Jay Z broke into the cannabis industry in a major way. Now the rap icon and business man is looking to help minority startups do the same. “The Story of O Jay” rapper has reportedly set aside $10 million to aid Black entrepreneurs in cannabis commerce. During an interview with “The Wall Street Journal” the charitable mogul discussed his displeasure with the racial maligning that is already evident in the sector.
He spoke on the systemic black balling that is taking place in the legal marijuana industry stating “It’s really unbelievable how that can happen. We were the ones most negatively affected by the war on drugs, and America has turned around and created a business from it that’s worth billions.”
A study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2018 revealed that Black people were almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white peers.
That systemic injustice has made way for the cannabis “blacklist.” Which is a alleged tactic being used to lock Black Americans out of the lucrative industry by using decades old systematic tricks. Some of the racist measures include prohibiting people with “drug” backgrounds from launching a weed business.
“I think that we still very much have policies that are both putting people and keeping people in poverty. And frankly, we have policies that are actually increasing the type of gaps that we see said Wes Moore finance expert and CEO of The Robinhood Foundation. He further detailed the seemingly orchestrated disparities in the weed market explaining how “We have seen how cannabis and the war on cannabis have had this not just disproportionate, but disastrous impact on communities of color.”
Shawn Carter professionally known as Jay-Z will also apply the reserves to “diversifying the cannabis workforce through job fairs and placement, industry training and education as well as Social Equity application support.”
BY: BEWITTY Staff
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