Tag Archives: NAACP

A Bit of Tobacco Skulduggery is Afoot in House Human Services

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Don’t look now, but S.18, the bill to ban flavored tobacco and tobacco substitutes is in line for a substantial haircut in the House Human Services Committee.

The bill passed the Senate last spring and was sent to House Human Services, which has heard from numerous witnesses this month on the subject — including, as noted in this space, a batch of out-of-state lobbyists presenting an array of, shall we say, creative arguments against the ban.

It didn’t seem like their testimony would have much effect — but clearly, something has gotten to the committee, because it is now considering an amendment, posted publicly today/Wednesday (downloadable here), that would remove menthol cigarettes from the ban on what seem to be specious equity grounds. The rest of the ban would remain intact, but the subject of menthol smokes would be referred for, Lord help us all, a study to be submitted by next January.

The amendment cites the fact that that use of menthol cigarettes is more common among smokers of color than white smokers and more common among LGBTQ+ smokers than their straight counterparts, and that “there are differing views” on whether a ban “would be racist or would discriminate against persons of color and members of other marginalized communities.”

I don’t know where this thing comes from. The committee has heard from multiple persons of color plus a leading LGBTQ+ organization in favor of S.18, and absolutely none from those marginalized communities who raised equity issues or opposed the ban.

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The South Burlington Whitewash

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There once was a town called Nigella. It was a nondescript little Podunk, located near a larger and more notable community. Its residents were almost entirely white. Its high school sports teams were named, in a more benighted era, the Niggers. Many of the kids would attend games in blackface, and the mascot was a Stepin Fetchit character who danced and hooted when the team scored a touchdown. All innocent fun, and no one in this lily-white town conceived otherwise.

Then came the civil rights era, and the school had a problem on its hands. The nickname was a piece of the town’s history, and nobody wanted to change it. So they dropped the mascot and banned the blackface, claiming the nickname was never intended as a racial slur — merely a light-hearted callback to the town’s real name.

You know where I’m going with this. Last night, the South Burlington School Board voted to keep the “Rebel” nickname, claiming that it had a specific meaning in their community and had nothing whatsoever to do with the Confederacy or slavery.

“It’s what we make of it. It’s something artificial,” said [an SBHS alum]. “I don’t think the intention is to offend anyone or promote racism.”

Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Words acquire connotations. “Rebel” has other meanings, but its primary connotation is with the wrong side in the Civil War. You know, the one that wanted to keep on owning slaves, and was willing to kill the United States of America in order to do so.

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