While gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon‘s use of bongs to raise money for her campaign might be big in “stoner’ culture it sends the absolute wrong message to black and brown youths struggling to not only avoid more marijuana arrests, but to climb their way up the economic ladder and out of poverty.
And that is why a wide swath of black clergy leaders from Brooklyn, Harlem and Queens as well as community activist Tony Herbert fired off a letter to Nixon questioning her judgement in auctioning off one of the highly potent pot intake pipes to a high paying donor.
Dubbed the Broad City Bong Contest, the auction allows donors to give money while signing up for their chance to win a bong signed by Broad City stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer.
“We find it in poor taste that a candidate for governor would cavalierly give away drug paraphernalia as a fundraising promotion for their campaign. Your campaign’s judgment, on top of your comments that pot shops in black communities should serve as “reparations” to the African-American community, demonstrates that you are not in touch with the values and the goals we seek to promote,” wrote the clergy leaders.
“While there is a difference of opinion on whether marijuana should be legalized, even those who support legalization do not believe that drug use should be glamorized by someone who aspires to hold the highest office in the state. Handing out signed bongs to donors sends the wrong message to our community and makes a mockery of the serious underlying criminal justice issue at stake for black and brown children,” they added.
The signatories included Rev. Clinton Miller, Pastor, Brown Memorial Baptist Church and Rev. Jacques DeGraff, Pastor, Canaan Baptist Church both in Brooklyn; the Rev. Johnnie Green, Pastor, Mt. Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem; and Rev. Evan Dean Gray, Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church in Queens.
Nixon Spokesperson Lauren Hitt responded that the email contest clearly states in its’ subject line “serious issue, not so serious contest.
Hill also noted the email goes on to say – “Like us, Cynthia is a huge supporter of legalizing weed. Which might not seem like a big issue, but trust us it is. Legalization is a matter of racial justice. 80% of New Yorkers arrested for weed are black or Latino, even though we all know there are just as many white kids smoking it. Like Cynthia said: “We have to stop putting people of color in jail for something that white people do with impunity.”
But longtime Brooklyn activist Tony Herbert, who also signed the letter, noted that there is a practical side against promoting marijuana smoking. That side is related to his forming a new political party made up of public housing residents called, Housing Residents First.
“If you look at it [the bong auction] from what I’m working on is there is a federal mandate made under the Obama Administration that people can’t smoke marijuana or anything in public housing, and now we have a gubernatorial candidate promoting it. She [Nixon] is she not looking at what’s going on. People now leave their public housing apartments to smoke and that subjects them to a ticket, and people in public housing often don’t have the resources to pay a ticket so it turns into a warrant. That’s one of the reasons a disproportionate amount of black and brown members of the community get arrested,” said Herbert.
Herbert also noted that some people can’t find marijuana and turn to K2, a dangerous synthetic marijuana that is plaguing some neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn.
“For someone seeking to become the highest elected official in state promoting to do an illegal thing, particularly in my community, is a huge concern,” said Herbert.
