INCITES
By Ed Silverstein
(Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a three-part series that tracks how a man lifted himself off the streets of Santa Monica with the help of California’s social services. On Wednesday, how social services worked for James McCord.) James McCord is a 32-year-old black man, well built with handsome expressive features.
He is a recovering drug addict who had been homeless in Santa Monica. Though he never finished high school, James is articulate and insightful with deep convictions about his life, experiences and his belief in God. His story is fascinating and his experiences give us a true glimpse of everything right and a few things wrong with California’s social services.
James was born and raised in Mobile, Ala., which he still considers his home. He grew up around drug and alcohol use, although he is the only one in his family who admits to having a problem. James told me what led to his own drug use.
“I wasn’t good in school academically. I chose to gravitate to lower companionship. I liked to hang out in the ghetto and the projects. In the projects they were doing things I was raised not to do — shoplift, curse, fight. There, I didn’t have to be smart in school. I don’t got to know books. They say if you just show up, you one of us. And I liked that. It became a part of me. So I started cursing and I started stealing and smoking marijuana and drinking beer.”
James’ actions frequently landed him in jail. During this time, he graduated to his drug of choice: crack. Eventually crack took over his life. Yet, despite his drug use, he was never homeless until he came to California.
“Alabama is family orientated and they will shelter you before you become homeless,” James said.
While this might seem a blessing, James admits that it may have been more of a pitfall. By preventing him from hit-ting bottom, James’ family forestalled his need to seek help and enabled him to continue using drugs.
But eventually he could no longer ignore his problem. He was committing crimes and going to jail. He was hurting his family. He was not capable of being a father to his son. But most of all, James was unable to be the man he wanted to be.
When James finally realized he needed help, he made the decision to come to California.
I asked him why California rather than Alabama? He told me that it was common knowledge on the streets that California had the best programs and many services not available in his home state. He had also heard that California offered food stamps and a provided a few hundred dollars a month to people on the street.
I asked James if he would have sought help in Alabama had these same programs been available. He thought about it for a moment, then said, “I probably would still have come out. Because you see in Alabama it’s almost a flaw to go to a facility for help. You’re not a man. You can’t do it on your own. Most people in Alabama that struggle with drug and alcohol and domestic violence like I have go to the penitentiary as a reform. They think, I’m bad off on drugs, I’ll commit a crime and I’ll go back to the joint.”
James got on a Greyhound bus and headed for California.
“I knew that I had no one to fall back on and I would be homeless, but I also knew anything would be better than the way I was living then,” he said.
James’ first destination was Venice, where he slept outside on the beach and continued drinking and using crack. Although he had not been homeless before California, his experiences in jail and hanging out in the Mobile ghetto had taught him how to get along on the street.
“You ask your associates who are in the same predicament,” he said. “You could find where the shelter is, where the free food feedings are, how I can apply for food stamps, where’s a good place to put my head at night.”
James continued his homeless, substance-abusing lifestyle for several weeks. Then an incident occurred that reminded him why he had come to California. James was approached by a man involved in Alcoholics Anonymous. The man started giving him the standard spiel. James had heard it all before and the man must have sensed this. As James tells it: “… the guy, he stopped (talking) and looked at me and he said, ‘I know what you’re going to do, but I’m gonna do it for you anyway.’And he gave me $10 and he walked off and he left. And I took that $10 and I did, I went to the dope man and got me a hit … crack. But something inside cried out in me. Here’s a man who’s really tried to help you. You need to do something to try to help yourself. The next day I went to an AA meeting. I didn’t immediately get sober, but eventually my conscience just wouldn’t let me continue, knowing that someone offered their help like that to me. That kind of started it.”
James was introduced to the Adult Rehabilitation Center in Santa Monica, which is run by the Salvation Army.
There, he went into a 12-step drug and rehabilitation program. His goal was to complete the six-month program, but after a month, because of a misunderstanding with the staff, James left. Though he was forced to go back to living on the streets, James utilized what he had learned and stayed off drugs and alcohol. A short time later, he joined a program that would start the process of turning his life around. (Ed Silverstein is a freelance writer living in Santa Monica. All comments e-mailed to will be treated humanely.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 22, 2003. Read the original PDF.