‘I know these people’: A combat veteran’s new mission
Small groups huddle in the corner of MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. Many are covered in scabs, alarmingly thin and their skin yellowed like the few teeth they have left. The air reeks of cannabis and used needles dot the gum-stained concrete.
Most carry tattered backpacks, others lug all their possessions in plastic bags. A few have nothing but the torn and stained clothes on their back. As people pass by, they avert their eyes and ignore their calls — they don’t have time or a dollar to spare.
Justin Michael Ellis-Brooks, a Santa Monica College (SMC) student, couldn’t ignore the social inequities within marginalized communities, so he created a grassroots organization focused on community mutual aid.
“To me, my story seems special and unique, and it is, but in the same sense, I realize my story is probably one of how many,” Ellis-Brooks said. “That’s the institutional part, because it’s affected so many people.”
“I know it’s not just my mother who dealt with it, and who was probably homeless as a result. Those who dealt with the same thing are the people we’re seeing in MacArthur Park, Skid Row and throughout the city. It stems from the same system, the same systemic violence,” Ellis-Brooks said.
Ellis-Brooks comes from humble beginnings; the youngest of eight siblings, born and raised in St. Louis. As a child, he was adopted alongside his older brother, who helped raise him, after his mother lost custody of her children due to problems stemming from the crack epidemic.
“I know the people that we help, more or less. If I’m not one of them, then I know someone who was or someone who is. My maternal mother, may she rest in peace, was unfortunately a victim of the crack cocaine epidemic,” Ellis-Brooks said. “That’s not what killed her; she only passed in the last couple of years, but it’s really a casualty since it had robbed her of motherhood.”
He graduated from high school, but had no interest in college. So, he enlisted in the Army, opting for war paint and desert brown Army camos over schoolwork and lectures.
A few months later, Ellis-Brooks went to Fort Sill in Oklahoma for boot camp. They shaved him bald, issued him a uniform and instilled in him the Army’s core values. He became an Aircraft Systems Operator at the Fort Irwin National Training Center.
While in the Army, he developed a love for barbering, teaching himself through YouTube videos. He turned that love into a booming business, which he ran from inside the barracks. Eventually, that passion would consume him; he stopped focusing on qualifications and making rank, preferring to focus on cutting hair.
After a nine-month deployment in Iraq, Ellis-Brooks arranged a trip to Los Angeles for a barbers’ convention with his friends. Throwing caution to the wind, he drove two and a half hours in his '08 Ford Focus, which still required some maintenance.
The car was fine, until it wasn’t; he found himself stranded in front of the Mid-City Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. He lifted the hood and noticed that the car desperately needed transmission fluid.
Ellis-Brooks began smiling, retelling the story. “I tell people, I think a lot of my journey is a result of obedience,” he said. “Obedience is what led me to that convention. Obedience is what I feel led me to Erica.”
He entered Roscoe’s and started talking to a loud group of girls, and within that group sat his soon-to-be girlfriend, Erica. They exchanged numbers, and a year later, they started a life together.
Ellis-Brooks was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant, with two combat deployments, and an Army Commendation Medal. He worked multiple jobs after the Army, then decided to go back to school.
“Erica said, ‘Alright, you want to go to school? I got the perfect place for you.’ Ignorantly, I was like, ‘Let me just go study at USC.’ Boy, if I could smack myself from two years ago, I would,” Ellis-Brooks said, laughing and smacking his hands together.
He then said, “She went to SMC; sung high praises, so I said, ‘I’ll give it a shot.’ Fell in love with it, right away. Immediately saw why she loved it.” So, he got involved with the school.
According to Sherri Bradford, Program Leader for the Black Collegian Program Umoja Community, Ellis-Brooks has “always been a person who’s wanted to make sure other students had access to resources. He would help facilitate club meetings, then he got involved with the Veterans Club.”
He served on the Officer Board of Black Collegians before becoming the president of SMC’s Student Veterans of America chapter. Ellis-Brooks was “always with the presence of, ‘how can I be of service,’” Bradford said.
While in school, Ellis-Brooks began to read for fun. One book turned to five, five turned to 30, and before he knew it he had a collection of books ready to be given away.
“I guess I love learning. I’m going to read these books anyway, so I might as well document it, create art with it, inform with it, and educate with it,” Ellis-Brooks said.
He then said, “I have extra copies of books too, so why not continue to practice forms of mutual aid by hosting free book browsing and give these books away as I’m educating folk.”
Suddenly, Ellis-Brooks had a new calling: helping those who have been marginalized through the power of education.
He built a small following posting pro-Black content on social media, but felt that he could do more. Using money from his GI Bill, he began laying the foundation for something more impactful: Books with Brooks (BwB) and the Free Book Initiative.
BwB is a grassroots organization that focuses on empowering and enriching low-income communities through mutual aid and literature. Ellis-Brooks aims to develop the organization into a non-profit that provides social programs, deriving inspiration from the Black Panther Party (BPP).
“I’m inspired by the (Party’s) free breakfast program. I want to learn about every single program,” Ellis-Brooks said. “You want to talk about revolutionary, we built a complete infrastructure under such an oppressive system.”
He continued posting on social media and networking, trying to find like-minded individuals. Within a few months, Ellis-Brooks raised enough money to fund BwB’s first event in March 2025 at MacArthur Park.
They distributed food, 100 hygiene kits in drawstring bags, informational pamphlets and overdose prevention items. Once fewer people arrived at the canopy, they walked around the park and hand-delivered the remaining resources.
“He’s consistently putting himself out there for the greater good: helping our unhoused members of society, helping everyone in the community, just being a person who wants to be there for people, when others haven’t been. It’s just beautiful and I’m so happy to witness and help,” said Erica Gunn, Ellis-Brooks’ girlfriend.
A life of service is what Ellis-Brooks chose. “Mutual aid is what I was taught as a child. If you see somebody needs help, help them. It’s simple,” Ellis-Brooks said.
“Revolution isn’t inherently violent, it doesn’t always have to be centered in violence,” he said. “Oftentimes, you’ll get further taking care of your people than crashing out on the system.”