$1 trillion still represents a monetary figure with its own rarified air, a number just out of the immediate comprehension of many. Nonetheless, it’s a base number that in current times is often bandied about when talking about gross domestic product (GDP) valuations and national debts. And that somewhat otherworldly number can be affixed to something else formidable in its own right – racism in America… 

When I was just 13 years old, I began selling small amounts of marijuana, in response to our family’s desperate circumstances. Only 10 years later, at age 23, I became the youngest African American to own a cannabis retail establishment in the United States. I opened my first Elev8 Cannabis dispensary in Eugene, Oregon, in 2017, and am currently in the process of expanding my footprint to the East Coast and Midwest.

With the devastation of arts industries caused by the coronavirus response, the notion of implementing a UBI has become even more important. In the UK, the Musicians’ Union has called on finance chief Rishi Sundak to implement a UBI, because while a £1.57 billion pound bailout has been pledged to arts industries, most of this funding is going to institutions and venues, not individuals. The Union is concerned that without a UBI, the visual and performing arts will become the purview of those from well-to-do families—a luxury that people of humble means can never afford.