Why marijuana matters and how we can end the war on drugs.
[Music]
[Music]
what
did you want to be when you grow up
it is a question that i’m sure many of
you have heard
in your childhood but if your upbringing
was anything like mine
it is a question that you heard over and
over again
and it wasn’t until i became an adult
that i began to understand the
significance
of the asking of the questions by our
community leaders
and my grandparents but it was only
recently
in the last two years that i get some
true understanding
of just how much significance and weight
there was in the answer back then
and even today you see
growing up black and female in the south
more than 40 years ago
there are some limitations to the answer
to that question
whether real or perceived there were
limitations all
the same and so
what i want you to understand at this
moment as a young girl growing up
with all that was happening right after
the civil rights movement
all of the advancements of the struggle
things that were meant to
push and advance the african-american
community
things like the voting rights act
the fair housing act and affirmative
action
and my generation was supposed to be
taking full advantage
of all of those opportunities
so when they ask the question
what do you want to be when you grow up
it meant something to them
i remember hearing this question one
summer at vacation bible school
and if anybody is here from the south
you understand that vacation bible
school is not to be confused
with btu training school or sunday go to
meeting school
it is vacation bible school i’m still
trying to figure out who thought it was
a good idea to put vacation bible and
school all together
but the first week of every summer of
every summer
during my childhood i was it was spent
in vacation bible school
in this one particular summer there was
a teacher she wasn’t too much older than
me and my middle school friends
she wanted to make sure that we
understood
scripture and was able to connect you to
this connected to this real world
question
of what you will be when you grow up and
so as my gaggle
of girls sat around lunch that day
trying to figure out what we were going
to say
thinking back now it was a really
impressive
group of girls because they wanted to be
things like
civil rights attorneys educators and
doctors
i didn’t want any of that i was going to
do something different
you see i was going to be wait for it
a thinker yes
so when it came time for me to take the
stage and share with
the entire vacation bible school
i introduced myself and i said when i
grow up
i’m going to be a thinker there was some
laughter
some giggles but it was really the
disapproving look
on the teacher’s face that made me
recant and so i said really quickly
when i grow up i’m going to be a lawyer
and then i exit stage left
but fast forward to two years ago and i
get an opportunity to spend time at an
institution
known for creating and cultivating great
thinkers
little did i know at the time that
there’s a ritual at the kennedy school
where students get an opportunity to
stand on the famous forum stage
and they’re given 15 seconds to say
what they were going to do at the
kennedy school
and so you know what i’m thinking right
it’s a full circle moment i’m gonna get
it right
so i take the mic i introduce myself
and i say to my peers to deans
into faculty members that i’m here
to tell you that marijuana matters
not a lot of giggles actually it was
actually a lot of applause
but in my head i’m thinking khadijah did
you just stand
on the premier policy stage and tell
these folks you’re going to talk about
weed
that’s exactly what i did and for the
next 12 months i immersed myself in all
things marijuana
day in and day out reading talking
sniffing
thinking about marijuana so much so my
lovely wife robin
banned the topic from the dinner table
but here’s what i came to understand
about marijuana
and if you don’t remember anything else
from my talk please remember this
that for all of the gains that we’re
trying to make with the civil rights
movement
fair housing expanded opportunities in
education
employment opportunities building the
wealth of the african-american community
the failed policies of the war on drugs
single-handedly
undid all of that
and here’s how we know that i want to
give you guys five numbers
5 7
46 23 and 1
and no is not the mega millions jackpot
numbers
see for more than five decades this
country has waged a war
on drugs which has been tantamount to
waging a war on black and brown
communities
millions of people have been arrested
convicted and incarcerated
for marijuana related possessions
in the last decade alone 7 million
and those seven million people are
facing what’s known as
46 000 collateral consequences
now some of you may be saying if you do
the crime you do the time
i only have five minutes left so i can’t
argue that point today
but i will say to you at this moment
when
33 states and the district of columbia
have some form of regulated growing
marijuana
selling marijuana consuming marijuana
and distributing marijuana on a mass
scale
is it still a crime i ask
because i’ve met people all across this
country
who are living with those collateral
consequences
people like keys a young woman very
energetic about her future
when she left high school she was
ambitious and she
wanted to go off to college but before
she could realize that
she was stopped for a routine traffic
violation i think it was a broken
headlight
and in the course of that stop police
officers
smell the police officers smelled
marijuana and if you’re in the state of
virginia
the smell of marijuana is probable cause
for search and seizure the car was
searched
there was marijuana that wasn’t used she
was arrested booked
and to this day she still has a criminal
record
related to marijuana because of that
record she often finds
it hard to qualify for an apartment
employment opportunities
she also lost the opportunity to use
financial aid to go to school
some of you might not even know there
are about 26 licensures for entry-level
employment opportunities that if you
have a marijuana related conviction
you may not be able to get that license
like a barber’s license or a cosmetology
license
but the thing that i find so offensive
about key’s
keys situation is that she has two kids
and there’s evidence to suggest to
children
born to individuals who have a marijuana
related offense
they’re three times more likely to live
in poverty
and i ask you guys is that fair
is that equitable or take the veteran
who proudly and honorably served for 26
years in the united states air forces
in that service he actually lost the use
of his legs he’s paralyzed
and he uses marijuana for pain
management
he also uses it to deal with his anxiety
and depression
that you could imagine would come with
losing independence and mobility
and he uses marijuana knowing fully well
that he is at risk of losing the very
health benefits that he earned as a
disabled veteran
you know people ask me all the time
khadijah why use why
marijuana why are you so passionate
about marijuana
the reality of it is i feel like this is
just a continuation of the
work that i’ve done my entire life i’ve
worked alongside marginalized
communities in service of marginalized
communities
in hopes that i would be able to improve
their life
in some way but if i’m being honest and
frank
it’s also very personal to me marijuana
is a personal issue for me
you see that veteran happens to be my
father
retired master sergeant willie b tribble
and i will fight for his right
and the thousands of other veterans to
get the
life saving and we don’t know that yet
by research but i suggest that it could
potentially be
medicines that is quality and safe for
veterans
and keys keys is my daughter-in-law
and those two kids titan and king
mean so much to me and just like my
grandparents
asked me what do you want to be when you
grow up
i want to be able to hear from my
grandsons
anything they want to be thank you for
listening