The Speaker

In his youth, Dr. Chavis was an assistant to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement. At the age of 24, Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence in 1971 as the leader of the Wilmington Ten, civil rights activists who were convicted with committing arson. As the oldest of the ten, Dr. Chavis received the longest sentence. Their convictions and sentences were appealed, and in 1980 all ten were freed due to "prosecutorial misconduct." Dr. Chavis returned to graduate school and the field of civil rights, and he became a Vice President of the National Council of Churches. The board of the NAACP elected Dr. Chavis as the Executive Director of America's oldest civil rights organization. Dr. Chavis later served as the National Director of the Million Man March, and the Founder and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). Dr. Chavis is the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an African-American organization which focuses on supporting and advocating for publishers of the nation's more than 230 black newspapers.

Dr. Chavis was recently named Chairman of the Energy Action Alliance, and will serve as the moderator for this unique informational session.

The Workshop

When Good People Write Bad Policy: Discriminatory Bans and Prohibitions Don’t Work : Wednesday, October 04, 2023 10:30A

Several states and municipalities are proposing to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes. Smoking is bad and tobacco kills in addition to the debilitating effects of nicotine addiction and need to prevent youth from smoking. Prohibitions and flavor bans have been spotlights in the national media. This proposal seems race-neutral. But over 85% of African Americans who choose to smoke prefer menthol cigarettes while most White tobacco consumers prefer unflavored tobacco. To draw up a ban only against products favored by people of color seems not only unjust but also remarkably insensitive. Giving officers even more reason to detain and engage on the basis of a flavored tobacco ban, including menthol, would assuredly lead to encounters that are likely to escalate to the unnecessary use of force, arrests, and possibly deadly force.

The unintended consequences of bans and prohibitions need to be better understood by public policymakers contemplating passing legislation that will directly impact the interactions between members of communities of color and law enforcement officers. This session will explore the laudable intent of the public health community to decrease the use of tobacco products by communities of color, address the serious concerns of youth using tobacco products, and how to stem the tide of youth use of e-cigarettes, and will expound on the lived experiences and expertise of leading Black law enforcement professionals on the unintended consequences of bans and prohibitions.