ShaCarri Richardsons Olympics dream was crushed by the War on Drugs – TheGrio

ShaCarri Richardson looks on after winning the Womens 100 Meter final on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

ShaCarri Richardson was winning the race for Pre-Olympics Most Popular American Athlete and then, suddenly, she wasnt. Shes still popular controversy has made her sympathetic and even more famous but now its all complicated.

ShaCarri was going into Tokyo as the odds-on favorite to end up on a Wheaties box with her flaming hair, her blazing speed, and her audacious confidence. We love someone who knows shes bad and she knew she was a bad mamajama. But in a twist worthy of a novel, a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation. Her story was upended by the pathetic War on Drugs.

Please miss me with the idea that its her fault she took some weed (to get over the pain of the death of her mother) and the Karen-ish argument that she shouldve known better. People have been quick to blame her a 21 year-old in the midst of the most difficult moment of her life because its easy to place blame on a single person.

Yes, she broke a rule but the real problem is the rule. Its a dumb one and given how deeply the drug prohibition and the War on Drugs damages the Black community, we should not give any respect to this oppressive rule. If we just follow and uphold bad, immoral rules then society will never advance. The Civil Rights Movement that helped liberate us was powered by the concept of civil disobedience rejecting and breaking immoral, oppressive rules. So instead of leaping to the simplistic notion of rules are rules and she didnt follow the rules, lets do something bigger and more meaningful: lets critique the institutions for perpetuating a ridiculous prohibition on marijuana.

Why is marijuana illegal? Its not a performance enhancer, its not a steroid, so why is it banned? If ShaCarri had gotten drunk there would be no problem, but even a little weed is disqualifying? Doesnt that sound arbitrary? The real problem isnt that ShaCarri smoked (or ate) some weed. Its that we live in a country that prizes the pursuit of happiness yet criminalizes using marijuana. And this country does that because marijuana prohibition helps fuel the Prison Industrial Complex which houses thousands and thousands of marijuana offenders they are the main product.

And most of them are Black people.

Marijuana is a gateway drug for powerful white people to take the freedom of Black people. Criminalizing marijuana is a big business. And our efforts to police marijuana mean thousands of non-violent Black American drug users are attacked by police while a multi-billion industry is controlled by homicidal criminals who live in other countries. And people like ShaCarri are penalized for wanting the peace that marijuana brings. This system makes no sense and if marijuana were legalized in America that would crush the underground market, free the police to pursue actual crimes, and create millions and perhaps billions in tax dollars.

ShaCarri was set to become the face of the Tokyo Olympics but now shes like the face of the ridiculousness of our marijuana prohibition. I just want to see her run but as The Onion wrote Dreams Crushed Over Trivial Bullshit Represents Nation Better Than Gold Medal Ever Could.

ShaCarri winning wouldve been held up as an example of American Awesomeness but ShaCarri not being able to race over this is an example of American Patheticness.

Touris the host of the podcasts Toure Show and Democracyish and the podcast docuseries Who Was Prince? He is also the author of six books.

Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast?Download our newest episodes now!

TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!

Continued here:

ShaCarri Richardsons Olympics dream was crushed by the War on Drugs - TheGrio