Key Points
- Black leaders lobby against menthol cigarette ban, citing policing concerns.
- Menthol cigarettes marketed to Black community by tobacco industry for decades.
- Biden administration delays decision on ban, sparking rumors of political motivation.
Since 2009, when the Federal Drug Administration banned flavored cigarettes, the Black community has stood in the gap, ensuring menthol cigarettes were the only flavored cigarettes that weren’t banned.
Forward 14 years to 2023 and Black leaders remain at the forefront of a consistent movement against banning menthol cigarettes. This month, the Biden administration delayed a decision on banning menthol cigarettes yielding to intense lobbying from tobacco companies, convenience stores and a loose coalition of Black leaders and organizations.
Menthol Cigarettes and the Black community
For cigarette manufacturers and convenience stores, the fight to save menthol cigarettes is clearly about the dollars. However, for Black people it’s personal – and yes, it’s a little about the money as well.
In 2020, approximately 81% of Black adult smokers used menthol cigarettes, compared to 34% of White smokers. According to the FDA proposal, menthol enhances nicotine’s addictiveness. and the flavor makes the cigarettes “easier” to use, making them a great “starter product” marketed by the industry.
The Black community didn’t gravitate towards menthol cigarettes on their own, instead, they were nudged there – not so gently – by the cigarette industry according to Keith Wailoo, author of the book “Pushing Cool: Big Tobacco, Racial Marketing, and the Untold Story of the Menthol Cigarette.”
In 1964, when federal regulations barred tobacco companies from advertising to the under-21 market, the industry pivoted aggressively toward marketing to the Black community.
Along the way, they bought the silence of Black media and major Black organizations. Beyond sponsorships like the popular Kool Jazz Concerts, Black media like “Ebony’ magazine became dependent on cigarette industry advertising revenue and Black organizations and politicians could count on the industry for large sponsorship contributions.
So, in 2009 when flavored cigarettes were banned, menthol cigarettes slipped by because of a split in the Congressional Black Caucus, many of whom looked to cigarette manufacturers for campaign donations.
The Black Split Today
The plan to eliminate menthol cigarettes has been years in the making. The Food and Drug Administration formally proposed an official rule last year, saying it was also aimed at reducing health disparities in the Black community.
This time, the Black leaders are more divided on the issue. Very vocal and organized against the ban is Al Sharpton and the National Action Network and a large coalition of Black law enforcement agencies including the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). They’ve been joined by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization of more than 200 Black newspapers, of which The Community Voice is a member.
Citing the 2017 case of Eric Garner who was killed by NYPD officers for illegally peddling cigarettes on the streets of New York, these organizations have taken a position that banning menthol cigarettes will make Black smokers the targets of aggressive police tactics.
“It is clear that there is no factual basis to assert that a menthol cigarette ban will stop people of color from smoking,” says Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President & CEO of NNPA. “The unintended consequences of such a racially discriminatory ban will set the stage for more negative and more likely counterproductive interactions between law enforcement and people of color.”
Some Black leaders, top lawmakers and government officials dispute their position and say that tobacco companies are financing and fueling those fears. A majority of the Congressional Black Caucus, have dismissed the policing argument. The NAACP has also spoken up against the policing argument.
“What we’re seeing now,” said Patrice Willoughby, vice president of policy and legislative affairs at the N.A.A.C.P., “is the reaction of a very well-organized industry that has been peddling death to the Black community.”
Biden Campaign Concerns
Still, some Black leaders say Biden’s delay in implementing the ban is politically motivated as he heads into a tough re-election year.
Senator Richard J. Durbin, the Democratic majority whip from Illinois, addressed the rumors of political motivations for the delay on the Senate floor on Wednesday, saying concerns that Black people would vote against the president in the next election because of the ban were “greatly exaggerated.”
The F.D.A. has said it would like to see the proposal finalized this year, and Michael Felberbaum, an agency spokesman, said on Wednesday that it remained committed to issuing the rule “as expeditiously as possible.”
