"Helpers" documentary spotlights those working to end the homelessness crisis
Althea Billings: You are listening to KBOO News In-Depth. I'm Althea Billings. I'm speaking with Street Roots correspondent Grace Mangali about her latest article for the paper. It's called "Highlighting the Helpers. Kelly Clendenon's debut documentary 'Helpers' was released earlier this year. It highlights the people and organizations working to end the homelessness crisis." Welcome to the show, Grace.
Grace Mangali: Hi, thanks so much for having me.
AB: Yeah, thank you so much for being with us. So you spoke to Kelly Clendenon, the director of the film "Helpers," for this piece. Tell me about this documentary. What's it about?
GM: Yeah, so Helpers is about a 20-minute documentary that chronicles Clendenon's life kind of before he got involved with drugs and homelessness. And it's really, as it says in the story, is highlighting the organizations that helped kind of pull him out of addiction. There are a lot of them, in Portland especially, that just spend their entire existence trying to help people who have experienced drug addiction or homelessness. And they're really doing great, amazing work for a lot of thanklessness. And so Clendenon, just after experiencing it himself, really just wanted to highlight them and did that through this documentary.
AB: Well, let's talk about his experience with these organizations and going through addiction. Can you walk us through some of what he went through?
GM: Yeah, so he was really open and honest and willing to talk to me about it, which was wonderful. And I think that he, his experience really mimics a lot of other people's. And a lot of people can kind of learn and gain a lot of insight about the homeless and drug addicted community through his experience. We talked about how he started taking drugs when he
was just a preteen. And that kind of ended up with him in rehab a couple of times after attending some college. He really got into the thick of his addiction because a doctor prescribed him a lot of painkillers when he really ought not to. And Clendenon got kicked out of his home, kind of was doing everything that he could to support his addiction. He eventually ended up in Seattle, Washington, and then became homeless for the first time, and then came down to Portland. And then a large part of his experience was with the various kind of shelters and health centers and detox centers that took him in for a couple of days at a time and kind of kept him going. The real turning point for him, as he described, was overdosing. And his mom had to fly out from Baltimore, where he grew up, to California and basically take her son and put him back in rehab. And after, you know, 20 years of addiction, he said that kind of it just stuck finally. And then he got pressed for some burglary charges from his time in Portland after becoming clean. So he went back to Portland from Baltimore and served a couple of years, served a year in prison and had a couple of years on parole. And as he like kind of said verbatim,
like he was in Portland with nothing but time. This was also right at the beginning of the pandemic. So he decided to go back to school. And after being just so influenced by the helpers in Portland, this documentary became kind of a passion project of his. And some of his classes, when he did his master's at the University of Oregon in Portland in multimedia journalism. And so now he's starting a nonprofit production company called Common Lens Films and is planning to continue to make documentaries that highlight the homeless experience, the drug addicted experience, does other things that he can speak personally to, and that really benefits others to see. And that's his journey.
AB: How has this documentary been received so far?
GM: Really great. He has won two awards at the Oregon Independent Film Festival, and it also got accepted into the Texas Film Festival. And if you go to commonlens.org, there is a list of screenings that are happening kind of locally in Portland,
definitely a couple throughout November, December and January. And you can also book a screening on that website. So, you know, if you are in a community that might benefit from seeing this documentary, you can go ahead and do that. And yeah, it's been successful enough where he decided to start the production company kind of out of it.
AB: Like you mentioned, a lot of this documentary is focusing on the helpers in Portland, a lot of
familiar names and organizations that folks might recognize are being referenced here. Clendenon also had some criticism of Portland's strategy on homelessness. What did he have to say about that?
GM: Yeah, definitely. I thought that was really kind of an important perspective to have, especially as a journalist who writes a lot about Portland's homeless policy, as, you know, Street Roots does. But yeah, we spoke a little bit about, you know, maybe at the time he was able to be in a shelter for a night. He kind of spoke to, you know, lighting up at 8pm at night and then being able to sleep in a church or something like that and then having to leave kind of the immediately after. There were a couple of other shelters where he could stay for a couple of days at a time. But through the perspective of being someone who is in these shelters, they were all a temporary fix. And I think that the length of Clendenin's addiction really speaks to how it's just this perpetual cycle that kind of people are put through. Like there, if there's, you know,
you can get respite for one night, maybe you're trying to catch something the next day. And when there's not kind of a continual path or a continual sense of support, it's really easy to just lapse back into addiction or just not, you know, receive long-term mental health care, long-term housing care, long-term health care. That just keeps, it just keeps people in these situations. And so one of the things that Helpers does highlight is kind of how there are all of these organizations throughout Portland and Clendenin like went to all of them at some point. And so really them, kind of the network of organizations is really helpful. And so, but really long-term, you know, as you said in the article, we need long-term permanent housing that has read covered so people can, you know, get that basic need met. And yeah, I think that part of his mission with this production company and these documentaries is to sway the public perspective and just kind of display the reality. And yeah, I really, I'm really, really excited because I think the medium of documentary is really important to getting other people kind of to understand the reality of everyday life for people who are experiencing addiction and homelessness.
AB: That's an interesting component of it as well, that there's reenactments of Clendenpn's young life when he first started using and was first getting into addiction. Talk to me about that. That's not in every documentary that you see
GM: Yeah. So as I mentioned, and as we mentioned, this was kind of like a joint passion project of one of his classes as, um, in his bachelor's program. And so his co-director, um, mentioned doing reenactments and Clendenin said that he really kind of distanced himself from this because it's just, it's awfully traumatic to try to live through that or see that reenacted. Um, but he ended up really trusting his co-director, who's Joshua J. Kirby. Um, and they had some of the folks, um, reenact the time that he broke into, um, a house in search of drugs in Portland that ended up to, um, ended up needing for him to come back to Portland and be incarcerated. Um, and then he also mentioned they're toying with the idea of reenacting the, um, his overdose on a Greyhound, which would be another conversation. But yeah, I think that that was just such like a pivotal moment in his life. Um, and sometimes like, you know, dramaticization or kind of a reenactment, it's painful to live
through, but it is also essential to the story. Um, and so he ended up, you know, really trusting the people that he's working with and using that. And, um, I think that's a method that he's going to continue to use and some of those other words.
AB: Were there aspects of this reporting that you found surprising?
GM: It's a good question. I am really thankful to Kelly for, um, really just being open and honest with me. We have the kind of shared experience of being visual journalists, um, and being trained as journalists. Um, so he really understands kind of how to conduct himself in an interview. And so I think that I wrote the best possible story that I could have. And I'm so, so happy to highlight, um, him and his story. I think that it's definitely, um, it's definitely always surprising to me as a reporter when people kind of are really willing to open up. Um, but I think that, you know, the type of reporting that I want to do and the type of storytelling that Clendenon wants to do requires that kind of trust. And so when we empower people who have been through hard things, who have identities that are different than us to be storytellers and be journalists, I think we get better stories. So, you know, taking, I interned for Street Roots this summer, like taking all of that training, um, and knowing kind of, kind of how to conduct myself with Clendenon and his just willingness to, um, help out street roots. He really admires Street Roots. It was kind of a big deal that we did the story for him, which is wonderful. Um, yeah, him also wanting the story to be out just, it ended up being a really great partnership and I'm, uh, I feel really connected with him and I'm just really excited to see what else he does, um, and continue to cover it. And I
think that he's just really an inspiration for people who aren't seeing themselves displayed in print and print and visual media. Like you can, you can write it, you can make it, um, you don't need someone else to do it for you.
AB: What do you hope readers and listeners take away from this piece?
GM: I hope that people go watch "Helpers," and support Clendenon's nonprofit. And I also hope that, you know, profiles, this profile specifically just humanizes kind of the masses of people who are experiencing drug addiction and homelessness. I think it also, I hope it also encourages people to reach out to the resources available. Portland would not be the same if it didn't have kind of all of the resources that are available to, um, people who are in unfortunate circumstances. And the people who work there day in and day out just really do care, um, and continue to do this and continue to fight for, you know, policy change and other long-term solutions to, um, systemic problems.
AB:If our listeners want to learn more, read this story for themselves, what's the best way for them to do that?
GM: Go buy a paper from a Street Roots vendor who are all over Portland. Um, we also have Street Roots website, and you can get a link to "Helpers" there yourself.
AB: Well, Grace, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today. I really appreciate it.
GM: Yeah. Thank you so much, Althea. This is a really great story.
AB: That was Street Roots correspondent, Grace Mangali, speaking with me about her latest article for the paper. It's called "Highlighting the Helpers. Kelly Clendenon's debut documentary 'Helpers' was released earlier this year. It highlights the people and organizations working to end the homelessness crisis." More information is online at streetroots.org.
Cuba solidarity groups urge people to show their support for the struggling Caribbean island nation
165 countries in the United Nations voted to call for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. The U.S. Congress itself is the only body that can actually end this blockade. Right now, Cuba solidarity groups are once again urging people to show their support for the struggling Caribbean island nation. KBOO contributor David Rosenberg spoke with Diana Block of the Bay Area Cuba Solidarity Network about the vote this week. He began by asking her whether the Trump administration has gone farther in its hostility towards Cuba than other previous administrations.
Diana Block: Besides the blockade, the U.S. is actually, they're worried about this vote for some reason, more this year. They are going around to different countries and they have sent two letters that are trying to dissuade people, dissuade countries from voting for the resolution. This is a new tactic on their part. They are saying that Cuba represents a threat to the U.S., which is like so absurd given the degree to which the U.S. is a threat to Cuba's survival. And they have sent these letters to the heads of foreign ministries countries in different countries. And they have also been spreading false claims that Cuba is sending soldiers to fight in Russia against the Ukraine. So this is how low they are going, which Cuba has
totally denied. Cuba has a very strong policy against any type of mercenary involvement anywhere in the world. And there's no way in which there's any involvement of official Cuban soldiers in Russia.
David Rosenberg: Well, they did send soldiers to Africa, but that was for, I don't think they were mercenaries,
right?
DB: No, they were-- They were expressing solidarity. That was at the express request of those African nations. So it is a very different situation than accusing Cuba of actually sending mercenaries to fight in Russia. But thank you for raising that, because that is a very important part of Cuba's history of international solidarity, which it maintains today, not in a military way anymore. That is not the way Cuba is expressing solidarity with Venezuela, which has been, as people probably have heard, there have been a number of attacks against Venezuelan boats where people have been killed. And this is under the false pretext of drug trafficking with no evidence at all. But it's really part of the U.S. expressed plan for regime change in Venezuela, and therefore is very destructive to the stability of the region, to Cuba, and certainly
to Venezuela. And Cuba, as well as our committee, stands in strong solidarity with Venezuela against SPEAKER_03
these attacks.
DR: I remember when there was major drug interdictions, the authorities would show all the
drugs or all the guns or whatever they'd captured, and it would be like a big press event. And in this
case, they just shot people.
DB: They just kill people, and they don't show anything, because nowadays, evidence is beside the point.
There doesn't need to be any documentation of anything. All there is, is accusations that are,
you know, well, they would be absurd and laughable, except that they are so destructive and dangerous.
DR: So did that discourage you at all when there seemed to be some progress under the Obama administration,
and then it was reversed? I guess if you're an activist, you just keep going, right? Regardless of what happens.
DB: Well, I guess, I mean, discourage maybe isn't the term. It's disappoint or be, yes, there was progress of many sorts under Obama, not really all that we would want, because the blockade continued. But, and the blockade last year alone was responsible for a $7.6 billion economic loss in Cuba, which for a country of that size and that economic level is huge. So, you know, Obama did make some advances, some important advances, which then subsequently the first Trump 0.1 reversed, and Biden never, never restored until the very end of his administration, when he did very briefly take Cuba off of the state sponsors of terrorism list. But he probably knew that as soon as he was gone, Trump would put them back on, which is what happened. And that list, aside from being a total, you know, libelous claim that Cuba is a sponsor of state terrorism, nothing could be further from the truth. But in addition, it means a whole series of additional economic restrictions that Cuba is facing now, which including, you know, financial, working with different financial institutions around the world, getting fuel, getting fuel for its, to run its power plants. There are so many things that come with this designation, which people don't realize. It's not just the U.S. that is, that where, that can't trade with Cuba. The U.S. has punishment threats, and for all the companies, businesses around the world that dare to trade with Cuba.
DR: So... Is there a way around it, you know, to go through another party and not have...
DB: There isn't, I mean, the only way around it is for countries to be economically strong enough and politically strong enough to go ahead and trade anyway, and risk the consequences, which are additional sanctions on them themselves. So, unfortunately, at this point, in this economic order that is so dominated by the U.S., it's very hard, which is why, you know, alternate economic coalitions like BRICS are so important, that BRICS brings together other countries that can form an
alternative block, economic block, and Cuba is not a full member, but a partial member of BRICS, and the countries within BRICS do trade with Cuba. So, that is one of the ways that countries are figuring out to get around this, the stranglehold of the blockade, but it's not what we want. We want the blockade to be ended.
DR: So, Cuba's economy now, how would you characterize it?
It's their characterization. This is the worst that their economy has been since the revolution, really. It is really, I mean, because, you know, it's like a silent disease, the cumulative effect of all the economic restrictions on Cuba are sucking the country dry. And, you know, the U.S. cavalierly accuses the Cuban government of the, as the, or names them as the problem. But, in fact, if you can't trade for food, if you can't get medical equipment, if you can't get fuel and other types of energy resources because of the blockade, it's clear that the economic catastrophe is a direct result of the U.S. blockade and stranglehold over the world economy.
DR: But the U.S. would say it's because they don't have a free market economy,
DB: and that's what... Well, yes, they call it mismanagement, yes. I mean, I don't think there's any economist who can look at the way in which things are going and really assess it that way. It is just a total lie, like so many of the other lies which continue to come out of this administration and, unfortunately, other administrations as well.
DR: Did those other administrations really care about the U.N. vote on the embargo? I mean, did they take the trouble to write a letter to those countries, or did they just figure who cares?
DB: Not in the past. Not in the past. So it is interesting. And I think, well, I don't know, this is my, I guess, just speculation. But, I mean, the only two countries that have voted against the resolution are the U.S. and Israel for the past number of years.
DR: Not Micronesia?
DB: There are some countries that have abstained because of their, and probably that one has. But voting against it has only been the U.S. and Israel. I think the U.S. is interested at this point in trying to broaden its sphere of influence that can be shown visibly in a body like the U.N., which is why they even go to the trouble of writing those letters, which are so manipulative and include sort of implied threats about what will happen if people don't vote the U.S. way. But that's the whole strategy of the current administration, is threats and bribes and getting what they want, how, the way they want and backed by enormous military force such as the deployment of National Guard all over the country and in Alameda now. This is all part of the same very sadistic and sick game plan, which is, you can say imperialism on its last legs, but it's a very vicious imperialist.
DR: Kind of like gangsterism.
DB: Yes, gangsterism, exactly. The deterioration of the whole system into gangsterism and of the most overt type. So it's really important, I mean, to us who support Cuba, we understand that there are so many other countries and struggles to be supporting at this point, especially Palestine. And I want to point out that Cuba has consistently supported and been in solidarity with Palestine since the revolution. And in the past period has been outspoken in every body that they can be about the genocide and against what's going on and have also named the U.S. role in that genocide, as well as the Zionists and Israel. So Cuba has maintained its international solidarity, despite its own struggles and the many attacks that it is suffering. Not only because of its international solidarity, obviously, but because it's a, it has a system that represents a threat to the U.S. capitalist method of organizing society. And with a, you know, universal health care, a 99.7% literacy rate of the people, an amazing new family code that legalizes so many rights for LGBTQ people. These are all the exceptional advances that Cuba has managed despite of all the attacks to accomplish. But these are the things the U.S. wants
to undermine. And it continues to try in every way it can.