Id come here for summer vacations and Christmas vacation And coming to the city was like, kind of magical, as silly as it sounds.

It was very rich in culture.

There were people here.

My family was here.

We'd go to the park, we'd hang out.

In this neighborhood, I was loved.

There were things that happened that were bad, but I was loved in my family, I was loved in the neighborhood.

This was a predominantly Black neighborhood at one point, and to see a Black child struggle and to love that child, it was a natural response for me because I had been loved, and it felt like I was loving myself in retrospect, that I was actually caring for myself because someone had done the same thing for me in the past.

Hey, Tim?

Tim Watkins: Yes?

Janine: So you're gonna need some more amendments, 'cause this city dirt is hard.

Tim Watkins: Some more what?

Janine: Amendments, because it's really compacted.

[Child laughs] [Janine speaking indistinctly] Janine: You have the highest population of children in the county of Los Angeles.

Just being around food and around nature and being around silence is very important, especially for an urban child that has never experienced that.

So for kids to understand nature is very important because, How is this next generation, if they don't understand nature, going to be stewards of the earth?

And how are they going to exist in a quality environment if the Earth isn't cared for, or, if nothing else, the earth isn't respected?

So there has to be that close relationship in order for the earth to be regenerated.

You have to engage, you have to educate yourself.

You need to understand the systems that bind you, and you have to be innovative enough and have a survival mentality to get through it.

And that's what a child needs to be taught.

The freedom to think, the freedom to believe is the most powerful thing.

I'm really trying to be aware of the words that I use because I don't want a child to hear me talk or someone to hear me talk and think that I'm a victim or that my people are victims.

We're survivors, and even though the pain is the same, the state of mind makes all the difference in the world.

I don't need no pity.

My people don't need pity, but know we going to battle to the end.

That ride-or-die piece is real, the struggle is real, and we will continue to persevere.

And so for me, that's the beauty of it all.

No matter how bad things are, your mind-set and you being a survivor is the best thing that could ever happen to someone.

[Children speaking indistinctly]