(Via Black Star News) – The King himself would approve. Bob Marley on the cover of the album “Catch a Fire.”
[Speaking Truth To Empower]
Last Thursday, U.S. Senator Corey Booker (D-New Jersey) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (IND.-Vermont) co-signed the Marijuana Justice Act, introduced by Booker last year. If passed, the legislation would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, while also denying federal funds to those states maintaining cannabis criminalization.
There are many reasons Black America should support this legislation, including the obvious one: it will remove one racially-applied law police use to criminalize Blacks.
Bernie Sanders’ endorsement comes at a time when several high-profile Democrats have voiced their support for marijuana decriminalization.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced plans to introduce far-reaching marijuana legislation. Other Democrats pledging support for marijuana legalization are: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and presumed presidential candidate California Senator Kamala Harris.
Senator Booker, who championed this legislation, has pointed out the contradictions with marijuana criminalization as it relates to Whites, especially of privileged, and Black people.
On Friday, speaking at Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Booker argued marijuana has always been legal for “people of privilege.”
“I hear all these people want to talk about legalizing marijuana,” Booker said. “Well, marijuana has been legal for the people of privilege in this country for a long time. Because they don’t get arrested. They don’t get stopped. There’s nobody stopping and frisking on college campuses. Stanford and Harvard and Princeton — there’s a lot of drugs there, but there’s no FBI sting operation. They’re coming into our communities, coming into communities like mine.”
Senator Booker’s claims are backed by statistical evidence.
According to the ACLU’s 2013 report, “The War on Marijuana in Black and White,” a “Black person is 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a White person, even though Blacks and Whites use marijuana at similar rates. Such racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests exist in all regions of the country.”
The report concludes; “the War on Marijuana, like the larger War on Drugs of which it is a part, is a failure. It has needlessly ensnared hundreds of thousands of people in the criminal justice system, had a staggeringly disproportionate impact on African-Americans, and comes at a tremendous human and financial cost. The price paid by those arrested and convicted of marijuana possession can be significant and linger for years, if not a lifetime.”
Booker also pointed to politicians, including presidents and congressional leaders, who’ve admitted using marijuana.
Get Senator Booker’s comment and the rest of this Colin Benjamin story at Black Star News.
