Mary Ryan Boys & Girls Club member Altrue Brown, Club Manager Gregory Ware, and club staff member Donte Daughtry hold up a sign for rush hour commuters on National Kick Butts Day. (Photo by Sue Vliet)

Members of the Mary Ryan Boys & Girls Club teamed up with the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network and the City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance to “air out the tobacco industry’s dirty laundry” Wednesday.

The young people expressed their feelings about tobacco on colorful hand-painted T-shirts. They strung the T-shirts on clotheslines in front of the club at the corner of 43rd and Burleigh streets, for rush hour drivers and pedestrians to see. About 30 club members joined with other youth in Milwaukee and across the country in speaking out against smoking on March 21, National Kick Butts Day, a nationwide initiative in which kids lead the effort to stop youth tobacco use.

Club members painted T-shirts with messages discouraging smoking to display in front of their club at 43rd and Burleigh streets. (Photo by Sue Vliet)