EPISODE 54
"JUST
WORDS"

Welcome to JUST WORDS.  The stories of working people in our community.

I'm Marc Steiner

You know, I know guys do wrong when they get themselves in the predicament I am in—but someone out there has to have a heart and give someone a chance. Everyone deserves a second chance, i think. And i have been waiting and waiting and being patient and trying hard for my second chance, and i just cannot seem to get that break—cannot seem to get it.

That's Terry. He was on this program several months ago. He's an ex-felon who was released from prison after a six year stretch in August of 2006. He's a father to a 10 year old girl, and HIV positive, and with his record, he can't find a job. And it's starting to make him wonder

You want to be honest at all times, but sometimes, do honesty pay? You understand? Do honesty truly pay at times to get some things, to get what you need out of life sometimes. Do honesty truly pay? Because right now, i don't know how...my daughter is not going to have a Christmas because i am not working. My family is not going to have a Christmas because i am not working. I am not even going to want to be around my family when Christmas morning comes.

He had a job in a warehouse, but injured his back, and he was let go. Now he spends his days doggedly putting in one application after another.

I been on some real good interviews with some real good companies. Some companies that a person always dream of working for, that you know you have a future with, be able to retire from, be able to take care of family. And i know i am qualified for these companies. And I get the interview, get all the way up to the past where they want to do the background check, and my background mess me up every time. I just got turned down last Monday from a good company, and i really thought i had the job because the guy interviewed me like three times. I went to see him like three times, and with my experience handling forklifts and loading trucks, he had someone in the warehouse show me what they wanted done. They wanted me, as much as i wanted to go there, but didn't hire me because of the felony on my record.

When we first met him, Terry was living in a halfway house, where he had a supportive environment and a decent place to live. But he got kicked out. In August he was arrested and charged with theft and burglary. He spent a month in prison before the case was dismissed after a witness cleared his name. But by then, it was too late. He had lost his spot at the group home. Now, he divides his time between his parents house, and shelters.

It is tough though because I am 45 and i got to pay my way. Ain't nobody going to let a grown man stay somewhere for nothing, and i don't have no way of paying it. So sometimes i have to stay in a shelter.

Just words is a production of the Center for Emerging Media, produced by Jessica Phillips, through a grant from OSI-Baltimore: investing in solutions to Baltimore’s toughest problems, with audacious thinking for lasting change, on the web at OSI-Baltimore.org.
Visit JUST WORDS on the web at centerforemergingmedia.org, or
email us, at justwords@wypr.org

 Music: Asheru and Blue Black, Theme Music