On my commute this morning I heard Roland Martin doing his commentary on the TJMS and his special guest was the national president of the Black Chamber of Commerce, that in itself is a blog topic, but not this one. He spoke to him about the newest cause that they’re undertaking as a national initiative. They’re protesting and arguing with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about their proposed banning of menthol cigarettes. Yes, you heard it right, the Black Chamber is arguing for menthol cigarettes. What better way to show that your organization has no relevance in the year 2010 than to pick up a cause that really has nothing to do with you and is dumb as hell? Congratulations Harry Alford, you’re a finalist for idiot of the year.
The black chamber has issues like addressing the racial disparity between minority and non minority vendors getting government contracts and they choose to take this up. They should be working to encourage minority vendors to retool their business models for green jobs, but they choose to argue for this. They could even be arguing for minority tobacco farmers to get their fair shake when dealing with cigarette manufacturers, etc but this is what they’re choosing instead. Let me make this perfectly clear, I’m the guy that argues against citywide bans on smoking in restaurants and bars. I’m the one that feels the government has no cause to regulate the use of a legally available product aside from imposing age restrictions. No, I’m not a smoker, I personally hate cigarette smoke, but it’s no more the place of the government (local or federal) to tell a restaurant or bar owner that they can’t allow their patrons to smoke than it is for them to say you can smoke only a certain type of cigarette. Thegovernment needs to make up its mind, is cigarette smoking goin to be legal or illegal. All of these layers of legality just add confusion to the general public and tax funds wasted on enforcement.
Let’s not get it twisted, I’m not in support of the government banning menthol, nor am I against it, my questions here is why does the black chamber care? Their president, in all his intelligence, or lack thereof, says it’s because this is the cigarette of choice of black folks. He goes on to say, once they do this, they'll be going aftre cognac and cigars. How moronic can you be? Let some tobacco special interest group fight this battle. If you're really a proponent of healthy businesses for black folks you MUST be a proponent of healthy black folks. No matter how you slice it, cigarette smoking can and will kill you (it says so on the package). Too often we have minority ‘cause based’ organizations fighting for causes that have nothing to do with them. This basically depletes their credibility so when they actually have a real cause to fight for they’re not taken seriously. This is just as dumb as the NAACP taking up the LGBT cause a few years back.
Stay in your lane folks. If you’re no longer relevant then disband and get a real job like the rest of us. I’m sick of idiots doing idiotic things in the name of black folks and portraying themselves in such a light that they represent us all. Sit down somewhere, evaluate your relevance, and decide where to go from there. Whatever you do, stop making a donkey of yourself and those who support and are represented by you by being pimped by big tobacco. When they bring this crap to you, don't say it's KOOL. You tell them you're not interested and they need to SALEM to a NEWPORT.
The black chamber has issues like addressing the racial disparity between minority and non minority vendors getting government contracts and they choose to take this up. They should be working to encourage minority vendors to retool their business models for green jobs, but they choose to argue for this. They could even be arguing for minority tobacco farmers to get their fair shake when dealing with cigarette manufacturers, etc but this is what they’re choosing instead. Let me make this perfectly clear, I’m the guy that argues against citywide bans on smoking in restaurants and bars. I’m the one that feels the government has no cause to regulate the use of a legally available product aside from imposing age restrictions. No, I’m not a smoker, I personally hate cigarette smoke, but it’s no more the place of the government (local or federal) to tell a restaurant or bar owner that they can’t allow their patrons to smoke than it is for them to say you can smoke only a certain type of cigarette. Thegovernment needs to make up its mind, is cigarette smoking goin to be legal or illegal. All of these layers of legality just add confusion to the general public and tax funds wasted on enforcement.
Let’s not get it twisted, I’m not in support of the government banning menthol, nor am I against it, my questions here is why does the black chamber care? Their president, in all his intelligence, or lack thereof, says it’s because this is the cigarette of choice of black folks. He goes on to say, once they do this, they'll be going aftre cognac and cigars. How moronic can you be? Let some tobacco special interest group fight this battle. If you're really a proponent of healthy businesses for black folks you MUST be a proponent of healthy black folks. No matter how you slice it, cigarette smoking can and will kill you (it says so on the package). Too often we have minority ‘cause based’ organizations fighting for causes that have nothing to do with them. This basically depletes their credibility so when they actually have a real cause to fight for they’re not taken seriously. This is just as dumb as the NAACP taking up the LGBT cause a few years back.
Stay in your lane folks. If you’re no longer relevant then disband and get a real job like the rest of us. I’m sick of idiots doing idiotic things in the name of black folks and portraying themselves in such a light that they represent us all. Sit down somewhere, evaluate your relevance, and decide where to go from there. Whatever you do, stop making a donkey of yourself and those who support and are represented by you by being pimped by big tobacco. When they bring this crap to you, don't say it's KOOL. You tell them you're not interested and they need to SALEM to a NEWPORT.
It’s Just My Opinion, But I’m Not Wrong!
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