Connect with us

Politics and Current

OP-ED: We must hold the Biden administration accountable to the Black community for marijuana reform

Published

on

WASHINGTON – FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Joe Biden arrives to meet with police chiefs from across the country and members of his administration in the State Dining Room at the White House on February 28, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden touted achievements in reducing crime thanks to investments made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure bill. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

No one must be in jail or arrested for marijuana. However, despite evidence that white and black communities use marijuana at similar rates, Black persons are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. Even though dozens of states have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medical use and adult use, each are still punishable under federal marijuana law. A federal marijuana conviction can severely impact an individual’s ability to feed or house their family, and consequently, many individuals have lost food advantages, housing, employment and education.

In 2020, President Biden ran a campaign promising to end the criminalization of marijuana. To keep this promise, marijuana must be delisted, meaning it must be completely faraway from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The CSA regulates certain drugs under federal law, placing them on considered one of five schedules and criminalizing unauthorized activity. For far too long, Black communities have borne the brunt of CSA’s criminal penalties. It’s time to finally end federal criminalization of marijuana by rescheduling it.

Let’s be honest, the Biden administration has yet to deliver on its guarantees on federal marijuana reform for Black communities. And while each President Biden and Vice President Harris have called federal marijuana criminalization a difficulty of racial equity, the recent and anticipated actions of their Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) underscore the disconnect between the administration’s rhetoric and its willingness to actually address the issue in this fashion .

While the remainder of us recognized the starting of Black History Month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as an alternative selected the first day of February to rejoice #DEAHHistory and President Nixonwho signed the CSA and the infamously weaponized federal marijuana policy that targeted and harmed Black communities.

For many, the Biden administration’s DEA news was a wake-up call. It’s no secret that racism has been at the center of the DEA’s history and the criminalization of marijuana. Harry Anslinger believed it “Reefer makes black people think they are as good as white people” and as director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (the predecessor of the DEA), Anslinger championed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which criminalized marijuana at the federal level. In line with the celebration of presidency leaders who used drug policy to criminalize the Black community, the DEA museum has an exhibition online exhibition on Anslinger’s “life of service.”

The same federal agency that today celebrates the racist history of President Nixon and Harry Anslinger is now tasked with: and he already has a final decision, official review of marijuana classification under the CSA. While this review doesn’t mention this history in any respect, it should likely have the effect of further perpetuating racial inequality.

“Committing to decriminalize marijuana and just floating it around CSAs is nothing greater than shifting peas in your plate to trick your mom into pondering you are eating vegetables. Your mother wasn’t fooled and neither were we.

Starting this review in 2022President Biden has called the criminalization of marijuana a failure, acknowledged that Black and Brown people have been disproportionately arrested, prosecuted and convicted, and suggested that his actions on marijuana reform will “end the country’s failed approach” and “right its wrongs.”

Despite this rhetoricthe DEA is anticipated to propose that marijuana be placed on Schedule III, a classification that, while technically less restrictive in some respects, would proceed federal criminalization of marijuana and its harms. The marijuana industry will rejoice this as a victory because it should give them a tax break, but individuals will still be susceptible to federal penalties. An individual can still lose their job due to a marijuana conviction. An individual can still be deported for working at a licensed dispensary in a state where marijuana is legal.

The hard truth is that rescheduling won’t decriminalize marijuana use, expunge records, or decriminalize activities currently permitted under dozens of states’ medical and adult-use marijuana laws.

In 2020 Biden and Harris have pledged to decriminalize marijuana use and take away related provisionsmaking this commitment your individual The “Lift Every Voice” plan for black America. President Biden acknowledged his role in passing drug policies that ‘harmed Black communities’ calling it a “mistake”. Vice President Harris called for systemic change while discussing marijuana decriminalization in 2020, saying, “This will not be the time for half-dancing. This will not be the time for incrementalism

Now the administration is taking responsibility for reforms which are, at best, gradual, and haven’t even been fully implemented. Regardless of this reality, the Biden administration is already claiming in its promoting campaigns that it does “revised federal marijuana policy”and in campaign speeches, President Biden is already alluding to his actions of granting federal pardons for easy possession of yaks proof of “promises kept” on marijuana reform.

In fact, pledging to decriminalize marijuana and easily moving it around on a CSA is nothing greater than shifting peas in your plate to trick your mom into pondering you are eating vegetables. Your mother wasn’t fooled and neither were we.

We know the difference between scattered guarantees and systemic change. We bear the brunt of disproportionate criminalization, and it’s up to us to hold the Biden administration accountable to its guarantees to our communities. If the Biden administration truly intends to keep its many guarantees and end the harm of marijuana criminalization, it will not be too late. However, President Biden guarantees that until marijuana is totally faraway from CSAs decriminalize marijuana will remain unfulfilled.


This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics and Current

During the NABJ-WHYY panel, Harris showed us once again that she won’t let Trump define the conversation.

Published

on

By

Kamala Harris, NABJ-WHYY conversation, theGrio.com

“Sometimes your adversaries will try to turn your strength into weakness,” she said. “Don’t let them. Don’t let them.”

In that moment, she’s portrayed her joy and laughter as strengths, and Trump as someone who would attempt to idiot her and all of us into pondering they weren’t strengths. She’s portraying Trump as a thief of joy — almost a cartoonish Grinch-like villain — but without actually or overtly saying anything provocative. The Trump campaign is filled with attempts to attract Harris into ridiculous conversations, corresponding to whether immigrants eat pets in Springfield, Ohio. Harris has been steadfast throughout her campaign in refusing to let Trump frame the conversation or select the setting of the moment. She’s not here to reply to his madness. She’s running her own race.

Featured Stories

She then responded to Gaynor’s query by adding more commentary on the subject of joy. “I find joy in the American people,” she said. “I find joy in the optimism… I find joy in the ambition of the people.” She listed several places where she found joy, poetically linking each with the words, “I find joy in…” It was the type of repetition you would possibly expect from a black preacher. She ended the list with, “I find joy in believing that the true measure of a leader’s strength is not who you knock down, but who you lift up.”

All of this jogged my memory that it is a campaign based on optimism, not pessimism, regret, anger and fear-mongering.

At one point she was asked about Springfield, Ohio, home to immigrants Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance falsely accused of eating pets. She didn’t let Trump lead the conversation. When asked about the city, she modified the subject to people. She said it was school picture day they usually needed to evacuate the kids. She began talking about the kids. Harris again insisted on fascinated by people and refused to follow Trump’s conversation. Watch her do that during the race — it’s clearly her selection. Harris is deliberate in avoiding responding to Trump. She doesn’t follow the conversation into the mental gutter he wants to guide her to. Instead, she comes across as a babbling old geezer, and she’s above the argument and above him.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Continue Reading

Politics and Current

Stevie Wonder Hits Tour in Battleground States for Election

Published

on

By

Stevie Wonder, new track, unity, DNC


Stevie Wonder is embarking on a 10-city U.S. tour to coincide with the upcoming presidential election.

The “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” tour, titled after Wonder’s latest politically themed single, will happen it stops in key states, reports. The 25-time Grammy Award winner will kick off the tour on October 8 on the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with stops in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Greensboro, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, before wrapping up on October 30 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The official announcement says the tour calls for “joy over anger, kindness over resentment, peace over war.” It also notes that “as a special thank you,” Wonder will offer quite a lot of free tickets to “those in our communities who are already working tirelessly to mend the broken heart of our nation.”

The tour announcement comes a month after Wonder gave an electrifying performance and speech on the Democratic National Convention on “the importance of action.”

“It’s time to understand where we are and what it’s going to take to win: win the broken hearts, win the disappointed, win the angry souls — now is the time,” the legendary singer told the group.

“This is the moment to remember, when you tell your kids where you’ve been and what you’ve done… We have to choose courage over complacency. It’s time to stand up!” he said, changing his tone to an appeal, “and go vote!” He then launched into his 1973 classic, “Higher Ground.”

Stevie Wonder’s “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” tour dates are listed below:

  • October 8: Pittsburgh, PA, PPG Paints Arena
  • October 10: New York, New York, Madison Square Garden
  • October 12: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wells Fargo Center
  • October 15: Baltimore, Maryland, CFG Bank Arena
  • October 17: Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro Coliseum
  • October 19: Atlanta, Georgia, State Farm Arena
  • October 22: Detroit, Michigan, Little Caesars Arena
  • October 24: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fiserv Forum
  • October 27: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Target Center
  • October 30 Grand Rapids, Michigan, Van Andel Arena


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
Continue Reading

Politics and Current

Michael Eric Dyson slams congresswoman Nancy Mace’s claims he flirted with her in text, accuses her of trying to ‘exploit the situation’

Published

on

By

‘You Are a Sorry, Sick Soul’: Michael Eric Dyson Rips Into Rep. Nancy Mace

Michael Eric Dyson has slammed suggestions that he was flirting with Congresswoman Nancy Mace after she accused him of calling her a racist in an interview with CNN last month.

The interview with the South Carolina lawmaker and Vanderbilt professor made headlines after Mace repeatedly mispronounced Vice President Kamala Harris’ name during the interview and refused to correct herself. Dyson never called her a racist on air, but he explained why her behavior was problematic.

“When you disrespect Kamala Harris by saying you can call her whatever you want, I know that’s not your intention, that’s the history and legacy of white disregard for the humanity of black people,” Dyson told Mace in the interview.

'You're a pathetic, sick soul': Michael Eric Dyson slams congresswoman Nancy Mace's claims he flirted with her in text, accuses her of trying to 'exploit the situation'
Michael Eric Dyson (left) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina)

During a congressional hearing Thursday, Mace showed her fellow lawmakers a screenshot of a message Dyson sent her that included a photograph the pair took after a CNN interview that portrayed them as flirtatious.

“He says in this piece, after he called me a racist on CNN, ‘Don’t tell anyone we look good together,’ and he sent me a kissy face emoji,” the South Carolina lawmaker said at a hearing Thursday. “Then the guy says I’m gorgeous in all these pictures. I don’t think he’s that bothered by how someone pronounces Kamala. And if we’re going to have that standard, it has to be applied to both sides, not just one or the other.”6

Dyson posted a response on Instagram, fuming over Mace’s behavior during the hearing. He read the entire exchange with Mace and explained that he was joking about how united they looked in photos taken after the CNN interview, given their very different political positions.

“I’m not hitting on Nancy Mace. This is a woman trying to take advantage of a situation, trying to pretend I’m trying to hit on her,” Dyson said. “You’re trying to generate meanness and cruelty because you’re so bitter about getting your ass kicked that night because I told you that night what you were doing was wrong,” he said of Mace.

He also condemned Mace’s characterization of the intentions behind the lyrics as “malicious”, “misleading” and ultimately “racist”.

“Your attempt is sad and pathetic, but your bigoted and racist attempt will fail,” Dyson noted. “There was no attempt to do anything other than be nice to you, but you have proven to be what I said you are not — a cruel, white supremacist racist who is incapable of accepting the generosity and kindness of a black man. You are a pathetic, sick soul.”

While some web users found the text flirtatious, others got here to Dyson’s defense.

“This is a very strategic framing of this interaction for her to do exactly this. Why didn’t she share the entire exchange?” one person said.

“She’s clearly trying to extend her 15 minutes of shame on TV. Time to let it go,” one other comment read.


This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending