Black youth, churches team up to fight tobacco use

ATLANTA - Hundreds of black youth from churches throughout the state are teaming up to fight tobacco use by their peers. <br> <br> An estimated 15 percent of middle-schoolers in Georgia use some form of tobacco. <br> <br> ``The youth are saying tobacco companies target us, so now we&#39;re going to target them,&#39;&#39; said Debbie Wallace, director of the local African-American Churches Target Tobacco Control Program (ACT). <br> <br> The group was holding an anti-smoking rally Saturday at southeast Atlanta&#39;s Greater Piney Grove Baptist church, including a gospel concert, dialogue and health screenings. <br> <br> But the focus was a competition among youth who created religious anti-smoking messages through ACT&#39;s participating churches. <br> <br> Smoking among black high school boys has doubled from 1991 to 1997, to 28.2 percent, according to the Washington-based campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. <br> <br> C. Xavier Ford, state bishop of the United Church of God in Christ, said churches must take an active role in social and health issues. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s the same thing with smoking,&#39;&#39; he said. ``It starts with the deacon who goes outside to smoke on the steps.&#39;&#39;