Cartels Not Behind Human Smuggling, Questions About Alternative To Foster Care, LGBTQ Sexual Violence

Speaker 1: 00:01 Study, examined human smuggling from Central America and alternative to foster care is under scrutiny. I'm jade Hindman and I'm mark Sauer in for Maureen Cavenaugh. This is KPBS midday edition. Speaker 1: 00:22 It's Tuesday, April 23rd our top story today on midday edition. What's known about the smuggling trade, bringing hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers to our southern border and beyond the key questions, how does smuggling work from Central American countries and how lucrative is it for smugglers or Rand Corporation? Study out this week, attempts to pin down answers with mixed results. Joining me is blast and Munoz and Neto. He's a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation and a coauthor of the report. Welcome. Thank you very much, mark. Delighted to be here. Well, the study focuses on the smuggling of people from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in 2017 start with a broad findings. How much revenue was generated for smugglers. Speaker 2: 01:08 So what we found was that there's a wide range in the estimated revenues associated with human smuggling, which went from about 200 million on the low end to about two point $3 billion in 2017 Speaker 1: 01:23 and what accounts for such a wide wide range in these figures? Speaker 2: 01:27 So a lot of it has to do with the limited data that's available, um, on these issues. So in order to make this estimate, you have to know how many unauthorized migrants are coming to the u s not, not just those that are being apprehended, but you know, coming, uh, you have to know what percent of those migrants use smugglers and you have to know what the average fee they paid was. So we relied on some internal DHS data. Uh, we also used data from the collected data from [inaudible] in Mexico. Uh, and one of our recommendations for DHS is actually that if, if they find that this information is useful, uh, they, uh, need to look at ways to more systematically collect and clean the data that they have. Speaker 1: 02:06 Right. And we're going to delve into these figures. You're referring of course to the Department of Homeland Security, DHS now, um, how do, how much did migrates typically pay smugglers to bring them north? Speaker 2: 02:17 So it really depends what kind of service there, um, uh, contracting for. And one of the other major findings in our study is that there's really a broad spectrum of actors engaged in human smuggling and only some of them and potentially relatively few of them are what we traditionally think of as transnational criminal organizations or, you know, very organized, formal smuggling networks. Uh, there's a lot of independent actors working in this trade that may really only be working in a given location on the route north. And what am I going to pay is depends on how robust a set of services they're asking. They're looking for. Some migrants pay for end to end service. They'll pay one fee, you know, in Guatemala, say, and that will get them all the way to the u s others really kind of pay as they go, you know, so they, they try to make it, uh, north on their own. And then when they get stuck, they'll pay someone locally to help them. Speaker 1: 03:12 And you found the, you, the range was about six to $10,000 a on what's spent a four. This on Speaker 2: 03:19 average we found that, uh, on the low end, 6,000 high end, 10,000 seem to be the, you know, what was supported by the data. Speaker 1: 03:26 Okay. And how many, uh, folks, uh, these migrants, do they hire smugglers Speaker 2: 03:30 in looking at, um, subject matter expert interviews and uh, open source reporting as well as the data we looked at? You know, I think it's safe to say, uh, a majority of migrants probably use a smuggler, at least for a portion of the journey. I think where it gets tricky is, you know, it's difficult to really have a reliable estimate for how many are using end to end services versus how many are using, you know, just a portion of, of the route. Speaker 1: 03:57 And what are the means of transport, transportation? How are these people transport it? Speaker 2: 04:02 Uh, generally we found is that they use overland routes. Uh, and that can be, you know, anything from buses to taxis to, you know, trains or, or walking. We did not find a lot of evidence for, you know, maritime or, or air transportation being used. Speaker 1: 04:19 This was a, again, the calendar year, 2017 how many people were estimated to pay for passage to the U s that year? Speaker 2: 04:26 We didn't have one estimate. We estimated a pretty broad range. And so, you know, on the low end of our estimate, we looked at, you know, probably about 20 to 25% using smugglers on the high end of the estimate. I think we looked at about two thirds or 66% on it using smugglers. Well, we weren't able to identify, you know, one overall percent for people using smugglers. Speaker 1: 04:50 And can we assume these numbers a, the total number of migrants coming or higher now with the surging figures from the early months of 2019? Speaker 2: 04:59 Yeah, so obviously our report is based on 2017 data. I think what we've seen so far in 2019 is that, um, at least if you measure, um, you know, migrant flows by apprehensions using apprehensions made by agents as a proxy, we're going to more or less triple apprehensions this year than we did in 2017. So, you know, I, I think if the trends in our report continue today, I think you'd be looking at basically three times, you know, the estimate for this year. Speaker 1: 05:31 And what did the study find regarding you drug smuggling in addition to trafficking and people? Well, Speaker 2: 05:37 there's a lot of, I would say loose talk out there that the Mexican drug cartels are directly involved in bringing migrants to the border. We really found no evidence of that. What we did find is that the Mexican drug cartels, uh, we'll pay, we'll charge a tax or what's known as a piece. So in Mexico, uh, to you smuggling groups and migrants that are transiting the territory that is controlled by a cartel, uh, for the cartel. That's basically pure profit. Uh, and our, our estimate for that range was 32, $180 million in 2017. Speaker 1: 06:13 And what does the Rand Corporation study recommend going forward? Speaker 2: 06:17 We had a, a couple of recommendations out, one related again to the, the data that DHS collects on, uh, the use of smugglers and uh, what migrants paid a smuggler. So border patrol agents, you know, we'll interview migrants when they're apprehended and ask some questions, but it's not really done very systematically in the data is very noisy. Um, which generally means that it's just not super reliable. So one of our core recommendations was if they found this study useful, uh, that they should look at ways to improve that data collection to make the data more reliable. Um, a second core recommendation was that, uh, we talked a little earlier about the wide range of actors in engaged in human smuggling. And what this really means is that, um, smugglers, you know, can and do move up and down that spectrum. So you will see smugglers that may operate in one location and smuggled migrants and then they may, you know, also link up with other smugglers and that makes it difficult to target these organizations. But the one kind of smuggler that that seems to be, you know, worth focusing efforts on or some of these more robust facilitators who generally work, you know, in the northern triangle countries in Central America and you know, connect migrants with smuggling networks and basically recruit the migrants. So one of the challenges with that obviously is that those individuals are generally not in the United States. So one of our recommendations is that a DHS should spend more attention focusing on partnerships with international law enforcement partners in order to target some of these individuals. Speaker 1: 07:57 All right. I've been speaking with blast Nuñez Neto senior policy researcher with the Rand Corporation and coauthor of this report. Thanks very much. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to be here. Speaker 3: 08:10 Yeah, Speaker 4: 08:11 no child should be left in the care of an abusive parent, but that's the concern around San Diego counties voluntary services program, which is an alternative to foster care. The program is meant to offer support to families and keep them together rather than split them apart by placing children into the foster care system. But it may be causing more harm than good. Morgan Cook, a reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune to watchdog investigations team has been covering this story and joined us with more and Morgan. Welcome. Hi. So tell us more about these voluntary services agreements. How do they work and what's the main idea behind them? Voluntary services agreements are a tool that the county uses in lieu of foster care when it is possible for the child to be kept safe in the home. So if they can keep the child in the home safely, they want to try to do that. Speaker 4: 09:03 And they do that by coming up with an agreement typically between the social worker and the family. And they agreed together that the family will receive certain kinds of services, um, that will hopefully mitigate the risk or you know, prevent the possibility that children will be maltreated in the future. And you wrote about the case of a three month old baby girl who was hospitalized with serious brain injuries. Um, what were you able to find out about that case? We were able to find out, you know, several things about it, but it was, it was heavily redacted. So we were kind of trying to gather the information, you know, around the redactions and kind of stitch it into a coherent narrative about what happened to the child. So, you know, we learned about when she was injured, what these social workers found when they talk to family members and doctors and other people involved and what they decided to do and essentially how they decided to do it. Speaker 4: 10:06 So how do volunteer service agreements cases compared to the cases that go through the foster care system? The cases that go through the foster care system, um, happen in a court, you know, formal setting. Um, and those children are removed from their homes and taken under the protection of the juvenile court. And then the juvenile court places them, you know, in another home where they will be safe. Uh, and then hopefully they can either be reunified with their families or adopted by another family. Voluntary services cases are different in the sense that they don't, they often don't involve the courts at all and the children are typically allowed to stay in their homes. Wild. These services are being provided to parents and you know, the services I'm talking about would be, you know, counseling help with unemployment, education about child development, things like that. You know, people have substance abuse problems that can hook them up with treatment for that and all of that can go on without those people losing their kids. Speaker 4: 11:09 And do you have a sense of how many voluntary services cases are handled by the county? Yes. Um, the county handled about, well, about 1500 kids spend at least one day and voluntary services in the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2017 and the working group that looked at how the county handles these cases came about after a ut investigation into abuse in the counties foster care system. What other concerns did the group race? The group raised all kinds of concerns. They raise concerns about the culture at the health and Human Services Agency and how, you know, what it would it needed was some reorganization and some, you know, to make the uh, the practices and procedures more coherent across the whole region. And they then said, you know, there's social workers who have secondary post traumatic stress because of this work that they do. It's really hard. They see a lot of things that nobody wants to see. Speaker 4: 12:08 And so they need support too. They need, you know, mental health support, they need coping skills. All of those things. They wanted them to, you know, they had some concerns about policy for voluntary services and how those families are selected. And they suggested, you know, a large committee of people who might be able to, you know, decide together if a family is appropriate for voluntary services. They've talked about all kinds of stuff, funding and how things should be organized within the agency and how oversight should happen, what information the public should have, whether children should be attending their own court hearings. I mean there were a lot of things that they brought up. And after reporting the story, what is the most surprising thing you found? I think one of the most surprising things I found about it is, is that it's just, it's, um, we use it a lot. Speaker 4: 12:59 I mean more than I would think because I wasn't really aware of its existence. It's something that happens really I guess largely outside of the public's view. And so it was kind of surprising to me that we're trying to protect all these children, uh, using this tool that isn't well understood by the public. Did the working group provide any recommendations and how is the county responding? The county is responding by saying, you know, yes, these are changes that we think are great ideas and we're going to go for it. You know, like setting up a dedicated staff of social workers to just handle voluntary services cases, you know, setting up dedicated staff of social workers to just handle, you know, emergency investigations of children who have allegations of abuse while they're in care, you know, foster care or something. And they took a lot of the recommendations to heart and then others they are planning to study to see what's feasible. Speaker 4: 14:00 You know, they have to study workloads and they have to study staffing and see if it's possible to, to do some of the things that the working groups suggested. And I'm wondering if you have a sense of what the status is of the, of the foster care system. Is it overtaxed? Is this voluntary services program, um, put in place to sort of mitigate that or ease some of that or what's the situation there? That was unclear to me, but I get the sense that the county is really, you know, they're, they've are working towards their values, which is to try to keep families together while keeping kids safe. And this is a way that they are trying to do that. As far as the health of the overall system, I mean, I think that these reports make it clear that there's room for improvement, but there's room for improvement in every system. Speaker 4: 14:48 And so I don't think that that means that San Diego's is functioning particularly poorly or has any huge problems compared to others. That's not really something that we can see well, but speaking to people, you know, reporting this story, I think a lot of people have a lot of confidence in the system and they think it works really well overall, but it just has some areas where it really needs to take a hard look at what's going on and see if it can make it better. I been speaking with Morgan Cook, a reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune is watchdog investigations team. Morgan, thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. Thank you. Coming up the conference addressing the me too movement of the LGBTQ. It is 1221 and you're listening to KPBS midday edition. Speaker 5: 15:45 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4: 15:48 This is KPBS midday edition. I'm jade Hindman Speaker 1: 15:52 and I'm mark Sauer. Baby boomers are retiring the pig and the python generation numbering 75 million at first has had a huge impact at every stage of life. As those born between 1946 and 1964 move through their sixties seventies eighties and beyond. The impact on California will be profound. For starters, the state senior population will double green. California is an 11 part series, part of the California dream project. A media collaboration in which KPBS as a partner. Joining me is Adrian Hill, senior editor of the California dream project. Adrian, welcome. Speaker 5: 16:28 Thanks so much for having me. Speaker 1: 16:29 Well, Green California. Why is this an important story to tell? Speaker 5: 16:33 I think for a lot of the reasons you just mentioned to seniors are the fastest growing demographic in California right now and as we have more and more seniors, there'll be profound implications in California for everything from housing to the job market to healthcare, public services, all of which are really part of the California dream and part of what this collaboration is charged with looking at. But we also wanted to tell the really human side of the story, not just the policy side of the story. So we focused our storytelling on profiles, building them around seniors themselves, understanding what's really hard and what can be really lovely about getting older in California. Speaker 1: 17:09 All right, and give us a sense of why you chose the specific stories we're going to hear in the series and how they represent what's happening across the state. Speaker 5: 17:16 Well, we were guided really by two things in picking the stories that we did. One was the data. What do we actually know about California is aging population. But more than that, we put out a couple of questions and forms, inquiries to our audiences, asking them about their experiences getting older. And we got more than a hundred responses. A few things were clear. Affordability is a really, really big issue for seniors in California as it is for everyone. So we have a couple of stories about affordability, um, including one that Amica Sharma did down in San Diego. There are about a homeless man who lives on the streets with very little chance of actually finding a home. We also heard a lot about seniors who were finding the opportunity or time in their old age to really explore something they'd always wanted to or sort of achieve their dreams in a new way. Speaker 5: 18:01 There's a retired chef in San Francisco that we profiled that now spends all of his time in a lot of his disposable income, really cooking for his community. We meet a couple, an artist and a poet and Hummel who were able to sell property in Pasadena and moved down there and are really living their very best life and we have a lovely story set in Fresno. It's a guy who dropped out of college when he was a kid. He went to work at the car dealership down the street. He has been there his whole career, 40 years I think, and now he's going back to college. Speaker 6: 18:31 See my brother graduated, my wife did, two of my kids have and like I didn't, I didn't finish college. I'm the only one of my family that didn't and it really bothered me for a long time. Speaker 5: 18:44 It's a really lovely story Speaker 1: 18:46 and one of the stories coming as part of the series from cal matters reporter or met 11 looks at the numbers. Give us a preview of what he found about just how old California is getting [inaudible] Speaker 5: 18:56 as old as Florida. That's Matt. Big Takeaway from the story, but according to stay projections, by 2030 more than 9 million Californians will be over the age of 65 3 million more than there are today. Within a decade, more than 20% of the state's residents will be seniors, which is I higher proportion than Florida. We also know that California seniors are more diverse and that baby boomers had a lower birth rate than previous generations, and this is really interesting. We know that there are a growing number of seniors without family to care for them. So you've got loneliness is an issue, housing is an issue, and also healthcare. So much caregiving is done by family. According to the CDC, one in six California adults is actually a caregiver. Speaker 1: 19:37 That's remarkable. That's a huge number. Absolutely. So those seniors, well, children to help care for them. What's the state going to do to bridge that gap? Speaker 5: 19:46 The state is working on it. Governor Gavin Newsome has called for a new master plan on aging and I think there's a sense that one of the things the state is going to have to address is who's going to help care for our aging population and where are these people going to live. Speaker 1: 19:58 And the story we're about to hear comes from KPCC reporter David Wagner. What's it about? Speaker 5: 20:04 It's about another thing we heard a lot from our audience and the data and it's that seniors are working much later in life past the age of 65 today, 20% of California seniors are still in the labor force. A lot of them cause they just can't afford to retire. But the seniors who most need a job often have the hardest time finding one. Speaker 1: 20:23 And I've been speaking with California Dreams, senior editor, Adrian Hill, and we're going to hear that first part of our series Green California. Thanks Adrian. Thank you. And here's KPCC reporter David Wagner, Speaker 6: 20:35 71 year old Emma Allen has the kind of warm smile you need to be a good receptionist. I'm the first one that they see when they come in the door and uh, whenever they need help with that, know where to direct him to here at the senior in south Los Angeles, she greets people at the front desk. She answers the phone. Speaker 4: 20:51 Good morning people coordinated services. This is Emma. Hi Maggie. Wreck your car. The caller wants to know what's on for lunch on the menu today they have orange juice, Turkey terragon to biscuits, Speaker 6: 21:04 but it's pretty clear. Lunch isn't why he called. He just wanted to say hi to Emma. Speaker 7: 21:08 I'm doing fine. How about yourself then? You're doing good then. Yes you are. Speaker 6: 21:15 Emma is filling this role as part of a job training program for low income seniors through the city of La. She's been here more than four years and says the people are now like family. Speaker 7: 21:24 You come in, sometimes you're not feeling well, but then the first person to do the dual would have a big smile on their face and give one an elbow and that whole gloom gets goes away. Speaker 6: 21:34 This program is supposed to help seniors find jobs, but it's not supposed to become a permanent job. Emma has to leave the program in May is very rewarding and I'm going to miss it. She needs a new job. She says, because social security isn't enough to live on like many seniors. She has no savings. They were eaten up by medical bills toward the end of her husband's life. Speaker 7: 21:54 This is, I don't have a choice. I need the income Speaker 6: 21:57 working. It's nothing new for Emma. She's been a probation officer, uh, special education teacher's aid. She's worked at a meat packing plant. Now she's open to pretty much anything Speaker 7: 22:06 and I guess I'm a people person. So anything to do with people Speaker 6: 22:09 to stay in this training program, Emma has had to constantly be looking for a job. She's documented her search in this thick Manila folder. Every place she's applying to has its own entry. Speaker 4: 22:19 I went to JC penny, I went to big lies. I went to grandkids, help out with the online applications. But so far, no luck. I went to Jack in the box target. No one has ever outright told her she's too old. But Emma, thanks. That's part of why she's not getting higher. Right. Speaker 7: 22:33 I could feel the, you could tear half the time. Now even look at the application, I have them fill one out. They just look at me, you know, the seed that I'm older and uh, I guess they figured I can't keep up or whatever. Speaker 6: 22:46 Looking at all these places that you've applied, looking at all this paperwork, how does it make you feel Speaker 7: 22:53 tab? Because out of all this somewhere, this should have been something I'm running out of the places, uh, and I'm nowhere else to go. Speaker 6: 23:02 If she doesn't find a job, she'll have to move in with one of her kids. But she doesn't want to be a burden and she wants to keep working. Speaker 7: 23:08 It's the part of making me feel that I'm worth something. I'm contributing stuff too and not just sitting on my hands waiting for somebody to give me something. Maybe some, but down and last about him. I see that Speaker 6: 23:21 in Los Angeles. I am David Wagner. Speaker 8: 23:27 Okay. Speaker 4: 23:28 And unusual and potentially deadly disease is making a growing number of San Diego County children. Sick KPBS health reporter Susan Murphy Talk to a team of researchers who say it may be caused by something in the air. Yes ma'am. It says Emilia Speaker 9: 23:46 and Lucy for my daughters. Amelia Horvitz was admitted to Rady children's hospital in February. You didn't like the heart medicine. I know she had a high fever, swollen lymph nodes in her neck and read cracked lips. She started having the rash. She started having red hands and feet were swelling a little bit and then her eyes were also getting very bloodshot. Her mother, Laura Horvitz says, doctors immediately ruled out the flu staph infection Mano, and so as their symptoms kept more and more were coming and they were becoming more prevalent, that's when they took her in for the echocardiogram and she was identified as Kawasaki Disease. Speaker 10: 24:27 [inaudible] is one of 50 children in San Diego county to be diagnosed with Kawasaki disease since January. That's three times more than usual. The disease generally affects children under the age of five left untreated. It can fatally damage the heart in one of four children. Speaker 9: 24:44 Kawasaki disease to me is the most compelling mystery in clinical pediatrics right now because the answer's seems like it must be staring us in the face. Speaker 10: 24:58 Dr. Jane Burns is a professor of pediatrics at Uc San Diego and director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center. She says most of the children recently diagnosed in San Diego County. We're treated early enough to prevent heart damage, but for some even early treatment wasn't enough. She says those children will require lifelong treatment Speaker 9: 25:19 and without the proper followup, which can keep all of these individuals safe, there can be disastrous consequences. Speaker 10: 25:27 Burns and her team meet every week to discuss new research and review cases. We don't think like high temperature causes. Cows are disease or even the high temperature is linked to whatever the thing is. That team includes Jennifer Burnie and environmental scientists with UC San Diego. We actually think there's, it's more indicators of atmosphere conditions. Bernie believes the culprit and maybe air flowing across the Pacific Ocean from Asia to San Diego stirred up by unusual weather patterns. Speaker 9: 25:55 What we know is that historically in San Diego County, when you see these moments of high incidents of Kawasaki, they're associated with a set of conditions. So higher temperatures, higher daytime and nighttime temperatures. Um, and uh, reduced circulation across the Pacific. Speaker 10: 26:14 Bernie says pockets of air get trapped and that seems to be linked to a spike in cases. The unknown is what exactly is in the air that triggers the disease, which is found all over the world. Her research points to aerosol particles. Speaker 9: 26:28 Some of these come from natural sources like um, like dust or sea salt. Some of them are biologic fungus, bacteria, virus and some of them are from anthropogenic activity. Things like burning fossil fuels. Speaker 10: 26:42 Bernie studying data Speaker 9: 26:44 on when and where kids are getting sick to try to catch the culprit, figure out sort of statistically how to sample for something that's kind of sparse potentially in the atmosphere. How do you do that in a way that you might actually catch the thing at the moment that it is exposing kids? The current paradigm is that if you are born with the genetic susceptibility, you will get Kawasaki Disease. It's just a question of when you'll come across the trigger. Speaker 10: 27:13 Dr. Burns, director of the research team dedicated her life to studying the disease after one of her patients died of it 35 years ago. She says, children of all races have been sickened, but Asian children and boys are at a higher risk. She imagines a time in the near future when every baby will be genetically screened for the disease Speaker 9: 27:35 and then we would vaccinate them so they would never need to suffer Kawasaki disease and we would just wipe it out. That's my dream. That's my dream. That's a better world. Yeah. Speaker 10: 27:49 Susan Murphy Kpbs News, Speaker 11: 27:58 a conference aimed at addressing the me too movement and the Lgbtq community is planned for this Saturday. San Diego Pride is hoping it gives people the tools they need to respond to sexual violence, which happens at a much higher rate in the Lgbtq community. Joining me to discuss the me to Lgbtq conference is Fernando Lopez, the executive director of San Diego Pride. Fernando, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. So this is the second year for this conference and it was a personal experience for you that led to the creation of it. Can you tell us about that experience? Yes. So it was six years ago in May when I found myself needing services and care. I had been raped and sexually assaulted. I had been drugged in my own community. And as I began the steps that one would take to beacon, navigating that care for yourself at every step, I recognize that there was intrinsic homophobia, transphobia that was woven into the system that maybe people didn't realize or recognize the implicit bias that they had. Speaker 11: 29:03 And so some of it was um, upsetting. Some of it was re traumatizing. It can say the responding officer on the scene, the words out of her mouth were, so what do you want me to do about it? Um, some of the materials I received talked about the shame associated with being gay, which is really old language. And then the shame that you would experience being a victim and there was no material that was culturally competent for the LGBT community. And over time I recognized that while I needed to care for myself that for almost 20 years I've been a community organizer. And so what could I do to make things better for other survivors of sexual assault? And so sorry, you experienced that, you know, LG, the LGBT community is more likely to experience sexual violence more so than straight, cisgender or non trans people. Speaker 11: 30:00 Why is that? I think it all starts at the beginning. I mean the, we're living in a society and in social structures and systems that were never designed for the Lgbtq community. So it can start in childhood and simple normative behavior that is not granted towards intimacy for young people. So deconstructing homophobia and transphobia are key in helping our LGBTQ community be raised in an environment where they can live full and authentic lives. You know, when you look at 40% of homeless youth are Lgbtq identified because their families reject them, these youth are finding rejections from their friends at school. The faculty at school, their families and institutions of faith. So the societal structures that are in place to protect us and help us and guide us and mold us to be functioning members of society aren't there in the same way. And then let's talk about the fact that we don't have fully culturally competent sex education that includes people of the LGBT community or sex education that is based around issues of consent. Speaker 11: 31:07 And then you add on top of that layers of sexism, racism and classism and the way that all of those things compound and impact marginalized communities, it becomes that much worse. And I think if we're going to talk about battling the rates of sexual violence and intimate partner violence in the LGBT community, we're really talking about how do we holistically combat homophobia and Transphobia as a society. So our systems are better set to take care of us. And you mentioned a number of challenges in your own personal story. What are some of the challenges for members of the Lgbtq community and reporting sexual violence? I think there's a lot. You look at the fact that even here in San Diego, or you know, we live in California, which is a fairly progressive state and there's a lot of laws in place that protect the Lgbtq community. But in San Diego we also have the highest concentration of military personnel and the whole world. Speaker 11: 32:00 And you weren't able to serve openly in the military until late 2011 really 2012 and right now we still have a ban on trans service members. And so when people are talking about protecting their own careers and their livelihoods, sometimes reporting sexual violence can mean putting their own lives and careers at risk. And when you can still be fired from your job in 30 states in this country, how does reporting acts of sexual violence, harassment and sexual assault even by an employer, how does that jeopardize your career? You're standing, your housing, your economic stability for yourself and your family. And so how does Saturday's conference aimed to some of these challenges? So Saturday's conferences geared specifically towards service providers in general community members who want to learn more about sexual assault in the LGBT community and what trauma informed care looks like. So five years ago we put together this Lgbtq survivor task force that was listening to survivors and addressing some of those needs. Speaker 11: 33:05 And two of the biggest needs for survivors that we heard was that service providers, either we're not Lgbtq, culturally competent or LGBT organizations did not have enough trauma informed care and didn't know enough about sexual assault. So this conference hopes to bridge some of that gap and begin to bring folks together who understand this information and begin to teach one another. And I read that this conference aims to really be the first step in a longer term solution. Um, what are those next steps? So I think it's all part of that bigger story. So some of it is this public education. It's the fact that you and I are speaking on the air about sexual assault and the LGBT community. How many times does that happen? And making sure that those stories are being told that this is in the public consciousness. Another part is ensuring that our school districts are actually being compliant with the laws and regulations that are in place to actually teach sex ed that is based in science based around consent and inclusive of the LGBT community in a competent way and so, and again, I think it's all of us looking at the world around us differently. Speaker 11: 34:16 How can consent be a part of our daily lives and everything that we do and how can we all work to deconstruct homophobia and transphobia and all of those things don't mean anything unless we're also tackling issues of sexism, racism, and class. I've been speaking to San Diego Pride, executive director, Fernando Lopez. Fernando, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having us. The me to Lgbtq conference is on Saturday at the San Diego LGBT community center and Hillcrest. It starts@nineamyoucanregisteratsdpride.org backslash me to Lgbtq. This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm jade Hindman Speaker 1: 35:04 and I'm mark Sauer. 10% of African American students at Hoover high school had been suspended at least once. They also leg behind their peers in English and math. That's why a few schools, staff members decided to start a program specifically for African American males. KPBS reporter Prius Sri. There has the story. Speaker 11: 35:26 It's lunchtime at Hoover high school in city heights and while most kids are hanging out with their friends, a group of teenagers has decided to participate in a new program called brothers of excellence. Armani Hamlin Speaker 12: 35:37 is in the 11th grade. Speaker 13: 35:39 It really resonated with me that I would be able to be with other people from my school who are more likely Speaker 12: 35:44 out of more than 2000 students on the Hoover campus, only around a hundred or African American. Some teachers and staff said they wanted to create a space where African American men could learn about their history and be inspired by mentors from the community. Robert sprigs has worked in security at the school for 13 years. He, along with other school staff helps start the program. Speaker 13: 36:07 There's maybe a handful of African American male role models on this campus. And so, uh, I wanted to enlighten the young men, uh, by you know, being positive and doing some things around here that can help them to see who they are and who they can become Speaker 12: 36:23 on this meeting of brothers of excellence. That role model is James Williams. The navy veteran says he spent years of his childhood homeless, dropped out of school and joined a gang but was able to turn his life around thanks to a teacher who believed in him. Speaker 13: 36:38 I am hoping that I can uh, let them know that there is a opportunity, there is a way out of whatever the situation may be if they take advantage of their time. Now Speaker 12: 36:49 the program is also hoping to tackle some of the challenges African American students face in school. Three out of four in the state of California are not reading at grade level according to the Department of Education. Ronald Preston Clark is a student teacher at the school and he helps lead the program. Everyone's, Speaker 14: 37:07 one thing we always like to come back to is that literacy element. And that literacy component where they understand that if they read literature that looks like them, that speaks to them, um, one, it will make them a lover of reading. And then secondly, it would allow them to explore identities that they might not be able to otherwise. Speaker 12: 37:26 Many of the students, like 11th graders Salla [inaudible] say they feel more comfortable talking about their issues at school with other students who are like them. Speaker 15: 37:34 It feels like family, like everyone is like open and share their feelings and emotions and it just makes you want to progress and be like, I better human being for the community. Speaker 12: 37:44 Armani Hamlin says it has inspired him to give back to the community when he graduates. Speaker 13: 37:50 I hope to always have this resonate with me and one day when I become super successful, come back and help for pharmacists group and help it grow. So another student who's probably like me sees someone like me and thanks while I can do that, I want to be the stepping stone that people look at so then they can become successful. And to give back to the community. Speaker 12: 38:11 The school staff, like Robert Sprig says he hopes it can empower students to see African American men in a positive way. Speaker 13: 38:19 Just look on the news. Young men are being slain, um, either by the hand of other black men or by the police. So, uh, I rather get them in a situation where I can pour into them and empower them to be, to make better decisions and better choices with their lives. Speaker 12: 38:36 Every week around two dozen students have been showing up. Armani Hamlin Speaker 13: 38:41 Hoover high is a school of 2000 kids with limitless potential, but they don't know it. And once they come into groups like this safe zones with 40, 50 students who they all have something in common with, that's why this club's necessary, this club gets, right now we're looking at around 30 students to look further than just high school. I know what they want to do in life. Speaker 12: 39:00 Building a brotherhood to chase their dreams. Prius Sri, there k PBS news. Speaker 16: 39:11 Yeah. Speaker 1: 39:12 When you think about the early punk hip hop, we're skate scenes. You may think of London or New York, but San Diego had its own underground culture. The San Diego History Center is celebrating that culture with a new exhibit curator. Katie Johnson spoke with evening edition host Ebony Monet at the history center as the exhibit was being installed and you're going to hear some construction noises. Here's that interview. Speaker 17: 39:36 Tell us about this new exhibit in how it all came about. Well, this most recent exhibit is, I'm not like you notes from the San Diego Undergrad and it really celebrates the unique facets of skate, hip hop and punk subcultures in San Diego from the late 1970s to the early 1990s Speaker 14: 39:52 can you talk about, you know, the early signs that there was an emerging punk scene here in San Diego? Speaker 17: 39:57 You know, it really kind of started in the mid 1970 so I think one of the earliest band, some people claim it's one of the earliest punk bands in California. It's called the Zeros there from Chula Vista here in San Diego County. So that was like kind of when things really started germinating in terms of the punk scene in San Diego and they just took off from there. What's the punk scene really all about? A lot of it has to do with kind of a outside the mainstream stance, kind of a form of resistance. It's many, many things. And also I'm kind of a DIY ethos or sensibility. A lot of people came up and just learned how to do things themselves and created this really strong scene that has like, I mean resonates still today. Punk was very important Speaker 14: 40:37 and it seems like punk music has in pop culture has an element of like anti establishment. San Diego has a reputation of being a conservative town. Um, how did that jive in, in San Diego? Any back? Speaker 17: 40:52 You know, the pushback mostly it wasn't so much from the military. There was a lot of friction between punks and the police back in the day. So there was a lot of, one punks would, when they'd have shows the police would show up and the show would end. So there was a lot of kind of cat and mouse game with the, the police in terms of the punk scene and where was the punk scene in, in San Diego. It was all over the place, but it was really, a lot of it was concentrated downtown. Um, there were a lot of punks who live downtown and the punk and art scenes were very much kind of dovetail. That's a really important thing to note. A lot of it happened downtown and then a lot of the shows took place at um, like halls and um, uh, different venues like that, that we're not big concert. And you know, this is pre cows by Speaker 14: 41:34 so you can understand the connection between the early punk scene and the early hip hop scene. But um, can you talk about what links all three because you also have included the skate scene as well, Speaker 17: 41:45 right. Um, skate because I think that they all at the very core skate, hip hop and punk all have creativity at their core. And if kind of a form of resistance and this DIY sensibility, they all share this. Um, so a lot of them are centered around music as a creative form. Art as a creative form. I mean, behind us right here we have a, um, a piece that we commissioned by a graffiti writer name escape. So I think that they all intersect in that way. Um, and they all kind of emerged and thrived, especially, you know, during the late 1970s to the early 1990s during the 1980 [inaudible]. Speaker 14: 42:17 How would the, um, San Diego punk scene in the San Diego hip hop scene fit into the larger scenes as, as a whole happening across the country? Speaker 17: 42:28 You know, it's interesting and I think in terms of hip hop, especially with graffiti writers, there are a lot of people in men in the military who were stationed here in San Diego from elsewhere, especially the east coast. They would come and teach some of the graffiti writers how to write an east coast style. So you, so I think that it was a highly localized see, but it also had connections to the outside by people who were by outside influences and, and kind of these people, you know, sharing what they, what they were doing and what they knew. Speaker 14: 42:53 Talk a little bit more about that. It sounds as if this exhibit has come together from, you know, individuals telling about their personal experiences being involved in these underground cultures here in San Diego. Um, can you, can you talk about where the photos come from and how it all Speaker 17: 43:07 I'm just together? Yes. This is the content of the show is completely sourced from the collections and the histories and the stories that the people who were part of these scenes, 100%. Um, so all these, the people who have given me these things to use our, my, there, the um, the subject matter experts. So I'm trying to tell their stories through their perspectives and through the objects that they have in the memories that they have Speaker 14: 43:29 in the museums and art centers here in Bellville Park. You see oftentimes fine art being celebrated. Why celebrate underground culture? Speaker 17: 43:38 Because it's an important history. These are important histories that have not really been told. And I'm at San Diego History Center, that's what we're interested in doing is telling the story of communities that have not had the chance to represent themselves and to do it through their perspective. So we are telling their story. So Katie, for people who are really excited about this exhibition, um, tell us the details about when it's going to open and how people can see it. Sure. The exhibition opens this Saturday for 20 April 20th at six to 8:00 PM here at the history center, a history study, men members are complimentary and everybody else is $5 there'll be a cash bar and light refreshments and we have, I'm a hip hop and punk playlists made by people who are part of the punk and hip hop scenes that'll be playing throughout and it'll be really, it'll be a lot of fun. It's going to be a celebration and I can't wait to see these members of these three communities coming together and having fun. Thanks so much. Speaker 1: 44:32 You're welcome. Speaker 18: 44:33 Yes. Speaker 1: 44:36 That was Katie Johnson curator of, I'm not like you notes from the San Diego Underground, a new exhibit on San Diego Skate punk and hip hop culture from the 1970s through the 1990s the exhibit runs through October 27th at the San Diego History Center, and Katie Johnson was speaking to evening edition host Ebony and Monet.