A city block in downtown Jacksonville is going to pot. Not just any pot. DEI pot promising to “revitalize and bring new life” to our urban core.
According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, the city issued a permit for “interior exploratory demolition only” of the 40-year-old Burger King building on East State Street.
The plan is for GuD Essence (GE), a self-described “Black-woman-led cannabis company” from Miami, to move in.
The company’s website tells us its CEO, Jasmine Johnson, hopes to build black generational wealth, equity, and empowerment for “communities of color” using the “sacred power of cannabis.”
What a coincidence. Mayor Donna Deegan wants to do the same thing – with other people’s money – not weed.
GE’s girl boss heard about our girl boss mayor’s promise to undo consolidation’s “broken promises” with an inclusive urban core overhaul and didn’t want to miss out.
“We see downtown as a growing, dynamic community, and we want our first Northeast Florida dispensary to reflect that energy and accessibility,” Johnson said.
And the best spot for that is a dilapidated downtown city block, just a stone’s throw from that missing monument and one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city?
The property’s new owner thinks so.
Orlando-based Alakai Capital paid $1.5 million for the downtown block and is currently renovating its interior. The company’s CEO said the new space will be “airy” and “green.” Which, given the product, sounds about right.
As for the building’s outside, Johnson says, “We plan on doing yoga in downtown Jacksonville.” A healthier way to get people to inhale deeply.
Last year Alakai bought another old Burger King on Philips Highway for $1.65 million. No word on whether that spot is going to pot.
In fact, there is still no word on whether GE will actually become downtown’s first legal DEI dope dealer. The company has yet to receive a license from the state.
That hasn’t stopped Johnson from building her brand.
On a Cannabis Radio podcast, Johnson told the host she doesn’t like the word marijuana due to its misconstrued racial undertones or something.
She prefers cannabis because it’s the smart people word.
Johnson wants us to be “careful about using nicknames, especially those associated with stigmas.”
Fair enough. But it seems she forgot to take her own advice admitting in an Essence.Com profile, she dubbed her business, the Whole Foods of weed.” Oopsies. So much for being careful. Anyways, in that same article, Johnson bragged about how rich she is while explaining the importance of “us” – meaning who look like her – access to “a piece of the green rush pie.”
The article presents Johnson as some type of barrier-breaking businesswoman who overcame systemic racist and misogynistic obstacles after the Trump Administration somehow made capital “hard to access for Black women.” The twist? Jonson admitted GE’s “creative financing” came from her own wealthy parents.
Apparently, her black generational wealth is just fine. The generational wealth of minority strangers in a city 350 miles away from her own, drives her passion.
In another interview with Authority Magazine, Johnson lamented over the “imbalance” of sometimes walking into a room where she is “often” the only woman and “almost always the only Black woman.”
Johnson’s remedy?
She proposes a taxpayer-funded “equity applicant” program giving entrepreneurs with certain skin color and reproductive organs, “fair financing and legal protections,” so they can “survive” after the licensing process.
No doubt Team Deegan wouldn’t mind round tabling that idea.
Still, Johnson insists her vision goes beyond business.
The opportunity “to create generational wealth and open doors for communities – especially Black and Brown communities,” is what really excites Johnson.
“For me, this isn’t just about cannabis,” she said, “it’s about rewriting the economic story for entire families.”
Weed, empowerment, & equity. All the essential ingredients to revitalize downtown Jacksonville.
Perhaps our city’s future isn’t up in smoke after all – just pleasantly hazy.
