Let's get a few facts out of the way...
It is true that Biden's Crime Bill of 1994 resulted in many black men spending disproportionate time in jail for minor offenses. And it is true, that Trump's helped address some of the inequities in the sentencing that occurred when he signed the First Step Act.
Another sad truth is that studies show skin color, gender and "looks" can impact sentencing. So, an ugly, black, man is more likely to draw a longer sentence for the exact same crime a beautiful white woman. It also appears these days, a wealthy Republican is likely to draw a stiffer fine than a poor Democrat.
The problem as we have seen in the Trump trials in New York is a biased judge has incredible power to make rulings that a less biased judge would not make. In some respects, Trump's trials have highlighted for all of America how much bias remains in the justice system. My guess is if Trump is elected, he will be prepared to go farther than he did with his First Step legislation to bring equity to the justice system.
If the justice is system can be weaponized against an ex-President and leading candidate for President, imagine what it can do to a black man in front of a biased judge, who has no access to the media or a great lawyer to defend him.
I frequently argue that systemic racism is rare in America today because we have so many controls and laws preventing it. But who controls the courts? More than one study suggests that bigotry is alive and well in judicial sentencing and racism is just one expression of that.
One of the emerging problems today is that "the state" not wealthy white people are competing with the poor minorities that historically sold marijuana on the street corner. It is not "white wealth" but rather government tax revenues that cause states these days to crack down on illegal marijuana sales. Wealthy business owners have no coercive force to incarcerate, only the justice system can do that.
The legalization of marijuana with stiff taxes has put the state in competition with the gangs for marijuana profits. The small dealer selling homegrown marijuana faces the danger of gang violence or incarceration.
So, your issue is the state's desire to profit from marijuana, not the investors the state uses to build out the legal marijuana infrastructure so the state can collect "its cut". Eliminate all taxes on marijuana other than routine sales taxes and gangs will begin moving out of the business and the state will cease pursuing illegal sellers.
But the issue of bigotry is our court system is one that requires reform independent of how it expresses itself in marijuana market. Likewise, the problems that have arisen when states legalized marijuana in hopes of getting a windfall in tax revenues have created a host of problems only one of which is the sentencing of small-time sellers mostly minorities to prison.
