00:00What I'm about to tell you is one of the toughest parts of my life.
00:05Where I am, where you see me sitting right now,
00:07I didn't know if I would ever get to this point.
00:14My name is James Nichols II.
00:17I'm here to tell a story that I haven't shared with very many people in my life.
00:23I've decided to tell my story to Jerome in this way
00:26because I really appreciate the friendship that we have as men.
00:31My relationship to James means a lot to me.
00:33We've had a lot in common since the first time I met him.
00:35We worked together back in Oklahoma, which is where I'm from.
00:39His friendship is pretty important to me.
00:42Oh, okay. My story. Are you ready? Are you ready?
00:47I came to Los Angeles with a dream to be an actor.
00:51I signed with a manager.
00:53They eventually convinced me to move out here.
00:55After being here about six months,
00:59I was evicted from the place I was staying.
01:02I was homeless for two years,
01:05and it's been two and a half years since I've been homeless.
01:16I'm hoping that Jerome takes away from this
01:19that without struggle, there's no progress.
01:31I have no idea what James is going to tell me today.
01:34Do I think it'll be easier to share it with him with the noise-canceling headphones?
01:39Probably not.
01:40I mean, the story itself is just difficult.
01:45So, man, I'm here to tell you about one of the most difficult times that I've ever had in my
01:50life.
01:51You know, I've been out here about five years,
01:53and I would say for about half the time I've been out here, I've been homeless.
01:58And there were two instances where I was homeless.
02:01One was for about six months, and the other was for about two years.
02:04And at that point in my life, I wasn't proud about anything.
02:08I felt like one of the lowest people in the world.
02:12Hopefully that time in my life is over,
02:14but what I love to do is to be able to help others find their way out too.
02:18So, Jay, you can take your headphones off now.
02:30I saw a wide range of emotions.
02:33I think maybe I caught me a couple of words,
02:35but I couldn't make any sense out of it.
02:37I thought it would be a little easier, but it wasn't.
02:50Jerome, I'm ready for you to listen.
02:54See, I moved out here a little over five years ago,
02:57and within six months, all my money had run out, and I was evicted.
03:02And when I got evicted, he took everything.
03:06Everything but some of the clothes I could cram in the duffel bag.
03:13A few weeks later, I'm at Goodwill,
03:17because I've scraped up a couple of pennies to go buy some more clothes.
03:20You know, you got to change some clothes out.
03:22I see my clothes at the Goodwill.
03:24And we're talking about my high school letterman jacket,
03:27my dad's army jacket, family pictures, diploma,
03:31and I'm wandering the streets now.
03:33I don't have a place to go.
03:38And sleep on the bus, on the subway, park benches, even Union Station.
03:48But I came out here for one particular goal.
03:51Failure wasn't an option.
03:53So I tried to figure out ways to make do.
03:56Take that duffel bag full of clothes,
03:59stash it in some hedges in someone's yard,
04:05only to come back later on that night
04:07and find out their sprinkler system turned on.
04:10Cutting my hair in mall bathrooms
04:13to make sure that I'm still presentable enough
04:16to do all those things I needed to do.
04:19I felt like I was kind of sparing the people in my family
04:22that part of my journey
04:23because I was suffering it by myself.
04:25I still wasn't telling them
04:26because I didn't want them to worry.
04:28But I think the worst of it all
04:30was just having to hide
04:34all those emotions that you're feeling.
04:37Outside of acting,
04:40sometimes you have to find that job
04:41that's going to stabilize your money.
04:44And I was able to find that in construction.
04:47Within two and a half years,
04:48I was able to buy two vehicles.
04:49I'm living in a condo with some great roommates.
04:52Hopefully one day, soon,
04:54I'll be able to buy a home.
04:56Would you have thought that when I sat down
04:58that I was homeless before?
05:00No.
05:00But I think it's more about
05:02the person that you become along the way.
05:05I appreciate you listening, man.
05:07I appreciate you.
05:09You can talk, man.
05:14First, thanks for sharing that with me, man.
05:16I'm sure it's not something
05:17you can share to just anybody.
05:19Yeah.
05:22To me, it just sounds like a lot of
05:23what I would call antagonistic treachery.
05:28Betrayal, abuse of power, in a way.
05:30It's wrong in every sense of the word.
05:32I'm glad you survived all that.
05:34You can get philosophical about pain
05:36and struggle and all that.
05:37Some people will say maybe that
05:38it's necessary for growth,
05:40but I think it all comes down to
05:42what you take from it
05:43and what you decide to do with it.
05:46And so I'm glad that you made a decision
05:47to take it in a positive direction
05:50and use it as a motivator.
05:53I don't know how, but I did.
05:55It's good that you can smile now
05:56because you almost had me for a minute there.
05:58I was like...
06:01I work with an organization
06:02that goes down and serves every week.
06:05And every week I go down
06:06and I count my blessings
06:09that I'm not in that same situation anymore,
06:12that I didn't allow it to take me down.
06:20But things do get better.
06:23But man, I appreciate you listening to the story
06:27because, like I said,
06:29it's not something I really shared with a lot of people.
06:31I had an idea of what was going to happen today.
06:33But when I showed up
06:35and questions started flying,
06:37I suddenly realized
06:38that I had no idea
06:38what I was doing here today.
06:40So pleasantly surprised.
06:42That's what I would say.
06:44It makes me appreciate his insight,
06:46you know, where he's coming from.
06:47So today was really special.
06:49There are people out there
06:50that really do want to help you.
06:52And they genuinely do it out of love
06:54and not out of holding something over your head.
06:57So man, I'll know for next time.
06:59Definitely.
07:00I hope there is no next time.
07:01Let's back that up.
07:02I don't want this happening.
07:04There won't be a next time.
07:04But, you know, rough times come my way.
07:06I definitely know
07:07that there's one person that I can call.
07:12And I appreciate you, man.
07:14Absolutely.
07:15Love you, brother.
07:15Yeah, love you too.
