ORIENTATION & WORKSHOP - Spoken Word Contest: Giving Menthol the Blues

Each year 45,000 African Americans die from tobacco-induced diseases.  “The only way for the tobacco industry cartel to continue to rake in their billions in profits is to recruit and addict new replacement smokers.  Those replacement smokers are our children, said AATCLC Co-Chair Carol McGruder; we must disrupt their pipeline of death and disease that runs through our communities.” The focus of the AATCLC is to inform and influence the direction of commercial tobacco control as it affects the lives of African American and African immigrant communities. The AATCLC works at the intersection of social injustice, health equity, and public health policy. 

Joining forces with The Poet Life, an organization of professional poets, keynote speakers, event coordinators, and facilitators working to create unique and innovative experiences, the AATCLC has launched this campaign that is utilizing poetry and spoken word to touch hearts and minds as they inform and educate communities across the country.