- [Mark] All right, Corrine. - [Corrine] Yes. - [Mark] Corrine, where'd you grow up, where are you from originally? - [Corrine] I'm from
Little Rock, Arkansas. - [Mark] Little Rock. And tell me about your family, you had both your parents
when you were young? - I did have both my parents. My mother stayed gone a lot. Traveling, gangster
style, all with gangsters. My father naturally took care of me. I was place to place. My mother was in prison. - [Mark] What kind of stuff
was your mom getting into? That got her into prison? - Aw, what'd they call her? Well, actually, she did
prison time, six and six. Coming back home, going back. And she got all her
kids back but a couple. Some of them was adopted. But me I was a mama's baby, and I liked to be with my mom. She got a pen and a pardon. Notarized seal from Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas. She was into a lot of stuff
like robbing, stealing, hoeing. So she tells me her story. From a family of ten, she's
from a family of 14, so. I had a lot of cousins. They was into a lot of stuff. Basically I'm a school
child, I went to school. - [Mark] What kind of kid
were you in high school? - Huh? - [Mark] What kind of kid
were you in high school? - A little high-strung. - [Mark] I'm sorry. - High-strung. - [Mark] High-strung. - High-strung. I did a lot of sports,
activities, things like that. Always on the go. - [Mark] But a good kid? - Yeah, basically. - [Mark] Any abuse as a
kid or anything like that? - A lot of abuse. Because like I said my mom
stayed gone all the time. So other people would care for me. Even in high school, she didn't usually come home until I was
like 15 or 16 years old. I'm 54 today, but. It was rough, other people caring for you, other people abusing
you, one way or another. - [Mark] Like sexual abuse? - Sexual abuse within the family, yes. I really don't like to talk about it. At nine years old I found
out my oldest brother, which he was 16, he had a crew. It's like five guys. And they would always get together at my mom's project house,
we lived in the projects. Hollow Court, Arkansas, Little Rock. Anyway. They used to rob people. Pawn shops, bit shit like that. My brother would always keep a hope box, like a chest box you put on your bed. Well, he used to keep a lot of them. So then I bundled in his room
one time when it was unlocked, when he was in the shower, and found out how much black he wore. He wore a lot of black. He was a panther. How did I know what panthers are? One of them got jammed and snitched on everybody in the crew. One particular day I woke up. I went to school. Come home, my mom and my brother was gone. They went to court. He was indicted for court. To testify against the whole crew. But he was the leader of the crew. So, he refused to testify, on the grounds that it
will incriminate him. And it was a lot of
harassment on my brother. As I came home from school, there was a lot of commotion in my house. Police surrounded my house. Our project building house. I'll never forget it. My mom was hysterical. My brother would get all these
guns out of his hope chest. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs 'til my other sister said, mom took all the guns from him. He hollered I hate you, I hate you, they gon' kill me, they gon' kill me. He dated this lady, he was a young guy, he dated this older lady that was married to a police officer. She stayed in our housing
district by Hollow Court. That time he ran out the front door, trying to get to her house. He always sneaked in her
house when her husband left. So he went in the same way, running. Police was chasing him. Soon as he hit the door, police started running from everywhere chasing my brother around. I ran down behind him. He made it to her house. I fell, cut myself right here. I don't know if I fell, cut
myself, or they shot me, or I got grazed by a bullet or what. But they shot him in the back, going through a bathroom window. Then he laid over the ledge of the window. He was shot about seven or eight times. That was traumatic for me. - [Mark] You lost your brother? - Yeah, 16, I was 9. So as a kid I didn't know much about it that's nowadays going on and everything. I found out how I was living. All the children, they don't like to talk about him today. Just because of his cause and what he did. To help our family and the people. And I'll never be able to get over that. Because he refused to tell
on himself and other people. He was murdered like that. That was murder. Moving right along. I never got over that, I still haven't. And I took bad notions coming up. My mother winded up going back to prison. Anyway. Nobody never wanted to
keep me in the first place. 'Cause I always cried for my mom, right? Now I got this sister's
that's right over me, she's Puerto Rican and black, right? We're like a year and
a couple weeks apart. And it's just me and her side-by-side. And I have an older brother. We have the same mother, same father. They will always keep us
three together up to ten. And everybody will be able to
go somewhere to live but me. So they shipped me by air, by bus. They say, you gonna keep little Corrine, you gonna keep little Corrine, you know mom just went
back to the penitentiary, you gonna keep little Corrine? So I have family everywhere. Nobody wants to keep me so I
wind up with my grandmother. My big brother and my
dad would take care of me no matter who no matter
where no matter what had me. My grandmother winding up having me. She said little girl
you can come in my house and you can shut the hell up. You're gonna go to work or
you're gonna go to school, you're gonna go to school
or you're gonna go to work. That's what you're gonna do. And I'm not coming after you
if you get into any trouble. If I come after you, I'm gonna
beat the life out of you. Well, one time came about
where she actually almost did. I stabbed a guy in school
in the eye, with a pencil. That was the worst
ass-whooping of my life, from my grandmother. She marched up there, which was down the street from my house. We lived in Little Rock, south side. By Tadpole Creek and the railroad tracks. Getting to my leg thing, I was raised around the railroad track and the woods. So my grandmother whooped
me all the way home, through the schoolyard all
the way home, with a shoe. Worst ass-whooping I ever had. The worst. Even to this day, the worst. I didn't play with my grandmother. My grandmother died when I was 16. She actually raised to the
point when my mom came home. And my dad came faithfully
every month by taxi. By her having 14 kids, each
one had 10 to 12 children, so it was a lot of us. So I stayed into
everything with everybody. I didn't like a lot of people
but I was a people person. I like people close to me. Touching me. I mean touching me like
getting into my head. Getting into my life. Because I never knew where
people were coming from, being associated with
other members of my family. I never knew where they
been, who they knew. So I stayed timid like
that for a long time. Even as a teenager into young adulthood. This particular time, I'm getting to be about in my twenties. So I'm scared to do a lot of things. I'm going to school. I get my AA in business. Downtown Little Rock,
Drummond's Business College. Associate degree. My mom puts me in this relationship, or this situation with a
guy who's also a con man. He was a dope fiend. He shot heroin. And he messed with a lot of
gangsters that transport. So the thing is, my mom put
me in this fixed relationship to live with this man, which held me into bondage. Didn't let me go anywhere without him. If he had company in the house, I could not support myself in my home, I'd be locked in the bedroom or locked in the closet. I couldn't go nowhere but
school, my business college. Which I received income from my father. But at this time, I was abused a lot. He beat me a lot. He didn't care where he didn't
care who saw it or what. I'm 17, something like
that, until I was 21. One day came about and
I said I'm tired of it. I went to school. I left school. I went and got my lawyer. I went to the police department. I got a warrant. Restraining order, the whole nine yards. So eventually he got caught up in this big department store, doing a con. Doing a flimflam in this
big department store, 'til he got arrested. And somebody got hurt or killed or something in the situation. So they asked me. They had just gotten my retraction from the restraining order
in the police report. Have you been living with this guy? So he wound up going to prison. And they asked me if I wanted to press charges in the situation. They added another charge to his case, to give him more time. Get him off the streets. Well, I did that. I'm young, I did it. But, it was a lot of abuse. A whole lot, broken bones, shit like that. He called me. The thing about that is, he wound up getting out and
they gave him 44 to life. He got out, but I was in
California at that time, so. I'm like 21, but he got out. He retracted his life. Now he works for the feds. He's one of my best friends. I could call him today and he's running. - [Mark] He didn't come after you? - No. Well I lived out here for like 22 years before I went back home. And the moment he heard I was coming back, he like cleared the whole day. - [Mark] That's funny. - 'Cause he was like doing a report, doing rehabilitation for prisoners. He already had land from his family. But they bought him this
big 'ol piece of property where he moved people in, like a for-low. And he like cleared
the whole neighborhood. He rented me a car. He's just a cool cat today. He's the one they call for reinforcements. When they need somebody
reprieved in incarceration. They open up the gate to let
him in and give him the key. He's top-notch, he's like
feeling himself for real, but he's doing real good. He support his community
back where he was raised at, giving back to the people. He's still an asshole. He said you'll always be my woman, I say no I will not. All I want is some money, that's all. So he turned his life around, he's a whole different
person than what I knew. But he said I'll never forget you. You tried to give me all
that time in my life. I tried to give him 44 years. He did like 20 years. 25 years in prison. But he never let me forget it. But he'll chop and run. So I went back home at that
time, came back to California. At that time, I took my son
back with me to see my mom. Anyway, I been through a lot of shit. A whole lot. Fucked-up relationships. I dated a lot of guys, with a little something
going for themselves. They always had a business or a job. And speaking of that, I
got into one relationship that brought me to California. We called him Old Pro. He gave me his shotgun shack beer tavern. He gave me his cars, his guns. He worked for Falcon Jet. Older cat. The reprieve was he
needed the companionship, to get over some stuff
of a bad relationship. So I probably wind up getting sick. He wind up taking care of me. I wind up still going to school, four hours a day, cocktail waitressing another four hours. Barely get sleep because
I did a breakfast shift, you know, the graveyard. I did the breakfast
shift of hostess, cashier in Little Rock, one of the
big motels, the Sheraton, and the Holiday Inn. So I warmed up, getting a
little prestige with many people in a different light of living. Gave me some clarity, and going to school gave me my degrees, and my hours in office technology. So I was intrigued by trying to do something better with my life. I'm still remaining teachable to learn, and I think education is the
most important thing to living, besides health. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. When you have time to
live, your mind years. I got a love for me, to the simple fact that I have more children in this world. And the force of that is, people forcing me to
release parental rights when I take care of the people's children. Something about this I don't understand. This is the nick of it. They all right, they beautiful, they've done grown up real
smart and beautiful all of them. - [Mark] You have how many kids? - Six. - [Mark] Six. - Six. Five by one man that's deceased now, and one by another. I was with the first man 18
years here in California. The other one for the last 15 years. Oh, I'm sorry, it fell. - [Mark] No that's good. You can leave it on the floor. - The other one is a piece of shit. I got pregnant with his daughter. I didn't want her, because of the abuse that he did to me, under the drug's
influence and the streets. I lived in the streets with him. Cars and all this and that. - [Mark] But your kids, you
raised how many of them? - I had six. I brought two of them home. Three is in the system. The two oldest ones know me. The third one I only seen
after I gave birth to her. One visit to Children's Services. The other two. I brought my son and my daughter, I brought home his daughter. I would have brought her home too, but it's family, which
is his older daughter. Still trying me with being on drugs. And everything with the possibility when I received care. So basically it was an association in California that led me to
not have custody of my kids, besides my drug addiction. - [Mark] And your drug was crack? - Crack. - [Mark] And that started when for you? - I started doing crack at the age of. Let me tell you I had experience
with all drugs at nine. At nine I had an uncle that
used to play semipro ball, used to come back with pounds
and pounds and kilos of weed. And he played basketball, semipro, overseas, like Argentina and all that. Nine years old, nine. 16, 18, with crack. You know, hitting and missing. I got strung out as they
say around about 20, 21. When I came out here, crack was the thing. In the late 80's, I came out here in 1990. So crack was like a god, you know? People would do all and
everything for that fucking rock. They would do it. I would do it. But not as much. I start not wanting to smoke, but having to smoke crack cocaine. It took away my pain. My body been in a lot of trauma. In 2006, I went to prison, after being around the wrong people, getting caught up with
drugs, paraphernalias. Sales. And it finally caught up with me. Jumping and running, incarceration. I ended up doing a prison
term of just a 16 month bid, and doing two months. When I come out, the neighborhood changed. The Grapevine was shut down. My mind just went bloop. James Brown died right
before I got out of prison. Which it was just a
turnaround, did 60 days. Because we did most of our
time in the city, in the state, in jail, in LA. So I went to Chowchilla. When I got out, James Brown had just died, so that was like a big day going on. And then I got to the neighborhood after the Grapevine was closed down, coming from Chowchilla, and I couldn't remember
where everybody went to. Everybody that I knew moved this way. People lost this and lost that. It changed. People had changed. But they was right there
and I couldn't remember. So, one day, after being
released from custody, I had to report, which is three days later after being released I have to report to my parole officer, for prison. So I'm track running. Couldn't remember where
the county building is. So I go to the county building. After that, it just went blank. It's a hot day, I'm cross-stepping from all the way to Alameda. I don't know if you know where that is. Then I'm coming back east, and my mind just went plop, plop. And I'm jogging across Central and Lanzit, by Verbum Dei and WLCAC. The railroad tracks, right? I'm running across, I'm zig-zagging, because there was a strong wind. and the block's sundown. So I'm dazed. My foot hit the railroad track. The rail, the nail. My foot went in like I had on a pair of tennis shoes like this. I'm running, just trotting. I just got out of prison, this is like three or four days later. My foot, whoom! Went into the pin and
the rail of the tracks, where the bars at. Well, it got stuck. Forefoot, other foot. Between my shin and my foot of the ankle. It's pinned in the track. Can't pull it out. It got pinned, I went down, bam! When I came to, I was out, I don't know how many seconds, but I'm like blacked out. Never hear a train coming,
to tell you the truth, by me trotting. That wasn't a thing, the thing was, I was trotting to get
across the other side. Period. And I got stuck. Blacked out. I fell, blacked out. When I came to my foot is in the track. I'm looking around, down on the ground, and my foot is pinned. I'm going down, down and
trying to pull my foot out, and I can't get it out. I can barely talk because
of the stun of falling. And I do remember that. Just like fuck. Lord, I'm looking up at the
sky before I get ran over. Train's coming, they starting
this ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh my God. This is it for me. This is it for me. God, I know that I'm about to die, if this train runs me over. Why is this a phenomenon
to take my life now? God looked around and
told me and said decide whether you want to
live or you want to die. You can miss this foot. My foot is gonna go. My life was gonna go. I didn't know how that train was running. It's running on a heavy carload. Heavy, heavy. You can hear the train in
the ground, how heavy it was. Being raised around the tracks, I already knew how the thump go. So, I balls up in a knot, curls, just like a little cat, and say God, I've come to decide what I'm gonna do with my
life if you let me live. I said I'll never stop smoking cigarettes, and I'll do the best I
can to stop smoking drugs, 'Cause I can see that it's gonna kill me. One way or another,
we're living, the drugs. - [Mark] So the accident on the
train tracks, you were high? - No. - [Mark] You were suicidal? - No, not suicidal. It was a freak phenomenon, accident. It just happened. The foot got pinned. I'm trotting and I walk
that track all the time. - [Mark] And you couldn't pull your foot out of the shoe or anything like that? - I couldn't pull it out the shoe. It was pinned to the track. It was crazy. I'm laying on this ground,
my foot is in there, the train is about like I'll
say 50 feet or 100 yards. I close my eyes real tight. I'm not gonna die, God
you can have this foot, but just let me live. Soon as the train gets
across the street of Central, and coming towards me like 10, 20 feet, (train braking) There's my foot. I ass rolled, as soon as the plane of the wheel
hit my ankle and my shin. Wow! I'm hollering. And I rolled out from under the train. It goes to this foot, which had all the power in the world, and bounced straight up. All my clothes is stripped off me. I'm bloody as shit. Bounce back to the rail
on the car of the train, falls back to the ground, missing a limb, and then drops me over in the gravel and the dirt in the pit. And I rolled out dragging
my body, dragging my leg, trying to get help. Nobody was around. Nobody. And normally there's a lot of
traffic walking and driving. Not this day. Crazy shit. Now at the same time,
I'm going back-and-forth across the fucking road. Train's still going with
my foot down the tracks. I'm going back-and-forth
across the street, but the traffic didn't notice me. Didn't call for me some
help or someone to help me. I'm butt naked. I'm missing a foot. My flesh is flapping. Blood everywhere. Nobody could recognize me. Nobody recognized me to stop. Nobody stopped to help me 'til one lady. And it's testing me to tell the story, because there's a lot I couldn't remember. And then, hitting my head and my shoulder. Couldn't remember a lot of things. 911 come. The same officers that used to harass me in the neighborhood, they come. So they think they know my name. A lot of other shit. And they stopped the bleeding, controlled the bleeding
within three minutes. Treated me, sedated me, and got me to Harbor UCLA. At the same time it was
a doctor coming from overseas I think that
used to amputate baboons. I got a shattered shin. I'm bout to die. I'm bout to die. All the blood I lost, you know, after getting ran over by the train. And they re-routed him to Harbor UCLA, and that's who saved my leg. They grabbed my bones. I can remember all this, because I'm high-risk, dope. I'm high-risk to cocaine. I used them to help me
with my pain already. So barbiturates was the only thing that could control my pain. They said, you don't have any pain? Baby, I'm high. I'm on morphine, Demerol,
I'm on whatever it takes. I'm high. Why would I be in pain? Okay, I got the best
treatment, in Harbor UCLA. I thank all the staff for that. I didn't need any training. Stubbornness and my will
to live and to walk again, because I use my legs. I use my legs for everything. Everything. Legs, my hands, my head. I didn't know how to
feel, being without a leg. After being raised for
a while at that point. I didn't know who would say what about me. I know they was gonna say suicide. I'm an athlete, I needed to walk. I need to walk. Just take these tubes out of me. They say you gonna need therapy, you're gonna need rehabilitation. You gonna need this, they
got this hospital room full with all these doctors
and nurses and technicians. No, I said move. Let the rail down. Just got up, stood right up on this foot, balanced out, and hopped to the bathroom. Oh they said, amazing. The doctor came in to signify
his amputating my leg, right? And then all three physicians walk out. I said I don't need no therapy. Give me a pair of crutches
and give me a wheelchair, until we can find out how
I'm getting me another leg. 'Cause I seen it on TV, that
people walk with these things, like this right here,
and I want to walk again. This is my seventh leg. Seventh. And I haven't been back
to get my current leg, because of a situation with homelessness, back-and-forth being in the streets. I got a good prosthetic doctor. Alexander Prosthesis. I've been through Hanger,
I've been through all of them. Alexander, he technology his own legs. I like him. Ramona Scales is his first lady, and is also the manager
of this particular place. They've been real good to me, since I've been going through a lot of change with drugs and being homeless, and I plan to get back
there and get my other leg, get me a proper stump. This is a socket. All that is titanium. This is titanium. This is like, what's the guy name? He had the two prosthetic legs. What did he do? He was a jockey or somebody. Anyway he killed his
girlfriend in the bathroom, you remember who I'm talking about? The little short man who killed
the model in the bathroom, shot her five times through the wall? Had two prosthetics. Anyway this was made like his. And I'm on it right now, that's titanium. - [Mark] Pull up your skirt. - This is the socket. And my knee is right here. And there's the sleeve, and you pull the string through here. This is all titanium down here. This one. The foot is titanium with a rubber heart, but I don't want take the foot off, 'cause I been in this dig
for like over two years. It's turned up now because
I'm straight on titanium, the rubber is just hanging on. I need a new foot. I dance. I do everything with this leg. Sometime I don't want to take it off, because I forget that I have it on. And until I have sex or
I take a shower, right? It's been the best thing
that's happened to me since I lost my foot. And I'm not gonna lie to you. I walk better. I bend and dance. - [Mark] Your attitude is great about it. - [Corrine] I love my leg. I love my life today. I really do. I've been blessed in a lot of ways. When I think I have nothing and no one, the blessings come like abundantly. Like yesterday. God just works in a mysterious way, and it's exciting. - [Mark] And yet, you're
working the streets still? - [Corrine] Well I work the
streets when I need to eat. But I work the streets period, because I deal with people
everyday in the streets. - [Mark] But you do business
sometimes on the streets? - A lot of times. - [Mark] When did this start? Before the leg accident? - Escorting started way back when. With me that's just because
I had been with friends. Because they had money, I escort them here, escort them there. They treat me nice, buy me nice things, give me money. Socialism. It's good when you can get along with people and you can have a good time and they can enjoy themselves. So you can buy an escort. I mean you just have to have a proper understanding of
what you're doing and why. And be careful. - [Mark] And your customers see your leg and they're cool with it? - Yeah, they don't have
no problem with my leg. - [Mark] Your personality
makes up for it, darling. - If they have a problem with my leg, I'll be like give me one minute. - [Mark] You don't have
a problem with your leg? - I'm like, okay. Well we all get along, you know? Shit, I wash your balls, you wash my back. I'm just saying. No, I had a good rate of speed. It's not anything and everybody, but I have a good three or four on a regular basis, like weekly. It ain't so bad. - [Mark] What's the
secret to being so happy? - The shit I've been through? - [Mark] You've had a tough life, yeah. - I'm actually happy to report
to know that it wasn't me. It's not me, but it is me. I just wish I could have
had it all going on then, to now, but now is better than never, to be able to relate to myself. See, to relate it to myself,
it help me to see someone else. To have a relationship you
gotta be a people person. You can validate that, to make you happy. Like oh my God, you spared me from that. But then I'm gonna keep
talking about God, but no. He give me the strength
to deal with society, while I'm living my life. I'm homeless, I'm black. I'm not so bad off because I'm educated, and I got love for me. And people, if they don't
like me, don't love me, I don't fuck with them. Just move to the side, right? Okay, moving right along. Yeah, I'm happy. I'm happy because now the people that I thought wouldn't be happy for me, they just coming out of the
range with it, you know? Better now than never, right? Thank you, nice meeting you Mark. - [Mark] All right
Corrine, thank you so much. I'm so glad we met.
