Marijuana, progressivism and the black community

An emerging artist from the vibrant Seattle music scene, Draze, joined me on the show Friday and we had a great conversation.

Draze brought to my attention that in the black community in Seattle there are a different set of rules on how marijuana shops are treated. He’s not against people smoking pot, but he doesn’t want it next to his churches and community centers.

There is only one pot shop less than 250 feet away from a teen center and that’s on 23rd and Union in Seattle. Draze is protesting the store being so close to where teens hang out and even wrote a song about it — “Irony on 23rd”.

The irony, he says, was sparked by the fact that he watched black men go to jail for selling pot on the corner of 23rd and Union for years and now, 15 years later when marijuana is legal, someone is “pulling in somewhere like $1.2 million dollars a month, doing the exact same thing.”

Draze asks how can we call ourselves “progressive Washington” but look at what’s happening and how much progress are we really making.

He asked why is this allowed in the black community but not the white ones.