A multiracial coalition of activists held a briefing Saturday, advocating a tax increase on cigarettes to fight what it called the proliferation of big tobacco in communities of color.

The press conference, which took place at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park, was spearheaded by Californians of Color, an ad hoc group of health professionals, clergy, tobacco control experts, researchers and political leaders, created to support the passage of the California Cancer Research Act.

If passed by voters, the CCRA, which qualified for the June 2012 ballot after its supporting coalitions submitted over 600,000 voter signatures, will add $1 to each pack of cigarettes sold in California and generate over $855 million in its first year.

Its supporters believe it would provide more than $500 million a year to find new ways to detect, treat, prevent, and cure cancer and other tobacco-related illnesses, as well as over $156 million for California’s underfunded tobacco control and prevention program.

Speakers included, Rep. Karen Bass, who held a town hall meeting immediately after the briefing that touched on the issue, Carol McGruder, co-chair of the African-American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, Michael Ong, chair of the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee and Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, a member of the Steering and Management Committee of the National Latino Tobacco Control Network.

“It’s so critical that we have this tobacco tax because the environment we’re in right now in D.C., and it impacts California and all our communities, is essentially a Congress that’s been under siege by the Tea Party,” Bass said.

She added: “The Tea Party does not believe in any sort of taxes for any sort of reason at all.”

Citing recent research in its briefing background, the Leadership Council noted that African-American men are 37 percent more likely to develop lung cancer than White men; that African-Americans die disproportionately from heart disease and stroke compared to all other racial and ethnic groups; and that African-Americans lose more years of life (16.3 years) than all other groups (12 years) due to smoking attributable causes.

They also charged that tobacco outlets and tobacco advertising are disproportionately concentrated in the African-American community and that Menthol brands are aggressively marketed in our communities and priced cheaper than in other neighborhoods.

For a response, The Wave contacted a media contact for the Altria Group, the parent company for Phillip Morris USA, based in Henrico County, Virginia, one of the world’s largest tobacco corporations.

However, a spokesperson did not return a call at press time.

“I know that if we were to pass the CCRA we’d save somewhere between 3 and $30 billion (on the high end) in the next four or five years,” Ong said.

“I’m sure that many people know that healthcare reform is a critical issue for us, and that by helping our smokers quit, we are actually helping all of us in the community because we are paying for their healthcare dollars.”

Meanwhile, Baezconde-Garbanati, slammed big tobacco for targeting Latino youth with cigarette brands called Hombre. “Many of our youths are hoping to be ‘the Man,’ therefore it’s appealing to them,” she added.

“The tobacco industry has attempted to integrate itself in the Hispanic community, as it has the Black, American Indian and Asian community,” she said.

“Three thousand Hispanics die every year from smoking attributable illnesses and the total cost to the community amounts to $1.4 billion.

“Although California has made many advances, it has [also] failed to raise tobacco taxes in 10 years, all the literary and scientific evidence is that if you raise taxes it can make a further dent in preventing disease and death in relation to tobacco.”

Photo: Speaking at a Californians of Color tobacco briefing Oct. 22, Rep. Karen Bass said it's critical that Californian voters pass the California Cancer Research Act. Credit: Courtesy photo