White Privilege and that Time I Got Busted for MDMA
Here's a story of white privilege and the drug war...
When I was 22, and a raver in Chicago, I sold MDMA to kids at my college. One day, on a delivery, we got arrested. In a White Castle parking lot, in a white suburb, by 20 DEA agents. We had 250 pills, which was a Class X Felony, and held mandatory minimums for sentencing.
The agents pulled my friend out of the car, I had seen enough episodes of cops to know, get out and lay on the ground.
About 20 minutes later, we are in separate interrogation rooms.
They are trying to play us against each other, I know this game. Trying to get me to snitch on my source or go to jail. I notice the cameras in the corners. They have already botched my rights so anything in this statement can't be used.
Me at age 22
I’ve changed a LOT since then 🏳️⚧️
Detective McCopface: "Where did you get these drugs?";
Me: "From your Mom"
MCF: "No seriously, where did you get these or you're going to jail?";
Me: "I told you, your mom's house last night."
I made him put it in the statement. I fully knew I was NOT going to get beat up or shot because of my white skin and the fancy address on my ID. They even cuffed me in front of my body.
I spent 3 days in Cook County Jail in Joliet. Family posted bond (another privilege), and got me a good lawyer who knew the judges. (Yet another privilege.)
Discovery came and went. They lied, typically, and never submitted our statements. (Ha!)
My lawyer played the "young person in college, never got into any trouble, one mistake" card. (Absolutely white privilege.)
Got 2 years probation and $7,500 in fines. I paid and served 2 years reporting for probation. (I missed my meetings 2 times and wasn't violated or sent back to county, yet another privilege.)
This Class X felony drug conviction, which had a mandatory minimum federal sentence of 5 years in jail, isn't on my record. Anywhere. Poof, never happened. Didn't keep me from opportunities. Didn't keep me from housing, credit, or school loans.
I'm here, right now, writing this because I want to acknowledge my white middle class privilege inside of of the drug war. I knew it then, and I know it now. Even being a white trans woman now is top-loaded with privilege in a severely marginalized group.
Fuck this unfair system. Fuck the drug war. Fuck the private for-profit prison cycle. Fuck Capitalist Psychedelics. Fuck the police.
Take a moment today to reflect on your own moments of privilege or lack thereof. Own it. This is what they call the crossroads. It can go any which way, but they don’t know what we know.
Join the revolution, stand for each other, support yourself through your traumas so you can help others do the same.
Because at the end of the day, this psychedelic fight is like every fight for love and equality.
EVERYONE deserves to unconditionally feel equal and feel love, in overwhelming ways.
Short Circuit Control.
DeCommodify Psychedelics.
Me in 2022
