At a talent show on Los Angeles' Skid Row, the performers are all part of the homeless community

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wearing shiny heels, a thrifted dress and a red rose in her hair, Deoujahne Darc belted out an original song on a small, makeshift stage in the heart of Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

“I saw the Lord in the face of a homeless man,” she sang, as the crowd swayed along.

The 26-year-old’s performance was one of many at what's believed to be Skid Row’s first talent show on Saturday, featuring song and dance from a dozen homeless or formerly homeless performers.

The downtown LA neighborhood has one of the largest homeless encampments in the U.S., with approximately 45,000 homeless people this year. While Skid Row has become synonymous with abject poverty, the several dozen blocks of tents and debris is just a few blocks away from upscale restaurants, office skyscrapers and tourist destinations.

Many of the performers sang or rapped songs they had written themselves. One performer read Scripture from the Bible that he was particularly moved by. Another covered a rap song to honor a friend who died from gun violence. While some passersby only stopped to grab food, others stayed to clap or sing along as the mood changed with a lively rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

At one point, a fight broke out outside — as they often do on Skid Row — but the performers inside the church didn't seem to notice. Right outside an entrance decorated with white-and-gold balloons, mounds of trash bags and cardboard boxes piled up on the street corner. A man slept through the commotion on a pile of cushions on the ground, hiding from the heat in the shade of the building.

Ladelle Handy, 45, opted to sing and dance to an original song. He spun and moved around on stage wearing a leather jacket over a sleek blazer, confidence emanating as the crowd cheered. His friends grooved along to the music and gave him a hug when he finished.

Handy grew up dancing in Chicago and moved to LA to pursue a music career 10 years ago, but has been homeless since he was evicted in February.

During his time on Skid Row, he slipped into drug use and depression, he said, and he wasn’t sure if he would even perform last weekend because things weren't going well. But he was energized by the other performers and knew he had to get on stage.

His performance Saturday was dedicated to his mother, who was killed in Chicago in 2001, he said.

“Showcasing my gift that is a God-given talent, I know I have it,” Handy said. “I just wanted to make sure that the world remembers that I have it.”

The talent show was organized by Rev. Gary Carr, who holds a weekly service in the area at Lifeway Church and saw that the residents of the community had more to offer than what Skid Row has come to represent.

“People give up on the disenfranchised, thinking that they’re worthless,” Carr said. “They have value, and through the talent show today you can see — it’s a life story there, it’s a struggle.”

Carr came up with the idea to highlight people’s talents with a sister church, which helped sponsor the event. They knew another local pastor’s weekly open mic was popular among the residents, and there would be many interested in performing.

They selected winners who would continue to meet regularly to develop their talents and put together a performance for Easter.

“This is an avenue to a new beginning,” Carr said.

The 69-year-old said he had been homeless himself for nearly 30 years, spending time on the streets between spending time in prison. In 2009, he said he was called into the ministry.

While Carr became a pastor and worked at the Union Rescue Mission, one of the oldest shelters in the city, many of his friends remain homeless.

He reminds them, and others that come to him, that there's still hope.

“These people really know me, they knew me when I’m at my worst,” he said. “And they know what the Lord has done in my life.”

For Darc, the Skid Row stage was a platform for her to share her music and inspire others who have gone through similar struggles.

She was born and raised in Los Angeles and ended up homeless in Oregon after a troubled relationship. With the help of a domestic violence shelter, she returned to California. She spent more than a year and a half on the streets and at a women’s shelter before she found stable housing.

“This is the realest I’ve seen people be, the good, the bad, the ugly,” Darc said.

Even the green dress she wore for her performance had significance — it was one of the first pieces of clothing she purchased with a friend at a Goodwill when she landed in a shelter in California. Finding housing and buying the dress felt like being a mermaid coming onto land from the ocean, she said.

“Like I just had to learn to walk again,” she said.

Darc has been singing since she was 4 years old and said she has self-produced seven albums.

She performed her original song, “Grace & Mercy,” to show others that everyone is deserving of such virtues as fellow humans, and she wants her voice to be able to heal others, she said.

“Instead of me speaking I’d rather just put it into the pen, put it into my music and give it to the world that way,” Darc said.

Winners, judges and volunteers celebrate after the winners are announced at the end of Skid Row's inaugural talent show in downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A woman in the audience fixes her hair before the start of Skid Row's inaugural talent show in downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A contestant who goes by the nickname Queen Mussolini performs at Skid Row's inaugural talent show in downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Judges compare notes while deciding the winners of the Skid Row's inaugural talent show in downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Deoujahne Darc performs during Skid Row's first annual talent show in downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

President Donald Trump's interest in a U.S. acquisition of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, first became publicly known in 2019. Here's a timeline of events that led to a crisis between Washington and its European allies.

Aug., 2019: During his first term, Trump expresses interest in buying Greenland for the U.S., but says it's “not No. 1 on the burner.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen dismisses it as “an absurd discussion.” Trump then says he canceled a trip to Denmark because Frederiksen made a “nasty” statement in rejecting his idea.

Dec. 22, 2024: Weeks before his second term begins, President-elect Trump renews his interest, declaring that “the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.” Greenland's prime minister, Múte Bourup Egede, says that "we are not for sale and will never be for sale.”

Jan. 7, 2025: Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., visits Greenland. The president-elect says he won't rule out using military force to take control of Greenland.

March 11, 2025: Greenlanders elect a new parliament in a vote that produces a win for the Demokraatit party of Jens-Frederik Nielsen. Shortly afterward, all five parties in the legislature reject Trump's talk of the U.S. taking control.

March 27, 2025: Four of the five parties in Greenland's parliament agree to form a coalition government with Nielsen as prime minister.

March 28, 2025: Vice President JD Vance visits the U.S. Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland and accuses Denmark of underinvesting in the island's security.

March 29, 2025: Denmark's foreign minister scolds the U.S. for the tone of its criticism. Trump says he never takes “military force off the table.”

Aug. 27, 2025: Denmark's Foreign Ministry summons the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen after a Danish broadcaster reports that at least three people with connections to Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Dec. 21, 2025: Trump announces that he is appointing Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to serve as the U.S. ‌special envoy to Greenland. Landry says it's an honor to serve in the position “to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Dec. 22, 2025: The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insist that the U.S. won’t take over Greenland. The Danish foreign minister says he's summoning the U.S. ambassador.

Jan. 4, 2026: Talk of a U.S. takeover of Greenland flares up again after the U.S. ousts Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela.

Jan. 5, 2026: Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen says an American military takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of NATO.

Jan. 6, 2026: Major European leaders join Frederiksen in a statement defending the sovereignty of Greenland. The White House says that “utilizing the U.S. military is always an option” for Trump.

Jan. 8, 2026: Trump says in an interview that he has to possess the entirety of Greenland instead of just exercising a long-standing treaty that gives the U.S. wide latitude to use Greenland for military posts.

Jan. 13, 2026: Greenlandic Prime Minister Nielsen says Greenland chooses Denmark “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now."

Jan. 14, 2026: The Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers meet in Washington with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They agree to set up a working group, but Denmark and the White House then offer sharply diverging public views of its purpose. Denmark announces plans to boost the country's military presence in the Arctic and several European allies say they're sending small numbers of troops to Greenland for reconnaissance on Arctic security. Danish media later report that Copenhagen prepared for a real conflict, deploying with explosives and blood supplies.

Jan. 16, 2026: Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland.

Jan. 17, 2026: Trump says he will charge a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to U.S. control of Greenland.

Jan. 19, 2026: An exchange of texts with the Norwegian prime minister shows Trump linking his stance on Greenland to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize and saying that he no longer feels “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

Jan. 21, 2026: Hours after saying he wants Greenland “including right, title and ownership," Trump scraps the threatened tariffs against European countries. He says he agreed with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security.

Jan. 28, 2026: Technical talks between the U.S., Denmark and Greenland over an Arctic security deal start.

Feb. 21, 2026: Trump says he will deploy a hospital ship to Greenland, alleging that many people there are sick and not receiving care. His post comes after Denmark’s military said its forces evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine off Greenland for urgent medical treatment. Greenlandic Prime Minister Nielsen says “no thank you” to the hospital ship.

July 7, 2026: Trump renews tensions ahead of a NATO summit, saying that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.” Frederiksen reiterates that Greenland is "not for sale" and says that Denmark is “ready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory” in the event of an attack.

Sept. 18, 2026: Trump announces that he has a deal to bolster the U.S. military presence in Greenland. Danish officials are cautiously optimistic, with Frederiksen emphasizing that the planned agreement recognizes Denmark's sovereignty and the Greenlandic people's right to self-determination.

Sept. 22, 2026: Trump, Frederiksen and Nielsen sign the agreement on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. All three express satisfaction with the deal, but Trump does not respond to questions about whether his quest to acquire the territory is off the table.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center, Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, right, and US President Donald Trump at the signing ceremony of a security deal between the U.S., Denmark and Greenland at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, right, as Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center, watches at a security agreement signing ceremony during the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event about healthcare in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday Sept. 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)