In part two of our season finale, we explore some alternatives to police intervention for a mental health crisis. Crisis Response Teams, Crisis Intervention Teams, and the new 988 all offer assistance and mental health services that minimize or eliminate police interaction with people in crisis, leading to much safer outcomes.  We’ll also examine the stigma of seeking mental health treatment - particularly in communities of color - by hearing Kevin Fischer’s lived experience navigating his son’s mental health crises, as well as his own.

Kevin Fischer is the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Michigan and the President of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) International. He is a mental health and suicide prevention advocate dedicated to eliminating the stigma associated with mental illness. 

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Jul
“Dreary Boots” by DJ Fatha Julz

In part one of our season finale, we hear the story of Samuel Celestin, who was killed by the police while experiencing a mental health crisis. Sammy’s sister, Joanne, and brother, Jean, join us to describe how a 911 call for medical transport to psychiatric treatment was answered by police brutality and death. Why weren’t the police ever held accountable for causing Sammy’s death? Would Sammy have been treated differently if he was not a Black man?

We’ll also speak with DeRay McKesson, a civil rights activist, author, podcaster, and educator who is often associated with the Ferguson protests and Black Lives Matter movement. He co-founded Campaign Zero, a campaign to reduce police violence through policy reform that is helping to bring attention to the Samuel Celestin case. 

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz
“Sunset” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC
“Between Four Eyes” by Czar Donic // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

In the second part of our episode about cannabis, we will discuss the racist history of the criminalization of cannabis and examine the current legal cannabis space. We have seen that legalizing weed is not enough to repair the damage done by the war on drugs. Who is able to participate in this multi-billion dollar industry and get a piece of that revenue? And what can policy makers do to start creating equity and social justice in such a young and lucrative industry?

Doni Crawford is a Senior Policy Analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute who works with state and local policy makers to address long standing racial and economic inequities affecting communities of color and low-income residents through public policy.

Dianna Benjamin is a freelance writer who covers the cannabis industry for Marijuana Matters, a social justice enterprise whose mission is to create pathways out of poverty for those most harmed by the war on drugs through advocacy, education and entrepreneurship. She also hosts their Green Light Podcast.

John Bailey is the Founder and Lead Convener of the Black Cannabis Equity Initiative (BCEI). BCEI’s mission is to promote progressive sustainable dialogue, positive community engagement and action around fairness and opportunity in the statewide cannabis landscape and acts as a bridge between the Black community and the Colorado cannabis industry.

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz
“Dreary Boots” by DJ Fatha Julz
“The Joke’s On Us” by 91nova // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC
“Thrum Room” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

For our special 420 holiday edition of the podcast, we’re going to give you a complete lens of the cannabis industry in two parts. In Part 1, we’re going to be talking about the racism inherent in the prosecution and sentencing of those who are charged with cannabis related crimes and hear a personal story about being criminalized for using cannabis.

BlackFire Poet-Tree is a Rastafarian musician, poet, scientist who was born in Jamaica. In 2017 he was pulled over for a traffic stop while driving in Mississippi. After the cannabis he bought legally in Oregon was discovered in his vehicle, BlackFire was charged with drug trafficking and found himself in a courtroom facing decades behind bars.

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz

“Dreary Boots” by DJ Fatha Julz

“Fuzzy Logic” by Nihoni  // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

“The Joke’s On Us” by 91nova  // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

“Curious Process: by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

In the second part of this episode focusing on reproductive experimentation on Black women, we hear what happened after Kelli found out about the procedure she had undergone without her consent. Once she realized what had happened, another battle began to acquire her medical records and prove that such a violation had taken place. As she searched for answers, she realized that this was routinely happening behind prison walls.

Donna Ladd is a journalist from Mississippi and currently the editor for the Mississippi Free Press who wrote an article Civil Rights Activist, Fannie Lou Hamer and her legacy of tenacity and dedication. She and her partner also have a YouTube series called "Driving History". Check out an episode focusing on the legacy of Ms. Hamer.

Ray Levy Uyeda is a freelance reporter from the Bay Area who wrote this article about how organizers, including Kelli Dillon, are fighting against the legacy of forced sterilizations.

While incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla in the early 2000s, Kelli was sterilized without her knowledge and consent. She has since dedicated her life to advocating for reproductive health and providing crisis assistance to other women experiencing trauma through her nonprofit, Back to the Basics. 

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz
“Dreary Boots” (outro) by DJ Fatha Julz

“Sunset” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC
“Two Boys and a Girl ” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC 
“Dunes” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

In a previous episode, Dani and Nwayieze explored the story of the Holmesburg Prison Experiments. In this episode, they discuss gynecological experimentation that was simultaneously occurring in womens’ facilities across the country. 

Donna Ladd is a journalist from Mississippi and currently the editor for the Mississippi Free Press who wrote an article Civil Rights Activist, Fannie Lou Hamer and her legacy of tenacity and dedication. Ray Levy Uyeda is a freelance reporter from the Bay Area who wrote this article about how organizers, including Kelli Dillon, are fighting against the legacy of forced sterilizations. While incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla in the early 2000s, Kelli was sterilized without her knowledge and consent. She has since dedicated her life to advocating for reproductive health and providing crisis assistance to other women experiencing trauma through her nonprofit, Back to the Basics. 

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz

“Dreary Boots” (outro) by DJ Fatha Julz

“Sunset” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

“Dimlight” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC  

“Slough” by Podington Bear // From Free Music Archive // CC BY NC

“This Little Light of Mine” (https://www.loc.gov/item/lomaxbib000628/)

The Next 72 Hours takes a look at how different institutions mistreat and abuse Black people and this is most evident when it comes to law enforcement. There is a long standing history of unjust policing of Black people and communities that goes all the way back to Samuel Cartwright’s “drapetomania”. Isn’t it perplexing how many times American police routinely find a way to peacefully arrest heavily armed and dangerous white mass shooters, yet fear for their lives when they encounter Black men and women who exhibit signs of mental illness?

In this episode, Dani and Nwayieze talk to Andrew M. Stroth, attorney and Managing Partner of Action Injury Law Group, about the murder of Isaiah Lewis and why he believes we need to “invest in police”. They are also joined, once again, by Dr. Ayana Jordan to discuss how Black communities could be saved from senseless deaths by finding/funding a way to introduce community intervention in the place of policing as we have known it. 

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz

“Dreary Boots” (outro) by DJ Fatha Julz

This episode is the second of two that focuses on the treatment and sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine use and the opioid epidemic. The war on drugs is a calculated racist political tool. Crack didn’t just appear in Black communities...it came from somewhere.

 In part 2, more of Nwayieze and Dani's conversations with Jack Brown and Susan Burton. Susan and Jack talk about the repercussions they faced because of substance use, their recovery journeys, and the "gentler, more compassionate" approach to the opioid epidemic. This episode also features interviews with Dr. Ayana Jordan, an addiction psychiatrist, and Andrew Goudsward, a reporter for the Asbury Park Press, who has done extensive reporting on the opioid epidemic.