'Social justice issue': Kansas City officials try to ban flavored tobacco, fall short
Allison Kite and Katie Bernard, The Kansas City Star
Dec. 16—An effort to ban flavored tobacco and vape products in Kansas City, meant to improve public health in predominantly Black neighborhoods, failed a City Council committee vote Wednesday.
Councilwomen Melissa Robinson and Ryana Parks-Shaw, who championed the legislation, said it was an issue of both public health and racial reconciliation. Flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, they said, disproportionately harm communities of color and young people.
"Flavored tobacco is a social justice issue," Robinson, 3rd District, said at a committee meeting earlier this fall. She said her mother, who smoked menthol cigarettes, died of a stroke.