PREDATORY BILLBOARDS ENCOURAGE ADDICTION

WE ARE TAKING them down. In the foreseeable future, alcohol and tobacco
billboards will be just a bad memory, a sad reminder of the alcohol and
tobacco industries' predatory marketing practices.

When I say "we," I mean the predominantly African American and Latino
communities where the tobacco and alcohol industries use billboards to push
their drugs.

The industries would not dare install in suburban areas the ads with which
they paper the inner cities, because they know it would not be tolerated.
The underlying racist assumption that this is somehow all right is an
insult to the integrity of our communities and the fabric of our nation.

The ads tell a cruel lie. They tout alcohol and tobacco as sources of
happiness, good sex, success and power.

Their imagery includes scantily clad women, musicians, tigers and other
fierce creatures, genial frogs and penguins.

Yet the truth is that alcohol and tobacco cause untold suffering, death and
despair, particularly among our young people, and rob our communities of
their strength and vitality,

We cannot turn off billboards, cannot turn the page. They tower over our
homes, playgrounds, schools and businesses. They blight our neighborhoods.

One study in a Latino community found that children had to pass by as many
as 60 alcohol advertisements on their way to school every day. What kind of
message is this to our young people, who already face such formidable
barriers as they come of age: racism, sexism, economic oppression,
violence, poor schools and job shortages?

According to the alcohol and tobacco industries, the best promise we can
offer them is the temporary quick fix of addictive drugs.

The big alcohol and tobacco companies use their tremendous political and
economic muscle to convince politicians to leave their marketing practices
alone. When that doesn't work, they hire teams of attorneys to find every
potential loophole in the law.

Perhaps most brazen is their claim of First Amendment protection. When it
comes to billboards, the courts have soundly rejected the industries'
arguments.

The news that cities across the country are taking action is indeed
heartening. First Baltimore, then Chicago, started the ball rolling. San
Francisco, Oakland, Cleveland, Los Angeles and New York, to name just a
few, are not far behind.

We should celebrate the grass-roots leaders who have worked with such
determination and energy to reclaim inner-city horizons. Clearly, the fight
is not over. There are more legal loopholes, lawsuits and back-room deals
to contend with.

When we the people come together, our power is awesome. In our
confrontation with the alcohol and tobacco industries, they represent
darkness and we represent the light.

To know how much power we have over darkness, go into a dark room and turn
the light on. Darkness vanishes. Darkness never wins over the light.

Dick Gregory, Massachusetts-based social justice activist and comedian,
wrote this commentary for the Marin Institute for Prevention of Alcohol and
Other Drug Problems.

)1998 San Francisco Examiner Page C 15