was getting
in the shower and she told me
that I'm hers. She just said
that I belong to her. And I was
like, "But you let those men
rape me." and she was like,
"They didn't rape you, you
let them have sex with you."
So when you left here, why did
they take you to
Jersey, what happened?
Um, when we
were going back out to
Hillsborough County a lot of
people started to question who I
was. Um, a lot of people said
"who is this white girl?", "Why
do you-Where did she come from?
Why is she with you? She's
not your sister, she's not your
cousin, she doesn't look like
anybody you've ever brought
around before." um, so my
trafficker said that we were
going to go to Atlantic City,
Jersey and we were going to live
there. The house that they kept
me in was like an apartment
home. It had a basement
and probably, I don't know,
8 or 10 people lived there. In
the basement, there were 4 or 5
girls who were with me. I don't,
we weren't really allowed to
talk to each other. So I don't
know their ages; I know that
they were as
young as I was or younger.
And how did they
keep you down there? You said
you were chained
together or something like that?
We had just a... I don't know
what kind of
chain it was. It wasn't,
like, a big chain, but it was a
thin chain; and you could also
hear it if we moved. So it was
just wrapped around our little
cuff thing that we had on. And
we were all together in the
line. But it was extra chain in
between so we weren't
tight. When they
would bring clients down to
have sex with us, um, we weren't
moved into a different room. We
would all just have to lay there
and watch them. We didn't watch
really, we just laid there. And
they would have sex
with whoever they paid for.
After,
like, going through, like,
everything with telling
the people that this is what
happened and them not doing
anything, and them kind of
taking her side of-I felt like
they kind of believed that a
woman couldn't do this to
somebody. Like, at that time,
like, oh this couldn't happen
or-I just feel like, I don't
know. I feel
like the system failed.
And she's probably doing
what she did to
me to other girls right now.
As we head back
on the road, we just found out
that the bill has passed the
first round of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. There is
some pushback on the language
that protects LGBT youth, but
this is the first step towards
getting this bill passed.
And that's why
Senator Collins and I included a
non-discrimination
provision in our amendment.
Though make clear that any
program accepting federal
dollars must help care for all
these children. They can't turn
these young people away because
they do not like the way they
look, or dress, or who they
love. No program that takes
federal money should be
allowed to discriminate, period.
Even with all the
recent gains made by gays
bisexuals, and transgenders,
hundreds of thousands aren't
feeling those gains. That's
because many are
more concerned with survival.
According to a
study out of UCLA, up to 40% of
homeless youth are LGBT, uh,
are often rejected by family.
According to the Center for
American Progress, at least
320,000 LGBT youths
are homeless in this country.
It was me, my mom, my dad, the
pastor, and another person; and
she explained to me the reason
why I am gay is because I opened
myself up to demons and
devils. These demons and devils
literally sought me out and done
things to me while I'm sleeping
and that turned me gay. They
have this idea in church,
especially the pentecostal
church, that if you're gay, it
has something to do with a
demon. And she was saying if you
continue to live this lifestyle
of homosexuality, you will not
only possibly get a disease, but
you will end up burning in hell
forever and ever
and ever and ever and ever.
How big was the
church for you in your life?
Wow! This church right
here was the biggest thing ever.
I'd come here every Sunday. In
the past, they'd have churches
in the morning and at night.
They'd have Bible Studies on
Tuesday's. Wednesday is, um,
choir rehearsal. Thursday is
prayer. And Saturday we had
morning prayer. So Church is
like everyday breathing, living.
Church all the time.
So this was your life?
This was my life. It was my
only-I had no life outside of
church and school.
So I
went to my church to get help. I
contacted my elder. He said he
knows certain things happen in
your life and people's life to
where God is going to shake you.
You're homeless, and you're
going through what you're going
through because you turned away
from God, you pretty much turned
your back on your family and
your church, so God's making you
homeless so
you'll come back to him.
When I finally ended up on the
street, I had to
sleep behind a dumpster.
I never thought that
would ever happen to me. I was
really mortified. I was
flabbergasted that I
literally am
behind this dumpster and I have
to sleep where there's bugs,
there's, you know, condoms
everywhere. You know, there's,
you know there's gunshots and
there's people making all these
sounds and noises because
they're hookin'. I started to
think, you know, I'm going
through this because I am gay
and this is God's form of
punishment for me, his creation,
to be homeless. I went to my
father's house telling him I am
homeless, I want, I'm gonna, I'm
gonna be on the street. He
didn't care because I'm gay. He
didn't want me to live with him.
This is the home I grew up in;
my family: me,
my mom, and my two brothers.
If I had one wish, I'd
wish that me and my brothers,
and my mom and dad could all
be a family, and they all could
accept me for who I am.
Are you okay?
Yeah.
As we head home
we decided to stop back in
Denver and visit the Comitis
Family Shelter, where we met
Kiki because I'd heard a group
of children were staying there
now. And this is where I met
Daveviana. She's living in the
shelter with her mother and
sister after they lost their
home. And like many other
families, they're just trying to
spend another night off the
streets.
And you have to do that every
night when you're going to bed?
Well, if they
had the stair steps or
something like that, I get on
there, but I usually get on this
way. I used to sleep on that
one, but I let one of the adults
that I talk to sleep there
because she's pregnant, and I'm
nice... most of the time.
If you wanna get into Comitis,
you have to be
here by 6 because that's
the time that we're allowed to
be on the property. But usually,
if it's over 40 people we have
to do lottery, and only 40
people are allowed to get in.
Well if we volunteered, it's
basically we just have to put
our names on this piece of
paper, and if we get choosed,
then Keith will give us one of
the jobs to do. Yes, if we do
chores we can stay,
without doing the lottery.
Oh, hey Dave.
Hey David.
Do you need help?
Mhm!
It's not that fun
doing it by yourself,
but doing it with a
friend gives you some
entertainment. We just
have fun, talk about just
random stuff, crazy stuff. Like,
Daveviana talks
about Justin Bieber a lot.
Yeah, David, tell him.
And I
get under her skin by, like,
calling him names
and stuff like that, but...
Basically
when I was younger, when I was
like 11, my sister, she liked
Justin Beiber and she had a
whole bunch of pictures of him.
So I took 'em, and I put
this in this, I put them in this
scrapbook. This is a picture of
when he, uh, sprained his leg
when he had a concert. And this
is some of his songs I know,
like, Common Denominator,
and this one's One Time.
What's it say right there?
This one?
Uh huh.
Forever a fan
Aw
My favorite Justin
Beiber song was Nothing Like Us,
but it was also Fall because
it was about Selena Gomez.
How does that go?
You want me to sing it to you?
Yeah.
Okay. Just don't stare at me.
I won't. I won't even look.
Okay, um...
Here at Comitis, we actually,
everybody knows each other here,
and you can make friends here
because there are some kids that
are my age, and some kids that
are my sister's age. I would
say, even though we're homeless,
every kid has a dream, and some
dreams come true, but some
don't. But you have to try in
order to get
your dreams to come true.
- He got me!
- Woo woo woo woo woo woo.
Oh shit! I'm
the champ, I'm the champ!
His hands hurt.
There are between 48,000 and 2.8
million youth on the streets.
5,000 youth die on the streets
of America every year. That's 13
youth who die on
the streets every day.
Being homeless is like being
turned into an animal. You're
reduced to surviving. You're
reduced to every single day
worrying about food, shelter,
water, and safety. You're also
in so much pain that you start
using if you weren't already
using. And so because they
weren't given a good emotional
skill set, often they'll just
turn to numbing it
out because the stress and the
pain is so overwhelming that why
people choose to numb out is
very understandable. But once
you choose to start numbing out,
it's very hard to climb out of
the situation that you're in.
Honestly, I
don't know what's going on. All
I know is I got a call from his
mom this morning saying she
hasn't talked
to him in six months.
When's the
last time you talked to him?
Uh, four months ago.
What did he say?
He was yelling. He was crying,
and then he hung up the phone
on me. And then his mom calls me
this morning, crying, talking
about, "I know something's
happened to him", "I'm afraid
he's dead on the side of the
streets", "Can you drive up to
San Francisco and find him?"
Hi Kat, how
are you, it's Rotimi?
Hi Rotimi, how are you?
I'm hanging in there,
I'm hanging in there. Um, so
we're here in San Francisco,
and um...
Oh, thank you
very much. So, no news from
Conner and Makayla?
No.
Nothing.
Since the last time we saw
Conner and Makayla they've
gone missing. Nobody from their
family has heard from them in 4
months. They've been posting
all over social media, trying to
find them and finally, they've
gotten in contact with us and
asked if we could help. This is
really concerning, because the
last time I spoke with Conner
and Makayla they had just
found a room to rent, had gotten
clean, and even had a dog named
Bart. They were so hopeful, so
something horrible must have
happened to them to end up back
on the streets. We need to
find them. So we're down in the
Tenderloin District, showing
pictures and asking everyone if
they've seen Conner and Makayla.
Today we're
going to try to find them.
Excuse me, I'm so sorry to
bother you. I'm looking for
these two kids. Have you seen
these kids, Conner and Makayla?
Uh, any ideas
where they hang out or...?
Well, they, they
maybe near the Bart Station?
Have you been down there?
No, where is that?
Uh, that's at
Pacific student center. Um.
Oh so the place where they
hang out is
named Market Dell at the...
Excuse me, I'm trying to see-
Have you seen these two kids?
They, they're supposed to be
around here, and
I'm just trying to find them.
I know Makayla and, um, Conner.
Really?
I've been doing a documentary
for the past year about homeless
youth, and I've been working
with them since last year.
You know where Powell is?
Where's Powell?
Powell is right up there. You
know where the Bart station is?
Uh huh.
They be over there panhandling.
Bart is right down there.
Thank God they're here.
Hey,
hey, hey! What's up, Big Guy!
How are you?
Oh my god! I lost track of
you guys. I was so worried.
Hey! How are you?
How are you guys doing?
Doing good how are you?
Well I was up here shooting,
and we hadn't heard, seen, heard
from you in so long, so I just-
I was gonna say,
it's so good to see you.
So what's been,
uh, are you guys okay?
Just being honest with you,
you know, like, a lot
of people reached out to us
worried about you guys. Yeah.
Really? I didn't
know. I didn't know, I-
I mean they, yeah, cause like,
like, your, your mom reached out
to me, um, like, I mean a bunch
of people have reached out and
they were like worried sick and,
you know, like, crying, and just
like worried. Like, they, they
just don't, they just don't
care. Like, everybody is scared
to death right now. I don't know
if it's to your house or to your
dad's house, but like, they just
want you guys to go home.
Yeah.
Yeah, when we go
home we have no place to go.
Yeah. You
know, I don't know.
They're weird.
You're definitely allowed
to sit down when we're not on
Powell street
Everybody in the world can
see us. You know?
Cause I'm gonna
cry. It's a fact, so...
So, um, can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you.
Okay. Um, we found them.
Are they alright?
Yeah. Um, they,
uh, looked healthy.
Um, uh, they
look worse or wear, you know,
honestly. But I wanted to ask
you, um, you know I told
them that everybody just wants
them to come home. And, um, I
don't want to offer something-
like I don't
want to say look your mom will
get a bus and bring you back.
Like, you know, like seeing
all the posts that you had put
up and what everyone else is
saying, you know, like, you know
I told them, I was like look if,
if you want we'll buy you guys
bus tickets to get you back to
Mass. Like, whatever it takes,
we wanna help, you know? Um.
What would
you like me to tell him?
He needs to get help.
Alright, Kat.
Well, you know. We'll do our
best. That's all we can do.
I will.
I'll tell them you love 'em.
I will. Okay.
Of course. Bye-bye.
I misread their post.
As long as they're using, nobody
will, uh, will let them in. You
see all these posts: "just tell
them to come home", "just tell
them to come home", "just tell
them to come home". So ok, we
tell them to come home, and they
go well no, no, no, no. Okay,
they're safe, that's great, but
don't come home until you,
you're clean. How the hell are
they going to get clean? And how
are they even open to the fact
of getting clean when nobody is
just saying, look I love you,
just come home. We're going to
have to work on your issues,
we're gonna have to work on
things, but the first thing is,
just come home. That's what
parents don't get sometimes.
Sometimes you just need to show
them unconditional love and then
they can change.
But until then
they're stuck on the streets.
Well in December, we
went to the hospital and found
out that I was six months
pregnant. And, um, that I was
actually in labor. And, uh, that
it was happening really quickly,
and that, uh, there was a chance
that they could prevent the
labor and my water breaking.
And that junior could actually
continue to be
in, stay inside of me.
They told me
that she'd be fine for the night
and that nothing would happen.
They ended up changing
their mind, not letting me use a
bucket to go to the bathroom.
They were like well I don't want
you, I don't want you to keep
using this. I'm gonna use a
catheter. And I was like, I
can't use those. They, my body
rejects them. It's not going to
be good. Like...
As soon
as they pumped the bubble to
keep it in, it broke her water.
They said well since you're
having him now, there's a chance
that, there's a greater
chance that he might not live,
that he won't be developed
enough to live. But when he came
out he was perfectly healthy.
They told us that if
they kept him on a ventilator
that he could have lived.
And,
uh, it was against the doctor's
morals to keep him on the venti-
the breathing machine.
So she unplugged him.
And I
told her that it wasn't okay and
that I wanted him to stay on it.
And she said, "I'm taking him
off at midnight." They said that
he could stay in my
arms until his heart stopped.
And, uh, his
heart stopped in
his arms when he got back.
I'm so sorry.
When he
was on the machine, he was
kicking and everything. There's
no reason that he shouldn't have
lived. For anyone else's kid,
they could keep them for months,
until they were able
to breathe on their own.
But they wouldn't for mine.
They wouldn't
even keep him on long
enough for him to see him move.
And I think she just wouldn't do
it because, I mean, we're street
kids. You know, we're homeless.
We're homeless. They
were probably like, well they're
homeless. Even if this kid
lives, they're not going to
have, like, a life or a good
support system or something.
But, you know, if, if they kept
him on that machine, he would
have been in the hospital
for a couple of months.
So that would have given
us plenty of time to fix our
situation. We didn't know that
he was going to come out right
then. We didn't know that that
was going to happen. And it
wasn't supposed
to, he shouldn't have.
There's not
words to describe it.
It sucks.
As a filmmaker, you're not
supposed to get close to the
people you're filming. You're
not supposed to be affected by
this. But how can you not be
affected watching a young mother
grieve for her child? Or a
mother grieving for her son she
can't help? I hate seeing this
happen to Conner and Makayla,
but this is the danger that
comes when children stay on the
street too long. And if this can
happen to Conner and Makayla,
imagine what
can happen to Calub, or David,
or Daveviana. It was never my
intention to tell my story, but
being with these kids and asking
them to be brave enough to
be open with
their own stories, I'd be a
hypocrite not to tell my
story. It's time to go home.
When you're making a
movie, and when you're planning
on this trip like you just, you
separate yourself. But like,
flying over Orlando, and
hearing, you know, we're 60
miles away, and we're on our
final descent. It hit home, you
know? I've been back to Orlando
since my mother passed, but I've
never come to Lake Underhill. I
never come to East-West, like I
just find ways to get around it.
Like, I never
came back to face this.
I hadn't seen my mother
probably in about two years and
my mother got cancer. And even
though I wasn't close with her,
like, the first thing I could
think about was, like I've
just gotta get home. I've gotta
take care of my mom. My
grandmother told me, "she made
her own bed; she's gonna lay in
it. I told you not to get out of
the military, so I'm not going
to help you." I think that was
the hardest thing I ever had to
face. I asked what I was
supposed to do, and she told me
that she "heard the shelter
downtown had good split pea soup
on Wednesdays." My friend and I,
when we were like 9 years old,
used to come down here to go
fishing. This wasn't here, so
you could go
down a little bit further.
I guess we can talk
right here if you want.
The nights that
I couldn't find a
place to stay or somebody to be
with, um, I would generally come
hang out at the park, there's a
lot of benches around here. Um,
and then when it would rain, as
it so often does in Orlando,
I'd uh, I'd go right underneath
there. It really puts things
into perspective when...
it put things into
perspective when, um, you
realize you're sleeping under an
overpass. You know? It's um,
it's not what you ever would
expect.
The first time I came
here, um...
The first time I
came here I was really, really
depressed. And...
yeah, I didn't
know. I didn't know what to do.
You know, um...
feeling that
you have family out there or
somebody who's supposed to love
you. A grandmother, I mean they
make songs about grandmothers.
You know...
Just to witness that
is, um, it's painful, you know?
So the first time I came here I
wanted to kill myself. And I
didn't know how to do it, and...
Like, what made
you change your mind?
Yeah, I'm not
going to talk about that.
It's...
I don't know, you know?
I think
most people have desperation,
and they talk about suicide, and
they feel that way, and you
know, you sit underneath an
overpass and you have tears
streaming out of your eyes, and
you just feel
like I wish I could die.
But, you know.
What
kind of asshole would I have
been committing suicide when my
mother is fighting for her life?
I really wasn't prepared to take
care of my mom when she got
sick. Um, we didn't have that
kind of relationship. My mother
was an alcoholic, and a
prescription pill addict. So,
you know, when I was 9 years old
I was taking care of my mom. I
always say, like, I feel like I
was a shit son, but you know,
I'm the shit son of a shit
parent. So, you know...
If you can, uh, have
that one last conversation with
your mom before she passed,
how do you think it would go?
If I could
have that conversation.
That one last conversation with
my mom? I don't think I would.
Honestly, I don't know
what would I say to my mom?
I'd ask her if I could just lay
next to her, and not say a word
and just lay on her shoulder.
And like, um...
my mom used to rub
my hair when I was a kid.
If I could have one more night.
One more time
with my mom, that's
what I'd... We wouldn't talk
about anything. I'd just want to
lay on her shoulder.
It's been 25 years since my
mother passed, and I finally
realized that I'm still
dealing with the effects of
being abandoned and left on the
streets. I was 22 when my mother
died, and every time I think of
her I still feel like that young
kid. Vulnerable, alone and
scared. The experience of this
movie has made me realize that
all homeless youth share one
thing in common. We've all been
abandoned, forgotten by the ones
who are supposed to love us the
most. Whether that's a mother,
or a father, a foster care
parent, or even our country.
Every one of these kids who are
on the streets needed someone,
and that someone failed them.
And unfortunately, we are still
failing them. This is why it's
so important to change how we
treat these kids. And why it's
so important for our
government to do something.
The question is on
amendment number 290. Is there a
sufficient second? There is.
The clerk will call the role.
- Mr. Alexander, Ms.
- Ayotte, Ms. Baldwin,
Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Bennet,
Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Blunt...
Senator Leahy,
as we all know, has been a
tireless advocate for homeless
and runaway youth, and for the
LGTB individuals, and for
victims of human trafficking.
And his bill would provide
the necessary services and
additional protections for all
of these young children. So
thank you again, Senator Leahy,
for your continued work on
behalf of some of our most
vulnerable, our runaway and
homeless youth.
Is there anyone wishing
to vote, or wishing change their
vote?
On this vote, the yay's are
56, and nay's are 43. Under the
previous order, requiring 60
votes for the adoption of this
amendment, the
amendment is not agreed to.
And there
it is, we finally see exactly
why millions of kids sleep on
the streets every year. Why
children die every day because
there are still members of our
government who put politics
before people.
So getting it
down to the bare bones, the
reason that the Runaway Homeless
Youth Trafficking Protection Act
did not pass is because it had
language in there that had...
It said
you cannot discriminate based on
sex, race, whatever, and
then there's four words:
sexual orientation
and sexual identity.
And those four words
prevented it from being passed.
It's unconscionable that you
could just turn your back for
politics, for politic's sake,
that you can let children stay
on the street, that you can
compromise the future of
children who are
part of our community.
How do we, the richest, most
powerful, wealthiest nation in
the world allow hundreds of
thousands of teenagers to be
suffering in
the streets without shelter?
You know, how do we do that?
Um, it feels
like these youth are being used
as political tools, you know?
Well it's
very interesting you say that
because that's
basically what I say. If we ask-
If any of you get asked this
question you're going to say
"oh, we want to help homeless
youth". Well help them, but help
all of them.
When did our youth become
political pawns. When did it
become okay to
sacrifice the needs of our
children for someone or
some political group's agenda?
Haven't we learned anything?
Throughout history, people have
hidden their agendas behind
their religious beliefs; beliefs
meant to inspire and unite, not
to exclude and discriminate.
When are we going to realize
that there is a cost to this
bigotry, this hatred? When will
we learn right now that cost is
our children? And while they sit
in their comfortable offices,
pushing these policies, there
are children in the
streets, right now, in pain.
How do you raise someone
and decide to abandon them?
The most important unit, we'll
say, in our entire church is the
family unit. Families don't
reject that's, that's, that's,
there's never an excuse. And
if you, if you believe in this
savior, Jesus
Christ, then you have to
believe and
know that he didn't reject.
I recently got a call from
Calub, who told me his father
had cancer and wanted to see
him. So we've agreed to drive
him to his father's home so we
can get a chance to spend some
time with him and let his father
tell his side of the story.
Alright. Okay. Bye. She
just wants to make it clear that
they wanted to help me the
entire time on the run, just I
didn't let them. That's
basically what she
was just telling me. So...
My family wants
me to make them sound like
they're perfect, and we are,
we are nowhere near a perfect
family. I mean, we all have our
problems. You know, I'm in
treatment. You know, my dad's
got his own problems, my
stepmom's got his own problems,
everybody's got their own
problems. So it's very difficult
to even try to I guess lie and
say that we're a perfect family.
But what do you
do? Do you just forgive them and
move on or...
I do my best
to forgive him, I just kind of
play along and whatever he says
is what he says. I don't have
much time with him anyway, so
I'm just going to do whatever I
can to make him happy.
So this is
the crew. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I'm
painting Terry's room so I don't
know what you guys are going to
do, but, I mean. I don't know
how this is supposed to go, or.
He just wants
to talk to me and you.
Oh, really?
Yeah. And this
this is the Director.
Really?
I thought you knew this?
No, you didn't, you
didn't tell me, Kayla. So...
You just said
that this film crew is coming
over and you were
making a movie, so...
Yeah, cause we
wanted to talk to you.
Alright damnit. Let
me cover some things up.
Okay.
We'll go outside.
Okay.
I recently got a
message from Calub's stepmother,
who told me that Calub was
back on the street. His father's
cancer had gone into remission,
and he had once again turned his
back on Calub. What would happen
if parents didn't reject their
children after coming out as
LGBT? Imagine what these youth
could accomplish.
I am your voice.
So to every
parent who dreams for their
child, and every child
who dreams for their future,
I say these
words to you tonight:
I am with you, I will fight for
you, and I will win for you.
What you would see if this
budget were enacted would be an
awful lot of empty metal desks
in Washington D.C. and a lot of
smaller programs. Let's take a
look at how much smaller. EPA,
uh, down 31%. And HUD, a 6
billion dollar cut there. What
you hear from the Government,
we hear from the White House,
actually, is that they see a lot
of duplicative programs, they
would move money around, they'd
get rid of waste, and things
that shouldn't be done by
certain agencies
would be eliminated.
Living in the wealthiest country
in the world, it's easy to
fall into this false sense of
security; like things are only
going to get better, and they
can't get worse. But President
Trump's actions have just shown
that they can
get worse. A lot worse.
So how do we solve this issue
when the Government seems
content to deny it?
Our government
is the only entity with the
money and the power to fix this
problem nationally, but they are
refusing to make this a
priority. So while there are
members of the House and the
Senate who wanna help these
youth, it's going to be an
uphill battle; and one they
can't fight alone. To solve this
issue, the Government,
corporations and private
citizens need to come together
to help these youth; but we need
to do it now. Each year, more
than 5,000 youth die on the
streets of America. That's an
average of 13 youth dying every
day. That's like Columbine
happening every single day of
every single year. And nobody
wants to talk about it.
We should be embarrassed that
5,000 kids, homeless youth die
in the streets every year. We
should be
embarrassed and ashamed that 13
kids die a day.
- So what can we do about this?
- The issue seems huge, and we get
overwhelmed, but it
doesn't have to be like that.
You don't have
to help the masses, you just
have to help one.
You just have to help
the situation in your community.
So you don't have to solve it
for the thousands or the
millions, you just have to just
have to help be part of the
solution for young people in
your community.
If you're looking for a way to
help a homeless youth, just stop
and say hi. Look for small, kind
things you can do. It's amazing
how radical it can be.
If you see a kid
on the street just stop, say hi,
acknowledge them;
they're a person just like you.
I mean, anybody can make a
peanut butter sandwich- or a
wild butter sandwich, cause some
people are allergic to peanuts,
and give it out.
We, we try to pick their dignity
up, you know, and let them know
that me and you are the same
person, you just
having a hard time right now.
Everywhere I go,
people ask me what they can do,
and I tell them whatever you
can. Everyday youth die on the
streets and many of them from
suicide. They've been rejected
everywhere they've turned for
help, so they feel like they no
longer belong. So start by
stopping and saying hi, remind
them that they do matter; you
might just save their lives. But
beyond that, there are little
things that you can do to help.
Give them some socks, a jacket
in the winter, or a sandwich. Of
course, these are just bandaids;
but while we struggle for
solutions, these youth are dying
and we need to help keep them
alive. There are thousands of
organizations across the
country, who are working hard to
help these youth because there
are millions of youth who need
your help. And
right now there are
so many
people trying to help them.
Well we've built 450 units of
housing across the nation. Our
foundation was the lead funder
of the JBG Soul Homes. It's
transitional housing; it's
people who've aged out of foster
care and, and for these young
people who are transitioning
it just makes it easier.
John was involved with the
arena football team, uh in
Philadelphia, and he was
staying at the Ritz Carlton in
Center City; it was a really
cold bitter cold winter night,
he looked out the window, he saw
someone sleeping on the street
and he said
this is unconscionable.
How in the
richest country of the world can
we have people
sleeping on our streets?
We all, um, have a social
responsibility to today's youth.
We have to really,
um, give them a hand up,
not just a handout. It's kinda
like teach someone to fish, not
just give
them a fish; that idea.
They don't necessarily want
to be livin' in the streets. And
kids in foster care don't
necessarily want to be livin' in
foster care. Every single
one of them want to be loved,
and feel like they're a part of
something, and
they want, they want to grow.
So as you know, we're finishing
the film, and throughout the
filming, we've been using 1
million is kind of like the
accepted number that most people
are saying are
comfortable are on the streets.
Is that accurate?
No, that's way off.
What do you mean that's way off,
like, what have you found?
We've found closer
to 4 million young people
experiencing some form of
homelessness
within a one year period.
4 million kids in America?
4 million young people in the
United Staes, ages 13-25.
So how did we
get it wrong for so long?
We never did a national study on
youth homelessness. We never had
a nationally representative
survey in the way that we would
for employment, or domestic
violence, or HIV AIDS. We just
haven't made that investment in
understanding the full scope and
scale of the challenge.
Do you have enough information?
Can we fix
youth homelessness now?
Or what, what needs to happen?
Well, we don't have
enough to just cure youth
homelessness, now. We need to
make a commitment to continued
investment, and research,
and development around youth
homelessness. If you think of
the other major social
challenges, like HIV, we didn't
just do one study, call it a
day, and then work towards
eradicating HIV. We had to
continue, and we still
continue to invest as a nation
in research, not only on the
scale of the problem, but on
what works to fix it; a lot on
prevention. Uh, and that's the
kind of commitment that we need
to bring to youth homelessness.
And what about with the RHYA?
Uh, we definitely need a greater
investment in the Runaway and
Homeless Youth Act. That is the
single piece of legislation that
is committed to this population.
With 4 million young people
experiencing some form of
homelessness in a year, and only
$127 million dollars invested
in, uh, or appropriated to the
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act
programs and services, we're
clearly not committing resources
that match the full, uh, scale
of the challenge.
Yeah, that's just ridiculous.
Yeah, it's nothing compared to
what we need to
end youth homelessness.
So if the RHYA
was getting $116 million for
1 million youth, and that
equaled 32 cents a day to home,
clothe and feed them, and now we
know it's 4 million. That means
that the wealthiest country in
the world is giving 8 cents
per day to feed, clothe and
shelter their homeless youth.
How can we value so many other
things over our own children?
When are we
going to realize that enough is
enough and that it's time to
value these youth? When are we
going to realize that they are
our future? And if given half a
chance there's
so much they can do.
A homeless 18 year-old proved
if you have the drive you really
can do anything. Rashema Melson
graduated From Anacostia High
School tonight as Valedictorian.
Matthew was homeless. A
teacher there realized the
young musician was
in a tough spot. He's been
chosen to perform later
this month at Carnegie Hall.
Santos is now living on her own,
attending UDC,
and plans to be a doctor.
As we were finishing the film, I
got a call from Lexie, who we
saw over a year ago.
And now,
not only does she have a job on
Capitol Hill, she also
got to address congress.
I believe that the education
of a foster youth is their only
means to a better life. And that
they too should be given the
right to a stable
safe classroom.
So when I was in foster care,
I had to choose
between a stable family and a
stable education, and I knew
that there was just something so
extremely wrong about that. Uh,
and so when I came here I knew
that's what I wanted to write
about from day one. And so I
started doing my research,
utilizing the Library of
Congress, utilizing the
brilliant people here on The
Hill for their, uh, expertise
and ended up publishing a report
called From Homeless
to the House of Representatives:
How a Stable Education Saved a
Foster Child. And every single
day I remind myself of how
badly I wanted this for years.
These success
stories are not limited to the
children in this movie or the
occasional PR piece in the news,
they happen around us all the
time to those of all walks of
life. In fact, many celebrities
that we idolize today started
their journey in a similar way
and on similar streets. Halle
Berry was forced to live in a
homeless shelter in her
twenties. Steve Jobs would walk
7 miles every Sunday to eat one
good meal a week at the Hare
Krishna Temple. Jewel, Steve
Harvey, Tyler Perry, and even
Harry Houdini all struggled with
homelessness before finding the
fame they're so remembered for
now. We are all capable of so
much more, and our dreams are
what truly define us.
My dream is to be a singer.
I want to go to college.
Go to college for
business management and get my
own construction company.
That one
day I could be a teacher.
I see myself being a therapist
or like a
counselor of some sort.
I want to be something
different, like, something
that's differen't
from everybody else.
I'd like to be
able to start my own shop, and
then build a
family with Makayla.
You know, cause I love her.
So what
have we learned? We've
traveled all over the country
and we've found out that youth
homelessness is everywhere. And
we've also learned that no
matter how big the problem is,
nobody really wants to talk
about it because the solution is
not an easy one. We can't solve
a problem unless we've studied
it. And while Chapin Hall
has done an initial study, the
Government has yet to truly
address the issue. We have to
take this seriously, but we need
our government's help. Because
these youth are incredible, and
if given half a chance they can
do amazing things, just like
your children. And just like
your children, they need your
help. Because what do all these
kids have in common? That
they're homeless? That they've
experienced pain? Some may say
that, and that's what some
might choose to see. But I see
something else: I see hope, I
see potential, I see beauty,
I see the future. I see your
children, your son, your
daughter, I see my daughters.
And that's the point. It's time
not to see them as homeless
kids. It's time to see them for
what they are: our children. And
it's time to do something to
help them.
Because if we've
learned anything it's the fact
that if we don't do something,
it's not just going to go away.
And statistically speaking,
since you've sat down to watch
this film, another child
has died on the streets.
For all the kids
that are still on the street.
This song is for you
As long as there's
a beating in my chest