The hearing was held Monday, 2 August 1999, starting at 10:30 am, in the City Council Committee Room, 13th floor, City County Building, Detroit.

          Many came, supported the proposal. No lobbyists appeared against it. My testimony helped refute tobacco lobby disinformation that could have used to challenge the proposal.

          Below is a copy of my statement as filed, in the record.

Cigarettes Are Illegal

          When words lead to death, civil liability results, Paladin Enterprises, Inc v Rice, 128 F3d 233 (CA 4, 1997), and criminal liability, The Nurnberg Trial, 6 FRD 69, 161-163 (1946) (writer-publisher Julius Streicher was convicted and hanged for his pro-death media words). MCL § 750.38, MSA § 28.227 (1885) already bans cigarette ads. The ordinance is an effort to force compliance with already extant state and international law.

          Your council president, Gilbert Hill, can verify, the Department NEVER enforces the cigarette ban, MCL § 750.27, only laws against post-gateway drugs—a policy of premeditated racism that not even the Coleman Young era eradicated. Due to this intentional, pervasive, systemic racism, the ordinance is needed as a duplicative effort to try to halt it. Attend Partnership meetings; talk privately to officers; you will verify the non-enforcement policy, including officer fear of being labeled a "whistleblower" if they enforce the law against the "white" drug cigarettes. The racists don't want to enforce the law; and the honest ones fear to.

          Ask yourselves, would you support arrests for illegal cigarette sales? If so, have you made that fact known? Have you ever spoken against the gateway drug? If not, why would the honest ones think you'd support them? Your silence tells the racist ones they can continue their racist policy of arresting blacks for post-gateway drugs, but never do a thing to arrest pushers of the gateway drug, the "white" drug. Worst case, do you use the gateway drug? If so, you are setting a bad example, encouraging crime and racism.