Working from the inside out: Using the resolution process of African American organizations to inform policies that protect children from menthol cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco products

History was made on July 15, 2013 when at its 51^st national convention during its centennial year, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. passed a resolution urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes. The FDA had yet to act on its regulatory authority to ban menthol, even after its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee conducted an extensive review of existing menthol studies and concluded in 2011 that, “the removal of menthol from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.” Delta Sigma Theta, comprised of over 200,000 predominantly Black, college-educated women, represents a powerful network of professional women who bring a new and far reaching dynamism to tobacco control. Initially brought forth by the Berkeley Bay Area Alumnae Chapter, this resolution represents the first time a major black organization of this stature has weighed in on one of today’s most important public health issues. In 2009, the Berkeley, California Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People championed a tobacco control resolution that never made it out of a national resolutions committee. African American tobacco control advocates have worked for decades to get national membership organizations to address the number one preventable cause of death. Utilizing an organization’s resolution process holds promise by engaging members and garnering support from the national leadership to push tobacco control policies. There is much to be learned from both of these attempts, brought forth by dedicated members of their respective organizations.