Short Documentary Offers Gripping Look At Racial Targeting And Cannabis

As more states continue to legalize, a disproportionate number of black Americans are still being arrested and incarcerated for minor cannabis offenses. It’s a maddening dichotomy addressed in a gripping new short film “Not Just Another Day,” set to receive a virtual world premiere at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival this March.

The documentary, which runs for fifteen minutes and is produced by From The Earth, a minority-founded and operated cannabis retailer, tells the story of Lionel Tate, a young black man who was arrested in 2015 in Los Angeles for possessing a small amount of marijuana. An aspiring chef, Tate, then 23, was on his way to give a security deposit to a property manager to lease an apartment when a police officer pulled him over and found the money in addition to the marijuana. Using first-person narration from Tate, as well as interviews with key figures in his life, such as his mother and criminal defense attorney, “Not Just Another Day” relates what happened in the aftermath of the arrest.

– Read the entire article at Forbes.