Spark the Change is more than our motto at Delta M. It is truly what we stand for.
The phrase "Spark the change" is about setting fire to the old way of doing things and creating a safe and beautiful space for women and people of color to enjoy the benefits of the cannabis industry.
Selective Change
The Cannabis and Marijuana industries are growing at unreal rates and 18 states are currently benefiting from the legalization. However, a huge issue is that there are still large numbers of people, more specifically people of color, who are incarcerated due to these substances. It is no secret that African Americans have been systematically disadvantaged in the United States. This systematic trend has definitely spilled over into the cannabis industries. Black people are still almost 4x more likely to get arrested for marijuana related offenses. (aclu)
We still have people in prison like Ferrell Scott who was sentenced to life for selling weed in March of 2008. (usatoday) So picture this man in Pennsylvania's Allenwood federal penitentiary watching TV in 2012 seeing what he was serving a life sentence for, was becoming legal in two states. "You would think that selling marijuana is the worst thing in the world because I was given a life sentence for it," says Scott. To say it's insulting is an understatement. It's demeaning, it's belittling and the entire premise that his life was taken for this shows a complete lack of humanity.
The Green Wall
There is a huge green wall between people of color and the professional world of cannabis. The costs to start and run a successful business in this industry are through the roof. We know from statistics that Black and Brown people have the highest poverty rates in this country. They do not have the same access to wealth due to economic, systematic and geographic reasons. This impacts the number of people arrested for illegally selling marijuana because they simply can't afford to sell it legally.
According to Jesce Horton, co-founder and board chairman of the Minority Cannabis Business Association,“The biggest need and the biggest disparity and the biggest outrage has been the licensing process and the ability for small businesses to first get into the market, and then to survive after dealing with large taxes, huge licensing fees or all these other things that we fear are shaping up in opposition of minority entrepreneurship,” (mjbizdaily)
"What we gon do?"
Pardon my language but it is time to shake sh*t up! We have to change this. Delta M is a Black owned accessory business and proud. We make our products affordable to that our people can have their products and enjoy them too! Although we can't break anyone out of prison or march in every street in every city of every town, we can crack open the door and allow others to walk through and gain access.