She Watched the System Kill Her Friend — Now She’s Fighting Back

Video Description

Soma Snakeoil is a sex worker, artist, and activist leading The Sidewalk Project — a women-led harm reduction organization on Skid Row saving lives the system has abandoned. In this conversation, Soma shares the heartbreaking story of Jamie — a woman with developmental disabilities who was illegally released from care, dumped on the streets, and later died from a preventable medical condition. Her story exposes how hospitals, social services, and government systems keep failing homeless people. We also discuss harm reduction, patient dumping, sex work, art, and what it really means to show up for people everyone else turns away. 🎥 Watch our documentary on The Sidewalk Project https://youtu.be/vA_YZ_d45UE?si=rLLyQ5LVzoo1xFQl and read our article exposing patient dumping at Los Angeles General Hospital https://invisiblepeople.tv/documents-reveal-fatal-pattern-of-patient-dumping-at-los-angeles-general-hospital/ More: Can Supervised Drug Use Save Lives? Inside OnPoint NYC’s Radical Approach https://youtu.be/Qhvw1Imatr4?si=hDtIOIATqGrwMfRV They’re Not Zombies—They’re Humans Fighting to Survive Kensington, Philadelphia https://youtu.be/3WhK8sTT43s?si=RrmCE63Ur27AjoNl | The Shocking Truth About America’s Illegal Drug Trade https://youtu.be/vlb5XhTDXAY?si=VqBQg2VxNTIZOIb3 The War on Harm Reduction: “Recovery First” Is a Death Sentence https://youtu.be/BdaapOoxPWc?si=6EDUWJB5p8pFU0Li This Homeless Housing Gives Booze to Alcoholics… and It’s Saving Lives https://youtu.be/1ylsw5e8d5g?si=chOlOujQiFp1E7ax Executive producer: Mark Horvath Producer/editor/cinematographer: Alex Gasaway https://www.youtube.com/alexgasaway Associate producer: Erin McGinnis Created by: Alex Gasaway and Erin McGinnis YouTube Podcast https://shorturl.at/XciIu Apple Podcast https://apple.co/4cckQ86 Spotify https://spoti.fi/3XyM98c 00:00 – “I Am a Sex Worker”: Soma Snakeoil’s powerful intro 01:47 – Introducing The Sidewalk Project and Its Mission 03:20 – Art, Punk, and Challenging the Status Quo 05:40 – Patient Dumping: How Hospitals Fuel Homelessness 07:06 – Jamie’s Story: A Woman Failed by Every System 09:20 – Survival Sex Work and a Broken Safety Net 10:56 – The Sidewalk Project’s Low-Barrier, Peer-Run Model 13:02 – Illegal Discharges and the Cycle of Neglect 15:45 – A Preventable Death: The System Killed Jamie 18:07 – Gender Violence and Criminalization on Skid Row 20:30 – Advocates Bearing Witness to Systemic Harm 25:18 – Invisible People’s Mission and Urgent Call for Support 26:28 – Community Response: Mutual Aid During Wildfires 31:30 – 10,000 Lives Saved: The Power of Harm Reduction 35:45 – Soma Snakeoil’s Lived Experience and Why It Matters 38:30 – Keeping Families Together and Ending Systemic Trauma ================================== Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/c/invisiblepeople?sub_confirmation=1 Invisible People’s website: http://invisiblepeople.tv Support Invisible People: https://invisiblepeople.tv/donate Sign up for our newsletter: https://invisiblepeople.tv/email Invisible People’s Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/invisiblepeople https://twitter.com/invisiblepeople https://www.instagram.com/invisiblepeople https://www.facebook.com/invisiblepeopletv https://www.tiktok.com/@invisiblepeopletv About Invisible People There is a direct correlation between what the general public perceives about homelessness and how it affects policy change. Most people blame homelessness on the person experiencing it instead of the increasing shortage of affordable housing, lack of employment, childhood trauma, lack of a living wage, or the countless reasons that put a person at risk. This lack of understanding creates a dangerous cycle of misperception that leads to the inability to effectively address the root causes of homelessness. We imagine a world where everyone has a place to call home. Each day, we work to fight homelessness by giving it a face while educating individuals about the systemic issues that contribute to its existence. Through storytelling, education, news, and activism, we are changing the narrative on homelessness.