Posthumous character assassination is nothing new. The powers-that-shouldn't-be make every attempt to control the narrative; especially as it concerns the state-sanctioned murders of Black people in the US. At least once every 28 hours, American terrorism claims another Black life. And like clockwork, the police and media collude in an effort to clear the murderer and smear the victim. Past indiscretions get disclosed. Criminal records are circulated. And perhaps most gratuitously, much is made of the victim's contact with cannabis.

Which is puzzling, given the countless medicinal, recreational, industrial and research purposes served by the plant. The attempted slurs make sense, however, given the Establishment’s need to assert its authority, not to mention the threat marijuana poses to the status quo of pharmaceutical addiction.

It’s telling how the victim is always tested for illegal drugs. Meanwhile no such tests are performed on killer cops; just paid administrative leave in the midst of a rubber-stamped  internal investigation. That said, it'd be ridiculous to think less of Eric Garner for his alleged marijuana possession. Same goes for Freddie Gray and his sale of the plant. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Sandra Bland were not at all criminal for having THC in their bodies upon their martyrdom. They were human.

And as humans, it'd behoove us to understand that 'legal' is not synonymous with ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ or  'moral'. Understand that the legal apparatus in these United States has nothing do with morality, but is merely an instrument of the ruling class, prioritizing property rights over human rights. Understand that laws serve & protect those who enforce them and, of course, the benefactors of those who write them. That way, when our class enemies deem something unlawful, something as natural and magnificent as the Earth itself, we have the proper context in which to place their attempted smears of our martyrs.

The plant’s only recent illegality notwithstanding - the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis has not…hurt…anyone. However, centuries-old, perfectly-legal, state-sanctioned police terror on the other hand . . .