Marijuana is racist, dontcha know?

[FunkyZero]

... just when you thought the DUmb couldn't get any deeper

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216923795

Thu Jul 14, 2022, 07:18 AM
AntivaxHunters (681 posts)


Why you should use "weed" or "cannabis" & NOT "Marijuana".
Are you aware of the racist history of the word "Marijuana"?
Don't worry, many aren't. But it's there & something you may want to be aware of.
The word "Marijuana" is "rooted in xenophobia and misinformation".

Below is a very valuable article because it's educational rooted in historic fact, not from some pundit writing an opinion piece.
I'm clipping certain sections which illustrate the racist connotations of the word "Marijuana" and how it came about.
Please take the time to read the article because it's helluva informative & you'll come away better educated with a lot of knowledge. Good stuff!

MARIJUANA IS MORE THAN JUST A WORD, ITS CONTROVERSIAL HISTORY REVEALS
https://www.thenewshouse.com/highstakes/marijuana-is-more-than-a-word/

SNIPS---

"Today, it has become a buzzword for politics and law enforcement. The United States’ history of federally policing the widely accepted, yet taboo, word is rooted in xenophobia and misinformation."

"From 1910 to 1920, the United States saw tens of thousands of Mexicans immigrating to the southwest in the wake of the Mexican Civil War. The influx of immigration escalated anti-Mexican immigrant sentiment and a campaign of “reefer madness” among white Americans, most commonly by America’s resident xenophobe and the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger. Anslinger’s propaganda campaigns created racist narratives, like those who smoke marijuana are of an “inferior race” and are more likely to engage in sexual promiscuity and violence. By adopting the Spanish word “marijuana,” rather than the already widely-used “cannabis,” Anslinger and other prohibition activists of the early to mid-19th century were intentionally connecting the use of marijuana by brown and black bodies, to dangerous and fabricated side effects of the drug."

“Marijuana prohibition has historically targeted people of color and minorities and disproportionately affected them,” said Violet Cavendish, communications coordinator for The Marijuana Policy Project. “But I think it’s important to acknowledge this and not completely erase the term marijuana, because then doing so erases the history behind it and it’s easier to move on without understanding that policies have been using this word to target minorities.”

“We see that in the legal cannabis industry it’s still primarily white men who are gaining the most, financially, from this legal system,” says Dufton. “So, I have my skepticism about really embracing the term ‘cannabis’ as opposed to anything else, because it feels so much like a marketing effort to me.”

Response to AntivaxHunters (Original post)Thu Jul 14, 2022, 08:54 AM
PuraVidaDreamin (3,860 posts)

8. Massachusetts uses this derogatory term in its Cannabis Regulations.

Local towns who have approved cannabis bylaws do too and
it's infuriating. I refer to my self as a cannabis nurse educator.

[SVPete]

   When it comes to silly pretentious DU names, "AntivaxHunters" is right up there with Nematode's TheMastersNemesis!  

[DUmpDiver]

Washington Governor Jay Inslee has signed a bill into law that will remove the word “marijuana” from the state Revised Code of Washington.

According to KIRO, supporters of the bill say that the word “marijuana” has a long history of racism. The word is derived from Spanish and has long been associated with criminality.

“The term ‘marijuana’ itself is pejorative and racist,” said Washington State Rep. Melanie Morgan during testimony in 2021. Morgan was the sponsor of the bill and said that “as recreational marijuana use became more popular, it was negatively associated with Mexican immigrants.”

https://www.bet.com/article/a0anew/washington-state-lawmakers-remove-the-word-marijuana-from-local-laws-calling-it-racist


Tax dollars at work.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Words are not racist, white liberals are.

[FlaGator]

If someone hears a word and thinks it is racist that says more about the hearer than the world itself.

[DUmpDiver]

It is also pejorative to refer to it as "weed." Very vega-phobic.

[Ralph Wiggum]

It is also pejorative to refer to it as "weed." Very vega-phobic.

Maybe that's why some of the dope smokers I hung around called it "herb". Makes it sound healthy.  And the word "dope" is probably also somehow racist, but not to me.

[RuralNc]

Well hell. That explains everything. 

[landofconfusion80]

Maybe that's why some of the dope smokers I hung around called it "herb". Makes it sound healthy.  And the word "dope" is probably also somehow racist, but not to me.

There's a scambaiter bit where the "victim" starts smoking weed in the western union office just before he's going to read the numbers to his nigerian.

Nigerian: no no! Don't do it!!! Stop!!!
Victim: oh, its safe, it's an herb....its a vegetable!