Originally launched by the Yippie radical youth movement as the Pot Parade in 1973, the New York\u00a0Cannabis Parade (as it is now known) bills itself as \u201cthe longest-running public demonstration for the reform of drug policy,\u201d both in the Big Apple and around the world.<\/p>\n
Starting in 1999, the Cannabis Parade<\/a> actually spawned an international movement, with a Global Marijuana March held the first Saturday in May in hundreds of cities across dozens of countries across the planet. This year, the presence of big-name celebrities, office-holders and political hopefuls was a testament to the mainstreaming of demands for freedom for the cannabis plant \u2014 and a righting of the social wrongs associated with its prohibition.<\/p>\n Scenes From the 2018 New York City Cannabis Parade and Rally in Union Square, Manhattan https:\/\/t.co\/N7AnqIuQmK<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ryI5IynSXt<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Viewing NYC (@viewingnyc) May 7, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Gathering at Herald Square at 11 a.m.,\u00a0the hundreds-strong march arrived some 20 blocks downtown at Union Square for a concert and rally by early afternoon. There, the headlining speaker was Cynthia Nixon, the former TV star who is now challenging incumbent Andrew Cuomo from the left for the New York governor\u2019s office in this year\u2019s Democratic primary \u2014 and\u00a0making cannabis a key issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nixon set the tone for the event. \u201cI want to legalize cannabis in New York state first and foremost because it is a racial justice issue,\u201d she exhorted from the stage to cheers from the crowd. \u201cIf you are black or Latino, you are 10 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than if you are white. And that is not right. That is not what we believe in New York state, and it is not what we should believe in in the United States of America!\u201d<\/p>\n She continued, adding an unsubtle dig at Cuomo, \u201cIn 2018, in a blue state like New York, marijuana shouldn\u2019t even be an issue. If there was more political courage coming out of Albany, we would have done this a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Amazing speech by gubernatorial candidate @CynthiaNixon<\/a> \u2013 hope Cynthia for New York can join us for https:\/\/t.co\/CdAdmpp7eu<\/a> #NYCCannabisParade<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/bMxJe3l8m5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 CannaGather (@CannaGather) May 5, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n She concluded that \u201ccannabis prohibition is the crown jewel in the racist War on Drugs, and we must pluck it down. When I am governor and we legalize in New York state, we will prioritize people of color for licenses to grow cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n After the rally, however, Nixon embroiled herself in controversy<\/a> by telling Forbes contributor Mona Zhang \u2014 also a Cannabis Now contributor<\/a> \u2014 in an interview<\/a> that prioritizing marijuana licenses for black people could be \u201ca form of reparations.\u201d Prominent racial justice activists, including\u00a0Black Lives Matter of Greater New York and Rev. Al Sharpton, were quick to point out that granting access to the legal cannabis industry wasn\u2019t enough to make up for generations of chattel slavery and Jim Crow discrimination. Nixon responded with a thread on Twitter<\/a>, explaining, \u201cThere\u2019s no way legalizing marijuana would be a remedy for the legacy of slavery & Jim Crow. But when it comes to repairing the wrongs of a racist drug war, we\u2019ve got to make sure black and Latino communities are prioritized in the new legalized industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Nixon was immediately followed by Rafael Espinal, a New York\u00a0City Council member<\/a>\u00a0from Brooklyn, who also came out as a supporter of legalization. \u201cThis is the year we have to legalize marijuana in New York state,\u201d he declared to the crowd.<\/p>\n Next up was Howie Hawkins, the\u00a0Green Party candidate<\/a>\u00a0for governor, who urged that New Yorkers must \u201cdemand more than our present ineffective medical marijuana program which seems primarily designed to enrich a few well-connected business people. Even though New York decriminalized small amounts of marijuana 40 years ago, local police, especially in New York City have used the discriminatory enforcement of the law to target people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n One surprise speaker was Curtis Sliwa, former leader of the Guardian Angels anti-crime street patrol and a conservative tough-on-crime\u00a0talk-radio commentator<\/a>. At the rally, he came out as a medical marijuana user.<\/p>\n Headlining entertainment at the rally was New York-based hip-hop legend\u00a0Immortal Technique<\/a>.<\/p>\n Literature tables at the periphery of the rally were set up by the\u00a0New York Minority Alliance<\/a>, a group working for greater diversity in the cannabis industry, and other local industry networking groups including\u00a0CannaGather<\/a>,\u00a0High NY<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Women Grow<\/a>. Activists gave out information on New York\u2019s pending Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act.<\/p>\n Out at the #NYCCannabisParade<\/a> to support a cause I\u2019ve stood behind for years. We need to #LegalizeIt<\/a> and expunge the records of those whose lives have been ruined by a marijuana arrest- It\u2019s high time. pic.twitter.com\/kcp87JBGgl<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jumaane Williams (@JumaaneWilliams) May 5, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n In a testament to the event\u2019s evolution from a radical counterculture affair nearly two generations ago to a gig that draws mainstream political figures, the Daily News coverage<\/a> of the Cannabis Parade featured a photo of Cynthia Nixon hanging out backstage with the now-wheelchair-bound Aron Kay, the famous \u201cYippe Pie-Man<\/a>\u201d who in his glory years won fame by throwing pies into the faces of politicians<\/a> (including Jerry Brown, G. Gordon Liddy and William Buckley).<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> have you been to a cannabis parade or legalization rally before?<\/p>\n The post NYC Cannabis Parade Pushes for Racial Justice<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Originally launched by the Yippie radical youth movement as the Pot Parade in 1973, the New York\u00a0Cannabis Parade (as it is now known) bills itself as \u201cthe longest-running public demonstration for the reform of drug policy,\u201d both in the Big Apple and around the world. Starting in 1999, the CannabisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,4184,3100,3920,4185,69,4186,208,4187,3516,97],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26038,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26037\/revisions\/26038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n
\nRead More: NYC Cannabis Parade Pushes for Racial Justice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"