PT485 – Ayize Jama-Everett, M.Div, M.A., M.F.A. – Meeting People Where They Are: Why the Underground Will Always Thrive
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2024
⏱️ 100 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Joe interviews Ayize Jama-Everett: author, educator, filmmaker, and therapist with a long history of work in substance use and mental health services.
When Jama-Everett was last on the show, "A Table of Our Own" – a film focusing on healing, psychedelics, and bonds within the Black community – was still in its infancy. It's now complete, and he and others behind the film are touring with it, with showings coming up in Detroit, LA, and Boston. A free follow-up discussion hosted by CIIS' Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research is happening Feb. 15, and, from February 15-16 only, the film is available to rent online.
He gives his full origin story: growing up around substance use, how he got into therapy and healing people through journeys, how "A Table of Our Own" came about, and how it was influenced by mushrooms. Then he discusses a lot more, with a much-needed critical eye:
- His experiences with some notorious bad actors in the facilitation space
- Decriminalization and how we celebrate small wins while ignoring steps back
- Drug exceptionalism, the Drug War, and the demonization of crack
- Power dynamics and the dangerous concept of letting go
- Why the Black community is so skeptical of psychedelics
And he talks about why it's so important to meet people where they are – that what works for one person or one community won't necessarily work for another, and the above-ground, corporatized, overly medicalized model will never work for everyone.
Click here to head to the show notes page.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Mushroom enthusiasts and psychedelic explorers. |
| 0:03.2 | We are excited to join forces with Fungi Academy at the first ever Sacred Micology Summit, |
| 0:09.3 | a free online gathering full of fungal wisdom, including an expert panel on psychedelics. |
| 0:14.6 | Together with more than 25 global thought leaders and citizen scientists, |
| 0:18.3 | including Dennis McKenna, Laura Dawn, and William Padilla |
| 0:21.2 | Brown, Fungi Academy will explore the realms of mycology, psychedelics, permaculture, and more. |
| 0:27.0 | The Interactive Summit will be live on Zoom the weekend of February 23rd through 25th, with video replays available. |
| 0:33.6 | Register for free now at sacredmycology.com and at the link in our show notes. |
| 0:49.7 | Hello, everybody. Welcome back to psychedelics today. Joe Moore here coming at you from Brigham |
| 0:54.4 | Colorado. Today on the show, we have Aizze Jama Everett, who is one of the creators of a recent |
| 1:01.8 | documentary. I just got to see it last night at a screening in Denver. The screening was on |
| 1:07.7 | February 8, 2024. And it was awesome. |
| 1:11.1 | The film is a very important and very timely piece talking about black specific perspectives |
| 1:18.9 | and experiences in the psychedelic space and literally creating a table of their own. |
| 1:24.4 | And I love it. |
| 1:26.0 | It was compelling. |
| 1:31.0 | It had really great nuance and was full of heart and soul. And it was amazing. It's going to be screaming online for a couple days. So check out |
| 1:37.1 | their website and you can tune in. There's also a screening coming up in Detroit on February 24th, Los Angeles on February 28, |
| 1:46.9 | and Boston on March 27. |
| 1:49.3 | There might be some more dates coming, so stay tuned. |
| 1:52.6 | Yeah, I really appreciated it. |
| 1:53.9 | The panel at the end was also stellar. |
... |
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