This morning while trying to procrastinate studying, I saw this tweet
With so many people (of color) locked up for minor ???????? offenses, seeing stuff like this is a slap in the face pic.twitter.com/fadUHUH5hs
— Austin (@writeaboutit_k) September 17, 2016
I’ve seen ads for this show in the past, and I just assumed it was another dismal show trying to hard to be edgy. However, this tweet made me consider:
Why do white people get a show about them selling weed but black people get jail time?
I’ll have to admit, I was ready to yell at MTV. You see, Black people have been crucified by the media for selling the illegal substance, Marijuana. In order to understand why Marijuana was banned, we have look into it’s history. Marijuana was first introduced by Mexican immigrants in the 1900’s and became interwoven into the Black Jazz seen in the 1930’s. Marijuana use and cultivation swelled to an all time high in the 1930’s. That laid the foundation for a call for the criminalization of marijuana. White people felt threatened by the cross-cultural popularity of this drug.
One of the proponents for the law said “Marijuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.” Driven by his ambition to start a new judiciary branch, The Bureau of Narcotics, Anslinger used phrases like “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.” and “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.” to tap into the racists sentiments held by the majority of the White population. Anslinger had little concrete evidence of a link between an increase in crime and the use of marijuana, so he had to use another tactic to get his way.We were taught in school that pathos is one of the most effective forms of persuasion, and this is a prime example of it in play. The ,white, masses were empowered to vehemently campaign for the criminalization of Marijuana and other drugs. Dupont, a large chemical company, even championed the deal because they had just patented nylon and saw hemp as a competition (aw, our good old government always looking out for the interests of big businesses).
Shortly after, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 championed by Harry Anslinger , banning Marijuana use and cultivation at a federal level, was enacted. Very few people were interested in Anslinger presenting scientific evidence to back up his claims about marijuana being a detriment to the overall society, instead the promise of their neighborhoods being safe from the reach of the dirty black, latino, and other “degenerate races” on their precious white enclaves was good enough for them.
Recently, the call for the legalization of marijuana has reached a crescendo. People are saying that it has lots of health benefits and isn’t dangerous, but YOU GUYS DID NOT THINK THAT WHEN BLACK PEOPLE WERE SERVING 10+ YEARS FOR HAVING OR SELLING MARIJUANA (I have facts). One of our legends, Snoop Dogg, was arrested for having weed, but Seth Rogen smoking with Snoop immediately made Seth Rogen cool. Yes, I understand that it’s illegal, but it’s profitable and it’s effects are relatively harmless.
Societies have been using marijuana for forever ,but
God forbid black people use their entrepreneurial skills and market and sell it to a widespread audience.
We wouldn’t want Black people to have money to house, clothe, feed their kids; they might start thinking they are just as economically capable as white people, and we wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?
Instead, we lock up their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers at a rate that is 4 times higher than any other ethnicity then criticise the community for having too many single mothers and living in impoverished areas.
In a sense, unless white people can profit from it, Black people are banned from doing it; that is why I have beef with MTV. Black people are the source of many trends: dreads, CORNROWS (there is no such thing as boxer braids), twerking, 99% of all slang terms,Shea Butter, and basically the list could go on forever, but White people shade Black people for their ingenuity until white people start using them and try to pass them off as their own “cultural” innovations.
Black culture is fantastic, so stop constantly degrading it then copying it and then trying to take credit for it.
Black women are raising their children alone because out of the 50% of drug arrests, 27.1% of their husbands are being locked up over a gram, yet white people get a lighthearted show praising their unconventional business skills. The Black community then gets dragged for 72% of their women being single parents and perpetuating a cycle of undisciplined, troublesome, angry youth that go on to engage in gangbanging, drug dealing, and all sorts of trouble. This show plays into the double standards that Black people have lived with forever; they face jail time for selling a federally illegal substance while white people face “prime time” for doing the same thing. I will absolutely not sit back and watch the glorification of “white weed” (marijuana is still illegal under federal law, ) while people that look like me have their lives and rights ripped away because they are trying to hustle and make a better life for their family.
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