Legal Marijuana In D.C.

DC Legalizing Pot, Ignoring House Republicans

 Our nation's capital, Washington DC, has decided to look past House Republican's pleas and legalize the possession of marijuana. With this, residents of the District of Columbia are allowed to possess 2 ounces of marijuana. While selling it is still illegal, as is public smoking, it would be allowed to transfer up to 1 ounce to another person. All included parties must be 21 to smoke marijuana.

One very important aspect to this legalization is that people now have the right to grow their own marijuana plants at home. Anyone of legal age that so desired could grow up to six pot plants in their own backyard. This is great news for many people, because this can really take the danger and sketchiness of dealing with a "drug dealer" out of the picture. With this, marijuana can be seen as simply a plant you can grow for yourself at home instead of a dangerous drug from the streets. Growing your own pot ensures that you know that the plant is clean and safe to use.


Many are lead to believe that the legalization of marijuana in the nation's capital will lead to a national legalization. The government could potentially save billions of dollars by ending its war against marijuana and taxing it instead, like alcohol.

Plessy Vs. Ferguson

The case of Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896 is unique, in that it involves a man who is only 1/8 black being prosecuted for it. Homer Plessy was almost fully white, and had very fair skin. He bought a train ticket in a whites only car and was arrested and sent to trial for violating segregation laws in an 1890 Louisiana Statute.



The moral question was asked, can states legally and rightfully use "separate but equal" as a viable way to live American lives? Obviously separate but equal was anything but equal. Sure, you would have a whites only fountain and a blacks only fountain, but like we discussed and saw in class, often times only a whites only fountain would even have refrigerated water. Points such as this are the reason that separate but equal is an unsuccessful tactic.

The eventual ruling was that "separate but equal" was fair, which it obviously was not at the time. In the same case that some colored and white water fountains were unequal, the same went for most segregated things such as the train cars in the Plessy v. Ferguson trial. It wasn't until many years later that "separate but equal" was deemed unconstitutional and was eventually overturned by Brown v. Board of Education, but this wasn't for half a century until 1954.

State Vs. Mann

In the State Vs. Mann ruling, we find a perfect situation in which even though the court ruled it as law, humans are sometimes wrong. This ruling allowed John Mann to kill runaway slave named Lydia by shooting her in the back as she was trying to run away. Lydia wasn't even Mann's slave, and the case wasn't even about the loss of a human life, but over the ten dollars John Mann was fined for doing it. In an oddly inhumane way, Lydia's life was less meaningful because she was a black woman. She wasn't even viewed as a human but more or less as property.

  Judge Thomas Ruffin

In the trial against Mann, it is claimed that Lydia is not the property of Mr. John Mann and thus he should be assessed property damages for killing another man's property, even though it is absurd to own another human being. 

In the defense of John Mann, the case is made that Lydia is his property during the time that he has leased her out from her owner, so he has every right to do with his property as he sees fit, including shooting her in the back. In North Carolina, where this occurred, a runaway slave could be killed without penalty, so the judge eventually sided with the defense and John Mann.

Ultimately, no real penalty was paid over the life of an innocent slave trying to escape a life of constraint and hard labor. In the ongoing case between right and wrong and morality and the law, State v. Mann was a loss in the battle for equal rights and protection for all, but many great changes still awaited at this time.

3 Muslim Students Murdered at UNC Campus

3 Muslim Students Shot in Apartment


Three American students have been shot to death at a residential complex of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a suspect has been arrested over the incident, according to local police.




Craig Stephen Hicks murdered 3 innocent Muslim students in Chapel Hill. In a statement posted online, Chapel Hill police said that "preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbour dispute over parking. We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case."

Hicks turned himself in after the shooting on Tuesday in Chapel Hill. The police website released a statement confirming the three deaths and saying the department is "questioning a person of interest in the crime and has reason to believe that there is no ongoing threat to the public".


The victims were identified as 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his 21-year-old wife, Yusor Mohammad, and her sister, 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, police said.

The innocent deaths of these 3 Muslim students is possibly related to the recent hostility felt towards the Muslim population due to the outbreak of the international terror group, ISIS.

This is an outrage to America, where we should be supportive of all groups of people. Our innocent, young, blossoming citizens are not the enemy. There is a large push for action against ISIS, and just today, Obama has pushed for a War Draft to combat the looming threat of terror.


Needless to say, the prejudice against the American Muslim population must end. These are our brothers and sisters of our nation, losing their lives for meaningless reasons.