The debate over banning flavored tobacco in New York, part of budget negotiations in Albany, pits Rev. Al Sharpton against NAACP NY President Hazel Dukes
“It’s a good bill with bad consequences,” Garner’s mother, racial justice activist Gwen Carr, said at a City Hall rally last week. She believes the ban would increase the underground market for untaxed cigarettes and lead to more police stops in communities of color.that would fine retailers who sell flavored tobacco, but not individuals who purchase it. The City Council has proposed a companion bill.
Black New Yorkers make up 85 percent of menthol smokers, according to the CDC. Flavored cigarettes account for nearly 40 percent of all tobacco sales nationwide and 378,000 premature deaths between 1980 and 2018,Tobacco companies have long targeted Black consumers, from pouring advertising dollars into periodicals like “Ebony” and funding civil rights groups, including Sharpton’s National Action Network.
Paterson favors the bill, describing tobacco-related deaths as a “health crisis.” But he still thinks Sharpton and Carr, who are close, have been effective in spreading their concerns. Hazel Dukes, a long-time leader of the NAACP, has been vocal in her support of a flavored cigarette ban, saying it would help the health of minority communities. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo
While Dukes, a past national president of NAACP, and Foy were joined by dozens of anti-tobacco advocates, Carr’s group numbered closer to 10 people. At the Manhattan rally a few days later, Dukes told POLITICO she was “having conversations” with Sharpton and Carr about changing their position.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How much snow fell in New York City, New York, New Jersey, and ConnecticutA nor'easter is bringing some significant snowfall in the higher elevations of the Tri-State area.
Read more »
Tyler Perry to receive award from Rev. Al Sharpton - New York Amsterdam NewsRev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), will honor Tyler Perry with the President’s Award at the Keepers of the Dream Awards this year on April 12.
Read more »
New England, upstate New York, bracing for winter stormParts of the Northeast are bracing for a powerful winter storm that could dump heavy, wet snow and unleash strong winds, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people
Read more »
New York’s New, Must-See Plays: ‘How to Defend Yourself’ and ‘The Coast Starlight’Two brilliant new plays—“How to Defend Yourself” and “The Coast Starlight”—show people in a self-defense class and on a train revealing who they are, and what they desire and fear. Read TimTeeman's reviews:
Read more »
Soggy California drenched anew as Nor'easter buries New England, New YorkThe latest in a series of atmospheric river storms spread across California on Tuesday, bringing another deluge of rain to the already-saturated state, while a Nor'easter swirling over New York and New England buried parts of the region in white.
Read more »
Soggy California drenched anew as Nor'easter buries New England, New YorkThe latest in a series of atmospheric river storms soaked California on Tuesday, bringing another deluge of rain to the already-saturated state, while a Nor'easter swirling over New York and New England prompted emergency orders and closed roads.
Read more »