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Cynthia Smitherman,
who’s been educating people about the dangers of smoking for 30 years,
lost her only son to head and neck cancer in 2016. She blames his habit
of smoking Marlboro Menthol cigarettes for 20 years as the reason for
his death.
It’s a habit 45,000 African Americans die from each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“To be a mother, to walk into a hospital and see your son laying on a
gurney and then trying to bring him back to life,” Smitherman said.
“That will wake you up. That will give you resolve.”
Smitherman said her son would accompany her to the smoking cessation
classes she taught. He would pass out the materials. “I thought it
would be a good thing for him to see what the hazards are of smoking and
for him not to do it,” she said.
Among African Americans, menthol cigarettes caused about 157,000 premature deaths and 1.5 million new menthol smokers
from 1980 to 2018, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Menthol was the cigarette of choice for 85% of Black
smokers.
Young Black adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are especially
susceptible to smoking and tobacco use. Their smoking habit leaves them
with lower life expectancies and higher death rates than white
Americans, according to a 2016 commentary from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
Local Black churches, community leaders and organizations are taking
action to warn about the dangers of menthol-flavored tobacco and
electronic cigarettes. In May, many took part in No Menthol Sunday, a national initiative among churches meant to increase smoking awareness and prevention.
Smitherman picked up the habit at 16, she said, because she thought
it made her look cool. She smoked Kool Menthols. By the time she was 35
she was smoking two and a half packs a day. The day she went in for a
third pack, she said, she realized she didn’t want to be another
statistic.
“I thought I was going to die because my chest was sore and my throat
was raw,” she said. “I made the pledge as we do sometimes, ‘God, if you
let me live today, I will never do this again,’ and that’s what
happened. I answered an ad to teach non-smoking and became an
instructor.”
Channel Powe, an organizer with Flavors Hook Kids Tempe participated in No Tobacco Sunday at her church, First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix. She said African Americans have had a target on their backs since the 1940s.
Tobacco companies “have sponsored jazz festivals. They have given
money to historically Black colleges and universities. They advertise
Black likenesses on billboards throughout our communities. They
contribute money to prominent civil rights organizations and donate to
our Black political politicians and campaigns,” Powe said. “It comes
down to money compounded with racism. We’ve always dealt with racism.
It’s a continuation of systemic racism. You might not get an opportunity
from Lancome to be in a commercial, but ‘Big Tobacco’ targets and makes
cigarettes affordable.”
According to the American Cancer Society, tobacco companies spend
about $9.1 billion in the U.S. on marketing. Alvin Galloway, a local
volunteer dedicated to building a smoke-free community, said tobacco
companies reach younger demographics by pushing a misconception that
smoking and being cool go hand in hand.
“Once you get them as a youth then you have them for life, which will shorten their life,” Galloway said.
He spoke at Tanner Chapel AME Church in downtown Phoenix on No Menthol Sunday.
Organized by the Center for Black Health and Equity, the annual No
Menthol Sunday raises awareness about the dangers of menthol cigarettes
and smoking in general.
“We are not here to shame our people, but we just want to provide
them resources so they can take control of their health,” he said. “Our
mission is to save souls, save lungs and save lives.”
Galloway spoke about the impact menthol cigarettes and tobacco have had on the Black community.
“(Big tobacco) is very sinister in how they target a demographic,” he
said. “Their main thing is profit so they don’t care about the effects
of their product. They’re putting profit over the health of a community,
over the health of a person so they can have their stock value go up
and have a flourishing company.”
Warren H. Stewart Sr., senior pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church, said he advocates for a ban on menthol tobacco.
“Big tobacco has targeted Black folks, young and old, for decades,
burning up our money, making countless smokers sick and even shortening
the lives of too many other sisters and brothers,” he said. “This is the
day that you and I change the trajectory of our community toward
healthier habits.”
Locally, people are starting to pay attention.
Powe said the biggest hope so far has been with the city of Tempe,
where a proposed ordinance would establish a tobacco sales license for
retailers, enact fines to ensure compliance and raise the minimum age of
tobacco purchase to 21 years old. A vote on the ordinance is expected
this fall.
In April 2022, the FDA announced proposed product standards
to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and
prohibit all characterizing flavors other than tobacco in cigars.
“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to
advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health
disparities.”
Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products
said in March that the agency received about 250,000 comments regarding
the proposed rule that would ban or limit the sale of menthol
cigarettes and flavored cigars. The rule could go into effect as early
as this fall.
Smitherman lost her son, Rodney Smith, when he was 48 years old. She
said she wishes people will “open their eyes to the havoc smoking has
reaped amongst the community.”
“I still cry every day,” she said. I still tear up because I hear his
laughter. I look in the mirror and I can make an expression that was
his expression. In my mind it says, ‘Hey Mom I’m okay’ because I saw
that expression in the mirror as myself. It’s the same kind of little
funny look that he’d give me and his little giggle. It keeps him alive,
and if I can help someone else I will.”
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