Tauhid Chappell is Elevating Empathy and Understanding

Tauhid Chappell

“Sicklerville, New Jersey and Ashburn, Virginia are the places I call home. I was born and raised in Sicklerville, a product of an Indian mom, whose young pregnancy had her temporarily booted from her parents house, and a Black biological father, who was eventually incarcerated for a period of time while I was still a child.” 

My mother worked three jobs, survived abuse and ultimately was embraced back into the family and expanded network in Jersey which kept both of our lives stable. She found love again and we eventually relocated with another man to a white affluent suburb of Virginia where I did most of my schooling all the way through college. 

What is Ulcerative Colitis?
Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes long-lasting inflammation and ulcers (sores) in your digestive tract.

Ulcerative colitis can be debilitating and can sometimes lead to life-threatening complications. While it has no known cure, treatment can greatly reduce signs and symptoms of the disease and even bring about long-term remission.
*Source: Mayo Clinic

Growing up I was told it was important to spend time reading and to make time in my day to read books. I'm realizing more and more as I get older how essential it is for young people to read and really learn about different topics, events, issues from a diverse range of authors -- specifically from writers of color. Those important perspectives can help instill some level of consciousness that combats the usual narratives and storylines of how the world works that we sometimes fall into or are told "that's how it goes." It's not, at all. 

“All these systems are here on purpose. Books can give hope, instill pride, arm you with knowledge and let your creativity and imagination soar to places you wouldn't have otherwise discovered.”

All these systems are here on purpose. Books can give hope, instill pride, arm you with knowledge and let your creativity and imagination soar to places you wouldn't have otherwise discovered. I wish, instead of playing so many video games, I read more about Black history, or about Indian culture, just so I could have more perspective and understanding of the world. Now, we're so busy working and trying to balance life, it's sometimes hard to sit down with a good book and get lost in a good story (the book I just finished, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi was incredible) or learn something new that you never knew about (New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander will do that to you on every single page).

Nearly 30 years later, I'm just now unpacking how my upbringing influenced me –– from an education standpoint, a lot of my schooling and the "truths" told to me about life were white-centered with little context, nuance or opportunities given to have a larger, and more grounded exposure, of the injustice and the hard realities of many other communities. I only had one Black teacher up until college, and my mom's divorce with my biological father and our relocation for a better life disconnected me from my Black roots and heritage. 

Washington Post article authored by Tauhid Chappell and Tom Jackman

A lot of my upbringing through school, community and media consumption sterilized my view of how the world works, what's right, what's wrong and what the "American Dream" possibilities were out there. If anything, my upbringing gave me a front-row seat of what white privileged culture and education can do to a person, and how all of that information and experience can persuade you enough to imagine an entirely different world that actually exists. 

Thanks to my involvement in several movements as a cannabis patient, cannabis educator and Black media entrepreneur, understanding how privilege shapes our consciousness and subconscious has given me insight and perspective of what's at stake, what we can do to elevate other's empathy and understanding of communities and issues they've never experienced or heard about, and just how far we have to go in waking up many Americans from a dream they've been fed. 

“Understanding, and owning up to, my privilege drives me to ensure that I support and center those who didn't have the access to resources and support like I had, and like I have now. It drives me to teach and lift others up so we can all succeed and start to reverse the harms and injustices that we continue to see in this country.” 

I'm grateful and very privileged and lucky to have the life I've had, even as a Black man who must battle with an autoimmune deficiency disorder. Understanding, and owning up to, my privilege drives me to ensure that I support and center those who didn't have the access to resources and support like I had, and like I have now. It drives me to teach and lift others up so we can all succeed and start to reverse the harms and injustices that we continue to see in this country. 

Access to cannabis by subsidizing costs for low-income patients or patients with financial hardships, and home grow, have been a big passion of mine. In 2008 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. In 2012, while working in Phoenix, Ariz. and learning about the process of getting medical marijuana from a colleague, I became a medical marijuana patient and found it amazing that through policy and law, cannabis could be accessible without (as much) fear of retribution. 

I'll never forget the moment I decided to carve my own path in the cannabis industry. The Online News Association held one of their conferences in Denver in 2016, and I listened in to a weed panel that had Ricardo Baca (then editor of The Cannabist) and Nushin Rashidian (Co-founder, Cannabis Wire) on it. Ricardo implored journalists, specifically journalists of color, to examine the hypocrisy around cannabis as it pertained to the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, the media and racist policymaking. I didn't understand the intersection of all of these things as a medical marijuana patient, but once I started reading books like Weed The People, Marijuana a Short History and Smoke Signals, my eyes saw through the clouds of deceit and deception. I was activated ever since. 

Panel discussion during the 2019 PABJ “The Color of Cannabis” Conference

“We must find a way to allow others to grow their own medicine, and allow for cannabis companies to help provide financial aid and support that would allow prospective patients to join medical marijuana programs and access safe cannabis that suits their needs.”

Once moved to D.C. and saw the power of home grow, gifting and its impact on communities, I worked to learn how home grow could help those who couldn't otherwise afford to pay and participate in expensive medical marijuana programs. It helped me understand that I was privileged to be able to be a medical marijuana patient, and that policies could be put into place to help patients access cannabis and ensure police don't incarcerate community members who decide to grow their own and share it. So many people are suffering, so many people are in financial hardship. Medical marijuana programs open up access and offer limited protections, but only to those who can afford it. We must find a way to allow others to grow their own medicine, and allow for cannabis companies to help provide financial aid and support that would allow prospective patients to join medical marijuana programs and access safe cannabis that suits their needs.

In April 2019, I conceptualized, planned, and executed The Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists Color of Cannabis conference. From start to finish, we planned eight ridiculously stacked cannabis panels in a month and a half. The conference not only had a lot of journalists attend, and not only did it feature 87% experts of color and 99% women of color who moderated, it was recorded and broadcast across the entire state of Pennsylvania. Now, my next challenge is working to figure out how to make the next iteration of the conference, The CannAtlantic Conference, operate in a pandemic world where everything is virtual. They don't train you on crisis communication around a global pandemic, so navigating this has been a unique, but humbling, challenge. 

About the CannAtlantic Conference:
The Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, the first and oldest association of black journalists in the country, is organizing the CannAtlantic Cannabis Conference, an educational opportunity that brings community leaders, policy makers, business owners, media professionals, patients and curious minds from across the Mid-Atlantic Region to discuss the need for more education and media coverage on cannabis legalization and ways we can improve our collective understanding of these ongoing dynamics happening in our region.

Attendees will not only learn about prospective business opportunities and legalization efforts happening in the region, but will cross-pollinate their networks and expand their connection to the region by meeting other regional businesses in the area.

This regional conference comes after our successful Color of Cannabis Conference which premiered in Philadelphia on April 6, 2019. It was the first cannabis conference led by a media nonprofit aimed at educating both media professionals, and community leaders, on cannabis: from its connection to the War on Drugs, to business opportunities and criminal justice reform. The conference will now take place on September 26, 2020. For details or to sign up for tickets, click here.

Who are some people that you found to be mentors and allies when you came into the space?

There's almost too many to name! to name a few! 
Hope Wiseman - Mary & Main; Jason Ortiz - MCBA; Dan Adams - Boston Globe; Zara Salmon - CRAVEInfused; Tracey Henry - Tracey Henry Consulting; Nadir Pearson - Herb; Vanessa Maria-Graber - PhillyCAM; Desiree and Justin Ivey - DACO and Medicinally Jointed; Cherron Perry-Thomas - DACO; Imani Dawson - MJM Strategies; Courtney Richardson - Ivy Investor; Jacob Plowden - Cannabis Cultural Association; Rani Soto - M4MM; Dasheeda Dawson - The Weed Head Co.; Caroline Phillips - National Cannabis Festival; NJ Weed Man - NJ Weedman's Joint; Tyler McFadden - North Star Liberty Group; Queen Adesuyi - Drug Policy; Kaisha McNillan - Journalist; Kia Jackson - W.O.M.M.A.N; Kebra Smith-Bolden - CannaHealth; Gia Morón - GVM Communications; Roz McCarthy - M4MM; Sonia Erika - The Center for Family Life; Mona Zhang - POLITICO; Faye Coleman - Pure Genesis; Kristal Bush - Stay Lyfted; Jay Mills - The Green Life; Nelson Guerrero - Cannabis Cultural Association; Jennifer Zavala - Chef; Amber Senter - Supernova Women; Jessica Gonzalez - Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C.; Malcolm Mirage - Mirage Medicinal; Nina Parks - Supernova Women; Mehka King - CashColorCannabis; Danielle Schumacher - THC Staffing Group; Leland Radovanovic - Conscious Comms; Tiara Darnell - Journalist; Kristin Jordan - Acreage Holdings Inc; Monica Taing - Doctors for Cannabis Regulation; Chanda Macias and Michael Bobo - Ilera Holistic Healthcare; Kevin Cranford - Activist; Mary Pryor - Cannaclusive; Shaleen Title - Cannabis Control Commission; Jason Mitchell - Soulful Cannabis; Kaliko Castille - NCIA; Sirita Savage - Estro Haze; Joseph Gilmore - MRCC; Bill Cobb - Activist; Leo Bridgewater - M4MM; Linn Washington - Temple journalism professor; Ben Adlin - Journalist; Raj Chander - Journalist; Kamani Jefferson - North Star Liberty Group