Warning: This story contains references to sensitive topics which some readers may find upsetting.
(Seguin) — A local man is using his musical talents to bring a message of awareness and hope for children who have been abused. Joel Hayes Smith has a song, called “Save Our Children, and it’s blowing up on streaming platforms and other services. The song’s music video and audio downloads of the song continue to rack up numbers on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music and other services. The music video is available on Vevo and can be watched on YouTube. It’s a rap song with a catchy beat and jazzy undertones, but that’s not what stands out the most. It’s the lyrics that focus on the abuse of children and how more needs to be done to protect them from the predators of the world.
Smith is best known for his artist name “#Operation 1009.” He says the name is symbolic not just because it’s how he’s recognized as an artist, but it’s also a reflection of his overall movement in the fight against this abuse.
“It’s my idea of a civilian operation. The beginning and the end — the Alpha and the Omega. The one means us. The nine means them. The zero-zero is infinity. We are in this together. Some of us are over there. Some of us are over here, but we are one. It’s going to take us coming together to figure this out,” said Smith.
Smith grew up in Shreveport, LA, but he’s been in this part of Texas for years now. He says his passion for this work goes back to his childhood, and the pain that he endured when he entered the foster care system as a 12-year-old boy in Louisiana.
“I was raped in foster care in (a group home) by five grown men, who used toilet plungers and a camera. They kept all the clothes on. I didn’t talk about this until I was 27 years old. I’m 36 now. By the time I started talking, things started changing. Naturally, I write and writing turns into my music. My music has always been about what I’m going through. Once I opened up about this, I started talking about the kids and learning about other situations around us,” said Smith.
Whether you appreciate rap music or not, Smith says he hopes that you will connect with the message. He enlists the help of some fairly well-known members of the rap world. K-Rino is an underground rapper from Houston. He’s prominently featured on the track. Afroman, who had a crossover hit in the early 2000’s called “Because I Got High,” is also a big part of the song and its music video.
Smith says he grew up with all different kinds of music, but he says he chose rap because it helps him better connect with the young people and the families that he’s trying to reach.
“That seems to be the only thing that the kids are listening to. When I was 12 years old, if I had anything like this in front of me, maybe I would have said something. I spent 15 years in silence, because I was terrified. I was afraid. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. There was nothing around me that said ‘hey, you’re not alone,”’ said Smith.
The song dropped to the public a few weeks ago, and Smith says it’s been well received. He uses some references of local instances of child sex abuse, including stories about teachers, who’ve had inappropriate relationships with students. By the way, Smith says that’s a sanitized way to say that there are kids all over who are being groomed by people that they should trust.
“Every day I wake up, we’re getting thousands and thousands of more views, and we just hit number one on Amazon. So, people are buying this thing. It’s still moving forward. I’m out here on tour promoting it. This is happening in our community, and I want what’s best for our community. I’m not here to stir the pot, but I am here to make something happen,” said Smith.
If you listen to Save Our Children, or other music by Smith, you might be jarred by some of the lyrics and themes. In our interview with Smith, he says that’s part of his musical goal. He wants people to hear his music, but more importantly, he wants you to hear the message.
“Ultimately, the goal is to get people to talk, because if we get people to talk, we can learn some more,” said Smith.
Smith says his music and his movement are about preventing future cases of abuse against children, but he’s also fighting for others who were abused themselves. He says that the cycle of abuse needs to be broken. That starts with talking and working towards healing and making sure that someone’s pain doesn’t lead to them somehow preying on others. The song talks about teachers and others in positions of authority, but Smith says he knows that’s just a small part of the abuse that occurs. He says most abused children are harmed by someone they know and too often, it occurs in their in the home.
“At the very end, we breakdown the statistics of the amount of children that are abused in the home, and the damage that it does at long term. I mean, its monsters creating monsters,” said Smith.
The inspiration for Smith’s music and mission may have started in a place of darkness, but he says it’s now meant to be a source of hope for those who have been abused and a broader wake-up call for the community to do more to prevent this kind of abuse. He says it happens too often and it’s going to take everyone to come together to stop it.
“I understand what it’s like to light a fire. It only takes one match to light them all. Just because somebody else can’t see the light, it doesn’t mean that we can’t light up something big enough to help them get out of their darkness. Because it’s going to take all of us to come together to do something about this. It’s going to take a community to do something about this,” said Smith.
It’s been a whirlwind of emotions for Smith, since the song was released. He’s thrilled that people all over are listening to the song and watching the music video. However, this is all happening at a time when a big part of his life and his music are now gone. Anthony James “AJ” Irwin, the man who Smith still calls his brother, died recently. AJ grew up in the area. He graduated from Gonzales High School. Smith says AJ would eventually go on to college and earn a bachelor’s degree. He then came back and taught and coached at schools in the Gonzales and Burnet school districts.
Irwin died after a short illness, and Smith says it’s been hard. He says AJ befriended him long ago, and he’s a big part of the reason why he used his own experiences to create the music that he’s making today.
“I was opening up one day about what I had gone through. And he was just like one of the only people there with me all the way through it, and (he was) still encouraging me and saying, ‘you know what? Now you’ve got to take your pain, and you got to put it into the music and we’re going to do something with it,’” said Smith.
Smith says losing AJ is hard. He says he leans on the fact that AJ was encouraging him even though he started to become very ill.
AJ wasn’t just a friend, but the driving force behind Smith’s music career. He even had a significant part to play in the original version of the song.
“When it got to the Save Our Children song, he got sick, he got sick, and he wasn’t able continue to be a part of it until he got healthier. He didn’t want it to stop. He knew that the message was very important to me, and he knew what we were working on. So, he encouraged me to just continue moving forward,” said Smith.
The song has taken off on these digital platforms, but by the time it happened, it was too late for AJ to truly be present for the news. Smith says he was able to be by his side and share some of those details with his dying friend. He says he’ll never forget his last few words to his friend. He said he wanted him to hear, from him, about the success they were having.
“’After all these years, bro, your label, your name, Concrete Patio Music Group…is number one on (the) Amazon bestseller (list) right now. Bro, we did it. You’re getting a plaque on the wall.’ He couldn’t hear me. He took his last breath just a few hours later,” said Smith.
Smith has a fairly big presence on social media. His personal page is Joel Hayes and #operation1009, again, is his artist page. If you follow him or simply visit his pages, you might be made uncomfortable by some of the words he uses or the subjects that he discusses. There are some fairly clear influences from internet deep dives, that appear to include stories that may or may not be true. That’s not the point of our story with Smith, and we won’t be discussing them here. Those interested in that part of his online presence, can take it up with him there.
This story, instead, focuses on his latest connection with others through his music. It also focuses on his final message to us, which sounds a little bit like poetry from a man who suffered great trauma in his life but is looking to turn that around and help others in the process.
“If there’s one thing to take away from it, is that we become the light that we need to become for others that are in the darkness because we can lead them out of it. Because it’s hard. You never know when you’re looking at somebody who’s going through it. You don’t. People can hide it really well,” said Smith.
Save Our Children can be heard on most music platforms. The music video is available on YouTube. You can find a link to it on our website, seguintoday.com.
