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Political fliers are landing in Detroit mailboxes this week, in what appears to be an attempt to disparage Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, aimed at Black voters who smoke menthol cigarettes. The Detroit NAACP says the flier is an insult to the African-American community.
“Washington Democrats are Coming for Your Menthols,” reads the mailer, which includes photos of President Biden, Harris, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. “Kamala Harris and DC Democrats are wasting time banning menthol cigarettes. Instead of solving the problems that matter to you…like making it more affordable to: Pay rent, buy groceries, put gas in your car, buy a home.”
According to the FDA, about 80 percent of Black smokers prefer menthols, compared to about 30 percent of White smokers. Detroit is about 80 percent Black. And menthol cigarette advertising has long targeted Black consumers.
FDA Drafted Ban
The Federal Drug Administration drafted a ban on menthol cigarettes, but the implementation by the Biden administration was indefinitely delayed earlier this year. The FDA predicts the ban could save hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths over the next 40 years.
The agency claims that menthol masks the harshness of smoke, making it easier to start and harder to quit. Some argue that menthol increases the number of nicotinic receptors in the brain, which can make the brain more dependent on nicotine.
“It's insulting. It belittles the intelligence of the African American community,” Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP, said of the flier, which he received in the mail.
“It’s part of the very weird approach to addressing African Americans, consistent with Donald Trump's thrusting of gold gym shoes with red bottoms as an appeal to Black men and young boys; his picture behind a prison cell put on a T-shirt because he is suggesting that if anybody can relate to that, Black people can.”
Those arguing against the nationwide ban include the tobacco industry and retail stores, and those who say it would lead to more policing in Black communities to prevent illegal sales of the cigarettes. They point to the 2014 death of Eric Garner, a Black man who was killed in New York after police confronted him about illegally selling single cigarettes.
Menthols account for nearly one-third of all cigarette sales in the U.S., according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
“The menthol ban on these popular products would not make them simply disappear,” according to the National Association of Convenience Stores, in a bulletin, cited in the Washington Post. “Instead, it would push current users to the illicit market, which will ultimately hurt our communities and negatively impact the businesses operated by responsible retailers.”
It’s unclear where in Michigan, beyond Detroit, that the fliers have been mailed.
Mysterious Backer
The fliers say they’re paid for by “Americans For Consumer Protection” and include a P.O. Box number in Harrisonburg, Va. No website or social media pages contain the name of that specific organization.
Victoria LaCivita, communications director for Team Trump in Michigan and the communications director for the Michigan GOP tells Deadline Detroit in an email: “The MIGOP just simply has nothing to do with it.”
The Harris campaign in Michigan declined to comment.
The Biden administration initially had plans to ban menthol cigarettes, which has intermittently been a hot-button issue in the Black community.
The Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP and the American Medical Association have favored the ban. Some of those organizations accused the Biden administration in April of playing politics in an election year when it put an indefinite pause on the ban they say would save Black lives.
The Washington Post reported in January that Biden political advisors had concerns the ban could cost Biden Black votes.
Some groups, including the AMA, are suing the federal government for delaying implementation of the ban.
“Delaying the rule any further will only help tobacco companies continue marketing menthol cigarettes to Black people and harming Black youth,” the previous AMA president Jesse M Ehrenfeld said in an article posted in June on the AMA site.
Push for Ban in Detroit
In April, a group of activists in Detroit held a press conference calling for a ban on menthol cigarettes.
Rev. Horace Sheffield, CEO of the group, Detroit Association of Black Organizations, spoke up at the time, saying:
“If Black Lives Matter, Black lungs do too.”
“You cannot disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities with these deadly products.”
Sheffield tells Deadline Detroit he's disappointed that the ban on menthol cigarettes has been delayed.
"But we're not going to let the issue prevent us from voting for Kamala Harris.
"By the way, if they were that concerned about us, there's a plethora of other issues that they could spend it on. But this is just another ploy."
NBC News reported in February that a conservative group funded by anonymous donors, and aiming to impact the Black vote, sent mailers to about 75,000 Democratic primary voters in South Carolina criticizing Joe Biden’s administration’s push to ban menthol cigarettes.
In August, NBC reported that Building America’s Future and Americans for Consumer Protection planned to launch a multi-million campaign about the menthol to chip away at Harris’s Black base of voters in key states including Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Rev. Anthony said the flier is just another example of Trump and the GOP’s disingenuous concerns about the Black community.
“They’re not concerned about health care in the community. If they were, they wouldn’t vote against issues of health care that assist Black and Brown and minorities and poor White people. They would not be trying to dismantle the Health Care Act if in fact they were concerned.”
