Nothing interesting to talk about today. Go ahead and skip this entry if you don't like politics. It will bore you.
Today's lecture is... A reason weed was explicitly made illegal - Jazz
While the history of Marijuana Prohibition is a long and sordid tale, I thought a lecture about music would be amusing (weird, huh?) In any case, Marijuana and Jazz have always been pretty much inseparable. Case in point:
A little research shows that most of the best-known Jazz musicians were stoners. They were also black. I'm not going to go into the whole race lecture bit, but what happened was that the idea of "uppity blacks" and "devil music" scared people. Here is a quote fro a newspaper in 1934 about the "menace of Marihuana:"
“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”
So if I understand correctly, one reason pot was banned was fear of black people stepping on white people's shadows. Am I the only one in the world who is offended by this?
OK that bored everyone, but it's a nice song, right?
Today's lecture is... A reason weed was explicitly made illegal - Jazz
While the history of Marijuana Prohibition is a long and sordid tale, I thought a lecture about music would be amusing (weird, huh?) In any case, Marijuana and Jazz have always been pretty much inseparable. Case in point:
A little research shows that most of the best-known Jazz musicians were stoners. They were also black. I'm not going to go into the whole race lecture bit, but what happened was that the idea of "uppity blacks" and "devil music" scared people. Here is a quote fro a newspaper in 1934 about the "menace of Marihuana:"
“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”
So if I understand correctly, one reason pot was banned was fear of black people stepping on white people's shadows. Am I the only one in the world who is offended by this?
OK that bored everyone, but it's a nice song, right?
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