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Mon 5/2/2022 12:35 PM
The Proposed Ban on Menthol Cigarettes Sparks a Debate Over How it Will Help and Harm the Black Community.
The FDA recently proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes, underlying the health risks it disproportionately causes Black Americans. Opponents to the ban are concerned it will criminalize Black smokers.
Donney Rose
May 2
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Kools. Newports. Marlboros. Black n Milds. Phillies.
It is commonplace to visit corner stores, liquor stores, ‘hood markets, etc. in predominantly Black neighborhoods and see a wide assortment of menthol-flavored cigarettes and flavored cigars. If you grew up Black, it is possible that someone in your family sent you to the sto’ to get them a pack, and if you were a minor that frequented the establishment you were sent to, the store owner or manager would still sell it to you because they knew your mama ‘nem. You may have grown up watching your loved ones go through cartons of cigarettes a week, or split flavored cigars down the middle, stuff them with sticky icky, then bandage them back up to blow marijuana clouds into the ether.
I’m not suggesting that any of this is a prerequisite for growing up Black, or for having your Black card authenticated. But if you did come of age in a working-class Black community, it would be quite the anomaly if you were not at all exposed to folks in your community indulging in menthol or flavored tobacco as some form of stress release turned addiction.
You are also more likely to know somebody or somebodies that encountered major health issues as a result of long-term smoking.
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Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes as a means of trying to combat health risks and early deaths that arise from smoking-related illnesses. Additionally, the FDA proposed a ban on flavored cigars, specifically based on how appealing they are to teenage smokers. The proposed ban has been praised in some Black civil rights advocacy circles as tobacco companies have long been called to task for aggressively promoting their products in Black communities. But depending on who you ask, the ban that would take at least two years to go into effect could end up compromising Black freedom in the name of saving Black lives.
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Historically, menthol cigarettes have been heavily marketed to African Americans. The impact has been so strong that when the FDA proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes, they cited that the ban would save 92,000 to 238,000 African Americans' lives.
How the tobacco industry targeted Black Americans with menthol smokes
The Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to ban menthol cigarettes, which the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed toward African Americans since 1964.
n.pr
April 29th 2022
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According to FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, an estimated 480,000 Americans die of tobacco-related illnesses every year. The FDA is operating under the assumption that a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars would greatly reduce the number of these deaths that disproportionately impact Black Americans, who consume these products at high volumes.
In theory, banning an addictive substance that is highly accessible in Black communities sounds beneficial to preserving the health of said communities. But there’s another side to the proposed ban that could place Black smokers in the crosshairs of the criminal justice system.
In a letter addressed to the White House, Al Sharpton warned that a prohibition on these products “would exacerbate existing, simmering issues around racial profiling, discrimination, and policing,” suggesting that the White House should form a commission to study the potential legal ramifications that a ban on menthol could have on Black communities.
“Y’all have got to consider unintended consequences. Imagine some cop pulling a kid over saying, ‘Where did you buy or get that Kool cigarette?’” Sharpton told the news outlet POLITICO. “People are not going to stop smoking Newports and Kools because of a rule. They’re going to go and get them from people that go to the street in the black market. Then what happens? That’s all I’m asking.”
The concern of Black folks deciding to ignore a proposed ban on menthol and having their menthol fix satisfied by purchasing banned cigarettes via the black market has brought up anxieties of increased policing in Black neighborhoods, and fears of tragedies such as the 2014 killing of Eric Garner becoming more of the norm.
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In a letter to the Biden Administration, racial justice advocates are raising concerns about the implications a ban on menthol cigarettes will have for policing in Black communities. Eric Garner’s mother is among them.
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. @DrBenChavis
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Other Black leaders such as NAACP president and chief executive, Derrick Johnson, view the proposed ban as highly beneficial to the overall wellness of Black America. In a recent press statement, Johnson argued the devastation that has been brought to the Black community on account of the tobacco industry targeting Black consumers as the primary consumers of its menthol-flavored products, calling the FDA’s proposal “a huge win for equity, justice, and public health concerns.”
There is a multi-layered argument to be had around Black health, aggressive policing, public choice, addiction, illness prevention, etc. that all have some level of validity regarding this proposed ban. It almost feels like a matter of weighing worst possible outcomes. Which sadly, is often the perilous position that Black American life finds itself in.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donney Rose is a Writer, Educator, Organizer and Chief Content Editor at The North Star
