Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / From Prison to Farmer to changing lives - Melvin Parson

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From Prison to Farmer to changing lives - Melvin Parson · Nightmare Success In and Out

0:01
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:04
Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy. Welcome to the Nightmare Success
0:07
In and Out podcast, where we explore how to overcome your
0:10
fears and nightmares and set yourself free.
0:13
We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
0:15
Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
0:20
These stories can be inspiring, sometimes.
0:22
Sad. There's some humor, but
0:25
hopefully you can come away with a nugget of something that'll
0:27
help you knock down some of the prisons you built up in your own
0:30
mind. All right folks, we are back.
0:35
Nightmare, success in and out. This is where you guys come for
0:40
the good stuff, with what happens when your worst fear
0:42
becomes your reality. How do you adapt, Survive.
0:45
Overcome. Set yourself free?
0:47
I am so excited to interview my guest Melvin Parson and I want
0:55
to give a shout out to Tony Gantt who connected this up.
0:58
Just he's he's he's continued to give me Jessica, Henry and all
1:02
kinds of different good people. But man, if you check out Melvin
1:08
and just Google him, there was all kinds of good stuff from TV
1:13
to PBS NewsHour. I read this just it's a lengthy
1:17
thing that talks about all the good stuff that Melvin's done.
1:20
But Melvin went through 13 years, 13 years in and out of
1:25
prison. And when he got out, he got
1:29
educated and then he the interesting thing is, is he fell
1:32
into the situation and I'll just kind of read from where he was.
1:36
It says. Melvin Parson did not know
1:38
anything about growing vegetables when he inherited
1:41
inherited a raised vegetable bed at a community garden after a
1:45
friend had passed away. I didn't ask for the vegetable
1:49
bed, it just landed in my lap, said Parson, also known as
1:53
Farmer Melvin. But what was intentional was
1:58
that I paid close attention to the soil for some reason.
2:02
I instinctively added good compost, worm compost, and just
2:06
tried to really be kind to the soil.
2:08
As a result, it produced some really good produce.
2:12
And he said, it dawned on me, the same thing applies to human
2:16
beings, right? It's all about our soil.
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And man, isn't that true? We were just talking.
2:21
Mel and I were talking before we got on you.
2:23
You put a plant in good soil and you work with it and you feed it
2:30
and you do the things that are that'll make it healthy.
2:32
And that plant does well. You take that plant, that
2:34
healthy plant, put it in bad soil and and it gets sick and
2:38
unhealthy. And then you take a healthy
2:40
plant to put it back in good, bad soil, it'll get sick and
2:43
unhealthy. So I get it.
2:46
Melvin founded the nonprofit and it's all based on reentry, which
2:51
is something I really am excited to talk to you about because
2:54
reentry is hard. It's not easy.
2:58
But he founded We the People Opportunity Farm, and it
3:02
happened in 2015. And man, he has hit the ground
3:07
running. He's doing all kinds of things,
3:09
not just teaching people a trade of how to do this farm and and
3:14
sell and and give these to the community and fund this, all the
3:17
things that he's doing. He's also getting them back into
3:21
life, giving them the confidence back, giving them the things
3:24
that they need, making them healthy.
3:26
Before we unpack all that, I want to recognize our sponsor
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success since you welcome in Melvin Parson as they call him
4:17
Farmer Melvin. How are you man?
4:20
Man, I'm wonderful, man. I'm sitting here in my backyard.
4:24
The sun's shining, the weather's warm, and I'm doing.
4:31
I'm doing well. You are.
4:32
You look good. You've got your We the People's
4:35
tshirt on. Yeah, you don't Melvin.
4:40
It looks great, doesn't it? I even like the logo on that.
4:44
Yeah, a buddy of mine who works at the Henry Ford Museum.
4:50
And their graphics department helped me design this logo of
4:53
several years ago. Love it.
4:56
Just good stuff, man. So Melvin, you have such an
5:01
interesting story. I mean, I I don't even know
5:04
quite where to begin, but let's go back and let get people
5:07
introduced to you of what was your world like growing up as a
5:12
kid? Parents, siblings, all that
5:15
stuff that happens with people in those ages.
5:19
Yeah, I I had a good world growing up as a kid.
5:24
I was raised by my grandparents. My grandmother was close to
5:31
staying to an Angel I've still yet to encounter in this life.
5:37
They sent me to private school. In fact, I was the only kid in
5:40
my neighborhood. I think that went to private
5:42
school. And you know, of course I didn't
5:46
want to go to private school. I wanted to.
5:48
Go to public school because that's where everyone went.
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But they had to sense enough to to like really hone in on a a
5:56
solid fundamental education for me or provide that opportunity.
6:02
And I don't know, Brent, by the time I I don't know by the time
6:08
I got around to the 8th grade, like my neighborhood started
6:12
having more of an influence on me.
6:16
Then my home life did. And then that was in the middle
6:19
of an era here in Detroit where I was living at, where young
6:26
kids were exploited to sell drugs.
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And, you know, so I got caught up in that mess and just, you
6:36
know, my life just kind of spiraled, you know, began
6:38
spiraling. I dropped out in the 10th grade.
6:43
I graduated from grade school, went to Catholic High School
6:48
named Saint Mary, called St. Mary's Record.
6:53
My first semester I wound up getting like all F's or
6:57
something like that, you know, because I started smoking weed
7:01
and and my grandfather was like, man, I'm not throwing away good
7:06
money after bad. And I'm sitting in your behind
7:10
the public school and I was like, yes, finally that's where
7:13
you wanted to go. Yeah.
7:15
That's where I wanted to go anyway, right?
7:16
So, you know, yeah, that wasn't the best move.
7:21
And then a year later, I'm dropping out of school and just,
7:24
you know, like a series of bad choices and bad decisions, man,
7:29
led me to being incarcerated by the time I was 17 and addicted
7:37
to crack cocaine. Just.
7:42
Yeah, just spiraling out of control.
7:44
You know, so the first time that you really dealt with the
7:47
criminal justice system in a way that you had to go in and you
7:50
were around 17 years old, that's young going into the grown man's
7:56
world. Yep.
7:59
What was that like for you? I tell you it's it's really
8:03
weird like this, this culture, there's this hood culture, yeah.
8:12
You know, like Jewish folks have bar mitzvahs for their young men
8:20
as kind of like a rites of passage and hood.
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Culture is almost like you go to prison, man goes to prison.
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And that's a twisted sense of a rites of passage.
8:37
Yeah, because that's what you see all around you too.
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All the people in the hood are actually going in and out.
8:44
Yeah. So that's the surface stuff,
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right. So it gives you like this badge
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of honor or something like that. And you don't, you know, like
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for me, I didn't really feel the effect, you know, all those
8:57
psychological effects and all that trauma associated with
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those type of interactions with the penal system or being.
9:08
Your freedom being taken until later on in life, you know, I
9:11
didn't know how much damage I had I was doing to myself.
9:17
So when you went in and out, how long, what were your stints
9:21
like? What were your your your stints
9:23
as you're going in and out because you did a total I think
9:26
of 13, right? Yeah, so they were like maybe
9:34
three years combined in, in and out of county jail.
9:39
Four years in Michigan Department of Corrections.
9:43
Six years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
9:47
Yeah, lots of times in County Hills.
9:49
I think I was a terrible criminal man.
9:51
I always got caught. It wasn't my jam.
9:57
How did you do in there? Like like like how did you
10:00
survive in there? Because, you know, for most
10:02
people, you know, I, everybody does their time differently.
10:06
You know, how did you do your time?
10:12
Wow. How did I do my time?
10:14
It it depended on. Yeah, there was a lot of
10:17
variables in that. There were times where I spent a
10:22
lot of time, like reading books that were kept from me in the
10:27
school system, especially about my culture and the proud.
10:33
Proud accomplishments and achievements as related to black
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and brown folks. There were periods of time where
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I just spent, like, doing nothing.
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There were times where I spent, like, exercising, you know?
10:50
Yeah, it it just depended on where I was.
10:53
How did you cuz everybody has hard days in prison.
10:56
How did you handle hard days in prison?
11:01
Man, how did I handle hard days in prison?
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I don't know. Probably hard days.
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When I think about hard days, I think about depression or
11:14
depressed, you know? So I I guess I did what most
11:17
folks that normally get hit with depression.
11:21
I just stayed to myself. Yeah, Stayed locked in my cell
11:27
or something like that. And then how did you get
11:30
yourself out of that? Because there's not too many
11:32
places to go. Did you, did you exercise?
11:35
Did you have a prison job That was a distraction?
11:38
Reading could be an escape in that.
11:40
World, Yeah. Like I yeah, like I mentioned,
11:44
there was spouts where I did quite a bit of reading as it
11:50
relates to like when I hit those hard times or something like
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that. You know, I don't know.
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It just kind of, you know, you just kind of work.
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Kind of plow your way through it.
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You know, It wasn't like I could really go to my Bros and say,
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man, you know what? I'm feeling fearful, right?
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You know, Yeah, you can't, you know.
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So, you know, you just kind of got to suck it up and you know,
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try to keep it moving as best you can and try to not act out
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too, too severe and too severe of a manner.
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So when you got Melvin towards the end of your last stint
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because you know I as far as what was going on in your mind,
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were you thinking, this is the last time I'm going to be doing
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this? What was what was going on in
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your world thinking, you know this, this is a, this is a long
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spans of time here. Was there a change that happened
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in your mindset about what you were going to do, stepping into
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getting out that final time? Oh, yeah.
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I mean, every time I got out, there was a change in my
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mindset, right? You know, there was one time I
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got, you know, like one time I was really set on like,
13:08
whatever, getting out. I got a plan.
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But then I'm out and I got no money and I got no housing and I
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got none of these things. So I saw a guy with a bag of
13:21
perfumes that he was selling. And he approached me and I
13:26
snatched this bag and took off and ran with it, right?
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And he chased me and I wasn't in really good shape.
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So after a while I had to stop running and say man look man, my
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bad. Sorry about.
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That if you won't fight, OK. But I hope you don't, right?
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You know, but this this last time.
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I think that my motivating factor was when I got locked up.
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My son was only about 60 days old and so my mindset was to try
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to put as much time into doing something positive as I had done
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doing negative in an effort to to be there for my son.
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That was my goal. So that was your, that was your
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driving survival goal was is that I'm going to get out of
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here. I'm going to take whatever and
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make some positive things happen because I want that connection
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with him. Yeah, and and then, you know,
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with all of that wonderful mindset and drive, I found
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myself like working at a gas station for dollar tips.
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I was a friendly service attendant.
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How you doing? May I check your oil?
14:52
Pump your gas, right. You know, that kind of thing.
14:56
And then And then a buddy of mine mentioned he asked me to go
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out to. No, I I had to.
15:05
Something in my mind said go out to this nice place called
15:09
Sherwood Forest. It's like a subdivision in
15:12
Detroit. And go rake some leaves, ask
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some folks if they want their leaves raped.
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And I I didn't know that that was called a screen cleanup, but
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I found, I mean, yeah, yeah, screen cleanup.
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I found out and and I did that. I I borrowed my son's mother's
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car and got a couple of Rakes and some bags and went out there
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and the next thing you know I had 10 people wanted me to cut
15:35
their grass. And I couldn't even spell lawn
15:38
mower. I didn't even know how to cut
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grass, man. Never cut grass before Brent.
15:44
And so I went to a pawn shop and bought a lawn mower and bought
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this scene, that blue air out of it called a leaf or something.
15:53
And and man, you know, like in two years time, in two years
16:00
time, I started a company. I had accounts with a couple of
16:08
institutions in downtown Detroit.
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Subcontracted some Detroit public school accounts.
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I had McDonald's, about 5 McDonald's 100 residential
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customers and did you have people working for you?
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Yeah, and I would get people work.
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That was the hard part, right? Like finding workplace and.
16:35
But I couldn't stop smoking crack.
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Yep, you were still dictating. I started using drugs again and
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and in that same voice, you know, they told me to go out to
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Sherwood Forest and raise some leads.
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Will say to me, man, if you stop getting high, I will continue to
16:54
bless you abundantly. And if you don't, I'm going to
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take it all the way, right? And later on that winter,
17:00
everything was gone. Like, I had nothing, right?
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You know, just actually built all that up.
17:08
Astounding, right? Yeah, and you know, so I
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floundered, right? You know, like year for year, I
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floundered. You know, like battling drugs,
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battling homelessness, all of that.
17:21
And then on May the 8th, 2004, after leaving my 13th substance
17:30
abuse facility, I wound up here in Washtenaw County, where I'm
17:34
currently at. Stayed in the Delana Center,
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which is a shelter up here and and got connected to an
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organization called Don Farm and and got into recovery.
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And even in that for the first five or six years up here, like
17:53
I still flounder. Like everywhere you go, there
17:56
you are. So, yeah.
18:00
And then something happened, you know?
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And I don't know what that something was, but I think part
18:04
of that something was. The support that I received from
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the folks who generously gave of themselves just around me with
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the stuff that I didn't have right like confidence and
18:22
inspiration and motivation and determination and love.
18:27
Yeah, man. So who were those people,
18:30
Melvin? Like who?
18:31
How did those people come under your life?
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I don't, you know, it's just how do people come into your life,
18:38
right? You know, like randomly, without
18:42
any real plan or design on your car.
18:46
But I've had some amazing folks come into my life.
18:49
I don't even want to start listing them out because I'm
18:52
going to, you know and need somebody.
18:54
Bad offensing that person but just I've had some incredible
18:59
credible. People that have come into my
19:03
life to whose shoulders some of them I still stand on to this
19:07
day. So when you started gaining that
19:09
confidence and and believing in yourself that you were going to,
19:14
you know, kick the habit, get yourself, you know to the to the
19:19
next step what what were you seeing was your next step.
19:23
I didn't know what my next step was.
19:25
I just tried to do something as simple as keep a job, right?
19:28
Yeah, that's it. That that was my next step.
19:31
Try to keep a job, yeah. I was, I was collecting SSI, you
19:37
know, trying to stay employed. I couldn't keep a job.
19:42
I'm a terrible employee. You know, it was just, yeah,
19:47
man, it was just man, you know, like just trying to figure it
19:51
out, just trying to survive, just trying to breathe.
19:55
And and then again, I I was living in subsidized housing and
20:01
I wound up inheriting that 3 by 9, three by 15 foot raised
20:08
vegetable bed that I didn't ask for.
20:11
You know, like like growing food was not on my radar.
20:15
You know, like I said, you know, I could spell it, but I tell
20:19
people jokingly me I couldn't even spell vegetable right.
20:22
I don't know how this happened. So, so was somebody taking care
20:27
of that and they died? Is that what happened, that that
20:31
was somebody taking care of that garden and they died and then
20:33
you? How did you get roped into it?
20:36
I have no idea The next spring the folks there where I lived
20:41
that said, hey Melvin, we got this vegetable beer for you and
20:48
and my instinct was to say I don't want that damn vegetable
20:51
beer, but. I said, OK, let's see what this
20:56
is all about. So what happens?
21:01
Because I know a whole heck of a lot happens because this tshirt
21:05
that you're wearing and and all the people following what you do
21:08
and everything that's come about.
21:09
How? How did it start to happen?
21:13
It just so I got this vegetable beer and they gave me.
21:20
Wonderful organization called Avalon Housing, whose mission is
21:24
to break the break the end homelessness.
21:28
But anyway, they gave me some seedlings and I planted those
21:34
seedlings in the ground and they started coming up a little bit
21:39
and it made me a little bit interested in where my food came
21:42
from. And then I saw a documentary
21:45
called Food Inc and I was like holy moly, right?
21:49
Like. Like my take on that was, man,
21:52
my government's been telling me all this stuff that's nutritious
21:56
and good for me to eat, I really shouldn't be eating, right?
22:01
Yeah, And and then another dear friend of mine at the time who
22:06
knew me probably better than anybody he would sell, send me
22:11
all of these pictures of white farmers, right?
22:14
You know, and he knew that that would get up under my skin.
22:21
Because, because he Because you know that I'm a champion of
22:24
social justice and social equality and I'm a firm believer
22:29
that either you've got a seat at the table or your ass that's on
22:32
the menu. And he knew that would drive me
22:36
in that way. And so that led me down to this
22:40
very robust farmers market in Ann Arbor.
22:43
Kerry Town in Kerry Town in Ann Arbor.
22:46
Where I'm trying to figure out what an heirloom tomato is or a
22:50
radish or something like that. And sometimes, Brent, I was down
22:54
there for an hour and I see nobody that look like me.
22:59
And then I looked around at the folks selling me my food and
23:02
none of those folks look like me either.
23:05
And and it felt like on one of my trips down there, the skies
23:09
opened up and yelled down to me and said hey Melvin.
23:14
This is where I want you to sit on.
23:21
Yeah, and ever since then, you know, I tell people often.
23:25
You know, not only do I have a seat at the table, but more
23:30
importantly, I've got a voice at the table.
23:33
And and if I don't mess this thing up, I've got an
23:36
opportunity to set the table. In some ways, yeah.
23:39
And I mean, obviously, I think that's one of the biggest things
23:42
too, is for somebody like yourself that's lived through
23:46
homelessness, that's gone through all the systems of the
23:48
systems and really understands it.
23:51
And you actually know what people need that are trying to
23:54
get their second chance working. When did it occur to you that
24:00
the soil that you were creating and then the things that you
24:05
were growing related to, Oh my gosh, this could, this is, this
24:10
is like reentry. This is like fixing people.
24:13
This is like growing people. What?
24:16
What? How did can you walk us through
24:18
that? How that all happened for you?
24:21
Yeah, the whole soil analogy came to me, Brent, at the end of
24:25
my first real kind of like farming season in 2017.
24:34
Like to your intro. Like that year I I wound up
24:38
selling some vegetables to restaurants and like, the chefs
24:42
were like, man, this is amazing. This is incredible.
24:46
Fresh, nutritious. And I'm like, man, I'm happy to
24:50
hear that. But I got to tell you, that
24:53
wasn't my intent, you know? And like, I didn't intentionally
24:57
do that. I'm glad it worked out that way.
25:02
And and then it made me think about what was my intent, and
25:06
that was the soil. And and so, yeah, so that's
25:11
where the soil analogy came from.
25:13
And because I think I made the connections with human beings
25:18
based upon my based upon my education in the field of social
25:24
work. That's where the human being
25:27
connection came in at. And and and I just really
25:31
started doing that. Like it was good for me.
25:34
Like it was selfish, right? You know, I would be out there
25:38
and I would have my hands in the soil and I saw all what that did
25:41
for me and it quieted the noise inside my head.
25:45
It grounded me some like all of these things and and once I got
25:50
settled enough I think. Then I was able to turn my focus
25:56
to something greater than me, than myself, right?
26:00
And naturally, that was folks like me, formerly incarcerated
26:05
folks. And so I think in 2018-2019 was
26:12
our first year with our paid internship program for formerly
26:18
incarcerated men and women. And I want to back up a little
26:20
bit on that, Melvin, because how, how in the world did you
26:24
know how to start a nonprofit and and bring We the People
26:29
opportunity farm to life. I mean, not very many people
26:33
even know how to do that. Yeah, again, I didn't know how
26:38
to do it either, man. Again, that's one of those,
26:40
like, standing on the shoulders of a whole lot of folks, right?
26:45
And and the right folks, the right folks.
26:49
It's like. The right folks coming in at the
26:52
right time. It's like if you start building
26:57
this Field of Dreams, people will show up, right?
27:00
It's, you know, it's like all of that, right?
27:04
It's it's naivety, like me being really naive.
27:11
If I would have thought about all if I would have known about
27:15
all that goes into this and all the working.
27:19
I probably would not have done this bad.
27:22
You know that. I mean, with the farming part,
27:27
yeah, I probably. But I was just naive.
27:29
I was naive just enough, right? Yeah, to allow me to, to to plow
27:36
forward. Not knowing what was next,
27:39
right. Just having a lot of faith,
27:41
right? Like like I felt early on my
27:44
job. My job and this whole thing has
27:47
just simply to been been to lean into it and let the universe
27:52
workout the rest. So we the people opportunity
27:57
farm, it does a lot of different things.
27:59
It's not just about farming it. It actually I want you to kind
28:04
of expand on that because I know you have paid interns and a lot
28:07
of the stuff that you actually grow goes into the community and
28:12
and actually helps pay for some of these These paid interns and
28:15
paid interns are people who are formerly incarcerated trying to
28:18
get their life back into the play of a second chance.
28:22
How do those people come to you, Melvin?
28:25
Do you, do you weed through prospects?
28:28
Do they interview with you? I mean, how does that work?
28:31
For you, yeah. We do both of those things.
28:35
They they come to us through the relationships we've been able to
28:39
build with the Michigan Department of Corrections
28:45
probation officers, parole officers, Washington County Jail
28:51
St. Outreach Program or.
28:54
Folks that just contact me and say, hey, I've got a son or I've
28:57
got a daughter, I've got an uncle or I've got an auntie, you
29:00
know, that might be interesting in your program.
29:03
And from there we've got application process and an
29:10
interview process that takes place.
29:14
And to your point, Brent, yeah, we do.
29:16
We do more than farming, right? Like farming is just the
29:19
vehicle. Like farming's the.
29:23
To building trust with people enough for them to allow us to
29:27
come alongside them and help change some soil in their lives.
29:33
And so yeah, so they spend a decent amount of time a week
29:38
with us out at the farm during the internship, but they're also
29:44
involved this year. Once a week there was a eight
29:47
week financial literacy course. At the beginning of the
29:52
internship, there was Nonviolence Communication
29:58
Training Workshop. During the course of their
30:02
internship, they spent time with one of our community partners,
30:06
Habitat for Humanity, coming alongside their volunteers,
30:10
helping them to do some rehab work in the neighborhood, on the
30:14
House they've also and currently are spending time with.
30:20
Michigan works with job training and skills development and
30:25
another awesome organization. Well, I think they're awesome.
30:29
We'll see organization that does that same kind of thing with the
30:36
pre apprenticeship and apprenticeship and mentoring and
30:39
helping with housing and all of that.
30:41
So, you know, so there's a. So farming is being out there on
30:46
the farm with us is not what we feel.
30:48
The only soil changing component, right, Like there's a
30:52
you know and those and those nutrients vary right from
30:55
individual to individual, absolutely.
30:58
So we try, we try to tailor, like at the beginning of the
31:02
internship program, they do what we call a soil assessment, which
31:07
is a needs assessment. But we like, yeah, like that.
31:12
And. And with that, you know, we just
31:16
do out there internship, we check in with them.
31:18
How you doing? Like what's next?
31:21
You know, like in and whatever their goals and needs are, we
31:25
just try to come alongside them and help them to achieve it.
31:28
Man. I love it, Melvin, because you
31:30
know I I saw some of the people that got interviewed on some of
31:35
the newscasts that they you've got a lot of different things
31:37
where you've been covered on. But they're you can just see it
31:41
in their eyes and the way they speak that man, I like this.
31:45
This is making me feel good. You know it's that that whatever
31:48
that intangible thing is, you're giving them that and you know so
31:53
much of that. You know people are always
31:56
saying well you know all these people all those people go back
32:00
to prison and and everybody who's convicted they're they're
32:02
not good people and they so the thing that you're doing is
32:07
you're breaking the narrative and and you're given these guys
32:10
because a lot of people don't understand like one of the
32:12
things that's brought up on this PBS article that that was
32:15
written is like simple things like they can't they don't have
32:20
transportation and and you work with them on getting you know to
32:24
where they get to a point where they have transportation where
32:26
they can actually become part of society you know or a place to
32:30
live or all those different things that you're helping them
32:32
with financial literacy. All the those those pieces that
32:38
are so needed that if they just have that, then you do knock
32:43
down the recidivism. You do start saying and then
32:46
then somebody has a choice. I can either stay on this path
32:50
or I can go back to that bad, the bad soil.
32:53
But I kind of like the good soil here.
32:55
I like what I'm feeling like and I feel better and I feel like
32:59
this is maybe somewhere I can grow.
33:01
I love all those elements that you're doing, Melvin, and the
33:05
reason I think it's so effective, and I think you know
33:08
anybody wants to Google Melvin Parsons, you can, you can read
33:12
for a while. But the thing that I think makes
33:14
you so special doing it is that you are the guy.
33:19
They they know when they're with you and they're working that
33:22
that garden and growing those plants and fruits and vegetables
33:27
and all those different things. They know that you've lived it.
33:29
They know that you walked in those shoes.
33:33
I am the client. Yeah.
33:34
And that's what I love about it. Yeah I love it and and and if we
33:41
had you know I I'm always like because I know a lot of
33:44
different people that I've interviewed that are in the
33:45
Michigan State and I'm I'm fascinated by how.
33:51
I'm just impressed by how many individuals have really been
33:56
able to take it a next step once they've gotten out and really
34:01
make change. And Michigan, I I see Michigan
34:04
is one of those states that really, you know if you take it
34:08
and put a blanket over the United States, Michigan really
34:11
stands out as a as a as a state that's on the move of people
34:14
like you, Melvin, that are saying it doesn't have to be
34:17
this way. I can actually change it.
34:18
I'm going to start changing it. What do you think that is?
34:21
Why is Michigan doing all this? Because it's I I've got 90 some
34:26
odd interviews with all kinds of people all over the states.
34:29
But I keep coming back to Michigan on certain individuals
34:32
that are really making a great change in that state.
34:35
Yeah, yeah, yeah, We got some, We got some.
34:40
Yeah. We got some very enthused and
34:42
smart, inspiring folks at the helm of some wonderful
34:49
organizations here centered around reentry and Second Chance
34:54
and reform, sentencing, you name it.
35:00
Right. You know.
35:02
Yeah, this, this. We've got a very vibrant
35:06
ecosystem in that. But in all of that, you know,
35:16
I'm not a big fan of politicians at all, but I will say that this
35:22
stays for the most part. We're fortunate to have some
35:28
folks in office. That kind of see the value,
35:33
Yeah. Well, I mean, Melvin, you can
35:36
look, I think they're. Yeah, just picking up what we're
35:39
putting down, right. You know, that sort of thing.
35:42
And I think the recidivism rate has almost been cut in half
35:45
compared to other states. And I I have to think it's a
35:49
direct effect of what you and other people are doing that
35:54
actually affects what people do when they get out.
35:58
That breaks the cycle it it literally breaks it and gives
36:02
them an opportunity to look at something different and not not
36:05
go back through the same cycle again.
36:08
You know, I was Jessica Henry was on here a couple weeks ago
36:11
and you know, she, she has an incredible story of how she got
36:15
knocked down and back up and knocked down and back up.
36:18
But you know, she's she's doing incredible work now, mentoring
36:21
people, knowing what it took for her to get on the right path.
36:24
But you know, she's working on policy too, where, you know,
36:27
it's trying to get the box off there for, you know, to be able
36:31
to get some place to live. And I'm just, I was so intrigued
36:39
by. I guess what intrigues me the
36:42
most about your story is is that first of all you didn't give up
36:45
on yourself, but secondly, you didn't.
36:47
You weren't looking for this. Right.
36:52
Yeah, you weren't a farmer. No, I was.
36:56
I was content. I was content with living my
37:01
life on SSI and trying to keep a menial job and not get high and
37:08
to keep a roof over my head. That was it.
37:12
That was it. Yeah.
37:14
That was it. And and so this life that I've
37:18
got now, this opportunity that I have now that I've been humbly
37:22
bestowed, is just as impressive to me as it is.
37:29
Well, I mean, you're you're a founder of a nonprofit that gets
37:32
national recognition from a, you know, somebody as big as PBS.
37:36
But it's I'm curious like, yeah, go ahead.
37:42
Hey, man. Jane Fonda was at our farm this
37:46
past Saturday, right? I love it.
37:49
Yeah. That's a lady that doesn't age.
37:51
I think she's like in her 80s now, isn't she?
37:54
Yeah, she's 82. At what?
37:55
God Dang, Let me take that back. She after she's in her 80s.
37:59
Yeah. Yeah.
38:00
Jane Fonda and one of our United States sinners.
38:06
No. Doctor Douglas Brinkley who's
38:12
author and historian yeah, and Alice Waters who is a A leader,
38:21
a well world renowned chef and a leader with community gardens
38:28
and growing foods. Like all of these folks were at
38:31
my farm Saturday right? And and as well some of my
38:34
friends at the Henry Ford and some of the Fords and.
38:38
And again, like all I wanted was quite, not quite a few years
38:43
ago, but not too long ago was just to be on SSI, right?
38:50
I mean, I got to tell you, I think the reason why, you know,
38:54
we talk about this all the time, you know this this particular
38:58
podcast is that it's inspiring for people to hear a story
39:04
because if somebody is stuck and somebody has built up prisons in
39:08
their own mind, they don't think they can take a next step.
39:12
Somehow, some way. Melvin you, you kept stepping
39:17
and you stepped into a an an opportunity.
39:21
People believed you do. Now people are coming to you to
39:23
learn what you're doing. What kind of conversations do
39:27
you have with these guys when you're working with them, that
39:31
they've found this and you've accepted them in?
39:35
What's that like? I don't know.
39:39
It's it's just, I guess it's like language at the heart,
39:42
right? Has to fill you up.
39:46
It has to fill you up. The one that you're giving
39:48
something back into what you've experienced that's actually
39:52
really helping. It does.
39:55
It's good for the soul, I think. One of the most.
40:00
Poignant conversations I've had was not with, and I've had lots
40:03
of them with our interns, but was with these two young kids.
40:07
One was 11 and one was 9. And our farm is surrounded by a
40:12
community. So these young kids would climb
40:16
the fence and there's a driveway, big driveway near our
40:20
farm which got a couple of basketball rims on it.
40:23
And so they would climb the fence to come over there and
40:25
play basketball. And then one day I needed some
40:28
help with something and and I asked them to help me, right.
40:33
And they did. And couple days later they came
40:38
over there and and they said, can we see your farm?
40:42
And you know what I'm able to show on the farm and talk to
40:44
them. And then I think the next time
40:47
we encountered each other, one of them says to me, hey, farmer
40:52
Parson, you ever been to jail? And this is, I think this was
40:57
the 11 year old, right. And I was like, yeah, And now
41:00
we're getting down. Now we're getting somewhere,
41:02
right. And I said, yeah, yeah, I've
41:05
been to jail. Hey, Will, I says, yeah, I've
41:09
been to jail. And the other one says, ooh,
41:11
ooh, ooh, what you go to jail for, right.
41:14
And and it was as if he's trying to not that he was really
41:20
excited about that, but he's just trying to normalize this
41:25
because he probably senses that this is his future, right.
41:31
And so I say to the kid, I say, hey kid, you know, it don't
41:34
really matter what I went to jail for.
41:39
What matters is, is that you get the best education that you can
41:46
possibly get under whatever circumstances, so that you can
41:54
potentially get a good job, maybe drive a car that you want
41:58
to drive, eat some food that you want to eat.
42:02
And what's also important is that you treat yourself with
42:06
kindness and dignity, and equally important that you treat
42:11
others the same way. But the most important thing on
42:16
your agenda is to come over here periodically and check and make
42:21
sure if I need some help or not, right I.
42:24
Love it. I love it.
42:27
But I mean that. And you know, it goes back to
42:30
what you were saying. You fell into what everybody
42:35
else was doing in the neighborhood when you were
42:36
growing up because you like you. You said Melvin, you had a good
42:41
upbringing. You had people that were looking
42:43
out for you, but you chose to find yourself into.
42:48
What all the cool kids were doing and when the when the kid,
42:53
when they start looking around and they see cool kids starting
42:55
to do things that can be like this and see what Melvin's doing
43:02
like this, all of a sudden it's a different type of role model,
43:05
it's a different type of mentor. It's good stuff.
43:09
You hope, you hope, you hope you know yeah.
43:12
Well, you can only hope. You know that's.
43:14
You can only hope, right? That's what.
43:17
Romo my my first buck mate I interviewed.
43:22
I think it was the second interview I did on here and he
43:25
said never take away someone's hope because that might be all
43:29
that got strongest currency that we carry as human beings.
43:34
Yep, I'm a firm believer in that.
43:39
I got to ask you, Melvin, because I mean, you've lived, I
43:42
mean, through all these layers, and you've come out.
43:45
And you're doing something you really enjoy.
43:47
You're helping a lot of people. It gets fantastic recognition.
43:50
Hopefully, you know, we can plug this in and duplicate it all
43:53
over the United States, but what do you think's your biggest take
43:57
away of what you've been through with your life?
44:04
Good question, Brent. Oh gosh, what's my biggest take
44:11
away? My biggest take away is that
44:20
everything I've gone through has led me to be the person that I
44:25
am, right? So my biggest take away is to to
44:34
forgive myself, to make peace with myself, right, Uh, not to
44:45
blame others and and know that one person can do a lot, You
44:55
know, like it's you know? I love that you just threw out a
44:58
whole bunch of good stuff there, Melvin.
45:01
Chuck, you asked me my big. Yeah, I threw out a couple of.
45:04
Sorry about. That no, no.
45:05
I mean, what you threw out there is how someone can find their
45:09
way, yeah? Yeah, that's a I I think that's
45:14
a good place for us to to end on, because I think what you
45:18
just said has all kinds of Nuggets of wisdom.
45:22
If somebody wants to do and donate and and be a part of what
45:27
you're doing, how did, how would somebody find you?
45:31
Oh, so they can, they can go to our website.
45:34
Yeah, which is WTPO f.org, the acronym for We the People
45:41
Opportunity Farm. They can follow us on our
45:45
connect with us on our social media pages.
45:48
Our Instagram page is the acronym, so it's WTOF.
45:54
And our Facebook page is the full name.
45:57
We the people Opportunity Farm, and I think my contact info is
46:02
on there. We've got an info e-mail.
46:05
Reach out. Say hello.
46:09
Yeah. It's awesome.
46:12
Come join the party. And I'll make sure I put all
46:14
that in the episode of Show Notes too, because I want
46:17
everybody, if they want to, to be a part of it, because it's a
46:22
fantastic. And I feel so privileged to be
46:25
able to spend some time with you, Melvin, to talk about what
46:28
you've been doing. Because it's it's, I think it's
46:31
inspiring stuff and I think it's going to continue to do great
46:33
things for people as as you do it and help people 1 by 1.
46:39
You know, for anybody, would you say, Melvin, I said thanks
46:43
Brent, I appreciate that. Hey, I just want to give a huge
46:45
shout out also to Tony Gant and for connecting me with you Brent
46:50
and this awesome nightmare success podcast that you've got
46:54
going. For anybody who got something
46:58
out of this today, and I know you did.
47:01
Go follow the show. Go go hit that bell on Spotify.
47:05
Follow the show on Apple if you've got time.
47:08
I don't know what it is about algorithms, but if you have
47:11
time, it's a big deal if you leave a review.
47:14
We're getting a lot of reviews. It really pumps up, puts the
47:17
show on steroids. If you if you want to know more
47:22
about me because I'm going to put all the stuff about Melvin
47:25
in there, go to brentcassidy.com.
47:27
It's with a Ty, not a DY. I remember when I was growing up
47:32
though Melvin, I wanted to be Sean and David Cassidy.
47:34
I didn't have the right DY name. Hey, if you're looking for a
47:41
book out there, I've got one nightmare success.
47:43
Check me out on Amazon. Barnes and Noble.
47:46
And as I used to say when I was writing my emails back and forth
47:49
when I was 11. Where stay strong and I'll do
47:51
the same. Melvin Parson, man.
47:53
Keep doing what you're doing. I appreciate you, man.
47:57
Hey, man, back at you. Keep doing what you're doing.
47:59
Brett, I got one more thing. Yes, we've got.
48:02
We've got a YouTube page also, so check that out.
48:05
Is it? Is it We the People Opportunity
48:07
Farm? It is.
48:09
And we've got some YouTube shorts on there.
48:12
Cool. I'll put that in there, too.
48:14
All right, Melvin. Thank you so much, man.
48:17
Nightmare. Success in and out.