14-05-2025
Milwaukee Black churches join No Menthol Sunday campaign against tobacco use
Nationally 45,000 Black Americans die from tobacco-related diseases every year.
That's one reason Donna Morrow signed up her outreach ministry for the No Menthol Sunday campaign. The national day of observance, May 18, raises awareness about the harm of menthol and flavored tobacco products, especially to the Black community.
'I believe one (death) is too many,' said Morrow, assistant pastor of God's Epignosis Ecumenical Outreach Ministry.
This is the first time her Brown Deer ministry has participated in the nationwide event, now in its 11th year. Morrow said churches have a role in the health of a community, including evangelizing about the dangers of smoking.
'We are teaching about the mind, spirit and the soul," Morrow said. "Our body needs to be healthy as well as our spirit."
Last year, 72 churches statewide participated in No Menthol Sunday. The African American Tobacco Prevention Network wants to add to that number.
The local group has been promoting the campaign to Black churches and sees faith institutions as a way to turn people away from smoking and educate about its dangers, especially menthol products.
'The church is a vehicle to reach our communities (going) back to the Civil Rights Movement,' said Lorraine Lathen, director of the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network and founder of Jump at the Sun Consulting.
The state's overall adult smoking rate is 13%, but it's twice that for Black people, at 26%, Lathen said. She points to the tobacco industry targeting African Americans for decades, especially with menthol-flavored tobacco products.
In Wisconsin, 90% of Black adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes, compared to 41% of White adults, according to a report by the Wisconsin Medical Journal.
More: The smoking rate for Black adults in Wisconsin is nearly three times higher than for white people — the worst disparity in the nation
'Menthol is easier to start and harder to quit," Lathen said. "It is very addictive, more so than other smoking products."
That's a deadly combination, since tobacco is the leading cause of diseases for African Americans.
Each year in Wisconsin, nearly 7,900 residents die from smoking-related disease, according to Partnership for a Tobacco Free Wisconsin. But Black people who smoke, disproportionately die from cancer, heart disease and stroke — all diseases caused by smoking, according to the Wisconsin Medical Journal report.
'If we are able to get people to quit smoking, we are able to address some of those chronic illnesses,' Lathen said.
This is where the faith community comes in.
Lathen's group partnered with the No Menthol Sunday lead organization Center for Black Health & Equity, a national health justice group, to distribute a toolkit to guide faith institutions with sermons, resources and activities for that day.
Over the years, churches and community groups have devised creative messaging around No Menthol Sunday. One church did a mock funeral for menthol cigarettes. Others host coloring-book or "paint n chill" parties for teens around No Menthol Sunday's theme. Some simply promote the 1-800-QUIT-NOW line.
The effort even got support from central city retailers. Some have agreed not to sell menthol products and to display posters on the dangers of menthol tobacco on that Sunday.
"The retailers stepped up,' said Gregory Bolden of the Center for Black Health & Equity, 'That's a real commitment.'
Bolden called this effort more of a movement than an awareness campaign. A movement, he said, provides a platform to have a collective voice against an industry that preys on specific segments of the population and to advocate for equity-centered policies and health outcomes.
'Our fight is not with the smokers. Our fight is not with the retailers. Our fight is not with the elected officials who kowtow to the tobacco industry," Bolden said. "Our fight is with the tobacco industry. We got to keep our eye on that issue.'
Ascension Fellowship Church, 2429 W. Hampton Ave., has participated in No Menthol Sundays for three years. The proliferation of cigarette butts in the community prompted the Hampton Heights church's involvement. Since then, the church has given sermons, held workshops and distributed leaflets on the perils of smoking in the community.
Pastor Marvin G. Spence says the church's mandate goes beyond worship. He echoed similar sentiments that the church must include the community's health and well-being.
'That is our spiritual mandate,' Spence said. 'If we are not willing to step out of faith and enlighten individuals, the question then is, why do we exist?'
El Bethel Church, 5401 W. Good Hope Road, took a different approach to its three-year involvement with the effort, focusing on youth.
Rev. Steven Tipton wanted to fill a void in tobacco prevention and education efforts among youth. Young people, he said, turn to trendy tobacco products like vaping, hookahs and cigarillos. They see these products as harmless, Tipton said, becoming addicted to tobacco at an early age.
But smoking one vape cartridge equals about a pack of cigarettes or 20 cigarettes. Even hookahs are dangerous. Bolden said one hookah session equates to smoking a hundred cigarettes. Adding flavor means a person can inhale deeper and hold the nicotine longer, he added.
'The church is not talking to them about that,' Tipton said. 'This is a platform to educate, to bring insight to a generation that feels superhuman — that it's not going to affect them. But it affects (youth) like it affects everyone.'
He's even enlisted their help in preventing the sale of tobacco products to underage kids. The youth work with the police in undercover sting operations to out retailers selling to minors. Retailers, Tipton said, shouldn't sell loosies or single cigarettes and should card if they think someone is underage.
'Many of them are not doing that,' he said.
But the operation is more of an eye-opener for adults. The youth already know where to buy and who sells cigarillos, vapes and 'paper to roll the weed.'
'The lesson that they teach us," Tipton said, "is that this is happening in the community all the time."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Black churches join No Menthol Sunday against tobacco use
