Um, can you say your spell your first and last name?
And how old are you? And where are you?
And then could I get you to say and spell your first and last name? Marvin? Julia? Marvin. Oh, you are? Okay. And how old are you?
3343? Alias ages 30. So
and then where are you? Okay, and could you just talk to me about like why you came out today was trying to accomplish?
Okay, Detroit Regional Coordinator for nation. We're trying to push a fair chance housing access to a fair chance housing for those who've been convicted of crimes on if we believe that everyone deserves the best quality of life that they can that they can live, they shouldn't face hurdles, when they try to put a roof over their head. And that's one of the one of the most basic human needs. So without that you can't really build a foundation
facing discrimination. Fast and steady. majority people don't like to hear the President say they did not. Like, if not
that's all I'm gonna say. So like, what are some of the I guess consequences of not providing formerly incarcerated people, adequate housing?
Absolutely, um, if people can't find housing the right way, they're going to do whatever they can to find housing the wrong way. Personally, myself, I was exactly 20 years in prison, but I was exonerated, which means I was innocent, and then I get out of prison, but it was still on my record for about five months. In that five months, it was impossible to find housing, so I had to pay the landlord to take advantage of more estate. And that's unfair. So it turns landlords sometimes into predators, when people pay application fees, knowing that they're going to be denied. So they get application fees and $100 $75. And in a few weeks, they get into an IOC and your background check didn't come out. Right. But you know that you're not going to give them the place to begin with. So that they can start a month. Right? Have
you experienced the same thing? I've been denied?
This, like, I was 39 years of age, I had this reality? Do?
Is there any type of government assistance that provide any type of support to formerly incarcerated people? I mean, is there a process prior to all getting out where they're like, Okay, these are the options that are available.
For those who still have a criminal record and those has been exonerated. If you've been exonerated, there's no help. Wow. But if you roll up on vacation, there are assistance and programs, but it's not quality housing. So they will essentially put you somewhere where it's worse than where you come from, it's worse than prison.
How did you all come out of it? I mean, did you all get any assistance in the long run afterwards? Or was it kind of like, having to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and figure it out yourself?
We, our generation, we have to pull ourselves out of bootstraps. Well, we've created systems on to another organization organizations exonerees, we create a system that makes it easier for those who've been exonerated of being released. But we believe that no matter who you are, you deserve a chance after chance.
Is there anything that you would say to the representatives as they're kind of deciding this bill or trying to figure it out? What do you think that they need to know about this project?
We are human beings. We are the people they represent. They represent the people. We don't want to see people living on the streets. We need to see people living in homes, living in houses, to give them that chance, protect them, protect them from those that would not give them that chance
to be productive. That's all that's what it's all about. It's all about opportunity. Like I say they pay their debt to society. Give them a second chance to do that. Sorry.
Well, thank you all so much, I gotta get out of the fun. I'm the American Independent, okay. It's a DC based publication. So it's only I think they have Michigan paper but for the most part, you can find it online. Not so I'm permission yet. But I cover it.
