Author: Carma Henry

Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

     “The ban on menthol cigarettes has been controversial and some have said that it was racist to look to ban menthol cigarettes while some have said it was racist not to ban menthol cigarettes,” says Patrick Reynolds, CEO of the nonprofit Tobacco Free Earth. “I’m on the side that says it’s racist not to ban menthol cigarettes.”

  The world has suffered the most unimaginable, horrific, and hideous war crimes throughout history. Yet only to cry out, never again must we standby idly, heads bowed, hands wriggling, and with a look of despair. Hitler orchestrated the Holocaust, murdered millions of Jews and countless others he considered misfits.

        The kids not only lived in a cloud of despair but in a cloud of lead-infused dust. The former made achieving their dreams difficult. The latter made it impossible. Fast forward a few decades and the threat of lead poisoning has continued to manifest in public health crises. It was at the heart of the well-publicized water crisis in Flint, Michigan that started in 2014 … and the subsequent not-as-well-publicized water crises in Benton Harbor, MI and Pittsburgh, PA just a few short years later.

     Throughout his career as an African American scientist and academic, Carroll encountered many challenges but never allowed them to deter him from his goals, embracing a credo by Thoreau that he often quoted: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”