The divide exists among Black lawmakers as well.

Only around half of the Congressional Black Caucus signed on to a 2022 letter supporting the ban organized by Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., although she projects support has grown with the recent elections of younger members.

Kelly recalled working in her grandparents’ Harlem, N.Y., grocery store as a child, where menthols like Salem, Kool and Newport were the most popular cigarettes.

“When I was in college, my friend at the time made a comment about, ‘Man, if Black people didn’t smoke these cigarettes, they wouldn’t be in business,'” Kelly remembered, referring to tobacco companies. “And I said, ‘Oh no, that can’t be true. That can’t be true.’

“So it’s so interesting, many years later, to come to Congress and find out that the Black community was targeted.”

ITG Brands, R.J. Reynolds and Altria, the makers of Salem and Kool, Newport and Marlboro, respectively, did not respond to the allegations of racial targeting.

“Reynolds has been clear on our position regarding banning menthol cigarettes — we strongly believe there are more effective ways to transition adult smokers away from cigarettes permanently,” a Reynolds spokesperson said, pointing to e-cigarettes.

Initiatives abandoned

Before Biden, Trump’s FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb proposed banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in 2018. The idea stalled amid backlash, but Gottlieb believed the products’ days were ultimately numbered.

“Once we crossed the threshold and announced that policy, especially in a Republican administration, I was pretty confident that eventually it would get put in place,” he told Axios in 2021.

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