So I have been a big critic of the NAACP over the past 20 years because I believe that the organization has been largely irrelevant to the lives of actual Black people in that time. But credit must be given when it is due.

Last week, the NAACP (over the objection of many) came out strongly in support of California’s Prop 19 which is a November ballot measure that seeks to allow recreational marijuana use.

From The San Francisco Chronicle:

Accompanied by other African American leaders in California, the president of the state NAACP, Alice Huffman, said the current prohibition on marijuana has led to the criminalizing of young people and consequently has hampered the ability of many African Americans to prosper.

The organization is the most mainstream statewide entity to endorse the marijuana measure, Proposition 19, to date.

“This is not a war on the drug lords, this is a war against young men and women of color,” Huffman said, adding later that, “Once a young person is arrested and brought under the justice system, he or she is more likely to get caught in the criminal justice system again, further wasting tax dollars.”

Huffman and other leaders – including Aubry Stone, president of the California Black Chamber of Commerce – argued that money currently spent on enforcing marijuana laws would be better spent on education.

The NAACP has called the unfair targeting of young black and brown people over the use of marijuana, a civil rights issue. They are correct. The usual suspects are crying about this NAACP action but I would like to applaud them for rejecting the prohibition-focused approach and focusing instead on decriminalizing this drug. Bravo NAACP!