Urge your representative to support the MORE Act on the House floor! Earlier today, Congressional leadership announced that a House vote will take place on a comprehensive cannabis legalization bill — the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act — in September. The MORE Act historically passed the House Judiciary Committee last November and has since awaited further action.Introduced over a year ago and sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY),…

Ask your state lawmakers to support reduced penalties for cannabis possession. Good news! Last week, Sen. Teresa Ruiz, along with cosponsor Sen. Ronald Rice, filed a sweeping decriminalization bill. If passed, the bill would dramatically reduce penalties for distribution and possession charges, prohibit discrimination for past convictions, and automatically expunge marijuana records. You can check out a full summary here. Please email your state senator and assemblymember today to ask them to support…

Organizations to support The African American Policy Forum: A think tank of activists, academics, and policy makers working to address systemic inequalities. The AAPF also co-created the campaign #Sayhername as well as a groundbreaking report of the same name addressing the silence around Black women and girls and police brutality. Black Visions Collective: A Black-led, Queer and Trans-centered, Minnesota-based collective dedicated to transformative justice principles and a world where all Black…

I just spent the last two nights immersed in work that is sadly too familiar. I found myself once again providing assistance to lawyers representing an African American family who had lost a loved one at the hands of the police. So often, I am drawn back to where my career began over three decades ago as a young civil rights lawyer taking on cases involving police brutality and the death penalty. For me, there was little distinction between Black and Brown people losing their lives on the street…