Full Text
Focus Group-Samm Trail 2 Male: Okay, so what would you say the challenges are? Well, let me start by asking these questions and then at the end you can go and just talk from your heart. So where are you from originally? Sarah: Detroit, Michigan. Male: What brought you to this area? Sarah: Family ties. Male: Family ties. How long you been here? Sarah: Off and on now for what is it, two years. Male: So where do you usually stay at night in general? Sarah: Anywhere I can that’s safe, well lit, single woman safe; bus stops is kind of good. The early risers and keeps you in tune with every day normal, quote/ unquote normalcy. You got to get up, you got to fix yourself up, you got to look like you’re riding a bus. Library is a good one for the educational taking your mind off of current day situation, networking, community services, welfare etc. Male: So what’s personally your plans and your goals and are you doing anything right now working towards those? Sarah: Personally, my goal right now is to leave the country because of the bureaucracy is under my identity being a number one federal Indian and it’s the collapse of corporate America, the hospitalization, healthcare coverage, the banking system, the educational system, etc. The country sits in my name, Ms. Sarah Janine Gibson as my country, owner of the country and the land sits in my name. So for me personally, I’m at the top of the list of how they should use the people in order to, or me as an example how to breakdown the rest of the people that’s what I’m trying to say. Being that I may have had a little more home training as how to lead the country, take care it’s business, it’s people. The people are supposed to be my number one concern as the number one federal Indian in the land, the country. So I have a situation that’s a little more different than the average person, but I’m the person that they use in order to make it an epidemic. If you want bad skin, it’d be an epidemic use me first, break me out, and then go around breaking out everybody else. ---PAGE BREAK--- Well, homelessness is the same thing as far as when I first became homeless fourteen years ago shelters was not an everyday word. Shelters were not an everyday word. Now they are, you understand what I’m saying? You could call a friend, you can call a boyfriend, you can call a family, you can call your job, the church they will literally pull you back up. But now it’s an everyday word. Male: So are you saying the support’s not out there? I mean it’s an everyday word, but do you think that the supports are out there for somebody to get off the street? Sarah: I think that it’s the wraparound system. I think that it has become a new... Male: That’s what’s needed? Sarah: No, that’s what we have now a wraparound system. Homelessness is not a person’s goal. You’re forced into homelessness. Once you get in, it’s hard to get out. It’s a wraparound system to go from one homeless shelter to the next to the next to the next to the next versus, literally, intervision [sic] in order to give the person what they need like good job training. Say you don’t want to go to college like so many of the young people around there. And they haven’t found whatever their knack [sounds like] in life is or their goals in life. There’s no programs. I’m older than the average person, but I can speak for even people who might want to reenter the workforce or retrain. The programs; what do they call them? Not self-help, but they are life skill, real life skill situations teaching people how to bank, lawyers, doctors. The system has failed us basically to me. I mean, so personally, I think that it’s time for me to look for another government and people, you know, a country. I just come back from Lebanon on the way back or on the way there I went through Dubai and then I went to Lebanon. On the way back I came from Lebanon and went to Germany and my thought was I really didn’t want to return to America because I was on the streets and I’ve been on the streets. And Bill Clinton, Obama, Hillary Clinton that’s a regime that needs not be allowed to be over the people because of their personal home training, their life. So to me, the things that will help America really have to have somebody, you have to give us somebody that had some kind of quality home training in order for them to teach us, reteach us how to cope and get along, coping mechanisms, dress, what’s the other one? You dress for success so to speak. So, if you have somebody that hasn’t had that proper training and try to teach you, of course, that person is going to fail most times if you haven’t had the proper training. If you have somebody that has had the proper training they ---PAGE BREAK--- could teach you how to like say move gracefully among society in order to get what it is that you want. And all of us need finances. I am semi-retired since thirty-one, I’m forty-eight now so for a person like me there’s literally nothing available and it’s been like that since thirty-one at retirement. The average person that I had something in common with is a result of me being retired was like sixty-five. They had already worked all their life and so the healthcare system wasn’t designed for a person like me who had worked all their life and then literally, retired had enough years and points where they could retire, made enough money. And so now that was fourteen years ago. It doesn’t matter they take the young person and they put them on SSI which is supplement versus working all their life. They just go straight from childhood into okay, now you’re unable to take care of yourself which is a catch twenty-two because then what does that person do? They struggle and the success stories are a lot fewer than the stories that you hear where people don’t make it. Male: So I think you’ve kind of spoken to this, but what do you think is most important for this group to know for the community to know and consider as they think about recommending action steps to help people that’s in this situation? Sarah: I think what’s most important and, like I said, I tell people that all the time for them to know that they’re not homeless on their own. It’s literally America’s big business and I’ll give you the examples I’m talking about. You say homelessness, you say domestic violence shelter, you say family court system, you say mental hospital, you say the jail system; there’s a couple more and I may be leaving them out but that’s where the money goes, the food banks. Homelessness is like a $13 billion last I checked in 2009, 2010 was a $13 billion annually industry per state. You could give $13 billion to each state and literally put it in each homeless person’s hands and it would evaporate. So to me, that’s not a realistic thing for you to look at a person and say you’re homelessness. No you’re not, you’re big business. You’re the new corporation. It’s like to re-edify to that individual that they really do have a main interest in society or part to do with society, but they haven’t been allowed to reach it because the government has said it’s all about me. And I have to know how much toilet tissue you use. I have to know everywhere you go, who you are calling, where you going. Their eye is or their broad span is too wide. And there’s no individualism with maybe this person wanting to do woodcraft, maybe this person wanting to do metal shop work, maybe this person wanting to do childcare, maybe this person wanting to do music. Everybody can’t be a nurse. Everybody can’t be a trucker. You know what I’m saying? So you put them out here and we haven’t even gotten into like physics jobs like micro ---PAGE BREAK--- biochemist and so it’s like they’ve tooken [sic] the hope away from the country, the people who live within the country altogether and it’s much easier to blame that person by telling them well, you’re doing something wrong because you’re homeless. No, you didn’t necessarily do nothing wrong, but exist you know what I’m saying? It’s more of a big business situation. A government’s control over each and every individual’s lives. The healthcare system is terrible. The banking system is terrible. The modern technology we’re behind as far as so many other countries are concerned. Male: So you’re saying that people can be better supported by these institutions? And if people are better supported by... Sarah: People can support themselves the best when allowed to. I can’t support you like you were saying. You were put out here, your taskforce is to know what are these people out here doing? Most of them don’t know themselves especially if they’re young, because they haven’t figured out where my knack in life? What do I really want to do in life? And even some of the older ones don’t because nobody has ever, literally, everybody’s not going to want to be a banker. Some people may want to go into finance, CPA work, accounting. But if you don’t move the bureaucracy of it out of the way giving them more individualism, which is what we were built on this country, you hear what I’m saying? Everybody not going to want to be a farmer, but do we need farmers? Yes. You understand what I’m saying? And somebody’s got to grow the food. There’s something for everybody to do. And everybody has to do their part in order for it to get along. But you can’t look forward to big government. It’s just not the answers. Politicians lie. They sell you a dream. That’s been their MO. Why is all of a sudden we need the political system? No I need you to be able to do your best whatever your goal is. You understand what I’m saying? And the war, we’re at war. It’s a reality... Male: Can we help each other to get there? Sarah: Sure. Male: Do you think that there’s not enough... Sarah: There’s no other way unless we help each other. Male: Is there not enough help for people, especially the youth, that don’t have the direction... ---PAGE BREAK--- Sarah: The governments gone corrupted therefore corrupting everything else under my identity and that’s the truth. It’s like Male: So what about the community outside the government? Do you think the community can come together and support especially the youth and people who need it? Sarah: Without it we don’t have a future, you know what I’m saying? If you don’t look towards the youth, which is what I found in this particular area, it’s a blessing because of places like the library or they got Friends of the Youth. But it’s a blessing because you get ages from zero to ninety-nine, you know what I’m saying? They’re all right here. And the thirst for education is here. I want to move forward. It’s in them, but then you got this bureaucracy that’s going to come right in and tear them down every time you move forward, every time there’s some togetherness. United we fall divided we stand, united we stand divided we fall, I said that wrong. And that’s basically it sounds old and kind of outdated, but it’s the truth. So we just got some issues going on within America and it’s made us the laughing stock of the world basically. How can a country so rich, if you meet one hundred foreigners from all across the world and 70% or more say that it makes us laugh when we come to America and see people standing on the streets begging us for money. Well, I’m from Switzerland, we don’t have that problem. I’m from Russia, we don’t have that problem. We take care of our own. Then I mean it becomes embarrassing because then it’s real obvious that everybody could see that it’s not just this person, you know what I’m saying? It’s kind of like a way of life. But it isn’t really a way of life, it’s big business. And you guys do your homework. I’ve given you some of the information that I know of. I think living out here and it’s called in the state of Michigan, involuntary homelessness which means you’re not the reason why you’re homeless. Somebody forced you, put you into homelessness and that’s where you got to go. Well you look into it most times it’s always that way. Nobody grows up saying well, I want to be homeless, you know what I’m saying? The reality of it all is wrong leadership it’s wrong morals, wrong values. Homelessness is not about prostitution and drugs or criminal activity or mental illness or what is the other one they use? You get so many labels where you see a person in the street well, that person must be on drugs. No, not necessarily. See a person in the street you must have done something wrong. What did you do wrong? Sometimes I talk to the youth a lot of times and just what I’m saying and it’s terrible. And I just have to be real honest with them all the time and say don’t look at this as something you’ve done. It’s war like I said you’ve got soldiers coming home I talk to them all the time from Afghanistan and Iraq and things ---PAGE BREAK--- are so much more different when they got back and prior to them leaving and the coping mechanism is not strong. And then they’re either mentally ill. No you’re not ill. The reality we go illegal immigrants who have taken over basically, where it used to be an American born citizen so how do you handle that? You’ve got human trafficking like I talked about prostitution. If you’re on the streets you don’t necessarily have to be an alcoholic because you see a person drink. They could be literally coping, well I can’t handle this. Here’s my sedative. We talked about that with the legalization of marijuana. I’m pro the legalization of marijuana and some other drugs that may be used as medicible [sic] purposes in order to get you through. And I used to be anti-cocaine, but when I had injuries from living in the streets that I received from injuries in the streets the cocaine pad I call it it’s got Lidoderm, lidodel [sic] whatever the pharmaceutical name, it served its purpose. You put the cocaine patch on where you were hurt and then all of a sudden you didn’t feel any more pain. So I told some people that I know I said I can’t be anti-cocaine anymore. So I’m saying everything has its purpose. You’re put on this planet you have your purpose. The plants, the water, the air that we breathe, you know what I’m saying? And we’re falling too far behind. I think that there’s some serious issues that need to go on, I mean some serious things that need to happen in order for the issues to be resolved but they’re definitely resolvable. You just have to have the will and the know-how. Know-how’s really important. You learn master then you teach so to speak. How can you think you’re a master at something if you never learned you know what I’m saying? How can you teach me if you never learned? You learn you master then you teach. And keeping God in there. God is beautiful too, giving people hope most importantly. And my experience with that is that what is it state and church doesn’t mix? Well it already has if you have the churches giving us the food and then they have to live by policies and procedures that are set laws and regulations that are set by the government then it already has. And it puts the church in a compromising situation because then you can’t keep teaching us morals and values of God in order for us to be our best because you got big brother government looking over us. You see what I’m saying? It’s all related but we need the right big brother; family, education, things that really, really matter when you’re out here on the streets. Where’s my mother? Where’s my brother? Where’s my child? Where’s my grandpa? Where’s my auntie? Where’s my uncle? So there’s some issues that need to be handled but I think first and foremost we have to stick with the basics of life. This person’s somebody basically. When you’re a teacher in elementary school I’m trying to relate it back to something ---PAGE BREAK--- that’s so basic that everybody can catch on. If a teacher has thirty-five to twenty-eight students I think it is in kindergarten does the teacher only select who they’re going to teach the lesson to or do you teach the whole class? This trained professional doesn’t say well I’m going to give you these privileges, you these privileges, and these two over here you just go over in the corner act like you don’t hear me. You teach the whole class. That’s what time it is. The whole class has to be retaught. And I think our time is running out here in America as far as our social values are concerned. We’ve been in this fourteen years for me so I’m doing everything I can. I bought adult coloring books and crayons yesterday, you know what I’m saying? I’m a retiree. I worked all my life, retired at thirty-one, but I got to live on the streets of America after working for Ford, General Motors, Shearson Lehman, Hutton, the banking system, the social welfare system, the educational system on a colleague level, you understanding? All of a sudden, I’m mentally disturbed. Can’t have my kids, I’m a bad mom. What is this all about? So let’s deal with the real issues. I’m also the world’s richest heiress and so I can help a lot. And I wouldn’t have gotten all this knowledge if it wasn’t for being out here and listening to the people. Oh yeah, the police officers, law enforcement agency is behind than a lot of the other countries because of the fact that the high-tech system hasn’t been re-innovated or what is the word? They need to implement a new program in order to make it so that criminals can actually be caught. Like you have hackers and they’re not high-tech enough. And the court system, the judical [sic] is outdated as far as the type of crimes that can be committed. Identity theft; the average person in the streets has their identity stolen. Oh, I mean it goes on and on and on. So this person has to live in the streets in order for another sometimes we’ll say at least twenty million to run around under that one person’s identity because that person’s credentials may be better than the next or something like that. So, I mean, there’s social issues. You talk about graveyard robbing of identities and America’s gone too far in the immoral and ethnical... [audio ends]