Big Tobacco Seizes Upon Biden's Menthol Cigarette Ban to Try to Drive a Wedge Between Harris and Black Voters

Some conservatives think they’ve found a slick new way to keep straying African-American voters from returning to the Democratic fold: Attack the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes as a crackdown on African-American consumer “rights” and “freedom” – and an assault on Black “pride.”

It sounds far-fetched – isn’t cigarette smoking a major public health hazard that affects Blacks disproportionately? It is, but African-American smokers, especially men, do favor menthol-flavored cigarettes by a wide margin. About 85% of Black smokers smoke brands like Newport, compared to just 30% of non-Hispanic White smokers (and 43% of smokers overall). For many African-Americans, smoking menthol cigarettes has become an emblem of Black inner-city culture. Indeed, for Black men especially – far more than Black women, whose smoking prevalence rates are actually lower than those for White women – it’s a way of projecting racial defiance while cultivating an image of “cool.”

Consider the data: While the rate of cigarette smoking has fallen sharply among most ethnic groups in recent years, low-income Blacks are still puffing away. Blacks in urban settings like Manhattan and surrounding boroughs have the nation’s highest smoking rates though they can scarcely afford the rising price of tobacco products – often consuming up to a third of household income – to say nothing of tobacco’s harmful health effects, including heart disease, strokes, emphysema and cancer. Menthol has been shown to accentuate rates of smoking, while enhancing nicotine intake, making Black cigarette smoking practices especially addictive and dangerous.


https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/09/04/big-tobacco-seizes-upon-bidens-menthol-cigarette-ban-to-try-to-drive-a-wedge-between-harris-and-black-voters/