Black revs hit Cynthia on pot idea

A GROUP OF African-American clergy wrote to gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, ripping her comment that legalized pot licenses could serve as reparations for the drug war.

“Your comments make clear that you have no idea of the history and meaning behind the reparations debate in this country. It was a clueless, uninformed remark that did a disservice to black people who have fought for centuries for equal justice and basic human rights,” the clergy members said.

The signers include Johnnie Greene, pastor of Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem and president of Mobilizing Preachers and Community, Carl Washington Jr., pastor of New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Harlem, and the Rev. Troy DeCohen, pastor of Mount Vernon Heights Congregational Church and head of Westchester County’s United Black Clergy.

Earlier this month, Nixon (photo inset) said communities of color hard-hit by the war on drugs should get first crack at legalized pot as a “form of reparations.”

“Now that cannabis is exploding as an industry, we have to make sure that those communities that have been harmed and devastated by marijuana arrests get the first shot at this industry,” she told Forbes. “We (must) prioritize them in terms of licenses. It’s a form of reparations.”

The group of ministers said Nixon’s remark also “feeds into harmful stereotypes about African-Americans.”

“Ms. Nixon, it’s time you made a formal apology for these damaging remarks. This type of unhelpful rhetoric clouds the important dialogue around this issue. We demand better,” they wrote.

Nixon, an actress and activist, is challenging Gov. Cuomo in the Democratic primary for governor. Asked for comment Sunday, Nixon’s campaign referred to an an Op-Ed she wrote in which she argued legalization, if done right, could begin to repair some of the harms inflicted by mass incarceration.