“Restorative justice says ‘No, the offense affected a relationship’ and what you are seeking for is to restore the relationship, to heal the relationship.”
–Desmond Tutu
“Crime is a violation of people and relationship. It creates obligations to make things right,. Justive involves the victim, the offender and the community in search for solutions which promote repair, reconciliation and reassurance.”
–Howard Zehr
“The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth,”
–African proverb
The YouTube video of my conversation with Sia Henry, “Restorative Justice, Psychedelics and the Black Community,” can be seen at https://youtu.be/nGiOBRLqv2I , 0r you can just listen to the audio podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827447/episodes/17790063
Sia Henry is an attorney, a racial justice activist, and abolitionist who has spent a decade engaging in criminal legal system reform work. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Duke University. She is also an advocate for bringing the healing potential of psychedelics to communities of color.
Sia serves on the Board of Directors for Mount Tamalpais College (formerly the Prison University Project) at San Quentin State Prison. That is the country’s first, tuition-free and independently accredited college situated inside a prison. She also founded the Hood Exchange to introduce formerly incarcerated Black individuals to international travel throughout the African diaspora.
In addition, Sia currently works with MAPS (the Multi-disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) with the goal of ensuring Black, indigenous, and other communities of color have meaningful access to transformative healing opportunities.
I became aware of Sia and her work watching an interview she did with my good friend, Carla Detchon on her podcast, “Psychedelic Divas”. I was very moved to learn more of how she works so powerfully on social justice issues, as well as the more inner directed exploration of consciousness change.
In our conversation, which includes her own personal story, Sia lays out the theory and practice of restorative justice and what is meant by “abolition” beyond any simplistic understandings. We then explore her personal, life-changing experience with psilocybin mushrooms and her current work with MAPS https://maps.org/ aiming to bring the healing potential of psychedelics more deeply into the Black community.
Especially given the reactionary currents in our society today, where people are encouraged to focus on themselves as separate individuals and justice has become synonymous with vengeance, Sia’s call to have us move towards community healing points us towards a vital reorienting of our attention.
Please check out more about this extraordinary woman and her work: