Black farmers are the target of misguided federal policy. It’s nothing new

If Washington, DC is good at anything, it’s making policies in the Beltway bubble that end up harming Americans in rural communities – communities like mine here in Virginia.

I am a fourth generation farmer from Baskerville. I have been growing flue-cured tobacco for over 30 years. My ancestors grew tobacco: John Boyd Sr. and my grandfather, Thomas Boyd.

And while I spend most of my time managing my 1,600-acre farm, my other time is spent being a voice for Black farmers.

The National Black Farmers Association, of which I am proud to be a founder and president, has more than 116,000 members in 47 states. We know all too well how the federal government’s misguided policies have, time and time again, put another nail in the coffin of small communities and declining rural towns across America.

Few workers have been hit harder in recent years than black farmers. At the turn of the century, black farmers in this country owned more than 20 million acres of land – today, that number is less than 5 million acres of land in this country. Previously, we represented 1 million farmers in this country. Today, we are down to 50,000.

Unfortunately, Washington, D.C. is about to impose another mandate that will put more Black farmers out of business and deprive these small towns of essential revenue: a federal criminal ban on adult use of certain tobacco products . Specifically, the type of tobacco products preferred – and grown – by black farmers.

Although not all Washington leaders may know it, tobacco remains an important crop in Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina, among other states. That means a federal ban on menthol and other flavored tobaccos will sink too many black farmers, many of whom already live near the margins in their work.

Worse still, a ban on these tobacco products would open the door to an unregulated, inherently dangerous drug market. When a person does not know or cannot know what the substance they consume contains, they are at risk of serious health consequences.

And perhaps most worrying are the consequences for Black tobacco users across the country. The FDA’s proposed ban would criminalize the sale, distribution and possession of menthol cigarettes under federal, state and local laws. If this ban goes into effect, all 50 states will consider possession a crime. This criminalization could result in mandatory minimum sentences, parole revocation, fines, loss of voting rights, or even deportation, among other criminal legal consequences.

Given that the majority of people who smoke menthol cigarettes are black, this would further criminalize an already over-criminalized population. Black people and other people of color have historically borne the brunt of the criminal justice system’s disproportionate consequences.

There is a better way for Washington to promote public health. Education, and especially investing more in education, is the right thing to do.

For decades, black people in this country have been told what they can and cannot do. For years, the federal government, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discriminated against thousands of black farmers, contributing to the loss of land and black farmers in this country.

Although the federal agency has changed – in this case it is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is pursuing this flavored tobacco ban – we cannot allow one more black farmer to go bankrupt in this country by criminally banning menthol.

Instead, we should be allowed to continue growing tobacco and contributing to U.S. agricultural policies in this country.

John Boyd, Jr. is founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association.