Chuck Fenda Welcomes President Biden’s Marijuana Pardons

Reggae artist Chuck Fenda has added his voice to the chorus of approval of those who have welcomed US President Joe Biden’s decision last week to pardon Americans convicted for simple possession of marijuana under federal law.

“It’s a step in the right direction, dem finally do back something for weed. Over the years, black people have found out that a simple conviction for a spliff could cause nuff future problems for them, artistes lose visa because him have a spliff tail in his jeans, we go through a lot of punishment towards a natural plant from the earth, and this was the case for people of colour, once you black, you face it in the US. The weed shoulda free up long time,” Chuck Fenda, whose real name is Leshorn Whitehead, said.

For decades in the United States, charging practices have disproportionately impacted people of color. Marijuana possession was once the country’s most common drug charge. Arrests peaked at more than 800,000 in 2008. President Joe Biden’s pardon, last week, affected low-level marijuana offenders and benefits the roughly 6,500 Americans who have previously been convicted of federal possession. These offenders have often found themselves discriminated against as they could not access certain forms of employment, housing, student loans, and other opportunities.

“We’ve come a far way, but we have a long way to go, a lot more people who have been incarcerated because of marijuana need to have their sentences reduced. The weed must be free,” Chuck Fenda said.

In September, Chuck Fenda the Living Fire was the first reggae artist tapped to perform at the Boston Freedom Rally, the largest annual cannabis event on the East Coast in the U.S, which has a week-long program of cannabis-focused networking and education.

“This was the largest number of attendees the Boston Freedom Rally, Cannabis Festival organizers had ever seen. They came out to see a reggae artiste, the people wanted to see a reggae artiste because this is something our artistes are at the forefront of for years, the fight for decriminalization of weed, and at this event, they could smoke any amount of weed they wanted,” Chuck Fenda said.

The event, held annually for the past 33 years, had an estimated 100,000 in attendance this year and also featured the rapper Common, Roc Marciano & The Alchemist, Akrobatik (featuring Dub Apocalypse), and Dutch ReBelle.

Fenda thrilled the large throng of weed enthusiasts with songs such as Gash Dem, Comin Ova Tonight, I Swear and Eternal Fire. The show was part of his Eternal Fire tour that had stops in Kansas City, MD, Cincinnati, OH, Chicago, IL and Brooklyn, NY.

“This event just confirmed once again that Reggae is still relevant in North America and this is a show on the east coast…100,000’pulled in a park, a Bob Marley alone do that, a history we create, they doubted it …this shows reggae’s potency not just in California or the Midwest, but mi ah rise up the East coast as well,” he said.

Chuck Fenda made an ardent appeal for the gatekeepers of the industry to place an emphasis back on reggae music.

“We have reggae and we nah promote it and love it like how the outer world love it. Reggae preach love, reggae pull people together and we abandon it, it nah play ah Uptown Monday or inna clubs, and millions of dollars ah make off of reggae internationally,” he said. “We need to return to our roots.”