The Community Action League

Pharaoh Mitchell is Chief Executive Officer of The Community Action League (TCAL), an organizing group that addresses the social and economic needs of communities throughout Antelope Valley. Below he talks about the power of healing from trauma. Content warning: references to child abuse.

What keeps me going

“As men we were taught that it’s shameful to show emotions. But now, we as men are realizing that, ‘Hey, we can speak our emotions.’ I was abused as a child. My mother used to beat me so bad I had welts on every part of my body. I got tired of being beat-up so I ran away from home at 14 years old and I was sleeping in the bushes, in the snow in Cleveland, Ohio. I had to struggle out in the streets, homeless. [And] what keeps me going is little Pharaoh [my younger self]. As an adult, I keep little Pharaoh. He stays with me. I make sure he’s happy. I make sure if he wants to go play, if he wants to go to the beach, whatever he wants to do, I make sure he does that. That’s my reward to him and myself. All this work made me who I am today. I raised five step-kids, including my daughter and I literally saved each of these kids’ lives. I will not let a child or a person around me be in any harm’s way. Because I was brought up with abuse, it gave me special abilities to talk to people and help them with their mental problems. The only way we’re going to be able to heal our future generations is if we start healing and taking care of each other right now.”

LACDMH Strategic Plan Points: 1a.1 education, 1a.2 engagement, 1a.3 follow up, 1b.1 housing, 1b.2 kin, 1b.3 purpose, 1c.1 assessment, 4.2 organizational process, 4.3 organizational outcomes.