(light music)
- Homelessness is a
widespread epidemic.
Signs keep reading, "Keep
the Change" have been
appearing in windows of
businesses throughout Milwaukee,
advising patrons not to give
money to the panhandlers.
The flyers are a result of
the Keep the Change Initiative
that was adopted by the
Milwaukee Common Council
on March 1, 2016.
The city takes a stance
against panhandling
in urban Milwaukee.
I'm Sharon Patterson,
and today with me is
Bianca Williams, founder
of the organization,
A Cry for Help.
Thank you for
being here, Bianca.
Now, we're gonna watch a package
on the homeless
conspiracy theory,
and afterwards we'll
discuss the effects
of homelessness and
panhandlers with our guest.
(dramatic music)
- I've been homeless,
but never without a home.
About a week after I turned
19, my mom passed away.
She died of bone cancer
on December 6, 1977
at Mount Sinai hospital.
I remember how cold it
was, cold in a lot of ways.
I wondered who will
take care of us?
Where will we live?
I had four siblings
younger than me,
from 11 years old to 17,
not to mention a niece
who was on the run
from her mom and stepdad,
who was staying with us, too.
So there's way more to my
story than what meets the eye.
(upbeat music)
My story idea came
about while driving
with my husband of 33 years.
I saw so many homeless
folks on the street corners,
begging for money.
I thought about my own past.
I said to my husband,
"What if this was staged,
and all these people really
didn't need our money,
and were just
getting rich through
some sort of organized scheme?"
I took a script writing class
as part of my
college TV program,
pitched my story idea to
Mr. Tony, my instructor.
I guess you could say
the rest is history,
as you see what unfolds
in this short story.
(upbeat music)
- Hello.
- How are you?
- [Jasmine] I'm
great, how are you?
- All right.
You got some strange things
going on in your city, man.
- We sure do.
That's Wisconsin for you.
All right, and we have
you checking in today?
How many nights?
- Probably for more than
I originally intended.
I got to check out your
city some more first.
- Gotcha, we have you all set.
There's your room key.
You'll just be right
up the ramp over there.
- This way?
- Yes, sir.
- All right.
Thank you.
- Hello.
- Cold?
(faint chatter)
There you go!
- God bless you.
- Hey man, I'm in
Milwaukee right now.
I got this crazy
new idea I need you
to help me with, all right?
I want you to recruit
some workers for me
and I think of
hiring three thugs.
Three of them need to be
black males I'm thinking
between the ages of
28 and 39 let's say
and they need to be willing
to make real money, okay.
Need to work their butts
off to make real money
'cause real money's
the real deal here.
And, if you have any questions
feel free to call me back,
but that's what's going
on so, start recruiting,
start hiring, and I'll talk
to you later, all right, bye.
(snaps)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Here you go,
sir, just for you.
- Thank you, let me ask
you something really quick.
That woman out there, does
she stand out there that much?
- Every day.
- Really?
- Yes.
Some people say she lost her
memory from some tragic thing
that happened in her life,
I'm not sure, I'm not sure.
- She looks so familiar.
You're not gonna believe this
but, sounds crazy actually
but I think that's my sister
but I thought she was dead.
- Is that all?
- I'm sorry, yes, that's
it for right now, thanks.
- Okay.
(upbeat music)
(clicking)
(upbeat music)
- So, with the right
kind of people involved
this could actually work.
(marker scratching)
(sleepy orchestral music)
I gotta get going.
(water running)
Hi, how are you?
Just for one, please.
Thank you very much.
(dishes clanking and
background chatter)
(phone chimes)
- Holmes, here
- Hey, man, it's great
to hear your voice again.
So, I hear you're looking
for a new business idea, huh?
(papers ruffling)
- Man, it sounds
great but I'm not sure
if you can pull this off.
It sounds risky, but I know
you'll do what you say.
Hey, don't worry about
those other two, man,
I know exactly who to bring in.
I'm in, so when's the meeting.
- I already called my
Executive Assistant
and well he recruited the
two men we need, all right.
Man, I can't wait to
bring the team together.
All right, yeah I'll
talk to you later, bye.
(knocking)
- Come in.
(upbeat lighthearted music)
- Where's Charisse?
- Somewhere around
here doing something.
- She told me you got
this new business deal
and I want to hear all
about this new venture.
- Who told you?
- You know your wife
can't keep nothing.
I want in.
- Yeah, we really need to get
these bills taken care of.
- Well, well, well.
So, I just talked my friend
Gary like I stated before.
This is very new, we're gonna
try to take a stab at it,
I don't know how
well it will work.
Once I get all the
details in, maybe.
Let me finish talking to him,
getting things all panned out,
I mean, looked at over the
blueprints and everything
of this deal and
we'll go from there.
I'll get back to you.
- Okay, we definitely want
to get kept in the loop
because she's not my
friend, she's family.
- I'm family and she
told me all about it.
But I just wanted
to know more details
about how did you
get this going?
What made you think about this?
- Well, I don't know
too many details.
I was kind of under the
influence I was going to need
two more people or whatnot
but supposedly he has
that taken care of but if
there's anything I could do
as far as putting you guys
in, that's not a problem,
I'll definitely bring you
in, keep you in the loophole.
- Okay, how soon will
we have information
because these bills
need to get paid.
- As soon as we
have information.
Is that all you're
worried about,
bills being paid, that's it?
- Well, we do this money.
What's yours is ours,
it's not just your money.
Okay, well don't take too
much time 'cause these bills
have to get paid.
Gary, let him produce more
finalized information to me
and I'll let you know
where to go from there.
(intense instrumental music)
- Good morning, gentlemen.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
- It's showtime, I hope
you guys are ready.
Just a few quick
notes before we begin.
First off it's crucial that
you understand our goals
for this business, okay,
what we expect here,
and what we're going to
do with this, all right.
And I have recruited some of
the top guys over the years.
- Indeed you have.
- And this time I have
recruited the top leader
that will take you on the
street and show you the process
of how it's done.
- Man, I don't know.
What makes you think
this gonna work, man.
Somebody could go to jail.
- Someone could get rich.
- Regardless, the
vision is clear.
In fact, you know what,
Boswell, why don't you
just talk about it some more,
and share your information.
- Thank you so much.
Good morning, gentlemen.
Street panhandling
is nothing new.
It was every occupation for
every immigrant long before us.
It started in the 1870s
to the late 1900s.
People set up travel
lines and Charlie lines
all throughout the town.
Especially immigrants, Jewish,
Italian, blacks, whites,
it's in every culture.
What we want to do is bring
this to a bigger broader
area where we take
these panhandling skills
and put them into
a bigger package.
- So, it's just gonna
be us doing this?
Like, where's James, wasn't
he supposed to be here?
It's only three of us.
- Um, you know what James
is still thinking about it.
He is not sure what he
wants to do yet, so he's,
I don't know, I'll
check in with him later.
I'll see what he wants
to do but right now he's
on the fence about it.
- Then we have a new vision
and a new purpose, gentlemen,
and that is to build an
empire within 50 states
and well abroad.
We will place you guys
in strategic locations
around the city and we'll
watch this thing unfold.
Here's some brief
information, gentlemen.
(papers shuffling)
(intense music)
- All right, so this is the
container of our clothes
that we get to choose
from, all right?
So, we can select
whatever we want to wear.
- So, every location, every
week we'll have a change
of different clothes.
What we'll do here is rotate
the outfits if we need to.
Make use of what we got.
The more of a homeless
person you look like,
the more earnings
you should make.
- I'm too clean to
be in this, man.
- Oh, you'll be all right.
(slow light music)
Today, fellas we
took you guys out,
let you observe the scene,
the location where you'd be
standing at, you see
the potential of it.
You guys got to
see what it takes?
So, pretty much you guys
just were introduced
to the largest business
since crack cocaine.
Fellas, we broke even at
$5000, so the record is set.
Moving forward whoever gets
the highest quota of the day
gets a free weekend
stay in Vegas.
Like them odds?
- Yeah, they pretty
dope odds, man.
- Okay, okay.
Well, $10,000 is the
marker for the day.
You know, keep your hands
out all day, you know,
that's all I ask you know.
When they walking by,
hands out, fellas, okay?
- So, what I want to know
is how do I get my own?
You know, how much do I gotta
put down to get my own group
you feel me?
- Let's say if I wanted to
have my own part in this,
you know, how much
I gotta put down?
- Let's just press it
easy, let's calm down,
you'll get your chance
to be maybe a partner,
you know what I mean.
We'll might make you a partner,
we'll just see how things go
we're just getting started.
We do expect to expand, you
know that, you know, so,
we'll see where it goes from
there but as of right now
just take a little
breather, let's get out here
and try to reach this $10,000
today, how about that one?
I got my money on my man here,
so who's gonna win
that package today?
- Man, hell no man.
Let me tell you something
- Here we go.
- I got my game
face on, you know.
All that money that
you just said, 10,000
it's going straight to
my bank, okay, my wallet.
- Okay.
Straight everything.
- We'll start with the
free weekend in Vegas.
Bring the money into the
hole and then we'll go
from there okay, fellas?
- All right.
- I like your outfit too, so
I think my man got a little
head start on you right there.
- They Calvin Klein, man.
(chuckling)
- Well, you know, to
each his own, you know.
You know what it could be.
You know what it could be,
you know what it could be,
you know what it could be.
But, as far as Boswell
Enterprises go,
we're gonna go ahead
and take this, fellas.
(upbeat tense
instrumental music)
- Where is she, I don't
see her out there?
- Where is who?
- The woman that we were
talking about the other day.
My sister.
- You must don't watch the news.
- What are you talking about?
- Someone robbed her,
they took all her money,
knocked her down.
- Oh my God, well do
you know where she is?
What, is she alive?
- She's still alive, she's
badly bruised but she lived.
- So, where is she, do you know?
(coughs)
- They say they took her to
the hospital. Right over there.
- All right, thank
you, I gotta go.
(intense instrumental music)
- Well, welcome back
after seeing the program,
the pre-packaged piece, we're
going to be with our guest
to talk about some
questions in a moment.
So, let's get right into it.
Before I got into talking
to you about what happened
in the video segment,
I'd like to find out
from you what your organization
Cry For Help is all about?
- So, Cry For Help started about
three and a half years ago.
We basically go out
into the community,
feeding the homeless,
clothing them,
providing hygiene products,
doctors appointment,
medication reminders,
different things like that.
- Okay, so what was it
that got you involved
with working with the homeless?
- So, I had a lot of
family members and friends
that was homeless and I was
trying to figure out like
why, get to the root problem,
and I also was homeless
for a few years myself.
- You were homeless?
- Yes.
- Okay, how did that come about?
- It came about where my
mother fell on hard times
and she was unable to keep
a stable environment or home
and we was going house to
house, I just decided to leave
and go with family and
friends and a few teachers
took me in at one point in time.
- Okay, so you have first
hand knowledge of this
and that's what got you involved
in founding the organization?
- Yes.
- All right.
Let's talk about what
we saw in the segment.
There were a group of people
who talked about the fact
that they wanted to sort
of fake panhandling.
There are a lot of people
out there and I probably
said it in my lifetime too,
do they really need
some assistance?
What is your view
on panhandling?
- Panhandling today
is really different.
They strategic, they be in
these places where is known
that it's a high traffic
area, a high foot area
where people walking through
all day, all the time,
with a lot of visibility.
And they decide to go to these
places to stand out there
and get money is
what they call it.
Getting money is standing out
there and beg for a few hours
and get some money for doing so.
- So, given that, did the
city council have the right
take on it, by saying that
they're going to stop this
and say don't give
the change anymore?
- I don't think
they have the right.
I think every person have
a different situation.
There are some people who
are actually homeless.
There are some people
out there that say hey,
I don't have nothing else,
this is my last resort.
- Why is it their
last resort though?
I mean we have
homeless shelters,
we have employment offices,
temporary services,
so why does panhandling
become the end all?
- Because a lot of people don't
have the basic necessities
or things or tools that they
need to go to these places
like ID, Social Security
cards, birth certificates,
and then again it's pride.
I believe pride keeps a
lot of people from going
into these type of resources.
- So, panhandling then
becomes their job so to speak.
- Mmmm, yes.
- Okay, how do you
tell the difference,
the group that you work with,
they're in need, correct?
- Yes.
- So, how does one
tell the difference
between those who
are really in need
and those who are, like
the piece talked about
just trying to get some money,
some extra money on the side.
- It's really hard to say who's
really in need and who's not
because everybody got a
good game today, everybody.
They look at you, they
make you feel like hey,
I am really in need and on a
long weekend we getting played
but we really don't know
whether they're in need
or they're not until we
actually in a situation
and sit them down and
speak one on one with them.
- Now, you talked about,
earlier we were talking
and you said that there
were a lot of children
that are involved in
this type of situation.
Can you elaborate
on that at all?
- Yes due to a lot of
parents falling on bad terms
right now and without jobs
and a steady income coming in
a lot of younger youth are
falling victims to homelessness
at a really young age.
Today as early as
13 and 14 years old.
- And so in your organization,
you're seeing these kids
out on the street?
- Yes, they out on the
streets, they begging
and a lot of them sometimes
if we don't get them
close enough before they get
involved in other things,
they become victims
to trafficking and
human trafficking,
to drug gang, prostitution,
and other things.
- How prevalent is that?
- Very prevalent, like it's
happening all the time,
every day.
- So, aside from the children
there are a lot of adults
that are out there as well.
What do you say to
the people who say
if you can stand there,
I'll give you an example,
there was someone I was
coming out of church once
and she went up to them and
she said you're here every day
at 11:00 when we're coming out.
If you can get here
at 11:00 every day,
can't you also go to a
job every day and do that?
- Well, I would say is everyone
have different situations.
I wouldn't say that hey,
don't give them anything.
I would say hey, pull
that person to the side,
ask them what's really goin on.
See what real help that they
do need because you don't know
that person may have a
situation where they're getting
abused and they just run
away from a situation.
You never know they may
not have no food at home
and then their job becomes
hey everyday or every Sunday
at 11:00 I'm gonna go here
because somebody's
going to help me.
- Okay, so would you suggest
that the average person
that sees this on the street
take them aside and do that,
or would you suggest that
they then direct them
to some sort of counseling
or homeless shelter.
Yes, I would say direct
them to some resources,
some reliable resources
that they can use
and say hey, I know a place
over here that gives you
free food, free clothing, free
hygiene, so you don't have
to directly give them
something out of your pocket,
but you're still giving them
something that they can use.
- A lot of times the
majority of people
think about the homeless
population when it's Christmas
or Thanksgiving or et cetera.
Where are some of the
resources that people can go to
and not just during the
holidays but all year round?
- The Salvation
Army, tip services,
it's a lot of organizations
that's on the ground
that's doing work.
- That's excellent.
Thank you so much, Bianca
for being with us today.
As you can see being
homeless is not a crime,
but it is an issue in Milwaukee.
So, let's do something,
get some coaching,
it can be resolved with
coaching, awareness,
and resources.
I'm Sharon Patterson,
thank you for joining us.
(light hearted
instrumental music)
