We Are The Dead

Meet your craftsman! This is Dalton, and this is his FIRST real job! He recently aged out of foster care after being bounced from house to house his ENTIRE life. You’ll learn more about him as time passes, but he’s just as much of a joy to be around as these pictures make it look. Our first official Gangland Express product - we are teaching folks in (or aged out of) foster care, gang members on a better path, addicts in recovery, and trafficking survivors how to work with their hands and build a business of their own. Robert has donated a MASSIVE quantity of woodworking equipment and wood stock, and I’m bringing in the human capital. By providing jobs, we are offering "a way out" to folks who have only known a life on the streets, and by teaching them to build a business, we are giving them a purpose and a sustainable way to earn a living. If you’d like to support Dalton - and trafficking survivor “Star”, who starts next week making these - click here and grab a premium hardwood cutting board handmade by them - https://lnkd.in/e_ZceyKq

WeAreTheDead.com/need is still out there helping We Fight Monsters and Flanders Fields meet needs that don’t quite fit the mold - yall help us out!

Life ain’t easy, but at least I ain’t sleeping here anymore and don’t ever have to again…. This is a professional platform and I know most of yall have never been in jail, so let me put this in terms that will resonate with all of you. PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING. Be sure to keep your circumstances in perspective. There are people out there who would DIE to have the problems you do. People whose wildest dreams could never include having the things you have today and take for granted. Gratitude is the word of the day, folks. Use it.

Some issues mandate a transcendence of politics, namely those that are morally and objectively "right". The fights against fentanyl and human trafficking are two of those things, and until we can put party lines behind us and unite around the common goal of loving our neighbors, it's a fight we'll continue losing. This shirt memorializes that concept of unity around what we ALL have in common - we're Americans, and we stand TOGETHER. All proceeds fund our work fighting the twin evils of narco and human trafficking on the worst streets in America, shutting down hot spots and housing survivors - grab one here - https://lnkd.in/eetgk5Vv

Our mission to take back the streets of Memphis began with the simple - yet monumental task - of shutting down a single "trap house" (a house where narcotics and women were bought and sold). We accomplished that objective, and then rinsed and repeated a few more times, getting more and more addicts/survivors into treatment and on their way to self-sustainment with each iteration. As we continue doing this work, one thing that is becoming more and more apparent is that those we serve who lack economic opportunity are just as likely to relapse into old behaviors as those who lack purpose.  Jobs for folks with a background like many of our beneficiaries aren't always easy to find. Another thing that is becoming apparent is that as we reduce the number of individuals in active addiction in a given geography, the profit incentive behind selling dope becomes lessened quickly - which is good. But, it leaves a power vacuum on those streets, and absent job opportunities for the "dope boys", alternate illicit means of making a living become tempting. We've done a few test runs of creating jobs and have seen dope boys (drug dealers) turn 100% legitimate and run businesses, employing the very same addicts they once sold dope to - which is absolutely incredible - and we've seen addicts become successful entrepreneurs as well. Our methods have drastically reduced violent crime on the streets where we operate, but there is SO much more we can do, and job creation is where we can do it. Operation Gangland Express (click here - https://lnkd.in/e93h8ftZ) has leased a 10,000sqft warehouse from which we will operate as a small business incubator, a trade school, an intensive outpatient program, and a place for those in early recovery to forge positive relationships, find mentorship, and more. Every dime that goes into this effort will have a direct and measurable impact on reducing crime, alleviating suffering, getting people out of poverty, giving them a reason to stay clean, the means with which to provide for their children, and eventually run their own business, creating jobs in a geography they are needed most!

Wearethedead.com/need goes out and meets the needs of the broken, where they’re at, and with what they have - or don’t have. Help us! We’ve replaced everything from eyes to teeth to cars to homes!

Wearethedead.com/need goes out and meets the needs of the broken, where they’re at, and with what they have - or don’t have. Help us!