"Canada fully dismisses its historical systemic racism, even though it's so apparent," says DiversityTalk's Ika Washington

In the wake of global Black Lives Matter protests and the movements demands to defund police services, it seems that every organization in all industries is looking inward and experiencing a reckoning with racial injustice.

But the cannabis industry has been relatively quiet on the subject. Some find that strange: from an overwhelmingly white workforce to the unfair policing of Black, Indigenous and people of colour in the illicit market on both sides of the border, one might expect more meaningful anti-racist action-planning in the industry.

The GrowthOp asked three Black industry insiders what meaningful action would mean to them; how todays social upheaval is connected to the war on drugs and legalization, and what its like to work in the burgeoning, overwhelmingly white industry.

Heres what they had to say.

I havent seen a lot coming from the industry publicly that would suggest that theyve made a really strong and deep connection in their conscience about the fact that policing and the death of Black lives Black men and women at the hands of police are intimately linked to the legacy of law enforcement of drugs and the war on drugs.

I think its their responsibility to make that connection and to do something about it because there would not be an industry if it wasnt for the sacrifices that were made by largely Black and brown legacy actors.

The cannabis industry has had significant upheaval in the last couple of months with COVID, and so it could just be a function of them not having it together to make a coordinated response. There were a lot of people who were let go and a lot of shuffling. So I think that theres a lot of movement and uncertainty in the industry from the large players and perhaps thats why. But again, its no excuse because they continue to do business that they believe matters to them. So, ultimately, I think its a lack of priority.

Internally, these companies can develop a policy whereby they intentionally seek out, in their leadership and their staff, people of colour and people who come from backgrounds that were disproportionately and harmfully affected by the war on drugs. They can really ramp up their corporate social responsibility programming to invest in programs that help communities that were disproportionately impacted, either through job training or through scholarships, or donation to advocacy organizations like ours.

And a lot of these corporations have really strategic lobbying wings. They can use that power to bring to the attention of the government how necessary it is to implement some kind of reparations regime for communities that have been negatively impacted by this war on drugs.

We have a page on our website where we look at the top 10 organizations that are assisting marginalized people, particularly homeless people, in the COVID pandemic. Were encouraging people to either volunteer or donate to those organizations because our mission is part of a broader struggle to assist people who are marginalized in society, and that justice isnt just about a sort of single-issue problem.

When you say Black market, you know what youre saying or maybe you arent that conscious. But in Oregon, where I lived before, we call it the traditional market, or the illicit. But I think that subconsciously, we are aware of the bad guys wearing the Black hat and legal weed is the white-headed cowboy. And if you look at the top of who actually runs everything, those are some people who see themselves as white-headed cowboys.

Its difficult to talk about these things in terms of just race, because were dealing with this industry where theres so much new money. Were always talking about class, too. These new people, generally theyre white people who have a bunch of money, which is a recipe for not having a lot of experience with Black people or people of colour. When that happens, you can conflate misreadings and mistreatments that are as much about class as they do about race, and thats a hard conversation for us to have.

I feel like I get affected by that as much as anything. We had a guest on the podcast really early on, a journalist, who talked about their ability to be on the inside because they had grown up around that they had gone to fine schools and that was their advantage. I didnt call this person on it on the podcast were trying to be entertaining and be gracious hosts but theres this idea that you have this leg up on someone because youve been in the room. Thats not fair.

So when we talk about there being a lot of work to do, its not just, Were now in favour of Black people not getting the living shit kicked out of them. Its looking at yourself and your own attitudes. These people who are regarded as cowboys in this moment have little inclination to look at themselves that way.

A lot of the people that were at the company were white men or white women, and it was just really weird as the only Black woman at the table. And Im saying, Hey, maybe we should be more diverse, or maybe your social responsibility should be targeted toward amnesty for people with criminal records within Canada. And Id get shut down. It was kind of like, okay, well, theres obviously a problem in the room.

I was not interested in being part of the cannabis industry in Canada anymore. Thats how I ended up going to the UK for my masters. I was just fully disinterested the minute I was shut down, especially when youre talking about marketing. Thats the front, what people see immediately. And if theres no diversity I just kind of shut down. I was not interested.

Theyre still in the infantile stages in Europe, which is very interesting, because coming from Canada, were super-advanced as an industry. Its moving, its kicking and in Europe, theyre still fighting about policies. Its really cute. But at the same time, theyre a little more receptive with trying to do things right, which is something that I didnt get in Canada until recently, where you start calling out people.

Thats why I ended up going back into the cannabis industry when I went to the UK. I was like, Okay, theyre willing to listen, theyre a little bit more receptive. My ideas werent getting shot down.

In London, my leadership was all men of colour. And they put me in a position to make sure that we were diverse. They were in full support of this entirely.

I feel like Europe is just a little bit more aware of racism and discrimination, especially because the UK is obviously no stranger to racism in terms of slavery and knowing their history. But Canada fully dismisses its historical systemic racism, even though its so apparent, especially when you look at the Indigenous population here in Canada. That attitude goes into the corporate spaces as well.

Ive been applying for jobs, and every time I see the line about equity or theyre trying to see if youre a minority, I feel like theres more to it. Even within the HR departments, they need to be more diverse, because Ive looked at companies and all Ive seen is white men or white women, and theyre the ones that are looking through your applications.

For jobs I really want or when I was looking for universities, I looked at the alumnae, the current students and the professors. And even with the jobs I looked at, LinkedIn is the most useful tool ever. And honestly, I hate to be that one that person, but sometimes when I see theres no diversity, Im like, Okay, if I get a call back, Ill be astounded. And Ive not been astounded yet. I knew it.

Those are the techniques that I use, and I urge people to look, too. Make sure youre going to put yourself in a situation that you actually want to be in.

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Reckoning with race: Three Black cannabis insiders on how the industry could be more equitable - The GrowthOp