The Psychedelics Movement….
Hello! Urban Naturalist here, Welcome to Detroit!!! In today's blog, I will be sharing about the psychedelics movement in Detroit.
In all my future blogs, I will be sharing things to do around the city (especially outside) while you are in Detroit. From events in green spaces around the city and the Detroit Metropolitan Area to some of my favorite places to grab a bite and/or a drink, as well as music and art, I'll try to share things on and off the beaten path!
Coming up Saturday, February 24th, is an exciting documentary called "A Table Of Our Own'. This groundbreaking documentary gives a unique look into the psychedelic movement from from the eyes and experiences of Black people. Interested??? You can find registration information for this event here on Eventbrite: A Table Of Our Own
A Table of Our Own is a collaboration of four, outstanding people: teacher and author, Ayize Jama-Everett; LMFT, certified sex therapist, owner and operator of Doorway Therapeutic Services, Courtney Watson; LMFT at Doorway Therapeutic Services, Leticia Brown; and activist and facilitator, Kufikiri Imara. The group has come together to create A Table of our Own: a for-Black-people by-Black-people psychedelic conference and corresponding documentary. While noticing how often it seemed members of the BIPOC (black, indigenous, and other people of color) community were being used to check off a diversity box for grant money, they decided that before they were another guest at someone else’s table, it was time for them to gather at their own table and figure out exactly what they want out of this “so-called psychedelic renaissance” first.
They talk about why a Black conference is needed and what it could look like; how affinity groups create safety; the ease in communication and connection when having shared experience; the problems with modern, performative-based psychiatry; and why it’s true that when Black people win, everyone wins. And reflecting on some of the recent abuse allegations, they also discuss abuse in the psychedelic space: how abusers always learn from abusers, how communities learn from the behavior of elders, how guidelines for facilitators and therapists are drastically oversimplified, and how we all need to recognize our own ability to cause harm.
Notable Quotes from A Table of Our Own
“There’s a lot of ‘We want you at our table, we want you at our table,’ but as people of color, we’re not a freaking monolith. We haven’t sat at our table. We haven’t shared our stories, the positive and the negative. We haven’t collaborated on what’s going to do best for our communities. We haven’t had those conversations. And so the conference is about: Let’s just sit together and talk. Where are we at? How are you feeling? What’s going on? What do you need? Do you need a hug? Can you get fed? Can you be comforted? Can I hear your knowledge? Are you willing to share yours? Can we get that back-and-forth going? And then once we have that; well, let’s document that, because not everybody’s going to be able to come to this. What we need to show is: Hey, this is how we do.” -Ayize Jama-Everett
“For survival purposes, because of the nature of historical precedents, we have to adjust who we are for the environment that we’re in for survival, understanding that there are those in the same society that expect the environment to change to them because that is the way things have been set up. So when we’re in an environment of a Black experience of people of the African diaspora, understanding that that’s not something we have to do in that space (like the others said, around being policed and thus having to police themselves); there’s a uniqueness around that.” -Kufikiri Imara
“The harm comes in in ways of presenting itself as some authoritative model around good and bad, right and wrong; yet misses so much of the harms that exist in society that are navigated by those in marginalized communities (especially those in Black bodies and Western colonial spaces) that don’t account for that aspect of someone’s identity, but yet is looking to work with someone around what their identity is. So that harm is a very real one. …How do you know your worth and your value in a space if you’re always being compared to someone that does not look like you or does not have your experience?” -Kufikiri Imara
“Black folks, when we’re in spaces together; we’re not all sitting around talking about our trauma. We are often just connecting with each other and laughing with each other and holding each other. So this conference is also a space where we can heal through play and joy and movement and dance and everything about how we navigate the world that brings so much flavor, including the joy. Black joy is a whole other kind of medicine that is always present when we gather.” -Leticia Brown
The goal of the documentary is to create a gathering of Black luminaries that do work in the psychedelic space. They were joined by 35 key members from all around the country to give participants a place to share their strengths, experiences, hopes, challenges within the psychedelic space. The goal is to highlight those doing great work and to expand the reach of these important ways of healing to more Black people. They also wish to destigmatize these psychedelics so that they are no longer seen as not appropriate for Black people. They hope to make these psychedelics seen as more natural balms and salves to Black people's psyches than they have been using in the past.
The documentary will not only cover the conference, but also the current state of Black people in the psychedelic space as a whole. The conference will be a three day, invite only, affair. If looking for somewhere to stay, check out these beautiful lofts. It will focus on those who have had experience in the areas of psychedelics and the arts, activism, academics, sciences, entrepreneur, cultivators, and those still working in the underground psychedelics scene.
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