I just came across this post at the nytimes.com. Apparently, the Congressional Black Congress is on a mission to stop negroes from smoking grits. Ok not just any 'grits…but menthol laced grits. Read The Story Here
I mean I don't smoke, unless you count my occasional (ok not that occasional) inhalation of Black and Milds, but I am not sure how I really feel about this. I guess their point is that Menthols are a especially nasty type of cigarette.
It also doesn't help that:
Menthol is a racially charged additive, in part because of the tobacco industry'sheavy marketing of mentholated cigarettes to African-Americans since the 1950s. The flavor helps to mask the harsh taste of cigarettes and may make it easier to start smoking,
Menthol brands account for 28 percent of the $70 billion American cigarette market. While only 25 percent of white smokers choose menthol cigarettes, an estimated 75 percent of African-American smokers do.
I mean call me a Libertarian, but I think folks should be able to smoke as much as they want. After all if you want to turn your lungs a nasty shade of doo doo brown that's up to you.
Don't get me wrong, I think smoking is a nasty ass habit and the sorcerers at the tobacco companies shouldn't pitch their smoke sticks to kids and unsuspecting negroes , but I don't think politicians should be legislating on what people do with their bodies.
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I suppose you think the cancer rate among African-Americans is acceptable too? Or that they spent hundreds of millions of dollar to market to African-American and Latino youth and as a result 15 years later smoking is up in our communities?
Why don't you just advocate for slave ships, detention camps, intra-county passports, barcodes on our necks and warrantless house searches too.
Smoking kills. Period. People should have choices. Among is the right to not be specifically targeted by tobacco companies.
When Phillip Morris changed its name to Altria the first thing it did was approach the Urban League about establishing a financial literacy program. That curriculum is used to teach Black people how to budget, save and spend money responsibly. Sound good right? Well, Altria's real motive was to find a way back into our hearts. Altria is spending millions in community dollars to help "poor black people" with the goal of softening your opinion of them when they come back in 10 years and say "we arent bad - we have been building up the Black community for years". Then some uninformed blogger will "state his opinion" about how they couldn't be that bad or evil without having the facts.
If someone wants you, not just everyone, but specifically YOU to a product that kills and is 100% addictive you should ask yourself why. Here are possible reasons:
1. They don't like and want you dead.
2. They think your community is grossly uninformed and doesn't truly understand all the risks.
3. They know you will buy anything that is marketed to you.
4. They know you have falled prey to the idea of "do what you like" and will kill yourself in an attempt to live it out.
5. They think your dumb as bricks and want to prove it.
Regardless of their reasons, we should be look at our own. Why would you purposefully write in a blog read by mostly kids that you think "people should smoke all they want"? Live up to your civic responsibilities. Protect the seeds. Every blogger has an opinion and some of them should keep them to themselves to protect our youth and our future.
Peace.
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