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WOMANISM
One Thing to Remember As We Fight to Bring Brittney Griner Home
Black Americans serving stiffer sentences for marijuana here
On February 17th, Russians arrested Brittney Griner, a WNBA star who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, who won two Olympic gold medals, and charged her with possession of marijuana. At the time, Griner had a gram of "hash oil" prescribed for her use, which she mistakenly brought with her while traveling. In response, Griner pled guilty to violating the Russian statute to take responsibility for her actions and shared her thoughts in a video. Unfortunately, the Russian judge gave her a nine-year sentence to be carried out in a penal colony. This harsh, foreign environment would not allow her access to her wife, colleagues, family, and friends. After hearing the news about Griner's nine-year sentence, the outrage followed swiftly, like a wave crashing to shore. What happened to Brittney Griner was a tragedy rooted in racism and sexism. Allow me to explain.
Racism
Some Americans were surprised to learn someone could serve a nine-year sentence for possession of marijuana. Their shock and awe show they have no idea how long people can serve in America for the exact charges Griner is facing or how discriminatory the drug war has become. For instance, Black people are arrested at four times the rate as White people for marijuana possession even though both racial groups consume and use at the same rate. In addition, more than half of all drug busts across the board are for marijuana, not harsher drugs, as some police literature would have us believe.
For generations, America's "war on drugs" has been used as a tacit excuse to fill privately owned prisons to the brim with Black and Brown non-violent drug offenders. Americans are often fed the narrative that keeping people in jail for drug offenses helps to keep our communities safe when in reality, these private prisons only serve to enrich White men, who gleefully amass wealth based on the misfortune of others. If marijuana became decriminalized across the country, they would lose nearly half of their profits. According to the Brennan Center's analysis, "mass incarceration has been a driving force of economic inequality," contributing to the racial wealth…
