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Elder black man and young black woman laughing and smiling.

Our loss Is their profit But we're Fighting back

For too long Big Tobacco has been strategically killing the Black community with menthol cigarettes. It’s time to make things right. 

You already know they hang more ads in our neighborhoods, and offer more discounts in our stores. But here’s what you may not know – Big Tobacco is co-opting Black community voices to keep these deadly products on the market by exploiting issues that truly matter to our community, all so they can protect their bottom line. Scroll for more.

Our loss Is their profit But we're Fighting back

For too long Big Tobacco has been strategically killing the Black community with menthol cigarettes. It’s time to make things right. 

You already know they hang more ads in our neighborhoods, and offer more discounts in our stores. But here’s what you may not know – Big Tobacco is co-opting Black community voices to keep these deadly products on the market by exploiting issues that truly matter to our community, all so they can protect their bottom line. Scroll for more.

IN THE NEWS

Menthol Cigarettes Kill Many Black People. A Ban May Finally Be Near.

Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement have put new pressure on Congress and the White House to reduce racial health disparities. And there are few starker examples than this: Black smokers smoke less but die of heart attacks, strokes and other causes linked to tobacco use at higher rates than white smokers do, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more

The tobacco industry has been destroying Black lives for centuries, it’s time it faced a reckoning for it

This exploitation is most apparent when considering the wildly disproportionate usage of menthol cigarettes among Black Americans. For decades now, the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed menthol products to Black communities. Read more

California must ban menthol cigarettes to protect Black lives from Big Tobacco’s greed

Recent incidents of police brutality against Black Americans have forced our nation to confront racism and injustice in its many forms.As we continue to push to protect Black lives, we must put an end to one of the most pernicious destroyers of Black health and lives: deadly menthol cigarettes and the tobacco industry’s decades-long targeted marketing to our kids and communities. Read more

To save African American lives, flavored tobacco ban must include menthol cigarettes

Big Tobacco has mercilessly targeted African Americans since the 1960s with the heavy marketing of menthol cigarettes. In California, 70 percent of African American adults who smoke consume menthol cigarettes compared to just 18 percent of white adults who smoke. Read more

Ban menthol cigs to protect our kids: Stop using flavors to create more addicts

Tobacco kills. That’s no secret. But Big Tobacco’s insidious marketing tactics use menthol-flavored products to keep African Americans — and especially young people — hooked on tobacco. It’s time we protect our children and communities by cutting Big Tobacco off at the source. Read more

Black couple holding an infant on a couch.

Menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars have been and are the main vectors of death and disease in the African American community. There is nothing better to do now to show that Black lives matter than to get menthol cigarettes out of our community.

- Dr. Phillip Gardiner, Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC)

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COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Stopping Big Tobacco has required the hard work and dedication of so many. These are our friends in the fight to end the tobacco industry’s targeting. Stopping Big Tobacco has required the hard work and dedication of so many. These are our friends in the fight to end the tobacco industry’s targeting.

AATCLC
NAATPN
NAACP
Logo that says "No Menthol Sunday"

The Truth

Big Tobacco knowingly sentences us to lifetimes of sickness, disease, and early death.* They don’t see our beauty, our individuality, or our rich history – only how rich we can make them. Big Tobacco knowingly sentences us to lifetimes of sickness, disease, and early death.* They don’t see our beauty, our individuality, or our rich history – only how rich we can make them.

The menthol makes it easier to smoke because you’re not feeling the harmful effects. But those harmful effects are still there.
Menthol Cigarettes 101
Danami-Maurice Champion
Big Tobacco targets us because they think we are just easy money. They get cash, we get killed.
MENTHOL CIGARETTES ARE KILLING BLACK COMMUNITIES
To think about how many ways they have specifically reached out to us… it makes me so upset.
Real Artists Speak the Truth About Menthol Cigarettes
Yazmin Monet Watkins
For decades the tobacco industry has infiltrated Black communities and institutions.
Black Lives/Black Lungs
Ritney Castine
Menthol has taken my heart, and ripped it out, with no remorse.
WHAT MENTHOL CIGARETTES TOOK FROM ME
Six Footah the Poet
It’s frustrating to me that menthol cigarettes and Big Tobacco is making money on African Americans and low income communities
Goapele Talks About How Big Tobacco Took Her Father
Goapele
Vultures target dying things. I’m used to our community being targeted by people looking for money.
Big Tobacco Preys On Us
Kito Fortune
When I first learned the ways in which Big Tobacco targets our communities, I was enraged.
They See Us As Easy Targets
Yazmin Monet Watkins
When you try to put something in a specific community, that will harm them, you don’t care about them.
They Don’t Care About Us
Cram Nory B.

Manipulation And Deceit

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), the second largest tobacco company in the US and maker of Newport cigarettes, the best-selling menthols in the US, infiltrates our community without us knowing it by giving money to Black organizations, and using them to spread misinformation about how local bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, work.* Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), the second largest tobacco company in the US and maker of Newport cigarettes, the best-selling menthols in the US, infiltrates our community without us knowing it by giving money to Black organizations, and using them to spread misinformation about how local bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, work.*

Big Tobacco hosts a town hall meeting

Looks like justice. Look again.

Big Tobacco pays Black leaders to be part of community events that are disguised as events addressing the criminal justice system and decriminalizing the Black community, exploiting community concerns about this important issue. In reality, these events mislead the community about how restrictions on the sale of menthol cigarettes work.*

In this community town hall flyer, it looks like National Action Network (NAN), a civil rights organization, is hosting the event, but look at who’s really behind it.*

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) is really behind this event, paying for the travel costs of the panelists and making contributions to the panelists’ organizations. But RAI buried their name on the flyer and made it look like NAN was the main sponsor of the event – why? Because, RAI is using Black voices to lure people to the event to spread misinformation about menthol cigarette sales bans to protect Big Tobacco’s bottom line.*

Town hall panelist, LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership), is one of the many organizations that accepts money from Big Tobacco and advocates for what the tobacco industry wants – to keep deadly menthol cigarettes on the market.*

Op-ed article by a member of LEAP

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"...speaker for the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit of law enforcement officers who want to improve the criminal justice system."

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"To draw up a ban – which could result in criminal consequences – only against products favored by people of color seems not only unjust but also remarkably insensitive..."

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"I oppose criminalizing menthol tobacco along with other flavored tobaccos because this ban would disproportionately affect Black and Brown people..."

Follow the money

Op-ed article by a member of LEAP, an organization that takes Big Tobacco money and advocates for Big Tobacco’s bottom line.*

LEAP uses their speakers to oppose menthol sales bans while taking tens of thousands of dollars from Big Tobacco.* They falsely claim that once a menthol sales ban goes into effect, it will criminalize people who are in possession of menthol cigarettes.

The truth is, nearly all California cities and counties with flavored tobacco policies that ban the sale of menthol cigarettes are thoughtfully written to ensure that users of menthol cigarettes and vapes cannot be punished.*

Nearly all local flavored tobacco policies in California penalize retailers who sell tobacco for selling menthol cigarettes. These local policies fine or suspend tobacco retailer licenses if there’s a violation.*

Big Tobacco Flyer

Menthol cigarettes are not driving underage tobacco use.

More lies

Big Tobacco’s flyer claims e-cigarettes are the real flavored tobacco problem, but deceptively leaves out important facts about how menthol cigarettes have devastated the Black community.

This flyer is pro-menthol propaganda created by Reynolds American (RAI). Big Tobacco wants you to believe that menthol cigarettes aren’t a real problem, but they have been preying on our community for decades, leaving disease and death in its wake.

Tobacco kills more African Americans annually than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides COMBINED.* The flavored tobacco issue isn’t just about protecting kids, it’s about saving the lives of our community. Bottom line: Big Tobacco cares more about their pockets than our lives.*

Menthols are a deadly flavored tobacco product.* That doesn’t need to be compared to e-cigarettes to know it’s wrong.

Learn more about Big Tobacco’s history with menthol cigarettes.

COVID-19 UPDATE

Black Americans die of COVID-19 at triple the rate of white Americans. And smoking can make the disease worse. Cigarette smoke interferes with cells and airways, putting basic lung function on the line. We must keep menthol out of our communities, especially now when lung health is crucial.
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OUR PROGRESS IS ACCELERATING

Communities up and down the state have moved quickly over the last few years to protect their kids from flavored tobacco products. But there’s still work to be done.

2010-2017
2018
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2020
2021

17 Policies Statewise Policy

See Full List

THE FDA BANNED FLAVORED CIGARETTES,
BUT NOT MENTHOLS

In 2009 the FDA passed the Tobacco Control Act banning flavored cigarettes, except for menthol cigarettes. Big Tobacco lobbied hard to keep menthol cigarettes on the market. If menthol cigarettes had been included in the 2009 federal law, up to 237,000 Black deaths would have been prevented by 2050. Tell the FDA it’s time to correct that fatal flaw. In 2009 the FDA passed the Tobacco Control Act banning flavored cigarettes, except for menthol cigarettes. Big Tobacco lobbied hard to keep menthol cigarettes on the market. If menthol cigarettes had been included in the 2009 federal law, up to 237,000 Black deaths would have been prevented by 2050. Tell the FDA it’s time to correct that fatal flaw.

Voice Your Concern

Send an email, make a difference.

Reaching out to your mayor can create change. Enter your name, choose your city, and we’ll connect you to the right email to make sure your letter makes the most impact. Reaching out to your mayor can create change. Enter your name, choose your city, and we’ll connect you to the right email to make sure your letter makes the most impact.

Dear Mayor ,
My name is
from
I’m outraged by the devious tactics Big Tobacco uses to target Black communities. We refuse to be victims of the predatory practices Big Tobacco uses to profit off our suffering. Currently, smoking-related illnesses kill more Black people than AIDS, car crashes and murder combined. That means while they’re making profits, we’re being killed.

Since the 1960’s, they have intentionally sold menthol cigarettes at discounted prices near schools that Black students attend in order to acquire new customers. The impact on my neighbors, family, and friends has been devastating. Tobacco companies flood our neighborhoods with a deadly and addictive product — menthol cigarettes. Even worse, menthol cigarettes numb the throat, allowing longer drags, absorbing deeper into the lungs.

We deserve more than to be treated like an easy paycheck for Big Tobacco’s endless greed.

I am reaching out to you today because I can no longer stand aside and watch Big Tobacco destroy my community with deadly products and I implore you to act.

Sincerely,