Bay Area

Opinion: Closing Oakland’s Tobacco Store Loophole Will Protect Youth and Support Racial Equity

Published

6 years ago

April 10, 2020

Oakland leaders need to act soon to close a loophole in the city’s tobacco retail ordinance.

In 2017, the Oakland City Council adopted an ordinance that restricts the sale of menthol and all flavored tobacco products to help protect youth and their communities from these dangerous and addictive products. However, the ordinance included an exemption for adult-only tobacco stores. This exemption allowed the amount of adult-only tobacco stores to grow from a handful of stores, when the ordinance first went into effect, to over 55 in less than two years.

The exemption is exacerbating the existing smoking disparities that the City Council intended to address. The increase in the amount of adult-only tobacco stores is leading to an increase in the amount of flavored tobacco products sold and accessible to youth in their neighborhoods.

The majority of the adult-only tobacco stores selling these products are located in East and West Oakland’s lower-income neighborhoods meaning the negative impact falls disproportionately on youth in areas that already experience some of the city’s poorest health outcomes. According to the Alameda County Public Health Department, the average life expectancy of African Americans in the flatlands of East Oakland is 14 years less than Whites living in the Oakland hills.

Why then is an exemption in place that has resulted in the concentration of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, in the same communities that experience high negative health outcomes and aggressive marketing tactics from the tobacco industry?

Last November, The Oakland Post ran two articles highlighting efforts by the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC) around their campaign against flavored tobacco products and their exhibit on the history of the tobacco industry’s targeting of the African American community to addict them to menthol tobacco products. AATCLC is a group at the forefront of elevating the regulation of mentholated and other flavored tobacco products and countering tactics used by the tobacco industry in its attempt to attract and addict African American smokers.

Both articles included details about the marketing tactics the tobacco industry used for decades to attract African Americans. Some of those methods included advertising in widely read African American magazines, funding prominent African American leaders, and co-opting African American culture so successfully that menthol cigarettes became nearly synonymous with smoking for many African American smokers. The tobacco industry continues to use these same tactics locally to hook a new generation of youth of color to cheap flavored tobacco.

In 2017, Oakland City Council was a leader in passing the Oakland Children Smoking Prevention Ordinance to prevent youth smoking and racial disparities in smoking through access to cheap flavored tobacco products. Now we need them to show their leadership again and change the law by removing the adult-only exemption and follow the lead of nearby cities like Richmond, San Francisco and Berkeley all of which prohibit the sale of menthol and all flavored tobacco products city-wide, with no exemptions. And we need them to act soon because the number of adult-only retailers keeps growing. Doing this will protect youth and their communities from the tobacco industry, address the inequitable outcomes of Oakland’s current tobacco policy, and institutionalize racial equity in government.

Every year 45,000 African Americans die from a tobacco-related illness in the U.S., which is undoubtedly driven by menthol cigarette use. Oakland leaders can’t save all African Americans in the U.S. from the tobacco industry, but they can take action to save those who live in and around Oakland.

Marlene C. Hurd, B.A.NCC, is president of the Merritt College Tobacco Less Club.

Airion Boatner is East Oakland Youth and Emerging Community Leader of Roots Community Health Center

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Oakland Post: Week of September 9 – 15, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 9 – 15, 2026

Published

13 hours ago

September 14, 2026

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Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

Published

7 days ago

September 7, 2026

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Youth-Led Black August Event Brings Past to Present at East Oakland Boxing Association

The mission of Youth Alive! Is to “break the cycle of violence, heal trauma, and uplift a thriving community of leaders, to save lives in Oakland and beyond” by serving “as mentors, youth leaders, counselors, case managers, intervention specialists and violence interrupters,” working “to help violently wounded people heal themselves and their community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

August 29, 2026

Post News Group

Dawna Williams, EOBA executive director speaks to attendees at the Black August Eperience on Aug. 21. Photo courtesy of Carolyn Flynn of EOBA.

By Jana Lang Propel Youth Reporter

Youth-Led Black August Event Brings Past to Present at East Oakland Boxing Association

The East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA) and Youth Alive! came together on Aug. 21 to share with their community all that Black August means to them.

Held on EOBA’s patio at 816 98th Ave. in Deep East Oakland, the two organizations hosted their second annual Black August Experience, featuring a food tasting, financial literacy and mindfulness workshops, and voter registration with the League of Women Voters Oakland (LWV).

Black August is known as a time to uphold the legacy of prisoners who protested their conditions by fasting, fighting, and educating themselves on the economic and political circumstances that contributed to their incarceration.

According to its website, “EOBA is a multi-service youth and community development hub that goes far beyond the ring. While rooted in the discipline of boxing, for nearly 40 years EOBA has also integrated robust programs in workforce development, food justice, afterschool enrichment, financial literacy, mentorship, and wellness.”.

The mission of Youth Alive! Is to “break the cycle of violence, heal trauma, and uplift a thriving community of leaders, to save lives in Oakland and beyond” by serving “as mentors, youth leaders, counselors, case managers, intervention specialists and violence interrupters,” working “to help violently wounded people heal themselves and their community.”

Through Coro California, another leadership organization serving young people across the state for 80 years, they gained a broader understanding of Black August.

EOBA Executive Director Dawna Williams spoke about how much she learned about Black August from the youth who created it. “I let them educate me,” she said. Instead of talking about prison reform and mass incarceration, Williams and youth interns found that Black August meant so much more. “We would have done a disservice if we had just focused on who the people were and what their situation was…We tried to take their message from back in the day and make it relevant to the young people today. What do they need to know?”

Youth interns created and placed posters around the patio to help participants understand how traditional Black foodways, civic engagement, financial literacy, and the power of education are relevant to Black resistance today.

An EOBA member described Black August with Youth ALIVE! as “a whole vibe. “This year we added the Fun Zone for the kids, because you really cannot go wrong with a Fun Zone. I also loved seeing everyone chillin’ in the outdoor lounge, catching some Vitamin D and just enjoying a Friday evening together.”

The food tasting, a popular event from last year, featured traditional Black foods such as black-eyed peas, johnny cakes, and fried chicken. Led by Williams, the tasting included a talk about how these traditional foods were made and why they are forms of Black resilience.

The “‘Plate of History’ was a favorite of the online writers. “Fun, educational, and did I mention delicious? Our Taste of History cook, Angela Southall, served up some good eats while connecting food to history and culture.”

The writer also commended the “League of Women Voters Oakland for their civic leadership and for getting our young people informed, ready, and registered to vote.”

Overall, it was a “good Friday event in East Oakland,” the writer said.

Upcoming Black August events: Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host “Black August: The Arc of Liberation” at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The websites for East Oakland Boxing Association, Youth Alive! and CORO are sources for this report.

Jana Lang is an Oakland resident, teacher, gardener and poet participating in the Propel News Initiative.