Now here we are days before this race, 75 police officers in this meeting ballroom up at the Hilton Universal as I'm there with a clipboard telling

them, hey, I'm going to need you at this intersection shutting this down. I need these freeway

on and off ramps. Just imagine what that's like for a kid in a homeless shelter who's looking at

another kid from a homeless shelter who is pulling this off. And so to them, it was unreal. Even to me,

like, as it was all happening, I'm like, this can't be real. This can't really be happening right now.

Welcome to the Commune podcast, where every week we explore the ideas and practices that bring us together and help us live healthy and purpose-filled lives.

I'm your host, Jeff Krasno.

Commune is also an amazing online course platform, where you can study with the world's greatest teachers who will enhance your overall well-being. Come visit us at Onecommun.com.

Ken Noadike Jr. is known as the Free Hugs Guy. He's a motivational speaker, peace activist,

and founder of the Free Hugs Project, which gained popularity when he made major news headlines for his

peacekeeping efforts and de-escalation of violence during protests, riots, and political rallies.

But his life today is so much different than when he was a kid. He grew up with four siblings

and a single mom, going to school during the day and sleeping at homeless shelters at night.

Today we talked to Ken about the incredible inspiring story of how he changed his circumstances

and ended up changing the lives of millions of people in the process.

Thank you. Can you take us a little bit through your story? I mean, you grew up here, right?

Yes, yes.

So I grew up here in South Central Los Angeles.

Before then, my family, we were living in Seattle, Washington at the time,

five kids in our family. One day we came home from school to our house being raided, and my father was

arrested, and my mom decided at that time she was going to just take all five kids in our family and moved us here to Los Angeles.

We got here 1991, so shortly after our arrival we're watching on the news the Rodney King beating happened,

...