N.A.A.C.P. Endorsing Prop. 19 Finally Does Something Right by R.W. Akile

Alice Huffman, President of the California Chapter of the NAACP must be commended for endorsing Proposition 19, the November ballot initiative that calls for the legalization of Marijuana for Adult Recreational Use.  Though the proposed law has some flaws such as the amount of tax to be imposed on an ounce of Marijuana it is a step in the right direction.  Many Blacks are in jail today due to the unfair application of drug prohibition laws.

Critics of the NAACP position display their lack of investigative fortitude and brings into question their knowledge on the subject of Marijuana.  Joe Hicks, VP of Community Advocates continues to display his lack of discernment when he says that "Marijuana is a Valley issue that really doesn't concern Blacks."

Such a posture is way off the mark.  The racist strategy used to make Marijuana illegal in the first place targeted Mexican Farm Laborers in the early 1900s in the Western states.  California was the first state in 1913 to pass a law making Marijuana Use a crime.  Montana and other Western states begin to follow suit.  Virtually all of these laws were targeting Mexican Farm Labor.  This posture was fueled by William Randolph Hearst's policy of racist "Yellow" journalism.  The Hearst publishing empire would print editorials stating such things as: "If your children smoke Marijuana they will hang out with "greasy Mexicans and dirty Niggers."

Most of us are unaware that W. R. Hearst had an axe to grind against Pancho Villa after Villa influenced the seizure of 800,000 acres of Hearst owned Timberland in Mexico.  Hearst had planned to feed his publishing empire with paper produced from his Mexican land holdings.  Hearst used a liberal amount of ink to criminalize Blacks and Mexicans as the source of Marijuana crime.

The NAACP is to be commended for standing up on this issue.  Those who wish to know more about this much maligned herb can find a surprising amount of positive information in "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by the late Jack Herer or "Hemp, Lifeline to the Future" by Chris Conrad. 

The late Somayah Kambui, demonstrated that Hemp was actually a very beneficial nutritional herb.  Indeed, of the 20 elements for good nutrition the Hemp seed contains 16 of those elements.  Cold pressed Hemp oil is a perfectly balanced source of "Essiential Fatty Acids." 

Hemp has been found in the tombs of Kmt (ancient Egypt).  Hemp fabric can be traced to the 18th Dynasty of Kmt.  Seshat, the Ntr of the Library, a keeper of knowledge has as her symbol a seven fingered Marijuana leaf.  In the sacred text known as the "Emerald Tablet" the author alludes to the periodic "bathing in the glow of the flower" as a source of immortality.  Like it or not the flower spoken of is none other then "Yamba" or "Matokwani" or Marijuana.