SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON: IF ONLY SHE WAS WHITE AND A TRANSGENDER.

ICHEOKU says her disqualification and suspension from the Tokyo Olympics is a loss to America as her otherwise assured 100 meters gold medal at the Olympics has now been voluntarily pawned away by the action of an overzealous United States Anti Doping Agency which took her out of the competition. Even the fact that she is a black woman who is trying to do good for herself and also her country should have been an added impetus not to strike her out of the competition. She should have been allowed to participate in the Olympics which she put everything training and preparing for; as that will encourage a lot of black women to be hopeful, convinced that there is still a way out of what they are used to and consider as "normal" life in the Hoods. 

She is a role model to millions of black women whose morals will now become dampened by her suspension from the Olympics for something as trivial as smoking weed, which is somewhat normal among millions of potheads. Instead of the suspension, the agency should have made her pay a fine since smoking marijuana is no longer a crime nor seen as something so serious that it is still being frowned at. Sha'Carri Robertson represents something huge in the black community, especially to black women, and this factor should have weighed heavily in the mind of the agency before they pulled the lever. 

So what if she smoked some marijuana, afterall the use of cannabis have been somewhat legalized in one form or the other in 45 out of the 50 States in America, including in Oregon where the sprinter did the joint; not to forget, inhaled too. As far as ICHEOKU is concerned, her eyes shows that she is a habitual marijuana user and did not just puff as a relief from the pain of losing her mother. But that notwithstanding, she did not break any law by smoking marijuana since it is no longer illegal to smoke pot in America except in only five other States. So, the real question which every unbiased mind should be asking is, who wants to take Sha'Carri Richardson out of the Tokyo Olympics and why? 

Why ban her for something as inconsequential as smoking marijuana, a mere recreational pastime which does not belong to the genre of performance enhancing metabolic opioids. Why take away her Olympic dream and a guaranteed gold Olympic medal on America's table just like that, simply because of a joint? She should not have even wasted her time trying to explain anything to anybody including that she was "triggered and blinded by the emotions, sadness and hurting" by the death of her mother and took some marijuana to cope. The reason is irrelevant; taking marijuana is not a crime and that is the pedestal on which she should have rested any "explanation". 

She should have instead strongly objected to and protested the decision reached by the USADA because marijuana is not metabolic steroids, did not add anything to her athletic ability and capability; and that it is no longer considered dangerous drug, the reason it has been legalized in almost all the States in America, including in Oregon. So, why punish her for indulging in a pastime which is not illegal or has anybody or any athlete ever improved or become better in what they do just because they took marijuana. 

ICHEOKU says Sha'Carri Richardson deserves a fair treatment and should been given a break and cut some slacks and allowed to compete in the Tokyo Summer Olympics. She lost her mother at a period she was preparing, training and trying to win some Olympics laurels for the United States of America. She was hurting but kept it hidden as she had a job to do, training to win Olympic medals for Team USA. At 21 years old, she is still a very young woman whose dream should be supported and not taken away through outright harsh disqualification from an Olympics which she has prepared for and now ready to deliver on. Athletes and sports personalities use drugs and worse drugs that is not marijuana. Many of them sometimes commit very bad acts trying to beat the system to improve their performance. 

But Sha'carri Richardson did not use such drugs and neither did she smoke marijuana in order to improve her fitness and ability so that she could win gold medals in the Tokyo Olympics. She merely took some recreational marijuana as she normally does. She is a naturally gifted born athlete, a gazelle, who trained for those races all natural and without any performance enhancing drugs. Marijuana did not make her more improved and better than her competitors. This is the only controlling factor which matters in her case and which should have influenced the agency's decision in her favor, period. 

So, irrespective of whatever else that might be contained in the agency's rule book regarding permissible substances which athletes might take, including marijuana, smoking marijuana should not by itself attract such a very harsh decision. If such law exists in the agency's rule book, it should be expunged because the use of marijuana in majority of American States have been decriminalized and somewhat fully legalized. A law applies to everyone and athletes should not be singled out and punished for what ordinary citizens cannot be similarly punished for. The legalization of marijuana use in most of American States provides a legal shield to any marijuana smoker including athletes from punishment and the agency should not be allowed to be a law unto themselves. 

Like Johnnie Cochran would say, if it doesn't fit you must acquit and not convict; so if it wasn't illegal, why punish the user. New Zealand is busy spiking the ball and trying to improve their country's odds at the medal table in Tokyo Olympics by securing a berth for a full grown 43 year old man to compete as a woman in the female weight lifting segment.  But here is the United States of America agency willfully and proactively, denying America an assured gold medal in the 100 meters race by depriving a medically certified full biological female her rightly earned opportunity to shine at Tokyo Olympics and be garlanded with a shinning gold medal for Team USA. Why take such a shot at America's foot by disqualifying Sha'Carri Richardson just because she smoked marijuana. How about Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand or is smoking marijuana now considered more egregious than a man suddenly claiming that he is a female? 

This is one issue which Black Lives Matter should rightly protest and demand for the unfair disqualification of a black woman from the Tokyo Olympics to be reversed. Ditto feminist females of America in defense of a fellow female. But so far, it is cricket everywhere as BLM and all those women defenders have surprisingly gone radio silent on the matter of Sha'Carri Richardson. May be if it was the police that did the disqualification, that would have since triggered them into action and by now they would have taken over the streets, burning and looting; and demanding that Sha'carri Richardson be "un-disqualified" or they will not stop. 

They would have insisted that she be allowed to participate in the Tokyo Olympics because she is a woman and women should be treated fairly. They would have also claimed that she was disqualified simply because she is black and that it is yet another evidence of "structural" racism in America. Then add the fact that she also voted for Joe Biden in the last presidential election and therefore eminently black and should not have been disqualified on the ground that she ain't black. It is sad that a man who took hormonal drugs claiming that his mind tells him that he is a woman will be allowed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, but a bona fide woman and a black woman for that matter, will not be allowed to compete in the same Tokyo Olympics simply because she smoked marijuana.  What an absurdity or is marijuana now more outrageous than transgender? 

Anyway, although this Tokyo Olympics opportunity to shine has been taken away from Sha'Carri Richardson, there will be another opportunity for her to shake her tail feathers in four years time.  She is still a young woman and hopefully will learn not to take whatever the agency prohibits so close to any competition next time. But that gal is fierce looking and ICHEOKU is loving every aspect of her, including her "whatever" mien. As for those body tattoos, body piercings and colored hairstyling, they suit her personality, a free spirited soul who likes being expressive. It is a way of life for her and tops it off with smoking marijuana. There is nothing wrong with that, especially as it does not effect her nor in any way inhibits her performance and athletic prowess. 

ICHEOKU says would have loved she was not disqualified from the Tokyo Olympics which will hold within the one month of her being suspended. She should hire some lawyers to protest the disqualification and see how far they can go in getting her back to the TeamUSA Tokyo Olympics roster. Her being in Tokyo Olympics would have exposed her to a lot of money making opportunities, including many products endorsements contracts. Her sun is currently shining as nobody knows what might happen to her athletic fortunes within the next four years when there will be another Olympics. 

There is something about Sha'carri Richardson that says take a look at me, I am here standing before you. ICHEOKU is emphatic that she would have moved so much products for any company that invested in her following her Tokyo Olympics performance. It is sad that the opportunity is now gone with the wind of her suspension. #LetSha'CarriCompete.