The Bay Area’s landscape of peaks and valleys make Oakland, Calif. a breathtaking place for people to call home. And for many residents, like Terran, living life in Oakland also has its fair share of peaks and valleys. Currently single, his daily walk has been shaped by the Oakland foster care system, periods of homelessness, service to his community, friends, and music. It’s the kind of backdrop that illustrates resilience, but if you ask him, Terran would rather not be defined by his resilience.
“Being labeled resilient often feels like a reminder of the painful experiences I’ve endured,” he said. “If you're resilient in the way that I'm resilient, that means you've been through a whole lot of stuff."
Terran’s journey through foster care began at the age of two when his mother was murdered. He was then taken in for seven years by Auntie B, an older relative, until the foster care system felt she was too old, and incapable of continuing to care for him properly. According to Terran, instability and a lack of proper handling ensued as he lived through nearly twenty foster homes.
"By the time I was 17 they just couldn't figure out what to do with me," he recalled before sharing that it had gotten so bad, he took matters into his own hands and worked out temporary arrangements with his assigned foster family that involved splitting the check received from the state so he could pay rent to live elsewhere. “I found somebody… So we split the rent.”
That plan fell apart as soon as he turned 18 and the financial support stopped. He often characterizes his journey through the foster care system as repeated heartbreak. However, there was one particular family he fondly remembers as the fuel to his music career. After going through 4-5 homes he referred to as uncomfortable situations, he was placed with a family that greeted him with the love of music and encouraged him to sing.
“One of our favorites to sing was Whitney Houston’s Children are the Future,” shared Terran. “I remember walking home from school and hearing a piano and knew it was coming from my house and I just started running [home].”
In that home, he says he learned to play the piano and wrote his first classical piece at age 12. Today, music is still a passion. He’s searchable on Apple Music, releasing a 2023 album under the artist name Terran Johnson aka Ezra Blank. He plays the piano, sings, writes his own songs and mixes them himself.
Terran admits that his songs aren’t always joyful. There’s pain and soulful emotion from life’s peaks and valleys in practically every song. Some were inspired by the stress and anxiety he experienced while living unhoused in the Oakland and San Francisco streets—even writing a lyric in one song about living in his tent with the fear of waking up with cold toes.
"I just didn't want to be outside," he said, before remembering a random encounter with a friend at a bar that led to a warm place to live. "Angie [his friend] saw me at the bar… She gave me her room… So that took me out of homelessness right there."
Terran later worked as a case manager, finding transitional housing for people around the city when he was selected for the Oakland Resilient Families Guaranteed Income Pilot. The monthly cash investments in the 18-month pilot—at the time one of the largest in the country—allowed him to move out to better living arrangements, pay rent and even navigate several challenges in employment.
“It most definitely allowed me to stretch my legs some weekends,” said Terran. “I didn’t have to put both of my paychecks together… I could get me some new pants or a new pair of shoes and not feel guilty about it.”
Perhaps the part Terran appreciated most was not being told how he had to spend the monthly cash. It’s a core staple of the UpTogether Approach where members have autonomy, are trusted and can be the experts in their own lives.
“That was good to give people the feeling of responsibility. It made you feel like you were trusted,” he shared. “We already don’t feel like we’re trusted with certain situations, certain programs because they think you’re down and out. It was good that we were able to have the responsibility and not be ridiculed… that you’re not assuming that we’re doing something negative with it.”
Terran admits that anxiety got the best of him when he first began to see the impact that direct cash investments made on his life.
“I've been catching up on my bills and everything. My car note, my phone bill… I was able to move… [But] I kinda had it in my mind of ‘What’s gonna go wrong?’ said Terran. “So for the first year, I didn’t buy any furniture… But then I did and got completely attached. I was extremely happy.”
Besides using music to fundraise, Terran’s past fuels his future ambitions. He aims to create living situations for people in his community and providing the type of care he wished he had in foster homes or while unhoused.
"I wanna open up my own additional housing… homeless shelters and homes… I have a program called Homeless Off The Streets (HOTS) that I want to get off the ground,” said Terran. “But the group homes is what I wanna do first.
While his goals for music and life are in a better place than his journey began, he’d be the first to tell you life remains a challenge with the rising cost of living, strict landlords, and the search for better employment.
Terran’s story reminds us that resilience is more than a description, but rather an outcome of someone going through the adverse pressure of challenging circumstances, tapping into the human spirit, and continuing to push for a better reality. Embodying the essence of turning pressure turning rock into diamonds, Terran seems motivated to be a new diamond in Oakland’s rough.