The fight over banning menthol cigarettes has a long history steeped in race
Black smokers make up menthol tobacco's largest market, and have the highest rates of lung cancer. But the fight over banning menthol is a complex and divisive issue in the Black community.
Lincoln Mondy grew up in a mixed race family in Texas, where his white mother's family used regular tobacco, unlike his Black father.
"My dad exclusively smokes menthol cigarettes," he says. "Menthol was such a part of Black culture. And I knew that Black people smoked menthol and that was just a fact."
The 29-year-old filmmaker turned his curiosity about race and menthol tobacco into a documentary on the topic he produced for the Truth Initiative, an anti-smoking advocacy group.
He then realized how
