Our Perspective
Cannabis Legalization
Will Benefit All
New Yorkers
By Stuart Appelbaum, President
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, UFCW
Twitter: @sappelbaum
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PRIL 2-8, 2021 15
Councilman Mark Gjonaj speaks at the rally demanding the Yemeni people be granted the
diversity visas. Photos by Jason Cohen
Rally in Little Yemen
for diversity visas
BY JASON COHEN
While President Biden ended the
Muslim ban in January, many who
were granted diversity visas during
the Trump presidency are being left
out in the cold.
Biden stated in his recent proclamation
that anyone whose diversity
visa was approved between 2017 and
2020 must reapply.
This is leaving 2,000 Yemenis
dreaming of coming to America stuck
in the nation with the worst humanitarian
crisis. This ruling affects many
in Morris Park as within the neighborhood
is Little Yemen, an area with
a high Yemeni population and 500 Yemeni
businesses.
Needless to say residents are angry
and on March 24 held a rally led by the
Yahay Obeid, the outreach coordinator
for the Bronx Muslim Center.
“A promise was made by the United
States of America,” he said. “That
promise must be kept.”
Obeid told the Bronx Times that
the State Department kept allowing
Yemenis to apply for the diversity visas
knowing the ban was in place. He
explained that the visas would get
processed and then at the last step denied.
According to Obeid, people apply
for years and when it’s fi nally granted
many begin making plans for their
new lives. Yet, these 2,000 people were
tossed aside and now are stuck between
a rock and a hard place.
“They were given hope that wasn’t
really there and that’s not fair,” he
stressed. “What’s fair is to give them
their miracle back.”
Among those at the rally were
elected offi cials Councilmen Mark
Gjonaj and Fernando Cabrera, Community
Board 11 Chair Al D’Angelo,
Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez
and Brooklyn Borough President and
Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams.
Fernandez exclaimed that this issue
should not be happening. She stated
that when President Biden lifted the
Muslim ban everyone who had diversity
visas approved during the Trump
presidency should have been allowed
to come here.
“Little Yemen is a part of the
Bronx,” she shouted. “When you hurt,
we hurt. When you are denied, I am denied.
A promise was made and we demand
it be kept.”
Gjonaj, who has been to the Bronx
Muslim Center and called Obeid a
brother, said he feels at home when he
is with Yemeni people. Furthermore,
the councilman said that not allowing
people who were granted diversity visas
to come to the USA is embarrassing.
The diversity visa was a “sham
and an empty promise,” and the government
must fi x this now, he commented.
“I stand with this community because
this community has stood with
me,” Gjonaj said. “The Yemeni community
has made our neighborhood
stronger and better.”
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act
(MRTA) has become law, and it’s a success all
New Yorkers can be proud of. The law, legalizing
adult use cannabis in New York, puts fairness at its
center; communities of color, workers and
entrepreneurs are prioritized in this program. The final law reflects the
longstanding efforts of worker and community activists to create legislation
that will lift up all of our communities.
RWDSU Local 338 represents nearly 500 workers in New York’s medical
cannabis industry, and now, with the legalization of adult use cannabis, we
have an opportunity to create more quality jobs. We’ve already seen in New
York the difference unions can make in the cannabis industry. In 2014,
RWDSU Local 338 fought for the passage of the Compassionate Care Act,
which legalized medical marijuana, to ensure the industry created good union
careers for the workforce. As a result, workers in cannabis cultivation,
production, distribution, and retail in New York won RWDSU membership,
and in turn, negotiated strong union contracts.
With RWDSU Local 338, workers have won guarantees of full-time
hours, significant wage increases, generous paid time off, quality health
coverage for themselves and their families at no cost, retirement savings
benefits, and other crucial workplace protections including on-the-job training.
The only way to guarantee these benefits are provided to workers is through a
union. The best way to ensure a union exists in the workplace is through
mandatory labor standards in the law. Unions have made a difference for
these workers, and now the goal is to ensure that the same benefits – and the
protections of a union voice – are available to workers in the new adult use
cannabis industry.
A Diverse Industry to Build Stronger Communities
Legalization provides an excellent starting point for reversing the discriminatory
cost the decades-long “war on drugs” has had on communities of color.
As a union that organizes workers in several low-wage industries including retail,
the majority of our members are people of color who live in communities
that were targeted by discriminatory drug laws. We all have a stake in ensuring
the adult use cannabis industry not only creates good jobs, but also provides
true entrepreneurial opportunities for our membership and their
communities. That is why it’s crucial that cannabis industry ownership, management,
and workforce reflects the diversity that makes New York great.
The RWDSU and our allies also support the resentencing provisions for
those who are behind bars for cannabis-related crimes, and expunging and
sealing criminal records of those who went to jail for cannabis-related
offenses. As the city, state, and country move forward toward cannabis
legalization, it’s important those who have been prosecuted for cannabisrelated
offenses – disproportionately people of color – are allowed to move
forward with their lives free of outdated legal repercussions and the stigma
that accompanies them.
Legalizing cannabis for adult use opens New York State to an incredible
new avenue for job growth, criminal justice reform, and
economic opportunities for small and medium-sized
businesses, as well as increased revenue to fund
important public services. By making sure that the
industry is created responsibly, we can make sure
that as the industry flourishes, our communities
and working families flourish as well.
www.rwdsu.org
/www.rwdsu.org