Commentary

COMMENTARY: The Sale of Singles Cigarettes is a Problem You Need to Know About

MILWAUKEE COURIER — The sale of single cigarettes is illegal and a practice that is detrimental to the health of residents in Central City Milwaukee communities. That’s a message the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network’s (WAATPN) Single Cigarette Subcommittee and tobacco retailers have been working to spread in Milwaukee.

Published

7 years ago

May 30, 2019

Oakland Post

By Debra Nevels, Senior Manager of Health Systems at American Cancer Society and Baker Al-Qudsi, Vice President of Marketing at Hayat Pharmacy

There is not enough awareness in our community on the issue of the sale of single cigarettes, commonly referred to as “singles” or “loosies.” The need for increased awareness on the issue became more evident after the incident that occurred on April 29, at ABC Liquor Depot. Detailed in a Fox 6 news segment, the incident began after a clerk refused to sell a single-cigarette.

The sale of single cigarettes is illegal and a practice that is detrimental to the health of residents in Central City Milwaukee communities. That’s a message the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network’s (WAATPN) Single Cigarette Subcommittee and tobacco retailers have been working to spread in Milwaukee. The WAATPN began researching the issue in 2016. By surveying more than 600 residents, they found that a quarter of those polled did not know it was illegal to sell single cigarettes, while 75% thought it was a problem in Milwaukee. Nearly half of respondents believed it was the responsibility of the community, law enforcement, retailers and elected officials to help prevent the sale of single cigarettes.

This issue was also highlighted recently in an op-ed penned by Senator Lena Taylor titled, ”Loosies are killing us,” in which she discussed the informal economy around the sale of single cigarettes that were created as the prices of cigarette packs steadily rose.

Taylor and the WAATPN and others consider the sale of “loosies” problematic for several reasons. It is a predatory practice that makes cigarettes more accessible to individuals trying to quit and to low income residents, who are actually paying a premium by purchasing a single for 50 cents or $1. The sale of singles also increases youth access to cigarettes because vendors who do choose to sell singles are more likely to shirk laws aimed at preventing youth tobacco use and because non-vendors sometimes sell loosies outside of stores. It also results in the loss of state and federal tax revenue that could be allocated to support tobacco prevention and education in Wisconsin.

Another problem, as evidenced by the incident at ABC Liquor, is that retailers are sometimes pressured by customers to sell loosies. This could be occurring because some individuals are accustomed to being able to buy them from other retailers. The WAATPN became familiar with this problem as a result of outreach efforts to retailers in Milwaukee. The result is a campaign to create “No Loosies,” signage that will be displayed in corner stores and gas stations throughout Milwaukee this summer. The signs will help make customers aware that the sale of single cigarettes is illegal, and that retailers who display the sign won’t do it. The signs should also help prevent incidents such as the one that occurred at ABC Liquor.

Aside from the immediate safety and law enforcement concerns, the greater risk related to the sale of single cigarettes are the health risks related to all tobacco use, especially mentholated tobacco, which is easier to start and harder to quit. For African-Americans, the top three causes of death are all tobacco related. In Wisconsin, 28% of African- Americans smoke, though in some Milwaukee ZIP code areas the rates are nearly 40%. The adult smoking rate in Wisconsin is 16%. Part of the reason for that disparity is the fact that single cigarettes are widely available in communities of color.

One of the many issues that need to be addressed to lower this disparity is the need for increased awareness on the issue of single cigarettes.

If you’d like to learn more about the Single Cigarette campaign, where to report those who sell single cigarettes or are looking to quit smoking or using tobacco please reach out to us on social media at https://www.facebook.com/waatpn/.

This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Courier.

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Arts and Culture

COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

19 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.