Tuesday, August 3 saw two plaintiffs file a lawsuit against Washington State Regulators; Governor Jay Inslee, D; U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland; and the Department of Justice. The complaint: racial discrimination. 

According to the lawsuit, both plaintiffs, who are Black and of African American ethnicity, claim they have suffered “invidious racial discrimination” from the state and federal government. Owner and manager of MNG, LLC are Henok Abraha and Philmon Negusse respectively. They hold one of the four cannabis licenses in Washington State owned by Aftican Americans. This makes up less than one percent of around 2,000 recreational cannabis licenses currently operating in the state.

Both plaintiffs say they have previously had licenses denied, have had their facility raided, and seen several audits that their white counterparts haven’t had to go thorugh. Currently, the pair is asking for declaratory and injunctive relief. This would include a restraining order blocking all defendants from providing or accepting further Department of Justice funding. 

“Washington’s illicit regulatory scheme operates in and through an environment of corruption and collusion, and unfairly discriminates against African Americans,” the complaint said.

Defendants

Normally, this issue would start as a state lawsuit staying in the state court system. Upon the outcome, the plaintiffs could decide to take the matter further up in the court system. They would go to regional and then federal courts upon each appeal. However, Abraha and Negusse are pulling federal workers and agencies into the court case from the beginning. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice are listed as defendants because they’re the ones who award grants and funding from the federal government to state agencies. Abraha and Negusse claim that Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice did not correctly award grants and funding to Washington. The plaintiffs claim that they should have known the state had been discriminating against African American citizens based on license numbers alone. But they still awarded the funding. 

Response

The current counsel for both Abraha and Negusse stated their clients want to bring attention to the “impacts of institutionalized racism and exclusion from opportunities that negatively affects the African American community as a whole that stems from Washington state, its governor and its agencies.”

There has been no response from any of the defendants listed at the time of this publication. A spokesperson for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board said they were unable to comment on the pending case. They are the main agency receiving the lawsuit, along with Governor Inslee. As more information becomes available, we will update you with the latest.

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