On Juneteenth, Biden Needs To Build On His Modest Marijuana Reforms With A Call For Drug War Reparations (Op-Ed)

“If President Biden wants to truly celebrate the spirit of Juneteenth, he needs to take bolder action instead of well-intended half-measures that don’t come close to solving the problem.” By Chelsea Higgs Wise, Marijuana Justice Juneteenth is a day of joy when we celebrate the end of slavery in the United States, but for too many Black Americans, the harms of slavery never fully went away. Instead, they morphed into newer forms of discrimination and oppression. Shortly after the end of slavery, Jim Crow laws emerged that kept newly freed Black Americans from having the same rights as their white counterparts. While the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century ultimately ended the Jim Crow era, like slavery, it too was replaced with a newer form of oppression that targeted people of color—the war on drugs. While drug laws had been targeting Blacks and immigrants since the early 20th century, it wasn’t until President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in 1971 that it became an all-out assault, resulting in mass incarceration. This modern-day slavery has caused untold emotional and economic damage to the individuals and communities that were brutally targeted by law enforcement. More than a half-century...