The New York State chapter of the NAACP has joined the American Beverage Association to fight the New York City soda ban — in a move arousing controversy. The ban, should it go into effect on March 12, would limit soda portions sold at certain establishments to 16 ounces in New York City. The NAACP state chapter filed a joint brief with the Hispanic Federation opposing it, as both groups say the measure unfairly targets small businesses in communities of color while attempting to fight obesity.
Others, such as New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, believe these groups have sold out the people they are charged to protect through siding with the soda industry.
Hazel N. Dukes, president of the New York State chapter of the NAACP, disagrees. “What we are saying in the brief that was filed is that there is an unfairness to this,” she told theGrio in a phone interview, referring to a quirk that exempts some of the entities selling the largest soda portions from the ban.
Mayor Bloomberg developed the ban with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, whose jurisdiction is limited to Food Service Establishments (FSEs) in the area of portion size policy. Only bodegas, restaurants, and other establishments defined as FSEs face the cap.
Businesses that are not FSEs, such as 7-Eleven, are controlled by the state. As the home of the Big Gulp, which starts at 20 ounces, 7-Eleven’s exemption is seen as a loophole by Dukes that punishes minorities without resolving the problem.
“If you are just going at certain parts, which is mom and pop stores and bodegas, you are hurting them economically,” Dukes said of the regulation. “I’ve lost family members, my father died from obesity, so no one has to tell us about obesity. When I walk in the store, the first thing I see is a shelf of sodas in the grocery store,” which is not considered an FSE according to statutes.
Despite this, Mayor Bloomberg staunchly criticized the NAACP for its opposition. “[T]he kids who are most obese and [for whom] a cup size limitation would do the most good, tend to be in poor neighborhoods, which in New York tends to be minority neighborhoods,” Bloomberg said during WOR’s Live from City Hall with Mayor Mike and John Gambling radio show last Friday.
Data from 2010 shows that approximately 70 percent of African-Americans residing in New York City are obese or overweight, compared to 51.4 percent of non-Latino whites. Additionally, the problem of obesity is proven to be much worse in low-income neighborhoods.
“In all fairness it’s the local chapter, it’s not the national,” Bloomberg continued about the NAACP leadership, “but for them to do this is just such an outright disgrace. How [can they] look themselves in the mirror knowing they are hurting deliberately the life expectancy and the quality of life for the people they are supposed to serve?”
For some, this indictment renders the state NAACP’s fight to limit sodas sizes sold in bodegas, cornerstones of food selection in poor communities, highly questionable.
“We are not encouraging anyone to drink sugary drinks,” Dukes said in response. “But you can’t tell me that you’re only telling mom and pop stores, and you’re only telling bodegas, you’re not telling 7-11, you’re not telling McDonald’s, you’re not telling the chains what they can sell.”
Representatives of the city pushed back on this portrayal of the ban. Jean Weinberg, press secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, clarified in an email to theGrio that McDonald’s is an FSE, and that “This rule applies to all Food Service Establishments equally.”
While some food retailers are beyond its scope, she stressed that the ban is intended to improve the city’s health overall, not punish African-Americans.
“This rule is designed to benefit all New Yorkers,” Weinberg wrote. “A primary focus of the Health Department is to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers stay healthy. The city’s poor and minority residents are far more likely to be obese, have diabetes, and suffer from the many other health consequences of obesity. African-Americans, who suffer most, have a life expectancy at birth that is four years shorter than that of whites.”
In numerous studies, soda consumption has been linked to a host of health ills due to the resultant weight gain, leading many to wonder why the NAACP would fight an effort to curb access to it. The financial connections between the NAACP and the soda industry have been raised as an explanation.
PepsiCo gave the NAACP an unspecified amount between $10,001 and $50,000 in 2010, according to the company’s web site. The 2011 tax returns of the Coca-Cola Foundation show it donated $130,000 to the NAACP in support of two programs.
A 2010 press release recovered by theGrio shows the same foundation gave $100,000 to the NAACP’s Baltimore chapter and $35,000 to the New York group that year. These gifts suggest to some that the acquiescence of the NAACP may have been bought.
“Oh Please!” Dukes said of this allegation. “We have Wal-Mart, we have AT&T, we have Verizon,” she listed among other NAACP donors, suggesting that there is no connection between its soda sponsors and its opposition to the ban.
Dukes sees the real controversy as the city’s failure to invite the NAACP and elected officials into meetings when planning the proposal. “Did the City Council approve of this ban?” she asked, noting its passage by the all-Bloomberg-appointed Health Board. “There’s a whole process that was missing in here. There are some other things that could have been explored.”
Weinberg countered that, “This is an appropriate measure for the Board of Health, as its mission is to protect the health of all New York City residents and has a long history of passing regulations that do just that.”
“The portion cap rule is evidence-based,” Chanel Caraway, deputy press secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, stated in a separate response. “This includes evidence supporting the following: sugary drinks are associated with obesity; sugary drinks are independently associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease; increased portion size leads to increased consumption; and sugary drinks do not satiate like solid food.”
This evidence motivated city officials to move swiftly to target the link between obesity and soda consumption. Health statistics for New York City show that the area’s obesity rate has risen from 18.2 to 23.4 percent since 2002. Government programs pay for 60 percent of the $4.7 billion accrued annually due to obesity-related illnesses through increased Medicare and Medicaid costs. Numbers such as these spawned the need for immediate action.
“The obesity crisis impacting the nation, and disproportionately affecting minorities, calls for bold action,” Samantha Levine, deputy press secretary of the New York City Office of the Mayor, wrote in an email to theGrio. “[W]e are confident support will grow as more people learn about the unique impact sugary drinks have on this epidemic.”
But to Dukes, the policy is less of a precision instrument and more of a social bludgeon. She believes efforts that target various factors will have a deeper impact on what experts are calling an obesity epidemic. She hopes to lead the NAACP in a more concerted effort of corporations, communities, civil rights leaders and government to tackle obesity comprehensively. This will take a village, she believes, not a ban.
“There are many issues,” Dukes concluded. “We need to sit around a table and come to discuss how do we come to combat this dreadful disease.”
The national office of the NAACP declined to comment on the brief filed by the New York State NAACP.
Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb.